New Books 1/23/16

At Rope’s End by Edward Kay
A forensic psychology expert with an antagonistic relationship with the police teams up with a detective who thinks the lead on a murder case is bent on putting away an innocent man to close the case and raise his esteem.

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden
A novel inspired by Russian fairy tales follows the experiences of a wild young girl who taps the mysterious powers of a precious necklace given to her father years earlier to save her village from dark and dangerous forces.

Chasing Shadows by Karen Harper
Using skills gleaned from a lifetime fighting a neurological disorder to become a highly intuitive forensic psychologist, Claire Britten is recruited onto a team of elite investigators by a former adversary trying to solve a mysterious death connected to his personal life.

The Dark Room by Jonathan Moore
SFPD homicide inspector Gavin Cain is forced to set aside a cold case when a ruthless killer attempts to blackmail San Francisco’s mayor with exposures of grisly secrets unless the mayor commits suicide.

Girls & Sex by Peggy Orenstein
The New York Times best-selling author of Cinderella Ate My Daughter presents an analysis of the new sexual landscape faced by girls in today’s high schools and colleges, revealing hidden truths, hard lessons and important possibilities in girls’ modern-world sex lives.

Helping Your Anxious Teen by Sheila Josephs
A psychologist offers advice to parents on how their own behavior can have an impact on their anxious teenager and recommends techniques and skills they can use to help their child manage and overcome their fears.

Lucky Boy by Shanthi Sekaran
A wrenching emotional battle ensues between Soli, an undocumented Mexican single mother, and Kavya, an Indian-American chef who cannot have children, when Soli’s infant son is placed in Kavya’s care during an immigration detention.

The Meaning of Michelle by Veronica Chambers
A tribute to the First Lady as she leaves the White House presents a chorus of diverse voices–including Ava DuVernay, Damon Young, Roxane Gay, Jason Moran, Alicia Hall Moran, Marcus Samuelsson, and Brittney Cooper–with smart, engaging perspectives on Michelle Obama.

The Most Dangerous Place on Earth by Lindsey Lee Johnson
Arriving as a replacement teacher in a privileged Bay Area school, Molly becomes intrigued with the hidden lives and challenging ambitions of her students, who are struggling with a tragedy from their middle-school years.

The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher
The best-selling author of Postcards From the Edge and Hollywood icon best known for her Star Wars role shares interconnected essays exploring her life as the child of Tinseltown royalty, adventures on the sets of Star Wars and struggles with bipolar disorder.

A Really Good Day by Ayelet Waldman
An account of the author’s experiment with microdoses of LSD in an effort to treat a debilitating mood disorder details what she has learned about the misunderstood drug and how she believes psychedelics can be appropriately used as therapeutic medicines.

Ring of Fire by Brad Taylor
Learning of an imminent terrorist attack on the U.S., Pike Logan, Jennifer Cahill and the Taskforce race against time to stop catastrophic events in multiple locations.

The Second Mrs. Hockaday by Susan Rivers
Follows the efforts of Civil War veteran Major Gryffth Hockaday to discern the truth about his teen bride, who during the two years he was at war was convicted and imprisoned for allegedly having a baby in his absence and killing it.

Sleepwalker by Chris Bohjalian
When a sleepwalker who has experienced episodes of near violence while unconscious goes missing, her eldest daughter, Lianna, finds herself drawn to a lead detective who seems to know more than he is revealing.