New Release:

24: Life Stories and Lessons from the Say Hey Kid
by Willie Mays and John Shea
St. Martins Press
Hardcover

From the publisher's website:

The legendary Willie Mays shares the inspirations and influences responsible for guiding him on and off the field in this reflective and inspirational memoir.
"Even if, like me, you thought you had pretty much read and heard all there was to read and hear about Willie Mays, this warmhearted book will inform and reward you. And besides, what true baseball fan can ever get enough of Willie Mays? Say Hey! Read on and enjoy." —From the Foreword by Bob Costas 

“It’s because of giants like Willie that someone like me could even think about running for President.” —President Barack Obama

Widely regarded as the greatest all-around player in baseball history because of his unparalleled hitting, defense and baserunning, the beloved Willie Mays offers people of all ages his lifetime of experience meeting challenges with positivity, integrity and triumph in 24: Life Stories and Lessons from the Say Hey Kid.

Presented in 24 chapters to correspond with his universally recognized uniform number, Willie’s memoir provides more than the story of his role in America’s pastime. This is the story of a man who values family and community, engages in charitable causes especially involving children and follows a philosophy that encourages hope, hard work and the fulfillment of dreams.

“I was very lucky when I was a child. My family took care of me and made sure I was in early at night. I didn’t get in trouble. My father made sure that I didn’t do the wrong thing. I’ve always had a special place in my heart for children and their well-being, and John Shea and I got the idea that we should do something for the kids and the fathers and the mothers, and that’s why this book is being published. We want to reach out to all generations and backgrounds. Hopefully, these stories and lessons will inspire people in a positive way.” —Willie Mays

In My TBR Stack:

29 Seconds
by T.M. Logan
St. Martin's Press
Hardcover

From the publisher's website:

“Give me one name. One person. And I will make them disappear.”

Sarah is a young professor struggling to prove herself in a workplace controlled by the charming and manipulative Alan Hawthorne. A renowned scholar and television host, Hawthorne rakes in million-dollar grants for the university where Sarah works—so his inappropriate treatment of female colleagues behind closed doors has gone unchallenged for years. And Sarah is his newest target.

When Hawthorne's advances become threatening, Sarah is left with nowhere to turn. Until the night she witnesses an attempted kidnapping of a young child on her drive home, and impulsively jumps in to intervene. The child’s father turns out to be a successful businessman with dangerous connections—and her act of bravery has put this powerful man in her debt. He gives Sarah a burner phone and an unbelievable offer. A once-in-a-lifetime deal that can make all her problems disappear. 

No consequences. No traces. All it takes is a 29-second phone call.

Because everyone has a name to give. Don’t they?

On My Radar:

Secrets of a Marine's Wife: A True Story of Marriage, Obsession, and Murder
by Shanna Hogan
St. Martin's Press
Hardcover

From the publisher's website:

In June 2014, 19-year-old Erin Corwin was living a quiet life in Twentynine Palms, California, expecting her first child with her husband, U.S. Marine Corporal Jon Corwin—until the day she drove off into the desert and never returned. As temperatures climbed into the hundreds, friends and family teamed up with local law enforcement in a grueling search of Joshua Tree National Park. Nearly two months after her disappearance, Corwin's body was found at the bottom of an abandoned mine shaft, a homemade garrote wrapped around her throat.

Suspicions mounted within the tight-knit Marine community as residents questioned if the killer was one of their own. Fellow Marine Christopher Lee and his wife lived next door to the Corwins, and the two young couples had leaned on each other for support. But detectives soon discovered that Chris and Erin's relationship had developed into a whirlwind romance that consumed them both and called the paternity of Corwin's baby into question. Lee told investigators he'd been out hunting the day of Corwin's disappearance, but his claims of innocence soon began to crumble. And while Erin was researching baby names, Lee was reportedly searching the internet for ways to dispose of a human body.

Through interviews, court records, and extensive research, bestselling true-crime author Shanna Hogan constructs a chilling story of betrayal, deception, and tragedy.

On My Radar:

Change of Seasons: A Memoir
by John Oates with Chris Epting
St. Martins Press
Hardcover

From the publisher's website:

Includes an exclusive EP as a companion to the book!

John Oates was born at the perfect time, paralleling the birth of rock ‘n roll. Raised in a small Pennsylvania town, he was exposed to folk, blues, soul, and R&B. Meeting and teaming up with Daryl Hall in the late 1960s, they developed a style of music that was uniquely their own but never abandoned their roots. John uncovers the grit and struggle it took to secure a recording contract with the legendary Atlantic Records and chronicles the artistic twists and turns that resulted in a DJ discovering an obscure album track that would become their first hit record. This is not your typical rock and roll story. John was focused creating great music. Along the way he achieved incredible success, battling the ever-changing pop music landscape and coming to terms with complex managerial, business, and personal challenges.

Daryl Hall and John Oates have over 20 albums together, more than 60 million records sold, and 29 Top 40 hits. They are the most successful pop duo in the world and members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. And yet John’s story has never been told. Relying on his many hand-written journals, he brings to light many fascinating stories spanning his entire life with a journalist’s eye and a poet’s heart.

In Change of Seasons, John shares his highs, lows, triumphs, and failures. He takes the reader on a wild ride through all the eras, personalities and music that has shaped him into what he is.

On My Radar:

Now I See You: A Memoir
Nicole C. Kear
St. Martin's Press
Hardcover

From the publisher's website:

At nineteen years old, Nicole C. Kear's biggest concern is choosing a major--until she walks into a doctor’s office in midtown Manhattan and gets a life-changing diagnosis. She is going blind, courtesy of an eye disease called retinitis pigmentosa, and has only a decade or so before Lights Out. Instead of making preparations as the doctor suggests, Kear decides to carpe diem and make the most of the vision she has left. She joins circus school, tears through boyfriends, travels the world, and through all these hi-jinks, she keeps her vision loss a secret.

When Kear becomes a mother, just a few years shy of her vision’s expiration date, she amends her carpe diem strategy, giving up recklessness in order to relish every moment with her kids. Her secret, though, is harder to surrender - and as her vision deteriorates, harder to keep hidden. As her world grows blurred, one thing becomes clear: no matter how hard she fights, she won’t win the battle against blindness. But if she comes clean with her secret, and comes to terms with the loss, she can still win her happy ending.          

Told with humor and irreverence, Now I See You is an uplifting story about refusing to cower at life’s curveballs, about the power of love to triumph over fear. But, at its core, it’s a story about acceptance: facing the truths that just won't go away, and facing yourself, broken parts and all.

On My Radar:

Sparky and Me: My Friendship with Sparky Anderson and the Lessons He Shared About Baseball and Life
by Dan Ewald
St. Martins Press  / Macmillan
Trade Paperback

From the publisher website:

In the tradition of Tuesdays With Morrie, Dan Ewald pens a memoir of his friendship with legendary Tigers manager Sparky Anderson, the man who taught him not only the nuances of baseball, but the importance of life’s unwritten rules.

Few sports figures, regardless of their position, have generated as much good will as Sparky Anderson, the legendary manager for the Cincinnati Reds and the Detroit Tigers.  Sparky met author Dan Ewald, in 1979, and thus was born a lifelong friendship not likely ever to be seen again in baseball.  Along the way, Dan never took for granted the front row seat he had to watch one of history's most memorable managers’ absolute mastery of baseball's nuances and intricacies.

But the most important things Sparky taught Dan were the "unwritten rules" of life, which he practiced meticulously. To Sparky, a real professional was as great away from the diamond as he was on it.  His goal was for his players to be the best husbands, fathers, and community leaders they could be—he believed that was the mark of a winner, not the box score.  Sparky had a gift for taking something as inane as the infield fly rule and turning it into a lecture on how to lead a more meaningful life. 

In 2010, the old friends had planned a get-together before the end of the year.  But Sparky’s health was taking a turn for the worse, so Dan arranged a three-day visit as quickly as he could. During their last days together, the friends recalled the memories of a lifetime as each prepared silently for their final good-bye.  When that weekend came to a close, Dan had grown to appreciate Sparky more than he ever thought he could.  In Sparky and Me, Dan imparts to readers his best friend’s spirit through his unforgettable life lessons and stories only the two of them shared.  

"Like a wizard, Sparky Anderson was white-haired and wise, and sitting with him was like visiting with an oracle.  Dan Ewald, who spent more time with Sparky than any of us, beautifully captures the magic of Sparky’s wit, humor, and humanity in these pages.  All baseball fans should read it.” -- Mitch Albom, New York Times bestselling author of Tuesdays with Morrie and Have a Little Faith
“No one understood Sparky better than Dan Ewald. Managing people in a scope far broader than a pennant race is a rare quality, and Sparky understood people, their insecurities, their motivations. This is a great read, a great understanding of the humanity of playing baseball.” –Peter Gammons, MLB Network 

“For decades, it seemed like everyone in baseball knew Sparky Anderson, and almost all of us considered him a friend.  But few knew him as Dan Ewald did.  Here, Dan provides a unique look at an endearing man who led a significant life both in and out of the game.” –Bob Costas

On My Radar:

The Wrecking Crew: The Inside Story of Rock and Roll's Best-Kept Secret
by Kent Hartman
St. Martin's Press / Macmillan

Hardcover

From the publisher website:

If you were a fan of popular music in the 1960s and early ’70s, you were a fan of the Wrecking Crew—whether you knew it or not.

On hit record after hit record by everyone from the Byrds, the Beach Boys, and the Monkees to the Grass Roots, the 5th Dimension, Sonny &  Cher, and Simon & Garfunkel, this collection of West Coast studio musicians from diverse backgrounds established themselves in Los Angeles, California as the driving sound of pop music—sometimes over the objection of actual band members forced to make way for Wrecking Crew members. Industry insider Kent Hartman tells the dramatic, definitive story of the musicians who forged a reputation throughout the business as the secret weapons behind the top recording stars.

Mining invaluable interviews, the author follows the careers of such session masters as drummer Hal Blaine and keyboardist Larry Knechtel, as well as trailblazing bassist Carol Kaye—the only female in the bunch—who went on to play in thousands of recording sessions in this rock history. Readers will discover the Wrecking Crew members who would forge careers in their own right, including Glen Campbell and Leon Russell, and learn of the relationship between the Crew and such legends as Phil Spector and Jimmy Webb. Hartman also takes us inside the studio for the legendary sessions that gave us Pet Sounds, Bridge Over Troubled Water, and the rock classic “Layla,” which Wrecking Crew drummer Jim Gordon cowrote with Eric Clapton for Derek and the Dominos. And the author recounts priceless scenes such as Mike Nesmith of the Monkees facing off with studio head Don Kirshner, Grass Roots lead guitarist (and future star ofThe Office) Creed Bratton getting fired from the group, and Michel Rubini unseating Frank Sinatra’s pianist for the session in which the iconic singer improvised the hit-making ending to “Strangers in the Night.”  

The Wrecking Crew tells the collective, behind-the-scenes stories of the artists who dominated Top 40 radio during the most exciting time in American popular culture.

On My Radar:

Prince of Paradise: The True Story of a Hotel Heir, His Seductive Wife, and a Ruthless Murder
by John Glatt

St. Martins Press / Macmillan
Hardcover

From the publisher website:

Ben Novack, Jr. was born into a life of luxury and opulence. Heir to the legendary Fontainebleau hotel, he spent his childhood surrounded by some of the world’s biggest stars, including Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack, Elvis Presley, and Ann-Margret, who performed regularly at the Fontainebleau’s La Ronde Room. He sat by while his parents entertained presidents and movie stars, as they reigned over Miami Beach in the ‘50’s and ‘60’s, and when the family business went sour he became wealthy in his own right, founding a multi-million dollar business using connections he made at the Fontainebleau.

But Ben, Jr.’s luxurious, celebrity-studded lifestyle would end in another hotel room—a thousand miles away from the one where he grew up—when police found him bound up in duct tape, beaten to death.

 Seven years earlier, police found Novack in an eerily similar situation—when his wife Narcy duct-taped him to a chair for twenty-four hours and robbed him. Claiming it was a sex game, he never pressed charges and never followed through with a divorce. Now prosecutors claimed Narcy let the vicious killers into the room and watched as they beat her husband with dumbbells. They also suspected she was involved in the horrendous death of Novack’s mother, just three months before. But it would be Narcy’s own daughter who implicated her to the police—in this twisted case of passion, perversion, and paradise lost. 

On My Radar:

Dead Run: The Murder of a Lawman and the Greatest Manhunt of the Modern American West
by Dan Schultz
St. Martins Press
Hardcover

From the publisher website:

Evoking Krakauer’s Into the Wild, Dan Schultz tells the extraordinary true story of desperado survivalists, a brutal murder, and vigilante justice set against the harsh backdrop of the Colorado wilderness 

On a sunny May morning in 1998 in Cortez, Colorado, three desperados in a stolen truck opened fire on the town cop, shooting him twenty times; then they blasted their way past dozens of police cars and disappeared into 10,000 square miles of the harshest wilderness terrain on the North American continent. Self-trained survivalists, the outlaws eluded the most sophisticated law enforcement technology on the planet and a pursuit force that represented more than seventy-five local, state, and federal police agencies with dozens of swat teams, U.S. Army Special Forces, and more than five hundred officers from across the country. 

Dead Run is the first in-depth account of this sensational case, replete with overbearing local sheriffs, Native American trackers, posses on horseback, suspicion of vigilante justice and police cover-ups, and the blunders of the nation’s most exalted crime-fighters pursuing outlaws into territory in which only they could survive.