These are the 28 books you’ll want to read this fall

FICTION

Deanna Raybourn (Berkley Books, out Sept. 6)
Billie, Mary Alice, Helen, and Natalie have been elite contract killers for the past 40 years. Their skills are top-notch, but when someone tries to kill them, they realize they’re being put out to pasture — literally — and that their services are no longer needed. To come out of this alive, they need to band together and turn against their company — and assassinate the would-be assassins. 

Jonathan Ames (Mulholland Books, out Sept. 6)
Detective Happy Doll is back in business, if a bit worse for wear. When a young woman named Mary DeAngelo knocks on his door one night searching for her estranged mother, Doll realizes her mom is a woman, Ines, he once loved, only to have her vanish. Now Ines has made contact with Mary, only to vanish again. Unable to let sleeping dogs lie, Doll takes the case. 

Candice Carty-Williams (Simon & Schuster, out Sept. 13)
Dimple Pennington is a 30 year-old aspiring lifestyle influencer with a terrible boyfriend and a bunch of half-siblings she doesn’t really know. When a dramatic event brings them all together, they’re forced to connect with each other — and with their absent father Cyril.

Jasmine Guillory (Berkley, out Sept. 20)
Margot Noble is stressed out and needs a break from running the family winery. When she meets a handsome stranger named Luke and has a one night stand with him, it seems like the perfect escape. Until the winery’s newest hire walks in the next morning — and it’s Luke. Now Margot is Luke’s boss.

Kate Atkinson (Doubleday, out Sept. 27)
It is 1926, with Britain still recovering from World War I, and London has become the scene of  delirious, edgy new nightlife. The Queen of this new after-hours scene is Nellie Coker, determined to secure a place for her 6 children. But her Soho nightlife empire has plenty of enemies.  

Fredrik Backman (Atria Books, out Sept. 27)
The much anticipated conclusion to the popular Beartown series finds the town two years on from the event everyone is trying to forget. Maya and Benji have come home to see some of their closest friends. They discover how much the town has changed — in many ways, for good. But there’s an undercurrent beneath that could destroy the community. 

Laurie Lico Albanese (St. Martin’s Press, out Oct. 4) 
Isobel Gamble is a young seamstress who sets sail with her husband from Scotland to Massachusetts in the early 1800s. But almost as soon as they’ve arrived, her husband hops a departing ship as a medic, leaving her broke and alone in a strange new world. That’s when she meets a young Nathaniel Hawthorne. A rich reimagining of the woman who inspired Hester Prynne in “The Scarlet Letter.”

Russell Banks (Knopf, out Nov. 8)
Property speculator Harley Mann begins recording his life story in 1971, recounting his family’s migration down to the Florida swamplands — close to the future site of Disney World — to join a family of Shakers. A fascinating tale narrated over half a century. 

SE Boyd (Viking, out Nov. 8)
While filming his travel show “Last Call” in Belfast TV host John Doe is found dead in what appears to be a suicide. Almost immediately, people begin vying to control the narrative — from Doe’s agent Mia, calling in favors to uphold his legacy, to Katie, a flailing journalist who invents a story to get clicks, to chef Paolo, Doe’s closest friend and confidant, who suddenly finds himself involved with a Belfast hotel worker with secrets that might destroy them all. 

Lynn Steger Strong (Mariner Books, out Nov. 8)
Siblings Henry, Kate and Martin have gathered with their spouses in upstate New York to observe the first Christmas without their mother. The group is there, children under foot, to observe family rituals — but also to figure out what to do with their mother’s Florida house, her sole inheritance. 

Philippa Gregory (Atria Books, out Nov. 8)
In the 3rd book in Gregory’s Fairmile series, it’s 1685 and England is on the brink of a renewed civil war against the Stuart kings. Ned Ferryman has returned from America to join the Rebel Army, while his sister Alinor is on the side of the Queen. 

NONFICTION

Tom Dunkel (Hachette, out Oct. 11)
A fascinating look at the brave “White Knights” — a loose network of German military officers, diplomats, politicians, and civilians who risked their lives to undermine the Third Reich, from reporting troop movements to the Allies to plotting to assassinate Hitler. 

Matthew Delmont (Viking, out Oct. 18)
Over 1 million Black men and women served in World War II, with Black troops at Normandy, Iwo Jima, and the Battle of the Bulge. The war could not have been won without their contributions — yet when they returned to the US, they were denied housing and educational opportunities. A story of Black heroes and patriotism in the face of discrimination. 

Michael Seth Starr (Citadel Press, out Oct. 25)
Possibly the best insult comic of all time, Rickles was known for his lightning-fast put-downs over a career that spanned six decades. In the first biography of Rickles, Post TV editor Starr takes a look at the man behind the zinger. 

Michael Cecchi-Azzolina (St. Martin’s, out Dec. 6)
Michael Cecchi-Azzolina has manned the front of the room of some of New York City’s hottest restaurants, from Raoul’s in Soho to the casually elegant River Café to Keith McNally’s Minetta Tavern to Nolita’s Le Coucou. Fun behind-the-scenes stories and tales from New York are served up with all sorts of details on how the sausage is made. 

Joe Pompeo (William Morrow, out Sept. 13) 
In 1922, the bodies of Reverend Edward Hall and Eleanor Mills were found beneath a tree on an abandoned farm in New Brunswick, NJ, their bodies arranged in a suggestive pose. Hall was a well-known clergyman, and Mills a choir singer in his church, married to the sexton. The scandalous crime shocked locals and would become the crime of the century.

Nina Totenberg (Simon & Schuster, out Sept. 13)
NPR correspondent Totenberg reflects on a nearly 50-year friendship with Ruth Bader Ginsburg, beginning when Totenberg, then a reporter at the National Observer, called Ginsburg — not yet a Supreme Court justice — to ask her about a legal brief. 

Graham Boynton (St. Martin’s, out Oct. 11)
The definitive biography of photographer Peter Beard, a larger-than-life figure who did it all: From hunting big game to doing all the drugs to pursuing the world’s most beautiful women. When he died in 2020 after disappearing from his Montauk home, he remained a mystery even to those who had known him well. 

MEMOIR

Jamie Fiore Higgins (Simon & Schuster, out August 30)
Jamie Fiore Higgins came from a working class immigrant family — so when she landed a job at Goldman Sachs after college, it was viewed as a golden ticket. The hours were long and her mostly male coworkers were often sexist and rude, but the money made it worth it — for a while. A fascinating look at what it was like to be a woman in finance long before #MeToo. 

Jann Wenner (Little, Brown, out Sept. 13)
Sometimes called “the greatest editor of his generation,” the founder of Rolling Stone takes the reader inside a career that brought him into frequent contact with some of the great artists, musicians and politicians of our time. 

Dick Ebersol (Simon & Schuster, out Sept. 13)
From “Saturday Night Live” to “Sunday Night Football,” the Olympics, late night and more, if you’re thinking of an epic TV event that took place over the last half century, chances are high TV executive Dick Ebersol was somehow involved. A look at a unique career. 

Daniella Mestyanek Young (St. Martin’s Press, out Sept. 20)
Daniella Mestyanek Young was raised on a commune in Brazil, the daughter of a high-ranking leader in the religious cult The Children of God (also known as The Family.) At 15, fed up with all she was forbidden from doing, Daniella escaped to Texas, where she joined the US military. 

Cin Fabré (Henry Holt, out Sept. 20)
Growing up in The Bronx, Cin Fabre didn’t know anything about Wall Street. But she did know she would do whatever it took to escape a life of poverty, so when opportunity came in the form of a job at VTR Capital, she took it. It was 1990s Wall Street, and Cin pushed through to become the only Black female stock broker at her firm. But it came at a cost — and with plenty of tales of excess, to spare. 

Constance Wu (Scribner, out Oct. 4)
Growing up in the Virginia suburbs, Constance Wu was often told that “nice girls don’t make scenes.” She found her outlet in community theater, making big scenes on stage — and then going on to New York and a career in TV and film. A collection of honest, relatable essays. 

Ralph Macchio (Dutton, out Oct. 18)
Ralph Macchio has played a special role in the nation’s heart since he karate kicked his way to victory as Danny in the June 1984 release of “Karate Kid.” To the delight of Gen-X and others, he then reprised his role in the popular Netflix show, “Cobra Kai.” In this memoir, he reflects on the film, the role of a lifetime, and what it’s meant to him.

William Shatner (Atria, out Oct. 4)
Living legend William Shatner – never at a loss for words – reflects on what he’s learned in 9 decades, the joy of exploration in our daily lives, and the importance of finding things that make you say, “Wow.” 

Paulina Porizkova (The Open Field, out Nov. 15)
Born in Cold War Czechoslovakia, Porizkova rose to fame, eventually becoming one of the highest paid models in the world and the face of Estee Lauder in 1989. When she was cast in a Cars video, it was love at first sight for her and Ric Ocasek — the opening chapter in decades of marriage, children, betrayal and divorce. Raw and candid essays. 

Edward Enninful (Penguin Press, out Sept. 6)
The first Black editor-in-chief of British Vogue shares his incredible journey from working class gay refugee to the halls of Conde Nast.