FICTION
1. The 19th Christmas, by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro. (Little, Brown) In the 19th installment of the "Women's Murder Club" series, detective Lindsay Boxer and company take on a fearsome criminal.
2. Where the Crawdads Sing, by Delia Owens. (Putnam) A woman who survived alone in a marsh becomes a murder suspect.
3. What Happens in Paradise, by Elin Hilderbrand. (Little, Brown) In the sequel to "Winter in Paradise," Irene Steele visits the island of St. John to get to the bottom of the mysterious life and death of her husband.
4. Ninth House, by Leigh Bardugo. (Flatiron) After mysteriously surviving a multiple homicide, Galaxy Stern comes face to face with dark magic, murder and more at Yale University.
5. The Institute, by Stephen King. (Scribner) Children with special talents are abducted and sequestered in an institution where the sinister staff seeks to extract their gifts through harsh methods.
6. The Water Dancer, by Ta-Nehisi Coates. (One World) A young man who was gifted with a mysterious power becomes part of a war between slavers and the enslaved.
7. The Dutch House, by Ann Patchett. (Harper) A sibling relationship is impacted when the family goes from poverty to wealth and back again over the course of many decades.
8. The Testaments, by Margaret Atwood. (Nan A. Talese/Doubleday) In a sequel to "The Handmaid's Tale," old secrets bring three women together as the Republic of Gilead's theocratic regime shows signs of decay.