Atlanta authors figure prominently in the AJC’s selection of Southern books to read this summer. They range from veteran bestselling authors like Mary Kay Andrews, Emily Giffin and Karin Slaughter to newbies like Evan S. Porter and everyone in between like Katherine Wood (formerly Katherine St. John) and Lo Patrick. And while the summer starts with some fun and frothy beach reads, the books tend to get darker as the season progresses, closing out with murder — both fiction and nonfiction.
Credit: St. Martin's Press
Credit: St. Martin's Press
“Summers at the Saint”
Mary Kay Andrews serves up an effervescent dish of summertime fun and intrigue in her latest New York Times bestseller set on the Georgia coast. Plucky Traci Eddings has inherited her husband’s family’s grand hotel, the Saint Cecilia, commonly called “The Saint.” But the hotel has fallen into disrepair, and Traci is determined to restore it to its former glory. Meanwhile, she has to deal with an unscrupulous brother-in-law out to thwart her efforts, new information that comes to light about a long-ago drowning and a death close to home. There’s one bright spot, though: a romantic interest! (St. Martin’s Press, $29, out now)
Credit: Penguin Random House
Credit: Penguin Random House
“Dad Camp”
In Atlanta author Evan S. Porter’s debut novel, John is a devoted father to his 11-year-old daughter Avery. But now that she’s approaching her first year of middle school, her hugs and giggles have turned into eye rolls and a bad attitude. To strengthen their fraying bond, he forces her to join him in a week of father-daughter summer camp where everything goes wrong before it eventually turns out all right. (Dutton, $28, June 11)
Credit: Northwestern University Press
Credit: Northwestern University Press
“The Curators”
Maggie Nye drew heavily upon the archives of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution for her historical novel set during the Leo Frank murder trial in the summer of 1915. In a Jewish community on Atlanta’s Southside, a group of teenage girlfriends become infatuated with Frank while also secretly identifying with the teenage girl he’s accused of killing. After Frank’s death, the girls create a golem in his image that quickly escapes their control as Nye blends magical realism into her fact-based tale. (Northwestern University Press, $24, June 15)
Credit: Penguin Random House
Credit: Penguin Random House
“Night Flyer”
Tiya Miles, who won the 2021 National Book Award for “All That She Carried,” delivers an enlightening biography of American hero Harriet Tubman, who was responsible for leading hundreds of enslaved people to freedom. In Miles’ telling, Tubman’s religious faith and knowledge of the natural world were essential to her life and her success. (Penguin Random House, $30, June 18)
Credit: W.W. Norton
Credit: W.W. Norton
“There Is Happiness”
Mississippi native Brad Watson was a critically acclaimed author revered for his ability to get inside his characters and weave together dark humor and pathos with a subtle lyricism that resonates. This posthumously published collection of new and selected short stories is highly anticipated. (W.W. Norton, $29.99, June 16)
Credit: Sourcebooks Landmark
Credit: Sourcebooks Landmark
“The Night the River Wept”
After losing a child to miscarriage, Arlene gets a part-time job at the local police station tagging evidence in Atlanta author Lo Patrick’s new novel. During Arlene’s downtime she reads cold case files and becomes obsessed with the murder of three young brothers and the suicide of the prime suspect. With the help of the police station receptionist and members of the suicide victim’s family, she sets out to solve the crime. (Sourcebooks Landmark, $16.99, July 2)
Credit: Ballantine Books
Credit: Ballantine Books
“The Summer Pact”
Grief, the power of friendship and finding your true purpose are the themes of Atlanta author Emily Giffin’s new novel about four friends — Hannah, Lainey, Tyson and Summer — who meet their freshman year of college and become inseparable. But during final exams senior year, Hannah is too hungover to respond to an urgent text from Summer, who is later found dead from suicide. As a result, the three remaining friends make a pact to be there for each other no matter what if the need arises. It does 10 years later when Hannah discovers her husband is cheating on her, and the three friends take off for Italy where it turns out they’re all facing crossroads of their own. (Ballantine Books, $30, July 9)
Credit: Ballantine Books
Credit: Ballantine Books
“Lady Killer”
Set in the Greek isles, the latest thriller by Katherine Wood finds Atlanta lawyer Abby on her way to Sweden on a trip paid for by her lifelong friend, Gia, a wealthy heiress who’s celebrating her 30th birthday. But when Abby arrives, there’s no sign of Gia. Concerned for her friend’s safety, Abby flies to Gia’s Greek villa, which appears deserted. What she finds instead is a manuscript Gia left behind that describes events leading up to her disappearance. Unsure how much of the manuscript is fact or fiction, Abby uses it to try to find Gia before it’s too late. (Ballantine Books, $29, July 9)
Credit: Simon & Schuster
Credit: Simon & Schuster
“A Devil Went Down to Georgia”
On Jan. 16, 1987, socialite Lita Sullivan answered the front door of her Buckhead mansion and was greeted by a man who presented her with a box of pink roses and then shot her dead. Ten years later the hit man was captured, but the person who hired him, Sullivan’s estranged husband, fled the country. In 2002 he was captured in Thailand and is now serving a life sentence in a Georgia prison. Author Deb Landau began covering the story for Atlanta magazine in the early 2000s, and this book is the first full account of the case, including all the legal battles and twists and turns that ensued. (Pegasus Crime, $28.95, Aug. 6)
Credit: William Morrow
Credit: William Morrow
“The Queen City Detective Agency”
Private investigator Clementine Baldwin is an ex-cop who must navigate the corruption and racism wrought by the Dixie Mafia in Meridian, Mississippi, as she tries to find the killer of a bereaved woman’s son in this Southern noir novel by Snowden Wright. (William Morrow, $30, Aug. 13)
Credit: Ballantine Books
Credit: Ballantine Books
“The Devil at his Elbow”
Veteran Wall Street Journal reporter Valerie Bauerlein, considered an expert on the Alex Murdaugh murders, peels back the many layers of this Shakespearean drama that gripped the nation for nearly four years, beginning with Mallory Beach’s death in a boat crash in 2019 and concluding with Murdaugh’s conviction for killing his wife and son in 2023. Bauerlein’s soup-to-nuts account promises to deliver insight into the man whose unchecked wealth and power led to his spectacular downfall and a series of tragedies. (Ballantine Books, $30, Aug. 20)
Credit: William Morrow
Credit: William Morrow
“This Is Why We Lied”
Everybody’s favorite GBI Investigator Will Trent and medical examiner Sara Linton are back, and they can’t even take a honeymoon without running into trouble in Atlanta author Karin Slaughter’s newest thriller. The newlyweds are staying at the McAlpine Lodge, an off-the-grid mountaintop resort, when the manager is murdered. Unfortunately, a storm is raging and the only access road is washed out, so no one can leave. It’s up to Will and Sara to figure out who among the guests and the McAlpine family might be the killer before they strike again. (William Morrow, $32, Aug. 20)
About the Author
