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Readers' Most Anticipated Books of March
The publishing industry never sleeps, except kinda-sorta in the week around Christmas. As such, new books flood into the market each week, year-round. Now and again, a batch of titles comes in that reminds us how vast the collective literary imagination is. March 2022 will be remembered as such a month—lots of cool stuff here.
For instance, here are some of the new books coming in March: Rebecca Sale delivers a time-travel story in Italy with One Italian Summer. Melissa Fu offers up a curious immigrant story starting in China, circa 1938, with Peach Blossom Spring. And John Scalzi posits the existence of a parallel Earth teeming with giant monsters in The Kaiju Preservation Society. Also on tap: competitive magicians, female snipers, and memory prosthetics.
Each month the Goodreads editorial team takes a look at the books that are being published in the U.S., readers' early reviews, and how many readers are adding these books to their Want to Read shelves (which is how we measure anticipation). We use the information to curate this list of hottest new releases.
New from the author of The Sun Down Motel, this terminally twisty mystery starts with a 1977 murder in Oregon—murders, actually. Plural. Fast-forward 20 years: Shea Collins is running a true-crime website known as the Book of Cold Cases, inspired by her own dreadful experiences as a child. When Shea gets a chance to interview the exonerated suspect of the 1977 murders, she finds herself spending time in a thoroughly creepy mansion. Things move that aren’t supposed to, and there’s a spooky little girl in the window.
Author Rebecca Serle (In Five Years, The Dinner List) returns with an intriguing tale of Italian adventure and time-space paradoxes. A long-awaited holiday in Italy takes a turn for the weird when Katy runs into her mother in the small town of Positano, Italy. The strange part? Mom is dead, and this younger version of her appears to be adrift in time. It seems that Mom took a trip to the exact same small town 30 years ago. Is this just grief, or something much stranger?
The debut novel from British author Jo Harkin takes a literary approach vector to several abiding speculative fiction concerns. It looks great, frankly. Tell Me an Ending profiles a memory-removal clinic in near future London, several patients thereof, and the staff psychologist who begins to question certain business priorities. Is it possible that these enormous multinational corporations don’t have our best interests at heart? The concept of memory prosthetics and manipulation is an emerging theme in recent sci-fi. It’s clearly something that freaks us out on the societal level.
As the evocative book cover art suggests, Secret Identity brings elements of noirish mystery to a particular setting—the 1970s comic book industry, to be precise. Author and veteran comics creator Alex Segura spins a story of cutthroat competition turned literal: Rookie writer Carmen Valdez gets tangled in a murder mystery when her pioneering female superhero—the Lethal Lynx!—becomes a surprise sensation. Secret Identity is recommended for those who appreciate old-school comics and hard-boiled crime fiction.
Inspired by her own father’s experiences, Melissa Fu’s Peach Blossom Spring is a story of modern China as told through the fortunes of one tenacious family. In 1938, young mother Meilin and her four-year-old son, Renshu, are forced to flee before the advancing Japanese army. Many years later, Renshu has settled in America under the name Henry Dao, with a daughter of his own who is desperate to learn about her family heritage. Fu’s novel explores the various ways in which stories knit families together.
Ever get the feeling that there’s something magical about maps? Nell Young has that feeling all the time. Cartography is Nell’s passion and her heritage—her father is one of the great map scholars of the age. But when the elder Dr. Young is found dead in the New York Public Library, Nell discovers that some maps are deadlier than others. Speculative fiction specialist Peng Shepherd (The Book of M) weaves elements of fantasy, sci-fi, mystery, and thriller into The Cartographers. Fans of Joe Hill and V.E. Schwab should dig this one.
Runaway winner of this month’s Most Compelling Book Title Award, The Kaiju Preservation Society is the latest from sci-fi author John Scalzi (the Interdependency series). Those already familiar with the term Kaiju will appreciate the story line, which concerns giant dinosaur-scale creatures that roam an alternate Earth where humans have been removed from the equation. Turns out the planet runs a lot more smoothly that way. Bonus trivia: Scalzi is former president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.
When Black reality-TV star Desiree Pierce is found dead in the Bronx, the news cycle lights up for half a day, then everyone moves on. That doesn’t sit well with Lena Scott, Desiree’s estranged sister, who refuses to accept the official story of the incident. Recommended for fans of Megan Miranda and Jessica Knoll, Kellye Garrett’s Like a Sister is being heralded as state-of-the-art contemporary thriller writing. Bonus trivia: Author Garrett is a former writer with the CBS police procedural series Cold Case and cofounder of the authors' association Crime Writers of Color.
Based on a true story—which is remarkable when you hear the story—Kate Quinn’s The Diamond Eye looks to be mandatory reading for fans of World War II–era historical fiction. Mila Pavlichenko, a quiet history student from Kiev, becomes the world’s deadliest female sniper when she’s ordered to the eastern front to fight the Nazis. Known as Lady Death, Pavlichenko eventually becomes a kind of goodwill ambassador to the U.S., where she forms an unlikely friendship with First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. Pretty good story!
In Olivie Blake’s intriguing new novel, The Atlas Six, the world’s greatest magicians are tasked with preserving and advancing knowledge from the greatest civilizations in history. Competition, however, is fierce. Six new candidates are mustered by the mysterious Atlas Blakely; five will be initiated, one will be eliminated. Among the hopefuls: a mind reader, a crime kingpin, an insanely wealthy heir, and a pair of sworn enemies. Good times!
One of the season’s most anticipated books, Ancestor Trouble is a unique piece of work. Debut author Maud Newton dives into the deep end of her family history using genealogy services and traditional historical sleuthing. The results are rather spectacular. It seems Grandpa was married 13 times and was shot by at least one of his wives. Another ancestor was an accused witch in Puritan-era Massachusetts. Oh, and Mom performed exorcisms in the living room. Newton has delivered a compelling investigation into genetics, epigenetics, and intergenerational trauma.
Which new releases are you looking forward to reading? Let's talk books in the comments!
Check out more recent articles, including:
March's Most Anticipated New YA Novels
March's Hottest New Romances
Bendy Reading! Check Out These 30 New Paperbacks
Check out more recent articles, including:
March's Most Anticipated New YA Novels
March's Hottest New Romances
Bendy Reading! Check Out These 30 New Paperbacks
Comments Showing 1-15 of 15 (15 new)
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Emma
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Feb 28, 2022 02:09PM
but… The atlas six came out a while ago, it just got a new cover… did she re-write it or something?
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Emma, I think it is being republished from self pub to one of the main stream publishers
My additions:Sara Mueller - The Bone Orchard
Kelly Barnhill - The Ogress and the Orphans
Matthew Lyons - A Black and Endless Sky
Peter Swanson - Nine Lives
V.E. Schwab - Gallant
Sarah Tolmie - All the Horses of Iceland
Michael Aronovitz - The Sculptor
Catriona Ward - Sundial
Anything fun & new in Non-fiction?
my additions!Crowbones
Gallant
A Far Wilder Magic
Blood Scion
From Dust, a Flame
The Bone Orchard
Wild and Wicked Things
A Magic Steeped in Poison
A Forgery of Roses
Jim wrote: "My additions:Sara Mueller - The Bone Orchard
Kelly Barnhill - The Ogress and the Orphans
Matthew Lyons - A Black and Endless Sky
Peter Swanson - Nine Lives
V.E. Schwab - Gallant
Sarah Tolmie - Al..."
Sarah Tolmie was one of my grad school profs! I had no idea she was a novelist. Intrigued!
Looking forward to Scalzi but why isn't The War of Two Queens in here? At midnight when it shows up on Kindles a scream will be heard round the Earth!
Emma wrote: "but… The atlas six came out a while ago, it just got a new cover… did she re-write it or something?"Different regions have different publication dates and different covers. Maybe, the book you are talking about was published earlier with a different cover.
I can’t wait to read One Italian Summer. Same author as In 5 Years!
Emma wrote: "but… The atlas six came out a while ago, it just got a new cover… did she re-write it or something?"The new "edition" is because the book has been picked up by a publisher, she self-published it previously
Just once I'd like to see you show exciting NON-fiction books coming out. You know that more non-fiction books are sold right?
Her Hidden Genius by Marie Benedict
May I suggest a new non-fiction book The Vegetable Grows and the Lion Roars: My Peace Corps Service? It’s a memoir about one Peace Corps Volunteer’s experiences in the Ivory Coast, Africa in the 1960s. The powerful book offers a fascinating glimpse into what it was like to be a Peace Corps Volunteer in the early days of the program.
Gary wrote: "May I suggest a new non-fiction book The Vegetable Grows and the Lion Roars: My Peace Corps Service? It’s a memoir about one Peace Corps Volunteer’s experiences in the Ivory Coast, Africa in the 19..."—-Sounds like a Great Book! Thanks for the “heads up”!!
I am looking forward to reading The Book of Cold Cases
