And here we are: the last week of July, where paperback books slouch into the store, where publishers take a deep breath in preparation for a pre-Fall Season push, and where the air is so warm that pages curl merely by being looked at. Well, we're going to keep looking, dear books, so hold your ink and try not to burst into flames. 
 

Let's start with Mary McMyne's The Book of Gothel, which is the story of a young woman who loses her mother, finds a new friend in the forest, and discovers many dark secrets. It's a delightfully gothic retelling of Rapunzel, and is bound to charm those who enjoy the spells cast by fairy tales. 
 

And speaking of fan favorites, Junji Ito's new manga collection is out this week. This one is called The Liminal Zone, and it contains four transcendently terrifying tales. If you are familiar with Ito's work, you know what you are in for. If you aren't, this might a good place to start, though you might cover your eyes more often than not. Plan accordingly. 
 

And speaking of dark manga, volume 11 of Kentaro Miura's Berserk is out this week. In this volume, Guts the Black Swordsman must face an army of abominations, and even his berserker army might not be enough to best the bestial bad guys, especially when the other team pulls the Leviathan Astral Form! trick. Ooh, this volume also comes with three color fold-out posters. 
 

And speaking of included extras, Joanne Fluke's Apple Turnover Murder, the thirteenth installment in the Hannah Swensen series, is out in trade paperback this week. This time around, Hannah must figure out how to make a turnover, step in as a magician's assistant for a fundraiser's talent show, and figure out why local community professor Bradford Ramsey (who, by the way, she used to date) is dead with a turnover in his hand. Good thing that Hannah is a top-notch amateur sleuth when she's not busy baking! 
 

Is it too early to mention Halloween? Oh, we won't. Except we're thinking about it already, because we kinda sorta need to for bookstore planning. Pretend we're not, but hey, while we're talking about dressing up, don't forget that we're celebrating Harry Potter's birthday on Sunday. Shove your kids into their Potter-mania outfits and come on down. We'll have treats and air-conditioning. 

We know. We could have stopped at "air-conditioning," but let's make it seem more fancy than that, okay? 
 

Meanwhile, Stephen King's If It Bleeds is out in the convenient pocket format this week. This one contains four novellas, which is a long-standing tradition on King's part, and we find that this length really makes King's true mastery of narrative tension and atmosphere really shine. 
 

And speaking of atmosphere, we missed Julia Armfield's Our Wives Under the Sea a few weeks ago. It's story of a woman who has returned from the bottom of the sea, though maybe not all of her has come back. Armfield's exploration of change and identity is filled with fantastic writing, and Our Wives Under the Sea is one of those books that will fill your heart with salt water. Oh, the tears will flow. 
 

And speaking of characters that will stick with you, Gina Chen has written Violet Made of Thorns, which is the story of a prophet and a liar and the trouble she gets into. There are those who want to strip her of her power and those who are undeniably attractive and, funnily enough, that Venn Diagram overlap is the complicated heart of the book. Courtly politics! Savage wit! Forbidden romance! Sign us up!
 

And speaking of second world fantasy that we like, Elizabeth Lim's Six Crimson Cranes is out in paperback this week. Our young heroine has been banished from the kingdom and cursed with silence. Every time she speaks, one of her brothers will be put to death. Shiori must figure out how to undo the dark conspiracy that threatens the kingdom, and the only friends she's got left are a paper bird, a mercurial dragon, and that annoying boy who keeps hanging around and making moon eyes at her. 
 

And speaking of paperback releases, Nick Petrie's The Runaway is out in paperback this week. Petrie's Peter Ash series has been competing with Lee Child's Jack Reacher series on our shelves for awhile now, and The Runaway is yet another solid installment of Petrie's One Man, One Job, One Punch take on the lone hero trope. These are good, dear readers. So very good. 
 

And speaking of authors we like, Natasha Pulley is back this week with The Half Life of Valery K. Pulley has a penchant for crafting really marvelous worlds that are almost ours, and in The Half Life of Valery K, she builds a version of Soviet Russia during the Cold War where strange experiments in an unnamed town lead to even stranger revelations. Oh, this one will suck you in as Dr. K attempts to learn City 40's radioactive secret. 

Oh, and yeah, we almost forgot. 
 

Look what came out this week! The author sums it up as: "Wherein we learn more about the Judge's past, we get to meet the dog, and there's a bit of an issue with a hole in the ground." Which isn't very illuminating, so perhaps we should ask the other booksellers: Rich says it doesn't have the train sequence he was promised; Beckey is delighted to have a matching pair on her shelf; Heather says she'll wait for the movie; Jen says it isn't as good as Charles Portis's True Grit (which is totally fair); Vickie's new enough that she doesn't want to choose a side in this discussion (also fair); and Evelyn says it's about damn time. 

So, you know: your mileage may vary. Plan accordingly. 

And finally, Richard Osman's The Man Who Died Twice is out in paperback this week, which means that we're about to get another Thursday Murder Club Mystery book. Hooray! In the meantime, catch up on the shenanigans of our cold case solving septuagenarians. First an old friend shows up, and then the bodies start piling up. Will these inquisitive retirees make it to the weekend? You know you want to find out. 

And that, dear friends, is the week in books. Stay cool. And don't forget to bring your patronuses (patroni?) in for a visit on Sunday.