FICTION
1. The Guardians, by John Grisham. (Doubleday) Cullen Post, a lawyer and Episcopal minister, antagonizes some ruthless killers when he takes on a wrongful conviction case.
2. Where the Crawdads Sing, by Delia Owens. (Putnam) In a quiet town on the North Carolina coast in 1969, a young woman who survived alone in the marsh becomes a murder suspect.
3. Criss Cross, by James Patterson. (Little, Brown) The 27th book in the "Alex Cross" series. Copycat crimes make the detective question whether an innocent man was executed.
4. 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.
5. A Minute to Midnight, by David Baldacci. (Grand Central) When Atlee Pine returns to her hometown to investigate her sister's kidnapping from 30 years ago, she winds up tracking a potential serial killer.
6. Blue Moon, by Lee Child. (Delacorte) Jack Reacher gets caught up in a turf war between Ukrainian and Albanian gangs.
7. Twisted Twenty-Six, by Janet Evanovich. (Putnam) The 26th book in the "Stephanie Plum" series. A New Jersey gangster's associates go after a bounty hunter's widowed grandmother.
8. The Rise of Magicks, by Nora Roberts. (St. Martin's) The third book in the "Chronicles of the One" series. Fallon Swift goes up against an old foe.