October 19th, 2026
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On Top Shelf
📚 New Books This Week 📰 Latest News 🎪 Reader Games 👻 🎃 Halloween Contest Giveaways 🎃

October Reads Worth Falling For

Danger, desire, second chances, and unexpected romanceβ€”discover this month’s Fresh Fiction Featured Books.

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A poisoned cousin, a five-year-old's life, and a family with too many secrets.


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Supernatural sparks fly
between a bookseller
& her hard-boiled ghost.


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If Her Highness thinks I’ll let another man claim her and my child, she’s lost her royal mind. Sophaya’s mine.


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She found a body. Then she started asking the wrong questions.


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He ghosted her ten years ago. Now she’s stuck with him for Christmas.


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She’s the lady everyone overlooks. He’s the prince who can’t look away.

Death and the Penguin by Andrey Kurkov

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Also by Andrey Kurkov:

The Lost Soldiers, June 2026
Hardcover / e-Book / audiobook
The Stolen Heart, May 2025
Hardcover / e-Book
Jimi Hendrix Live in Lviv, August 2024
Paperback / e-Book
The Case of the General's Thumb, March 2012
Hardcover / e-Book
Penquin Lost, October 2011
Paperback / e-Book
Death and the Penguin, June 2011
Paperback

DEATH AND THE PENGUIN
By: Andrey Kurkov

Melville House Publishing
June 2011
On Sale: June 7, 2011
240 pages
ISBN: 1935554557
EAN: 9781935554554
Paperback
Add to Wish List

Mystery | Suspense

In the widely hailed prequel to Penguin Lost, aspiring writer Viktor Zolotaryov leads a down-and-out life in poverty-and-violence-wracked Kievβ€”he’s out of work and his only friend is a penguin, Misha, that he rescued when the local zoo started getting rid of animals. Even more nerve-wracking: a local mobster has taken a shine to Misha and wants to keep borrowing him for events.

But Viktor thinks he’s finally caught a break when he lands a well-paying job at the Kiev newspaper writing β€œliving obituaries” of local dignitariesβ€”articles to be filed for use when the time comes. The only thing is, it seems the time always comes as soon as Viktor writes the article. Slowly understanding that his own life may be in jeopardy, Viktor also realizes that the only thing that might be keeping him alive is his penguin.

Media Buzz

Fresh Air - NPR - April 24, 2012