Connecticut authors turned out many books this year. Here is a sampling of what they published in 2015.
FICTION
Matthew Dicks’ novel “The Perfect Comeback of Caroline Jacobs” (St. Martin’s, $24.99) describes the unexpected effects of dealing with a longtime hurt.
Kit Reed’s novel, “Where” (Tor,$25.99), is about people in a South Carolina town who disappear and turn up in a Western desert.
Nan Rossiter’s “Nantucket” (Kensington, $15), is set on the island, where a long-ago romance and secrets are revealed.
Rachel Basch’s novel about a professor who encounters a student with gender identity issues is “The Listener” (Pegasus, $24.95).
Dan Pope’s novel, “Housebreaking,” (Simon & Schuster, $25) set in suburban Hartford, is about adultery and other dark behavior entangling two families.
Melissa Tantaquidgeon Zobel tells the story of a teenage girl of Mohegan and Wabanaki heritage in “Wabanaki Blues” (Poisoned Pen Press, $10.95)
James R. Benn’s 10th Billy Boyle World War II mystery series continues with “The White Ghost” (Soho, $26.95), about a young PT boat skipper in the Pacific who may be involved in a murder.
Former Courant reporter Cindy L. Rodriguez’s debut novel, “When Reason Breaks” (Bloomsbury USA Childrens, $17.99), is about two girls with deep personal problems and a love of Emily Dickinson’s poetry.
Former UConn journalism professor Timothy Kenny sets “Far Country, Stories from Abroad and Other Places” (Bottom Dog Press, $18) in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Kosovo, the U.S. and elsewhere.
Suzanne Palmieri’s “The Witch of Bourbon Street” (St. Martin’s Griffin, $15.99),is about a Louisiana family rumored to have supernatural powers and murders in its past.
Beatriz Williams published two novels about the Schuyler sisters and their difficult relationships: “Tiny Little Thing” and “Along the Infinite Sea” (both G.P. Putnam’s Sons, $26.95).
F. Mark Granato’s “Unleashed” (Createspace, $18.99) involves greedy corporations, international intrigue and an executive who discovers a treasonous plot.
Psychiatrist Mark Rubinstein’s novel, “The Lovers’ Tango” (Thunder Lake Press, $12.99), is about an author whose book’s plot parallels his lover’s death, raising suspicions.
Cheryl Della Pietra, who as a young woman was famous gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson’s assistant, published “Gonzo Girl” (Touchstone, $24.99, about a young woman who is a famous gonzo journalist’s assistant.
Karen Olson began a new series with “Hidden”(Severn House, $28.95), a thriller about a former computer hacker now living on Block Island who is threatened by her former partner in crime.
Chris Knopf’s latest Sam Acquillo Hamptons Mysteries novel is “Cop Job” (The Permanent Press, $29), in which Sam and lawyer pal Jackie solve the murder of their friend, a disabled Iraq war vet.
Lucy Burdette, (pen name of Roberta Isleib), has a new Key West Food Critic Mystery, “Fatal Reservations” (NAL, $7.99).
Romance novelist Kristan Higgins published “If You Only Knew” (HQN Books, $14.95), a story of sisters, shaky marriages and secrets.
Jack Chaucer (aka John Cullen of Waterbury’s Republican-American), published “Nikki Blue: Source of Trouble” (CreateSpace, $13.99), about a young woman who once foiled a shooting and gets involved with ex-Scientologists.
Ann Leary and Dani Shapiro are among 24 contributors of essays about how knitting can transform and heal called “Knitting Pearls” (Norton, $25.95), edited by Ann Hood.
Charles Dubows “Girl in the Moonlight” (Morrow, $24.99) is a tale of passion in the world of fine art, big money and high society.
NONFICTION AND MEMOIR
Bill Griffith, creator of the Zippy the Pinhead comic strip, published a graphic novel, “Invisible Ink: My Mother’s Love Affair With A Famous Cartoonist” (Fantagraphics, $29.99).
David Leff’s “Maple Sugaring: Keeping It Real in New England,” (Wesleyan University Press, $24.95) explores its history and technology.
Former Courant editor and reporter Rinker Buck retakes a family trek with his brother in “The Oregon Trail: A New American Journey” (Simon & Schuster, $28).
Former Courant sportswriter Jeff Goldberg explores a famous sports feud in “Unrivaled: UConn, Tennessee and the Twelve Years that Transcended Women’s Basketball” (University of Nebraska Press, $27.95).
A.E. Hotchner turned his last conversation with Ernest Hemingway before his suicide into “Hemingway in Love: His Own Story” (St. Martin’s Press, $19.99).
Amy Chua and Jed Rubenfeld wrote the controversial “The Triple Package: How Three Unlikely Traits Explain the Rise and Fall of Cultural Groups in America” (Penguin, $27.95).
Guitarist and record producer Steve Katz’s memoir is “Blood, Sweat and My Rock ‘n’ Roll Years: Is Steve Katz a Rock Star?” (Lyons,$26.95).
Gregg Mangan explores our colorful past in “On This Day in Connecticut History” (History Press, $19.99).
Judge Jon Blue reveals early Connecticut jurisprudence in “The Case of the Piglet’s Paternity: Trials from the New Haven Colony, 1639-1663” (Wesleyan, $22.95).
Eric Lehman shows terror has a long history in “Homegrown Terror: Benedict Arnold and the Burning of New London” (Wesleyan, $30).
Dione Longley and Buck Zaidel’s “Heroes for All Time: Connecticut Civil War Soldiers Tell Their Stories” (Wesleyan, $40) is based on letters, diaries and photographs.
John Banks explores the “Hidden History of Connecticut Union Soldiers” (Arcadia, $21.99).
Former Courant reporter David Drury shows how Hartford’s manufacturing power and citizen’s sacrifices helped achieve victory in “Hartford in World War I” (History Press, $21.99).
Peter Lion’s “American St. Nick — A True Story” (Plain Sight, $12.99) tells how American soldiers in World War II gave children in Luxembourg a beautiful Christmas.
Ryan D’Agostino recounts the horrific Pettit family murders in “The Rising: Murder, Heartbreak, and the Power of Human Resilience in an American Town” (Crown, $26).
Kaitlin Roig-DeBellis, who saved her class during the Sandy Hook School massacre, writes about overcoming despair in “Choosing Hope: Moving Forward from Life’s Darkest Hours” (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, $26.95).
Pyschotherapist Katie Hurley, who grew up in West Hartford, explains how to raise joyful children in a stressful world in “The Happy Kid Handbook” (Tarcher, $16.95).
WTNH-TV’s Ann Nyberg’s personal history is “Slices of Life: A Storyteller’s Diary” (Homebound, $16.95)
Sally Allen’s “Unlocking Worlds: A Reading Companion for Book Lovers” (Griffins Wharf, $15) recommends good books and ways to read wisely.
Travel writer Don George published a collection, “The Way of Wanderlust” (Travelers’ Tales Guides, $16.95).
