The Reese’s Book Club May 2026 Pick!
“This book feels like a secret I’m not supposed to share . . . but it’s too good not to! Set in New York’s art world, full of lies, money, and very messy choices, our May Pick is The Fine Art of Lying by Alexandra Andrews." —Reese Witherspoon
In the beginning, there was art.
It was Clare Bast’s love of art that saved her from a bleak, predictable life in upstate New York, and drew her to the cultured world of Manhattan’s Upper East Side where she met Jed, her doting, affluent husband.
Despite her best efforts—including a half-finished PhD, abandoned when her daughter Sadie was born—Clare secretly can’t help but feel like an imposter in Jed’s one-percent, Park-Avenue life.
When the well-connected wife of Jed’s new boss introduces her to influential friends—a curator here, a gallerist there, an aficionado abroad—Clare feels an essential part of herself coming alive again. And when she discovers that an important work painted by the subject of her unfinished dissertation is hanging in the brownstone of a seductively attractive dealer, she believes fate is leading her where she belongs . . . until she finds herself at the scene of a gruesome murder and a stolen masterpiece. Caught in the perfectly wrong place at the perfectly wrong time, every clue the investigation uncovers points back to her.
Suddenly, Clare is trapped inside a dark and treacherous art world filled with unscrupulous dealers and international criminals. What, exactly, has she gotten herself into . . . and how is she going to get herself, and her family, out?
More Praise for The Fine Art of Lying
“The Fine Art of Lying is propulsive from start to finish. Set against the backdrop of the New York art world, a love affair leads to a mysterious murder and a twist you won't see coming. Alexandra Andrews delivers with this riveting mystery.” —Laura Dave
“Ruthless socialites, international intrigue, a torrid affair, a shocking murder, and a baffling art heist? Yes, please. With her playful, lightning-paced new mystery, Alexandra Andrews is monied Manhattan’s very own Agatha Christie.” —Ada Calhoun
“A wildly entertaining novel about art and ambition, money and greed, love and sex and betrayal and loyalty, plus for good measure theft and forgery and murder, with a fantastic finale.” —Chris Pavone
“Alfred Hitchcock is long gone and so, sadly, not able to mount a film version of Alexandra Andrews’ psychological thriller, The Fine Art of Lying. But with its privileged, extraordinarily rich Manhattan bluebloods, insights into the contemporary art market and, most essential, torridly illicit sexual couplings, Lying leads with the ingredients that served the Master of Suspense so well in, for instance, Dial M for Murder.” —Boston Herald
“Andrews entwines the language and imagery of color, texture, and art throughout this taut and well-written thriller. . . . A mystery bound up in astute social satire.” —Kirkus (starred review)
“. . . gripping . . . . Andrews turns her gimlet eye on the lives and lies of New York’s ultrawealthy to riotously entertaining effect. Readers won’t be able to put this down.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Who Is Maud Dixon?
A Best Book of the Year — The New York Times, NPR, TIME, New York Post, Entertainment Weekly and more.
Florence Darrow has always felt she was destined for greatness, but after a disastrous affair with her married boss, she starts to doubt herself. All that changes when she sets off for Morocco with her new boss, the celebrated but reclusive author Maud Dixon. Amidst the colorful streets of Marrakesh and the wind-swept beaches of the coast, Florence begins to feel she’s leading the sort of interesting, cosmopolitan life she deserves.
But when she wakes up in the hospital after a terrible car accident, with no memory of the previous night—and no sign of Maud—a dangerous idea begins to take form. . .
“Who Is Maud Dixon? has enough twists and turns (really good ones!) to make you dizzy for a week. Dizzy with joy! By the end of the book you’ll start wondering if author Alexandra Andrews might be a murderer herself.” —James Patterson
More Praise for Who Is Maud Dixon?
“Stylish and sharp, with wicked hairpin turns, Who Is Maud Dixon? is part Patricia Highsmith, part All About Eve and pure fun.” —Maria Semple
“Who is Maud Dixon? is clever, cunning, and diabolical in the best possible way. Anyone longing for a good old-fashioned thrill need look no further.” —Ann Patchett
“Who is Maud Dixon? channels the spirit of Patricia Highsmith at her finest: Alexandra Andrews’ deliciously witty, surprising and sly novel will keep you riveted to the last page.” —Claire Messud
“A Highsmithian and Hitchcockian mashup about egos in every sense of the word, Who is Maud Dixon? Never sacrifices graceful prose and acute insights for its breakneck pace. “Unputdownable” has become overused praise, but it fully applies here; it is impossible to start Alexandra Andrews’s novel and not feel compelled to speed through its switchback twists to its conclusion.” —Teddy Wayne
“Who Is Maud Dixon? That's but the first of countless questions to tease you — and then rivet you, and finally obsess you — as Alexandra Andrews’ astonishing debut novel glides and glitters like a snake in Moroccan sunlight. Smoothly written, nimbly plotted (boldly, too: this novel takes chances, not prisoners) — yet also buzzing with an irresistible intensity and relish. Roaring round of applause here.” —A.J. Finn
“Captivating debut! Who is Maud Dixon? is a beautifully written literary thriller with a sumptuous Moroccan setting. What’s not to love? Brava, Alexandra Andrews!” —Elin Hilderbrand