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Lake Placid–based guide James Appleton recounts “The Haunting of Eagle Cave,” “The Five Ponds Bigfoot” and other spooky legends in Adirondack Campfire Stories: Tales and Folklore from Inside the Blue Line (North Country Books, 2024, 120 pages, softcover, $19.95, ncountrybooks.com).
Adirondack Mysteries: Gripping Thrillers, Detective Stories, and Crime Fiction Tales in the Mountains (North Country Books, 2024), edited by Dennis Webster, is a collection of short stories by Jenny Milchman, Larry Weill and other regional authors (224 pages, softcover, $22.95, ncountrybooks.com).
Daredevils, firefighters, and even a stand-in Santa delivering gifts—Aurora Pfaff’s Aviation in the Adirondacks (Arcadia Publishing, 2024) documents the region’s rich history in flight (127 pages, softcover, $24.99, black-and-white photographs, www.arcadiapublishing.com).
Before She Was a Finley (All Night Books, 2024), by Carol Hoenig, is an engaging prequel to Hoenig’s Without Grace, a novel set in the northern Adirondacks that North Country Public Radio called a work with “a keen sense of place” (300 pages, softcover, $19.74, amazon.com).
The Boomerang House: An Adirondack Tale of Adventure and Resilience (Lady Slipper Press, 2024) follows author Nanci Vineyard’s rollercoaster ride as she brought a dilapidated Indian Lake house back to life (226 pages, softcover, $14.95, amazon.com).
Conservationist Laura Waterman, coauthor of Forest and Crag: A History of Hiking, Trail Blazing, and Adventure in the Northeast Mountains, has published a new memoir in essays, Calling Wild Places Home (SUNY Press, 2024, 302 pages, softcover, $29.95, sunypress.edu).
Lake Placid native Sophie Morelli’s Fathom (Bottlecap Press, 2024) is a volume of poetry inspired by the mystery of Mabel Smith Douglass, the “Lady in the Lake” (35 pages, softcover, $10, bottlecap.press).
Chuck Schwerin, former editor of Adirondack PEEKS magazine, brings to life a backcountry adventure tale in Ghosts of Glencoe (North Country Books, 2024), starring three boarding-school students, their headmaster and a pair of escaped convicts (440 pages, softcover, $24.95, ncountrybooks.com).
God of the Woods (Riverhead Books, 2024), the latest by bestselling author Liz Moore, is a time-hopping mystery that follows the disappearance of two children from the same wealthy family 14 years apart, immersing readers in Adirondack history and culture (496 pages, hardcover, $30, www.penguinrandomhouse.com).
Goodwill’s Secrets (2024), by New York Times editor Christopher Mele, follows a reporter as he digs into the disappearance of a teenage girl from a tiny North Country town. Mele, who calls himself an “accidental novelist,” was also a former reporter at the Adirondack Daily Enterprise and the Plattsburgh Press-Republican (263 pages, softcover, $13.25 amazon.com).
In Hidden History of Lake Champlain (The History Press, 2024), Jason Barney and Christine Eldred delve into the lesser-known happenings along one of America’s most historic waterways, from a firsthand account of life at Fort St. Frédéric in 1750 to bootlegging during Prohibition and more (176 pages, softcover, $24.99, black-and-white photographs and maps, www.arcadiapublishing.com).
Veteran photographer Carl Heilman II’s new coffee-table book, Lake George (North Country Books, 2024), is a four-season celebration of the Queen of American Lakes (248 pages, hardcover, $24.95, color photographs, ncountrybooks.com).
Maxwell Eaton III’s latest picture book, Looking for Peppermint: Or Life in the Forest (Penguin Random House, 2024), follows a young girl through the woods as she searches for her dog, learning about wildlife and the Adirondack landscape along the way (40 pages, hardcover, $18.99, color illustrations, www.penguinrandomhouse.com).
Mapping the Adirondacks: Colvin, Blake, and the First True Survey of the Great Adirondack Wilderness (North Country Books, 2024) gives an overview of Verplanck Colvin’s “audacious project” by Thatcher Hogan, creator of the Peak Finder decks of local summit views (264 pages, hardcover, $36.95, black-and-white and color images and maps, ncountrybooks.com).
Mountain Escapades (2024), by Debbie White, follows the adventures of the author and her children up the Adirondacks’ 46 High Peaks and beyond, as she explores the lessons to be learned in the wilderness and the joys to be had in watching our children’s love for the outdoors grow with each new challenge (180 pages, softcover, $14.99, black-and-white images, dwhite46r@gmail.com).
An updated edition of The Northern Forest Canoe Trail: The Official Guidebook (Mountaineers Books, 2024), by Katina Daanen, is now available, covering the 740-mile route that stretches from Old Forge to Fort Kent, Maine (softcover, $29.95, color photographs, www.northernforestcanoetrail.org).
Robin Wall Kimmerer—MacArthur Fellow and New York Times bestselling author of Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants—offers an inspiring vision for grounding our lives in gratitude and community in The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World (Scribner, 2024, 112 pages, softcover, $20, www.simonandschuster.com).
Too Much of Nothing: Notes on Feminism, Identity, and Womanhood (Mountain Ash Press, 2024) follows Carla Stockton’s journey through life, including coming of age in 1960s Saranac Lake (295 pages, softcover, $14.95, amazon.com).
In Wilderness Camping in the Adirondacks: 25 Backpacking and Canoeing Overnight Adventures (North Country Books, 2024), guidebook author Bill Ingersoll offers a couple dozen low-impact trips perfect for weekend getaways (139 pages, softcover, $17.95, black-and-white images and maps, ncountrybooks.com).
