Books with local ties include a true-crime memoir and a poetry collection

New releases

"True Colors" by Kristin Hannah (St. Martin's Griffin, $14.99). The Bainbridge Island author's new novel concerns three sisters who were "shattered by their mother's death when they were still very young," and have always "banded together against the distant chill of their father." Then something disrupts their tight bond.

"Betrayal, Murder and Greed: The True Story of a Bounty Hunter and a Bail Bond Agent" by Pam Phree and Mike "Darkside" Beakley (New Horizon, $24.95). True-crime book in which the authors recount their run-ins with "vicious gang members, career criminals, convicted murderers, felonious gun merchants, drug lords and even other bond agents and bounty hunters." Phree (the bond agent) and Beakley (the bounty hunter) both live in Tacoma.

"Rumor" by Pimone Triplett (TriQuarterly Books/Northwestern, $15.95). A new collection of poems taking on rumors of "necessity" and "evolution," among other topics. Triplett, an associate professor in the creative writing program at the University of Washington, reads 7:30 p.m., Jan. 14, Open Books: A Poem Emporium, 2414 N. 45th St., Seattle; free (206-633-0811 or www.openpoetrybooks.com).

"The Late Work of Margaret Kroftis" by Mark Gluth (Little House on the Bowery/Akashic, $14.95). A Bellingham author's debut novella about a writer who, after she's hit by "personal tragedy," begins to experience her life "in an emotionally coherent manner that exists separately from linear time." Akashic's "Little House on the Bowery" series is edited by Dennis Cooper.

"Ten Degrees of Reckoning: A True Story of Survival" by Hester Rumberg (Berkley, $15). New in paperback: a Seattle author tells of a family who, while on a round-the-world sailboat voyage, were hit by a merchant ship off the coast of New Zealand. Only one of them survived. With a new postscript by the author.

"The School of Essential Ingredients" by Erica Bauermeister (Berkley, $15). Paperback edition of a Seattle author's debut novel about a "kitchen magician" who starts up a monthly cooking class at her restaurant that serves as a sanctuary for a variety of troubled souls. Times reviewer Karen Gaudette praised the novel's "achingly real vignettes and devastating flashbacks."

Seattle Times staff

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