5 new books you won't want to miss this week, including a new Hercule Poirot mystery

Jocelyn McClurg | USA TODAY

USA TODAY’s Jocelyn McClurg scopes out the hottest books on sale each week.

1. "The Mystery of Three Quarters" by Sophie Hannah (William Morrow, fiction, on sale Aug. 28)

What it’s about: Hercule Poirot is startled when two strangers claim they received a letter from him accusing them both of murdering a man named Barnabas Pandy, who is unknown to them all.

The buzz: Hannah was hand-picked by the Agatha Christie estate to bring Poirot back to life; this is her third novel starring the iconic Belgian detective.

2. "Pandemic 1918" by Catherine Arnold (St. Martin’s Press, nonfiction, on sale Aug. 28)

What it’s about: Draws on eyewitness accounts and recent research on the virus to re-create the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918, which claimed 50 million lives worldwide.

The buzz: Arrives on the 100th anniversary of the catastrophe; “vividly evokes the tragedy,” Publishers Weekly says in a starred review.

3. "Walking Shadows" by Faye Kellerman (William Morrow, fiction, on sale Aug. 28)

What it’s about: The murder of a young man in a college town leads Detective Peter Decker and his wife, Rina Lazarus, to unravel crimes that go back more than 20 years.

The buzz: This is the 25th entry in Kellerman’s best-selling crime series.

4. "Autonomy: The Quest to Build the Driverless Car" by Lawrence D. Burns (Ecco, nonfiction, on sale Aug. 28)

What it’s about: The author, a former General Motors executive who now advises Google’s self-driving car project, explains why driverless cars are the future, like it or not.

The buzz: “A provocative look at a rising industry,” says Kirkus Reviews.

More: Don't let Congress put dangerous self-driving cars on the road at the cost of human lives

5. "French Exit" by Patrick deWitt (Ecco, fiction, on sale Aug. 28)

What it’s about: After the scandalous death of her husband, a once-moneyed widow, her overly dependent 30-year-old son and their weird cat escape New York City for Paris, where things don’t go so swimmingly.

The buzz: It’s an Indie Next pick of independent booksellers. “Quirky, wry, darkly witty, strange, and absolutely laugh-out-loud hilarious,” says Angie Tally of The Country Bookshop in Southern Pines, North Carolina.