Dan Stashower, "The Hour Of Peril." 7 p.m. Jan. 28. Reading and signing. Free. Carter Presidential Library & Museum Theater, 441 Freedom Parkway, Atlanta. 404-865-7100, www.jimmycarterlibrary.gov/events. Two-time Edgar Award-winning author Stashower ("The Beautiful Cigar Girl") uncovers the true story of an audacious conspiracy to assassinate Abraham Lincoln on the eve of the Civil War.
Deborah Johnson, "The Secret of Magic." 7 p.m. Jan. 28. Talk and signing. $10. Reservations requested. Margaret Mitchell House & Museum, 990 Peachtree St. N.E., Atlanta. 404-814-4150, www.margaretmitchellhouse.com/cms/Lectures+/489.html. This novel tells the story of a young lawyer working for Thurgood Marshall in 1946 who goes to Mississippi to solve the murder of a returning African-American World War II hero.
Carapace: Begin again. 7:30 p.m. Jan. 28. Storytelling. Free. Manuel's Tavern, 602 N. Highland Ave. Atlanta. 404-525-3447, http://manuelstavern.com. Bring a five- to seven-minute story about how you rebuilt, rose from the ashes, or clawed your way out of a ruinous predicament.
Wendy Webb, "The Vanishing." 6:30 p.m. Jan. 28. Reading and signing. Free. FoxTale Book Shoppe, 105 E. Main St., Woodstock. 770-516-9989, www.foxtalebookshoppe.com/events. Also appearing: 7:15 p.m. Jan. 29. Talk and signing. Free. Decatur Library Auditorium, 215 Sycamore St., Decatur. 404-370-8450, Ext. 2225; www.georgiacenterforthebook.org/Events/show.php?id=649. Recently widowed and rendered penniless by her Ponzi-scheming husband, a woman accepts a job as caretaker to his mother, a rather eccentric horror novelist — whom the world believes is dead.
Malcolm Gladwell, "David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits and the Art of Battling Giants." 8 p.m. Jan. 29. Talk and signing. $45-$100, includes signed copy of the book. Woodruff Arts Center, Symphony Hall, 1280 Peachtree Street N.E., Atlanta. 404-733-4200, www.woodruffcenter.org/Commerce/SinglePerformanceSection?perfid=71699. Tickets available at A Cappella Books (www.acappellabooks.com/event/evening-malcolm-gladwell) and the Woodruff Arts Center box office (www.woodruffcenter.org/Events-Tickets/Box-Office.aspx). Gladwell ("The Tipping Point," "Blink") challenges how we think about obstacles and disadvantages.
Hoa Nguyen, Carmen Gimenez Smith, Jenny Boully. 8 p.m. Jan. 30. Poetry reading. Free. Barnes & Noble @ Emory, 1390 Oxford Road, Decatur. 404-727-6222, www.poetrycouncil.campuslifetech.org/the-whats-new-in-poetry-reading-series/2013-2014.
Pellom McDaniels III, "The Prince of Jockeys: The Life of Isaac Burns Murphy." 6:30 p.m. Jan. 30. Talk and signing. Free. Jones Room, Level 3, Robert W. Woodruff Library, Emory University, 540 Asbury Circle, Atlanta. 404-727-6861, http://arts.emory.edu/calendar/#/?i=1. McDaniels, an Emory professor, documents the life of a son of slaves who became the first jockey to win the Kentucky Derby three times (1884, 1890 and 1891).
Clint Hill and Lisa McCubbin, "Five Days in November." 7 p.m. Jan. 30. Discussion and signing. Free. Carter Presidential Library & Museum Theater, 441 Freedom Parkway, Atlanta. 404-865-7100, www.jimmycarterlibrary.gov/events. On the evening of Nov. 22, 1963, newspapers around the world ran a picture of Hill, a Secret Service agent, jumping on the back of a limousine in a desperate attempt to protect President John F. Kennedy and his wife. Hill's book contains more than 150 photos accompanied by his inside account of the day.
James Scott, "The Kept." 2 p.m. Feb. 1. Reading and signing. Free. A Cappella Books, 208 Haralson Ave. N.E., Atlanta. 404-681-5128, www.acappellabooks.com/upcoming-events. In the winter of 1897, a midwife returns to her isolated farm in upstate New York to find her husband and four of her children murdered.
