The late Nigerian author Ekwensi, in his electric debut novel, originally published in 1963, follows the exploits of Amusa Sango in mid-20th-century Lagos. Sango works as a crime reporter for the West African Sensation, plays in a dance band, rents a room in a fine home where he lives with ... Continue reading »

In this standout entry in the British Library Crime Classics series from Gilbert (a pseudonym of Lucy Malleson, 1899–1973), first published in 1933, lawyer Tony Keith and his friend Jeremy Freyne travel to Feltham Abbey at the request of the Home Office, which is unsettled by a baffling rash of suic... Continue reading »

Stout impresses with his second Carter Archives novel (after Titanshade) drawing readers further into the gritty urban fantasy hellscape of the city of Titanshade while adding depth and complexity to his scarred, cynical hero. It’s been six weeks since manna, a precious magical fuel with un... Continue reading »

Rai (The Right Swipe) riffs on the viral Twitter #PlaneBae story in this gorgeous romance. Privacy-obsessed Katrina King, a former model turned angel investor, copes with her social anxiety and the specter of her abusive father with the ample support of her female friends and sexy bodyguard... Continue reading »

Som’s provocative collection of short comics explores the idiosyncrasies of gender, desire, friendship, courtship, family, and culture through speculative fiction. Each of her eight stories, rendered in fine pen and exquisite watercolor, explores a different facet of life in distinct futures, with a... Continue reading »

The exceptional fifth book from Chang (Barbie Chang) does not open with death, at least not in the way its title might suggest. It opens instead with a father’s stroke and the assertion that grief “is really about future absence.” The collection explores the newspaper obituary through prose... Continue reading »

The lovely ninth installment of Lillard’s Wells Landing series (after Marrying Jonah) set in the Amish community of Wells Landing, Okla., centers on the budding romance between two unlikely heroes. Jenna and Buddy are both seen as “less than” by their community due to their cognitive slowne... Continue reading »

Journalist O’Donnell’s vivid and meticulously researched debut unearths the hidden history of her maternal grandmother’s flight from East Prussia during WWII and offers key insights into the lives of ordinary Germans under Nazi rule. Before 2006, O’Donnell writes, she knew her grandmother, Inge, as ... Continue reading »

Born and raised on the Louisiana bayou, restaurateur Martin shares the history, traditions, and customs surrounding Cajun cuisine and offers a tantalizing slew of classic dishes as cooked at her eatery in New Orleans, from which the title of the book is taken. Writing in elegant prose, Martin is les... Continue reading »

Eiland shares in her revealing and enthralling debut her journey as a black woman struggling to find her place. When around mostly white people, Eiland felt isolated, but she didn’t quite fit in in predominantly black communities, either, and her friends accused her of being black on the outside and... Continue reading »

Zany charm imbues Elya’s deft retelling of “The Three Billy Goats Gruff.” Rhymes silly and clever weave in Spanish vocabulary words, sneakily cuing correct pronunciation: “There once were three goats, a brotherly trio/ They needed to crisscross a fast-moving río.// But under the bridge live... Continue reading »