Cristina Rivera Garza, trans. from the Spanish by Sarah Booker and Robin Myers. Hogarth, $28 (320p) ISBN 978-0-593-73700-2
A poetry-obsessed serial killer castrates men in this unforgettable literary puzzle from Mexican writer Rivera Garza, who won the Pulitzer for her memoir, Liliana’s Invincible Summer. After a Mexican literature professor named Cristina Rivera Garza stumbles upon a castrated dead man while o... Continue reading »
Rob Osler. Kensington, $27 (320p) ISBN 978-1-4967-4948-2
The first woman hired by a Chicago detective agency faces one daunting challenge after another in this excellent historical series launch from Osler (Cirque du Slay). When Harriet Morrow reports for her first day at the Prescott Detective Agency in 1898, she’s determined to make a success o... Continue reading »
Dan Hanks. Angry Robot, $18.99 trade paper (400p) ISBN 978-1-915202-94-9
Cleverly blending science fiction, fantasy, and horror, Hanks (Swashbucklers) uses a video game format to probe the nature of humanity in all its glory and gore. The story kicks off when a mysterious and foreboding tower suddenly materializes in the air over central England, and a diverse g... Continue reading »
Catherine Cowles. Sourcebooks Casablanca, $17.99 trade paper (384p) ISBN 978-1-4642-2429-4
Cowles (Delicate Escape) dazzles in this twisty romantic suspense novel. Ever since Ridley Sawyer’s twin sister Avery vanished from a fraternity party on the eve of their college graduation, Ridley’s life has been defined by the mysterious loss. Five years later, Ridley channels her trauma ... Continue reading »
Lee Dean. Iron Circus, $28 trade paper (400p) ISBN 978-1-63899-139-7
Dean (I Am Young) immerses readers in sun-drenched, claustrophobic beauty in this compassionate saga about a young woman’s awakening in the 1970s. Greer, a young mixed-race secretary, flies from Pittsburgh to Key West so her married lover (and boss) can get her away from prying eyes before ... Continue reading »
Jerome Rothenberg and Javier Taboada. Univ. of Calif., $34.95 (816p) ISBN 978-0-520-30354-6
Challenging the notion of “American” poetry by including the entire Americas from ancient pre-Columbian cultures to the present, this expansive anthology is divided into thematic “galleries” and “maps,” guiding readers through a maze of poetic innovations and traditions. The first gallery juxtaposes... Continue reading »
Marcus Brotherton and Tosca Lee. Revell, $26.99 (400p) ISBN 978-0-8007-4275-1
In this tour de force from Brotherton (A Bright and Blinding Sun) and Lee (A Single Light), four friends’ lives change irrevocably when America becomes embroiled in WWII. In 1930s Mobile, Ala., preacher’s son Jimmy Propfield shares an idyllic upbringing with childhood sweetheart Cl... Continue reading »
Gerald Easter and Mara Vorhees. Pegasus, $29.95 (320p) ISBN 978-1-63936-736-8
Indigenous resistance in Alaska was so fierce that it thwarted the Russian empire’s colonial ambitions in North America, profoundly impacting the continent’s destiny, according to this gripping and ambitious account from historian Easter and travel writer Vorhees (coauthors of The Tsarina’s Lost... Continue reading »
Michael Mina. Voracious, $40 (288p) ISBN 978-0-316-42978-8
Restaurateur Mina (Michael Mina: The Cookbook) presents an exciting celebration of his Egyptian heritage. Traditional dishes—including ta’ameya (fried fava bean patties), ma’amoul (date-filled cookies), and koshari (lentils, chickpeas, pasta, and rice served together in a tomato sauce with ... Continue reading »
Catherine Nixey. Mariner, $32.50 (384p) ISBN 978-0-358-65291-5
In the early days of Christianity, there were many different versions of Christ, according to this scintillating history from journalist Nixey (The Darkening Age). Studying texts that emerged in the centuries after Jesus’s death, Nixey dissects ancient Greco-Roman writings that depict Chris... Continue reading »
Jashar Awan. Simon & Schuster, $19.99 (48p) ISBN 978-1-66593-815-0
Mondays don’t get a lot of love—unless you’re the eponymous protagonist of this picture book, in which case, “Monday is the best day of the week.” To the amusement of her parents, Mabel wakes up early, dresses, grabs a bowl of dry cereal, and drags a chair to the driveway to await the garbage truck’... Continue reading »