In the laugh-inducing Florida crime novel "Blood in the Water", corrupt forces are pitted against a witty investigator. Rick Outzen’s "Blood in the Water" is a sun-bleached mystery novel featuring a fun, funny, and cynical investigator... Read More

As it controverts stereotypes regarding the formidability of villains and the fragility of senior citizens, Caroline B. Cooney’s mystery novel "Before She Was Helen" is a delight. Clemmie is a resident of Sun City, a retirees’... Read More

In the hot Southern summer of "Even As We Breathe", the groundbreaking first novel from Cherokee writer Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle, a young man’s loyalties and foundational stories are tested. WWII cleared the Carolina mountains of... Read More

When love is great, its loss can consume you; so a family learns in Meredith Hall’s delicate, poignant novel, "Beneficence". Doris became a Senter the day her husband, Tup, brought her to his family farm. She was happy to settle into... Read More

From dips to desserts, Dyna Eldaief’s "Egyptian Flavors" is a fond tribute to her homeland’s culinary customs. Eldaief finds that “cooking food that is part of my heritage is like looking through a portal to the past.” For her... Read More

In "Blessed Are the Nones", a memoir about spiritual changes, personal shifts impact a marriage and a community. Stina Kielsmeier-Cook met her husband, Josh, in college. They connected over their love of God and their desire to live a... Read More

In Julian Winters’s perceptive young adult novel, "The Summer of Everything", a gay teenager is afraid of loving his best friend. In Santa Monica, Wes is an insecure, comic book-loving geek. He lives above an independent bookstore, and... Read More

Amra Sabic-El-Rayess’s account of her youth during the Bosnian War is a timely personal testimony on the strictures of survival. Gripping and achingly humane, "The Cat I Never Named" captures what it means to face an ideological tide... Read More