This light, fun romp in which a middle-aged woman rediscovers herself is also an unexpected thriller. Most parents probably have a few poor decisions in their past they’d rather not let their kids find out about. Thankfully most... Read More

Elegant imagery and characterization bring the story to life, with the streets of San Francisco carefully described. Rosanna Brand’s "The Perfect Tenant" is an epic, multifaceted thriller that explores the mind of a serial killer, and... Read More

Don Quixote and Candide Seek Truth, Justice, and El Dorado in the Digital Age is fanciful, intelligent entertainment, better sipped than gulped to enjoy the full effect. The picaresque novel gets a fresh spin in Stefan Soto’s... Read More

"The Color of My Coffee" is a thought-provoking exploration of community and cultural shifts in the late 1960s. The Color of My Coffee: The Story of a White Boy and a Black Man by R. P. Heinz is a compelling snapshot of life in... Read More

For all of its cynicism and humor, Please Don’t Tell Mum has something real to say about education. Think your school days were a nightmare? Well, let’s hear the other side of the story, from a teacher’s point of view. Narrator... Read More

"Absolute Vengeance" is a richly constructed adventure thriller made strong through its painstaking details and compelling characters. "Absolute Vengeance" by C. W. Lemoine is a contemporary thriller about a man who joins an... Read More

Sympathy is created for these disparate and complex characters in a way that is worth savoring. Set in the late 1990s, Heather Bell Adams’s Marantha Road takes a seemingly standard setup of Southern poverty literature and burnishes it... Read More

Cat friends will take the greatest pleasure in pouncing on this tasty treat. Melanie Moye’s One Tough Cat: An Animal Tale for Adults is clever, humorous, and marked with complete originality. Told from a feline viewpoint, this... Read More