A comfy chair, sunglasses, an Arnold Palmer and these 24 books — from S.A. Cosby, Rachel Joyce, “one of the best books of the year” and more — are your ticket to a great season.
'Endling'
By Maria Reva
Set in Ukraine in 2022, Reva’s magnificent “Endling” follows Yeva, a rogue conservationist who reluctantly agrees to help two sisters aiming to kidnap a group of Westerners — and then Russia invades. The story is riveting, heartbreaking and darkly humorous. Undoubtedly one of the best books of the year.
'The Phoenix Pencil Company'
By Allison King
Magical pencils that can hide and reveal secrets play a starring role in this engaging debut about two women who grapple with history and understanding their places in the world. Their captivating narratives paint a portrait of love, regret and sacrifice.
'So Far Gone'
By Jess Walter
A former journalist who lives off the grid is unwillingly hauled back into family life, thanks to a grown daughter who has disappeared, her conspiracy-theorist husband and two grandchildren he hasn’t seen in years. In "So Far Gone," Walter captures the contradictions and complexities of contemporary American life.
'Great Black Hope'
By Rob Franklin
Privilege, class and racial injustice clash in Franklin’s intriguing debut, in which Smith, a young Black man, is arrested for buying cocaine at a party in the Hamptons. Franklin deftly examines the psychic cost of moving between different worlds as Smith explores the dangers of the expensive Manhattan playgrounds of the rich.
'Midnight at the Cinema Palace'
By Christopher Tradowsky
Set in San Francisco in the early 1990s, this coming-of-age novel shines with a nostalgic glow while never ignoring reality. Fresh out of a Midwestern college, Walter Simmering arrives in the city and wants to write a screenplay, but sex, love and discovery are powerful distractions.
'Bug Hollow'
By Michelle Huneven
A tragedy forms the foundation of this warm-hearted and wonderful novel about a family in California, but to Huneven’s credit, “Bug Hollow” is never overwrought, melodramatic or even devastatingly wrenching. If you’re new to Huneven’s work, which includes “ Search,” “Bug Hollow” will send you looking for more.
'The Girls Who Grew Big'
By Leila Mottley
The “Nightcrawling” author’s followup, about a group of outcast teenage mothers in the Florida Panhandle who form their own kind of family, cries out for more detail, but there is no doubt you will care about “The Girls” and what happens to them. Mottley casts a spell over hard tales with relentless hope and courage.
'A Bomb Placed Close to the Heart'
By Nishant Batsha
Cora Trent, a white graduate student activist, and Indra Mukherjee, an Indian revolutionary who has fled his country, meet in 1917 at a party in California and quickly fall in love. With war looming, they must navigate the dangers of deportation, as well as the treachery of their own ambitions and desires.
'The Homemade God'
By Rachel Joyce
Being the adult children of a larger-than-life figure takes on new dimensions for four siblings in the U.K. when their famous artist father marries a younger woman and flees to the family lake house in Italy to work on a new masterpiece. When he’s reported dead, they rush there, fueled by varying degrees of sorrow, fury and guilt.
'Vera, or Faith'
By Gary Shteyngart
Narrated by a precocious part-Korean, part-Jewish, part-WASP 10-year-old, Shteyngart’s sharp, ironic novel takes place in a near-future in which liberties are vanishing and old loyalties are shifting. Through Vera’s eyes, Shteyngart creates a comic masterpiece that questions everything from politics to the way we adapt to change.
'Loved One'
By Aisha Muharrar
Jewelry designer Julia’s relationship with Gabe, a popular musician, is complicated. He was her first love when they were teenagers, but their breakup kept them apart for 12 years. When they meet again, they become best friends. Now, after Gabe’s shocking death, a reeling Julia finds herself at odds with Gabe’s estranged wife. (Aug. 12)
'Katabasis'
By R.F. Kuang
“Yellowface” author Kuang returns to her fantasy roots with an imaginative journey. Cambridge student Alice Law has given up everything to work with professor Jacob Grimes. When he dies, Alice’s degree is in peril — so, using Dante, Orpheus and T.S. Eliot as guides, she decides to travel to hell and bring him back. (Aug. 26)
'The English Masterpiece'
By Katherine Reay
Set in London’s Tate Gallery after Pablo Picasso’s death in 1973, this enthralling novel follows Lily, a struggling artist who works for Diana, director of modern art at the Tate. Success is at Lily’s brush tips until she spots a fake at a Picasso commemorative exhibit.
'King of Ashes'
By S.A. Cosby
Roman Carruthers’ brother, Dante, has put his family deep in debtor’s hell, owing money to serious gangsters. His sister runs the family’s crematory while stoking an obsession with their mother’s years-ago disappearance. Reluctantly, Roman must “defuse the mayhem” in a tale of Shakespearean proportions.
'A Murder for Miss Hortense'
By Mel Pennant
In her quiet English town, Miss Hortense — a retired nurse and avid gardener — helped found the Pardner network, a banking cooperative that made investments to ensure that the community thrived. When the Pardner’s banker is murdered, Miss Hortense investigates.
'Rattlesnake Bluff'
By Cary J. Griffith
U.S. Fish and Wildlife agent Sam Rivers is caught in a struggle to preserve a possible rare rattlesnake habitat that’s also a proposed land development, all while investigating multiple murders. His hunt becomes part of something deeper and darker. Spoiler alert: Not all snakes crawl.
'Murder Takes a Vacation'
By Laura Lippman
Mrs. Blossom, 68, is an ex-investigator from Baltimore who, after winning the lottery and to mark the 10th anniversary of her husband’s death, takes a cruise on the River Seine. Murder and mystery board with her. I adored the vintage vibe of this meticulously written mystery.
'Murder on Sex Island'
By Jo Firestone
To survive racy reality show “Sex Island,” contestants must be “hot and chill.” Private investigator Luella Van Horn (aka Maria Jones, a divorced social worker) is neither. When a cast member disappears, the show’s producers ask Luella to go undercover as a contestant to investigate.
'Etiquette for Lovers and Killers'
By Anna Fitzgerald Healy
Murder is an etiquette nightmare. Just ask Billie McCadie in this charming rom-com mystery. In Eastport, Maine, in the 1960s, Billie receives a love letter addressed to Gertrude and the next day discovers Gertrude murdered at a lavish ball. Billie follows the “trail of gossip.”
'Fast Boys and Pretty Girls'
By Lo Patrick
Told in a sharp, self-deprecating, first-person point of view, this small town, Southern mystery packs a big wallop. When narrator Danielle’s daughters find a body in the woods, she knows it’s part of her past, one she’s buried — as if, for decades, a “heavy wire” has kept her “mouth clenched shut.”
'Salt Bones'
By Jennifer Givhan
El Valle, California, is a place where “daughters disappear.” Mal, the sister of a disappeared woman, has held onto “her family’s pain like a birthright.” When more daughters go missing, Mal can’t ignore it. Givhan’s prose is lush, lyrical, and deeply visceral in this piercing psychological thriller. (July 22)
'She Didn’t See It Coming'
By Shari Lapena
Reading Lapena’s terrific, twisty novel felt like taking apart a Russian doll. One character’s lie opens up to another character’s and so on — until each lie exposes a different motive for the disappearance of Bryden Frost. Her husband, sister or best friend may have had something to do with Bryden’s disappearance. (July 29)
'The Grand Paloma Resort'
By Cleyvis Natera
Situated in a decadent luxury resort in the Dominican Republic, Natera’s setting resembles the TV series “The White Lotus." But it’s much more. With an unflinching point of view and an electrifying plot, the novel exposes how class and race shape desire. (Aug. 12)
'I Become Her'
By Joe Hart
Imogen knows “how darkly seductive lying to yourself can be.” After all, her job is corporate risk assessment. But when you consider all the risks, all the bad things, life looks “like it was made of knives.” Imogen’s paranoia is palpable in Hart’s mesmerizing Patricia Highsmith-meets-Alfred Hitchcock mystery. (Aug. 26)
