Summer reading season begins!
6/2: Blunt Instrument by Amy Bloom
When a largely disliked professor is murdered, Dell Chandler – former English professor, current private investigator – is called in to sift through departmental squabbles and student complaints to solve the murder before bad PR can damage the school’s reputation. (mystery)
6/2: The Disaster Gay Detective Agency by Lev AC Rosen
Hotel concierge Brandon hooks up with a guest, only to later see him fleeing a murder. Now Brandon and his crew of queer 20-somethings are determined to solve the murder. (mystery)
6/2: The Dogwalkers’ Detective Agency by Michael Hogan
In an English coastal town, Charlie and his dog Ruby discover a dead body in the woods, and soon a whole group of dogwalkers is helping with the investigation. (mystery)
6/2: The Heart of the Nhaga by Lee Young-Do, translated by Anton Hur
Translated into English for the first time, this classic of South Korean epic fantasy follows a diplomatic envoy composed of representatives from the fire people, the giant birdmen, humans, and reptiles as they face treachery and must discover what their mission is truly about. (fantasy)
6/2: Hunger & Thirst by Claire Fuller
As a young adult who wants to belong, Ursula moves into an abandoned house with some friends, where she takes an extreme dare. Decades later and still literally haunted by her actions, Ursula is unmasked and must reckon with the ghosts of her past. (literary horror)
6/2: Mad Eden by Mogan Thomas
Ro and Liam live a fairly happy life in a secluded part of Florida. As a confluence of events – Ro’s autism diagnosis, the visit of a youth they mentored, an obsession-inducing online game, and work upheaval – upsets their equilibrium, pushing Ro to find a way to save their way of living. (general fiction)
6/2: The Typing Lady by Ruth Ozeki
Short stories explore the nature of identity and how the stories we tell – and those we stop telling – shape who we are. (general fiction)
6/2: Whistler by Ann Patchett
Wandering through the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Daphne runs into Eddie, the man who was her stepfather just for a year, when she was nine. As the two reconnect, they revisit their memories of that year, and how those events shaped their lives. (general fiction)
6/9: Cat Love by Tomás Q. Morín
Our cat narrator finds herself inside a Schrödinger’s Box for a class of people learning to become emotional support humans. She reflects on her previous owners, pop culture, the nature of empathy in society, and what’s next. (general fiction)
6/9: Children of the Wild by Kevin Powers
Three friends grow close in a rural Virginia valley, until the shadows of World War I change their world. (historical fiction)
6/9: Daughters of the Sun and Moon by Lisa See
Three Chinese women in 1870s Los Angeles try to survive a surge of Anti-Chinese sentiment and find lives in which they can thrive. (historical fiction)
6/9: Earth 7 by Deb Olin Unferth
After humanity has left a destroyed Earth, either for Mars or to live as code, a few remain holdouts. Melanie and Dylan are two such folks, creating a molecular collection that may someday be able to create a new Earth as an act of love and hope. (science fiction)
6/9: The Fervent Whites by De’shawn Charles Winslow
When James and Ella White return to their small town in Hudson Valley after being exonerated of a crime, they come back ready to settle scores with those they feel have wronged them, destabilizing the underlying civility that binds the community together. (general fiction)
6/9: I’ll Take the Fire by Leila Slimani, translated by Sam Taylor
A Moroccan woman comes of age, seeking to find her place in major world cities and against society-changing moments like the fall of the Berlin Wall and September 11. (general fiction)
6/9: Social Animals by Camille Perri
Three very different women meet and bond at the dog park, even as past secrets threaten to destabilize their newfound friendship. (general fiction)
6/16: Dearly Departed by Chip Pons
God of the Underworld Hades has grumpily taken his place as a mortal running a funeral home, when florist Levi Wilder enters his life and suggests an unexpected future. (romance)
6/16: Murder at the Spirit Lounge by Jess Kidd
In the English seaside village Gore-on-Sea, a medium and five of six séance attendees die seemingly supernatural deaths, prompting Nora Breen to investigate. (mystery)
6/16: Voyagers by Meg Charlton
When a possible alien signal hits Earth, Alex and Ana (potential alien abductees as children) overcome their estrangement to reunite and confront their experience decades ago, and what may be happening now. (science fiction)
6/23: Down to Earth by Julia Turshen
When polished city-girl Paige returns to her upstate New York hometown and meets vegetable farmer Frankie, sparks fly. (romance)
6/23: Green City Wars by Adrian Tchaikovsky
In the shadows of the city, raccoon Skotch is a private investigator working to find a missing mouse who may hold the key to the Green City Wars. (science fiction mystery)
6/23: Names Have Been Changed by Yu-Mei Balasingamchow
Ophir recounts her on-the-run life, beginning with a crime spree in Singapore and traversing the globe, both a life of glamorous twists and turns as well as a longing for home and belonging. (thriller)
6/23: Retro by Jessica M. Goldstein
Actress Ash gets a gig as a Time Travel Agent leading vacations to historical times. But while she’s having a great time, weird things are happening to her memories and relationships. (science fiction)
6/23: The Tinder Box by M.R. Carey
A soldier finds refuge with a witch, until a dead demon carrying a magic artifact lands in their lives. (fantasy)
6/30: Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep by Paul Tremblay
Gamer Julia is hired to navigate a comatose man with proprietary AI in his head across the country, literally using a game controller to move him around like a conscious person. As Julia starts to wonder if there’s more to this than she’s been told, the reader also sees the waking nightmares that may be the man’s, or someone else’s. (science fiction horror)
6/30: Rules for Aging and Larceny by Julia London
A foursome of mid-70s friends reunites for one last heist, to help settle a score against a cryptocurrency schemer. (thriller)
~ posted by Andrea G.