Here is Oliva Matthews’s Against the Currant, a Spice Island Bakery Mystery. It’s got a West Indian bakery, an earnest baker who has everything she’s ever wanted, and a disgruntled rival who seems likely end up in some sort of romantic entanglement—except he turns up dead before any smooching can happen. Well, that’s awkward. We …
From A Good Book in Sumner, WA: The night before Christmas, and all through the store No critter was reading, including these four: They had hung no stockings, the stove was unlit; The shelves were all packed, such a tight fit! “These books are too many. No end is in sight!” The otters wailed loudly, bemoaning …
And speaking of life among the lichens, here is Peter McCoy’s The Mycocultural Revolution: Transforming Our World with Mushrooms, Lichens, and Other Fungi. Published by the PNW’s own Microcosm Publishing, McCoy’s book covers more than just how not to eat the caps that’ll kill you. There’s a section on mycoremediation, which is treating contaminated areas of our …
Abby Jimenez’s Part of Your World starts with a raccoon and a grilled cheese sandwich, carries you through the middle with some blazing sexual chemistry, and wraps up with an emotionally enriching resolution. This is exactly what you’re looking for when you come in and say, “You know, I need something with delightful characters, a bit …
Rebecca Serle’s One Italian Summer has family deaths, reincarnation, Italian villas, reconciliation, and the joy that is found friendship. This isn’t a morality tale set in a harsh and unforgiving climate. This is a love story about your own damn heart and about everyone needs a change of scenery now and again to shake off the …
[Talk about] unexpected: Silva Moreno-Garcia zigs after zagging with Velvet was the Night, her crime drama about student uprisings in Mexico City. Her new book is The Daughter of Doctor Moreau, and it’s a bit more Mexican Gothicy than Velvety Nighttime. We’ve got genetic hybrids. We’ve got secret research facilities. We’ve got rich patrons who …
Alice Feeney returns with Daisy Darker, a locked-room mystery about a family reunion that gets all atmospheric and twisty. Daisy’s family has gathered for Nana’s 80th birthday. Where? Oh, just Nana’s old gothic place out on the island. You know, the island that routinely gets cut off from the mainland when a storm rolls in. The …
William W. Johnstone is back this week. But in hardback! Dewey “Mac” Mackenzie returns in Settling His Hash, which is the latest frontier tale about the chuckwagon cook who is equally adept at filling men’s bellies with food or lead! Mac just wants to ride to Texas, where his heart lies, but he discovers that the …
Nicola Griffith returns with a queer recasting of Arthurian legend with Spear, the story of a young woman, a Grail quest, and love. Many know Griffith from her fabulous Hild, the story of the seventh-century saint, and while Spear travels some of that same landscape, it is definitely flush with magic and dragons. Marvelous stuff! —A Good …
We’re quietly intrigued about this next one. Sunyi Dean’s The Book Eaters is about a family who do just that: they eat books. But, aha!, they retain all of the content of the book after they ingest it. Naturally, things get dark, and the family’s secrets are put in danger as they try to navigate an …
