"A Map to Murder"

New from Minotaur Books: A Map to Murder: A Serial Killer Guide to San Francisco Mystery by Michelle Chouinard.

About the novel, from the publisher:

Beloved true crime tour guide Capri Sanzio returns in Michelle Chouinard’s A Map to Murder, the next book in the USA Today bestselling Serial Killer Guide to San Francisco Mysteries.

True crime tour guide and serial killer aficionado Capri Sanzio knows how central the Summer of Love is to San Francisco’s identity―even if she’s always had conflicted feelings about it. She’s used to weaving feel-good hippie culture and music into her Haight-Ashbury true crime tales, centering her tours around what happens when a revolution looking to lift up the best ideals humanity has to offer clashes with the darkest souls hidden among humanity’s shadows. But what she’s not used to is a guest stepping out from those shadows to drop a murder investigation directly into her lap.

A woman has gone missing in San Francisco after trying to solve her aunt’s murder: a cold case from the Summer of Love. Capri sees herself in the missing woman―both were unable to find the answers they desperately wanted as kids―and sees her own daughter in the tour guest begging for her help. Unable to turn the case away, Capri finds herself following a trail of flower-power footprints turned deadly―straight to a killer who has her in their sights.

Visit Michelle Chouinard's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Soul: A Brief History of Black Cultural Life"

New from Yale University Press: Soul: A Brief History of Black Cultural Life by Christopher Freeburg.

About the book, from the publisher:

A passionate and illuminating account of soul, the hard-won wisdom shepherded by Black people throughout generations

How did enslaved Africans turn America’s infamous failure into the greatest moral occasion of modern Western life? In this book, Christopher Freeburg answers that question with one word: soul. It was soul, Freeburg believes, which drove Black individuals and communities, grappling with horrific strife, to reimagine American life and equality in earnest.

Black cultural life contains a central and significant theme―a soul, or form of life―expressed in a variety of musical, religious, and political forms. Through the work and words of figures ranging from the poet Phillis Wheatley to President Barack Obama and musician Nina Simone to disco owner Jewel Thais-Williams, Freeburg shows how Black communities leaned time and again on soul and its four pillars: resonance, revelation, resilience, and transcendence. It is soul, what Freeburg calls a beautiful transaction between individual and community across time and place, that has allowed Black people over generations to transform feelings of defeat and alienation into moral courage and shared belonging.

Visit Christopher Freeburg's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Other Side of Starting Over"

Coming November 3 from Lake Union: The Other Side of Starting Over: A Novel by Mara Williams.

About the novel, from the publisher:

When her husband’s tragic death uncovers long-buried secrets, a young mother fights to protect her family and heal her heart in an emotionally resonant novel about loss, love, and second chances.

After her husband’s sudden death, Beatrice Bell retreats to her childhood home in California’s Sierra mountains with her rebellious teenage twins in tow. Her plan is to take over her parents’ antique store, ensure it survives another generation, and build a new life from the rubble of the old one.

But Bea didn’t plan on Simon, the gruff store manager with his own ambitions for the business. As they’re forced to work together, animosity gives way to grudging respect and ignites an unexpected spark. Before Bea can find her footing, everything is upended. First by River, a local boy who bears a striking resemblance to her late husband. Then by her estranged mother-in-law, who reveals devastating secrets that will test everything Bea believed about her marriage.

As Bea navigates grief, betrayal, and an unexpected connection with Simon, she finds that it may be possible to begin again, but only if she confronts the truth of her past.

Visit Mara Williams's website.

Q&A with Mara Williams.

The Page 69 Test: The Truth Is in the Detours.

My Book, The Movie: The Truth Is in the Detours.

Writers Read: Mara Williams (August 2025).

My Book, The Movie: The Epicenter of Forever.

Writers Read: Mara Williams (February 2026).

The Page 69 Test: The Epicenter of Forever.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Not Tiger Moms"

New from the University of California Press: Not Tiger Moms: Reimagining Asian American Motherhood by Miliann Kang.

About the book, from the publisher:

Reframing the cultural narrative of Asian American motherhood―through these mothers' own voices and experiences.

The high stakes of motherhood today go beyond who qualifies as a good or bad mother, to who belongs and who is other. For Asian American mothers, these judgments have often been shaped by the enduring stereotype of the strict, academically driven "tiger mother."

In Not Tiger Moms, Miliann Kang explores the racist, xenophobic roots of this trope and how it undermines Asian American mothers, silencing their voices and inhibiting their connections to their children, to each other, and to other mothers, including their own. Through deeply personal and candid interviews, Asian American mothers who were born or grew up predominantly in the United States share stories that upend perceptions of them as both model minority reproducers and foreign threats. Instead, they chart new pathways to and through motherhood, imagining more expansive possibilities not only for Asian American mothers, but for all mothers.

Miliann Kang is Professor of Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

The Page 99 Test: The Managed Hand.

--Marshal Zeringue

"If Not You"

New from Berkley: If Not You by Ellen O'Clover.

About the book, from the publisher:

Five years of history. Four weeks on the road. Two rival copywriters learning love is the hardest sell of all.

Mattie French has always known how to tell a good story. It’s why she stopped at nothing to land her dream career as a copywriter at a scrappy independent advertising agency. In fact, if it weren’t for one person, Mattie would probably be the most-talked-about rising star in town.

Campbell Porter is a senior copywriter at Chicago’s slickest agency. Absurdly talented, incredibly aware of it, and the bane of Mattie’s existence since they were interns together, Campbell is always just…there, with his golden-boy smirk and the familiar gaze that never fails to taunt her across a crowded room.

Mattie would love nothing more than to avoid Campbell forever. But when their agencies are pitted against each other to compete for a luxury resort account, it’s her chance to prove she can beat him—and earn the promotion she covets.

During the month of travel required for the pitch, Mattie and Campbell are thrown together as fierce competitors and, slowly, as unexpected witnesses to each other’s hidden wounds and softest parts. As their trip barrels toward its final pitch, Mattie is forced to confront the increasingly obvious truth: the story she’s crafted for her and Campbell over the years might need a new ending.

Visit Ellen O'Clover's website.

Q&A with Ellen O'Clover.

Writers Read: Ellen O'Clover (February 2024).

--Marshal Zeringue

"Hollywood Renegade"

New from the University of Texas Press: Hollywood Renegade: Elaine May, Mikey and Nicky, and the Making of a Masterpiece by Todd Berliner.

About the book, from the publisher:

Examines the career and unorthodox filmmaking practices of director Elaine May, whose Mikey and Nicky, over a span of fifty years, transformed from a fiasco to a masterpiece of seventies cinema.

Elaine May’s Mikey and Nicky stands out in the history of Hollywood. After a troubled production, massive cost overruns, and lawsuits between May and the studio, the film received scathing reviews and failed at the box office. But the very qualities that initially alienated viewers and reviewers led later generations to regard the film as an overlooked masterpiece.

Written and directed by the period’s only female New Hollywood filmmaker, Mikey and Nicky has not received the attention given to other unconventional films of the 1970s. But May worked for years to give each moment of the movie multiple areas of interest. She made every character, even peripheral ones, nuanced and memorable. And she designed every scene, even minor ones, as a performance event. Her lead actors, Peter Falk and John Cassavetes, thrived under her unorthodox directing style, earning acclaim even from reviewers who hated the movie. Decades in the making―years of scriptwriting, a shoot that spanned ten months, and three years spent editing―Mikey and Nicky shows us what Hollywood cinema can accomplish when talented filmmakers challenge Hollywood’s limited notion of professionalism, rejecting the harsh time pressures of commercial filmmaking in order to get the most out of every scene.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Fractured Life of Lucy Hughes"

New from Lake Union: The Fractured Life of Lucy Hughes: A Novel by Annie Morgan.

About the novel, from the publisher:

After a surprise proposal fractures her life into two parallel timelines, a speech pathologist must learn to trust her own inner voice in this hopeful and inspiring story about identity and belonging.

Lucy Hughes has never loved being the center of attention, so she’s shocked when her boyfriend proposes via jumbotron. Frozen under the stadium lights, Lucy’s hesitation fractures her future into parallel lives:

No. A video of Lucy’s refusal goes viral, and the backlash is swift and brutal. Unemployed and sleeping in her best friend’s guest room, she slowly rebuilds her life. She’s barely back on her feet when she’s asked to advocate for victims of online harassment. But it would mean finding the courage to step back into the spotlight.

Yes. Lucy, who grew up in foster care, adores Matthew’s large, loving family. But burying her troubled childhood and her bisexuality to better fit into their Southern political dynasty is causing her to lose her grip on her own identity.

To create a future where she can be her authentic self, both versions of Lucy must confront the childhood trauma that shaped her adult relationships and find her own voice.

Visit Annie Morgan's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Neither Land nor Water"

New from the University of Chicago Press: Neither Land nor Water: Planning Through Fringe Ecologies in the Meadowlands (1896–2020) by Şevin Yildiz.

About the book, from the publisher:

An urban and environmental history of the New Jersey Meadowlands, where marsh meets megamall.

The New Jersey Meadowlands, the vast marshes across the Hudson River from New York City, are a mysterious and complex wetland. Both strange and well-known to the millions of people who traverse the northeast corridor every year, this landscape is not well understood despite its familiarity. Seemingly natural and unnatural, human and nonhuman, the Meadowlands has long been shaped by urban development, industry, infrastructure, and countless dreams.

In Neither Land nor Water, Şevin Yıldız offers a close look at the planners, scientists, developers, politicians, industrialists, and others who have engaged with, dreamed about, or damaged this transitional ecology in different ways over the decades. She traces key periods in the area’s rich histories of urban planning and ecological thought, from the dispossession of the Lenape natives, through the dawn of ecological science, and onto both intensive industrial developments and environmental resistance to them. She examines as well how the Meadowlands exposes the inadequacies of today’s approaches to planning in the face of climate change and how they perhaps offer clues to a better future.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Burn of the Everflame"

New from Atria Books: Burn of the Everflame: A Novel (The Kindred's Curse Saga) by Penn Cole.

About the novel, from the publisher:

The highly anticipated never-before-published final book in the Kindred's Curse Saga, a slow-burn, epic romantasy series following one woman who must risk everything to save her family—and all of mortalkind.

War has overtaken Emarion. In the north, Ophiucae and his army of bloodthirsty mortals seek to eradicate all Descended from the continent. In the south, the Guardians of the Everflame lie in wait, plotting a rebellion generations overdue.

In Lumnos, Realm of Light and Shadow, the Crowns are gathering. Caught between two deadly foes, they must form an unlikely alliance to save their people.

But the Crowns have a secret—and a heart without its mate will burn the world down to fulfill its fate.

Hatred reigns. Hope seems lost. With the future in darkness, can a flame emerge to bring the light?

Visit Penn Cole's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Brass Band Story"

New from Yale University Press: The Brass Band Story by Trevor Herbert.

About the book, from the publisher:

A lively and engaging history of the brass band in Britain and beyond

Brass bands have played a unique role in the cultural history of Britain. Amidst the industrial revolution, an increasingly urban population turned to music for mass entertainment. Brass bands became intimately associated with working men and spread across the country at breathtaking speed. At their height in the late Victorian era, there were thousands of them.

Trevor Herbert reveals the story of these bands, from their working-class origins and the enormous popularity of Victorian contests to their sophistication in modern times. It is a tale of the survival of tradition and the embrace of change. Victorian brass bands solidified communities and promoted shared local identities. As new modes of popular culture posed existential threats in the twentieth century, they reinvented themselves. The model British bands created is now replicated throughout the world.

This is a fascinating and revealing history of a much-loved aspect of Britain’s musical heritage.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Hidden Currents"

New from Severn House: Hidden Currents (A Sheriff Hank Worth Mystery, 8) by Claire Booth.

About the novel, from the publisher:

Another outstanding book in an ever-evolving police procedural series perfect for fans of Terry Shames and Steven F. Havill.

When the new owner of a local fishing store is found murdered, Sheriff Hank Worth has plenty of suspects. The owner was in the middle of a highly acrimonious divorce, had fallen out with his stepson, and was being threatened by the abusive ex-boyfriend of one of his employees.

As Hank delves deeper into the increasingly complicated crime, his professional life is also taking a toll. His deputy sheriff Sheila is in court testifying against the men who had left her for dead in a brutal attack, and the defense will do whatever it takes to win their case.

As tensions grow, it becomes clear there are hidden currents just under the surface everywhere Hank turns.

A skillful blend of character, plot, and mystery laced with a streak of dry humor.

Visit Claire Booth's website.

My Book, The Movie: Another Man's Ground.

The Page 69 Test: Another Man's Ground.

My Book, The Movie: A Deadly Turn.

The Page 69 Test: A Deadly Turn. 

Writers Read: Claire Booth (March 2019).

My Book, The Movie: Fatal Divisions.

The Page 69 Test: Fatal Divisions.

Q&A with Claire Booth.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Legal Moves"

New from Stanford University Press: Legal Moves: Choreographies of Race, Law, and Empire by Anna Jayne Kimmel.

About the book, from the publisher:

Legal Moves engages in a project of epistemological disobedience, boldly suturing concepts of dance studies—kinesthetic awareness, fleshly memory, and techniques of the body—to the legal humanities. What opens when we expand our disciplinary methods of law—from the lettered to the embodied? Might we locate a more complete portrait of law, its logic, and impact for construction of the human? Anna Jayne Kimmel combs the laws and law-making logics of French imperial order and its postcolonial legacy to surface the already-embedded corporeal attentions and choreographic features of legal studies. The book moves across analysis of seventeenth-century French legal codes of conduct that structured race and empire within the metropole and its overseas horizons, twentieth-century scenes of police violence during anti-colonial protest in France, twenty-first century anxieties of assembly in postcolonial Algeria, and embodied aesthetics contained within human rights discourse. By tracing disciplined histories of dance notation, Kimmel argues laws have long operated as a societal score which script movements and conscript citizens into racialized categories of (non)being. Drawing upon archival material, legal records, and performance practice, Legal Moves calls to reimagine the human within Western jurisprudence of the body.

Visit Anna Jayne Kimmel's website.

--Marshal Zeringue