Editor’sChoice
The Thing Around Your Neck, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, $24.95. A dozen stories about the lives of Nigerians at home and in America from the winner of the Orange Broadband Prize. In the five tales set in the United States, Adichie (“Half of a Yellow Sun”) profiles characters both drawn to America and cautious of assimilation. Kirkus
FICTION
A Plague of Secrets, by John Lescroart, $26.95. Not even pot-tolerant San Francisco can ignore the complications that follow the murder of a dealer who seems to have been keeping half the town high. Less issue-driven than usual, more of a whodunit — and a sharp one at that. Kirkus
Strangers, by Anita Brookner, $26. Paul Sturgis is another solitary Brookner protagonist who bears his loneliness with a patient stoicism while also puzzling over how his life has come to such a desultory pass. Library Journal
NONFICTION
Pay to Play: How Rod Blagojevich Turned Political Corruption Into a National Sideshow, by Elizabeth Brackett, $24.95. Chicago PBS newswoman Brackett details the latest episode in Illinois politics’ long-running soap opera, the fascinating story of smooth-talking, big-haired governor Rod Blagojevich, arrested last December, who stuck a price tag on almost everything that crossed his desk. Publishers Weekly
Dillinger’s Wild Ride: The Year That Made America’s Public Enemy Number One, by Elliott J. Gorn, $24.95. One year in the life of legendary criminal John Dillinger. With this new biography of the Depression-era bank robber, Gorn demonstrates that the American popular imagination never seems to tire of Dillinger and his legend. Kirkus
Terror on the Seas: True Tales of Modern- Day Pirates, by Daniel Sekulich, $24.95. When most people think of pirates, they imagine Captain Hook, Jack Sparrow or another fictional character from centuries past. Canadian filmmaker and journalist Sekulich introduces the reader to modern- day piracy, which now costs $25 billion a year to battle. Library Journal
PAPERBACKS
Gossip of the Starlings, by Nina De Gramont, $13.95. In this poignant novel, de Gramont explores a loyal and destructive friendship between two girls at a New England prep school. Catherine Morrow, the book’s relatable protagonist, can’t believe her luck when Skye, the popular daughter of acclaimed Sen. Douglas Butterfield, befriends her. Publishers Weekly
When You Are Engulfed in Flames, by David Sedaris, $15.99. Sedaris tallies up the last 25 years, the prime of his life, and isn’t impressed by the sum: “How had 9,125 relatively uneventful days passed so quickly,” he writes, “and how can I keep it from happening again?” The New York Times
Havana Nocturne: How the Mob Owned Cuba . . . and Then Lost It to the Revolution, by T.J. English, $15.99. Crime writer English (“Paddy Whacked: The Untold Story of the Irish-American Gangster”) unfolds a story whose main outline will be familiar to any fan of “The Godfather: Part II,” but whose twists and turns no screenplay could keep up with. Kirkus
COMING UP
The Supremes: A Saga of Motown Dreams, Success, and Betrayal, by Mark Ribowsky, $24.95. Ribowsky uses recollections from friends, families and Motown contemporaries to tell the story of the legendary singing group’s meteoric rise and bitter falling apart. (July)
