Editor’s Choice
Still Midnight, by Denise Mina, $24.99.
Two Glasgow yobs are hired to snatch a man named Bob from a modest home in a Glasgow suburb and hold him for a 2 million-pound ransom. They botch the job, finding no one named Bob, accidentally shooting a teenage girl, and snatching the girl’s father, a Ugandan emigre who owns a none-too-prosperous convenience store. Grim but compelling. Publishers Weekly
FICTION
The Swimming Pool, Holly LeCraw, $25.95.
Strong writing keeps the reader sucked into LeCraw’s painful family-drama debut. It is a story of deep and searing love, between siblings and lovers, but most powerfully between parents and their children. Publishers Weekly
The Book of Murdock, Loren D. Estleman, $24.99.
Prolific Western and mystery writer Estleman combines an exciting Western loaded with intrigue, suspense and clever plot twists. Deputy U.S. Marshal Page Murdock is sent to Texas in 1884 to capture a gang of armed robbers — and he’s disguised as a traveling preacher. One of Estleman’s best. Publishers Weekly
NONFICTION
Made in America: A Social History of American Culture and Character, Charles S. Fischer, $35.
The more America changes, the more it stays the same, according to this engrossing historical survey. Drawing on everything from economic data and mortality statistics to studies of colonial portraiture, sociologist Fischer assesses trends across four centuries of American life. The result is a shrewd, generous, convincing interpretation. Publishers Weekly
Inside the Outbreaks: The Elite Medical Detectives of the Epidemic Intelligence Service, Mark Pendergrast, $28.
There’s not much story-telling frippery in Pendergrast’s episodic six-decade narrative, just bare- bones accounts of barely individuated sleuths busting one microbial perp after another by collecting samples and conducting surveys. Still, the fight against these cunning, deadly pathogens makes for an often- engrossing browse. Publisher’s Weekly
Parisians: An Adventure History of Paris, Graham Robb, $28.95.
Part history, part travelogue, part “Ripley’s Believe It or Not!” this creative historical geography takes us on a tour of Paris via a series of chronologically arranged vignettes stretching from the eve of the Revolution of 1789 to the present. Library Journal
PAPERBACKS
The Language of Bees, Laurie R. King, $15.
The great marvel of King’s series featuring Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes is that she managed to preserve the integrity of Holmes’ character and yet somehow conjure up a woman astute, edgy and compelling enough to be the partner of his mind, as well as his heart. Washington Post Book World
The Road to Omaha: Hits, Hopes and History at the College World Series, Ryan McGee, $15.99.
McGee intricately relates the action on the field and the myriad personalities of the coaches and players — from the super stud and future millionaire to the son of a dairy farmer turned championship hero. An entertaining read. Publishers Weekly
The Botticelli Secret, Marina Fiorato, $14.99.
Fiorato crafts a historical novel in the style of Susan Vreeland’s “Girl With a Pearl Earring,” blended with painting as code á la “The Da Vinci Code.” Library Journal
COMING UP
Give + Take, Stona Fitch, $23.99.
Lauded by Booklist as “part entertaining road novel and part stylish crime caper, this compulsively readable book offers a fresh plot and some wickedly funny criminals while also incorporating slyly subversive commentary.” (May)
