OFFBEAT MYSTERY HAS an intriguing setting (an LGBTQ writers’ conference in New Orleans), an appealing sleuth. SOLID B

SLASH AND BURN
Bold Strokes Books
2014

A RICH HISTORY OF hobo culture, from the early 1900s to the tales of those who proudly ride the rails today. SOLID B

MULLIGAN STEW: STORIES AND TRADITIONS OF AMERICAN HOBOS
self-published
2014

AN ASTRONAUT STRANDED ON MARS becomes a high-tech Robinson Crusoe as he struggles to stay alive. Engrossing! B PLUS

THE MARTIAN
Crown
2014

THE FUNNIEST BOOK ABOUT sadness, anxiety, neurosis, and other dysfunctions ever written (and drawn!). A MINUS

HYPERBOLE AND A HALF: UNFORTUNATE SITUATIONS, FLAWED COPING MECHANISMS, MAYHEM, AND OTHER THINGS THAT HAPPENED
Touchstone
2013

QUIRKY, ABSOLUTELY FEARLESS memoir about growing up quiet and bookish in a big backwoods Maine family. SOLID B

PIGS CAN’T SWIM
Da Capo Press
2014

HIGH-ENERGY COZY MYSTERY puts copywriter sleuth Jaine Austen on scene for murder at a shady dating service. SOLID B

KILLING CUPID
Kensington
2013

POSTCARDS FROM THE WILDEST FRONTIERS of food trends: offal, raw milk, edible insects, and other delicacies. B PLUS

ANYTHING THAT MOVES : RENEGADE CHEFS, FEARLESS EATERS, AND THE MAKING OF A NEW AMERICAN FOOD CULTURE
Riverhead Books
2013

A MUST FOR BLACK HISTORY month: read this brilliant, bawdy, heartbreaking novel of slavery and rebellion. SOLID A

THE GOOD LORD BIRD
Riverhead Hardcover
2013

MARVELOUSLY ATMOSPHERIC NOVEL of romantic suspense in the very best high Gothic Daphne du Maurier tradition. A MINUS

CAULDSTANE
self-published
2014

CANCER RESEARCH AND TREATMENT on today’s cutting edge, presented by a passionately engaged science journalist. B PLUS

THE CANCER CHRONICLES: UNLOCKING MEDICINE’S DEEPEST MYSTERY
Knopf
2013