A TELEPATHIC SPACE COP on the trail of women gone missing finds her own traumatic past resurfacing during the investigation. Smart SF thriller. B PLUS

SHADOW BEHIND THE STARS (SHADOWED SPACE BOOK 1): A CADICLE SPACE OPERA ADVENTURE
Dawnrunner Press
2020

A CELEBRATED CHEF’S LIFE, framed as an interview with a former employee who idolized her. Intriguing, quintessentially French novel touches on friendship, devotion, and the fierce asceticism of genius. B PLUS

THE CHEFFE
Knopf
2019

ON A PROFOUNDLY ALIEN PLANET, a mission from Earth disrupts centuries of cooperation among the human colonists and the other sentient species. Fascinating world-building, lots of action. B PLUS

INTERFERENCE
Tor Books
2019

VAMPIRES IN A NURSING HOME? An unlikely pair of investigators go hot on the trail of disappearing veterans and a sketchy evangelist. Comic, high-energy cocktail of paranormal mystery and Florida Weird. B PLUS

ORAL ROBBERS (FREAKY FLORIDA MYSTERY ADVENTURES BOOK 3)
Zazzy Ideas, Inc.
2020

HUMANS ARE RUINING THE NEIGHBORHOOD in the Tolkienesque realms where they’ve been hunting for cheap castles. Charming cozy fantasy gently satirizes both the genre and the issue of gentrification. B PLUS

AN ORC ON THE WILD SIDE
Orbit
2019

SAVING THE FLORIDA PANTHER: a conservation story almost too good to be true, told with charm and lots of local color. B PLUS

CAT TALE
Hanover Square Press
2020

INTERSTELLAR JOURNALISTS UNCOVER an enormous financial scam spanning Earth and all of space. Clever far-future science fiction with comic touches. SOLID B

FREELANCE ON THE GALACTIC TUNNEL NETWORK (EARTHCENT AUXILIARIES BOOK 1)
Foner Books
2020

A STROLL THROUGH THE BELLE ÉPOQUE with Samuel Pozzi, a distinguished surgeon now best known for his many famous friends (Proust! Bernhardt! Sargent!) Lovely prose, lots of historical gossip. B PLUS

THE MAN IN THE RED COAT
Knopf
2020

A DJINN AWAKES IN A NANOTECH-POWERED world, and takes on a city’s seemingly omnipotent AI. Marvelous reinvention of the picaresque combines SF and legend. A MINUS

THE GURKHA AND THE LORD OF TUESDAY
Tordotcom
2019

A MONSTER HUNTER FACES the battles of a lifetime with new enemies, and new allies. High-energy, witty urban fantasy with a rough diamond of a half-elf heroine. B PLUS

SINISTER MAGIC: AN URBAN FANTASY DRAGON SERIES (DEATH BEFORE DRAGONS BOOK 1)
Lindsay Buroker
2020