A CHARMING FAIRY TALE of a couple on a train to nowhere mixes the sweet and the unsettling in nearly equal measure, but love of all kinds always holds center stage. B PLUS

PEACES
Riverhead Books
2021

THE “OUTLAW WIZARD” TROPE gets a fresh take in this inventive rural Alabama fantasy. “Methmagician” Howard Marsh, scion of an old family with powers, works spells for the law to keep himself in drugs and junk food. Sharp, vivid writing! B PLUS

BRINGING HOME THE RAIN: THE REDEMPTION OF HOWARD MARSH 1 (THE JUBAL COUNTY SAGA)
Broken Oak Publishing
2021

THE SOVIET SPY INSIDE the Manhattan Project—how he got there, and how he got away with it. Fascinating story explores a complex intelligence operation, as well as the factors that led Iowa-born George Koval to spy for the USSR. B PLUS

SLEEPER AGENT
Simon & Schuster
2021

A NOT-EXACTLY-HUMAN POLICE INSPECTOR, a daring archaeologist, and her bumbling reporter husband track down mysteries in the Cotswolds and in the Himalayas. Fun paranormal mystery with great characters, tight plotting, ridiculous puns. B PLUS

INSPECTOR HOBBES AND THE COMMON PEOPLE: COMEDY CRIME FANTASY (UNHUMAN BOOK 5)
The Witcherley Book Company
2021

THE FIRST MARS COLONISTS face some unexpected events in this charming, witty novel. Both skillful near-future science fiction and a warm comedy of manners, it’s a delight. B PLUS

HOW TO MARS
Tachyon Publications
2021

A LIFE WITH LOW VISION, and with even greater barriers of profound self-consciousness and shame, made beautiful by a passion for reading, writing, and teaching, and especially by love and friendship. Candid, uncompromising memoir. B PLUS

BLIND MAN'S BLUFF
W. W. Norton & Company
2021

RAW HONG KONG NOIR, set during the late 1980s runup to the 1997 transfer to China, sets a slow-burn thriller plot against a poetic evocation of doomed communities. B PLUS

DIAMOND HILL
World Editions
2021

A JOURNALIST’S MURDER DREDGES up unsettling connections to a teen’s long-ago death, and the Norfolk homicide team has a tough case to crack. Sharp English police procedural with strong characterization and a tight plot. B PLUS

A DARK SIN: A CHILLING BRITISH DETECTIVE CRIME THRILLER (THE HIDDEN NORFOLK MURDER MYSTERY SERIES BOOK 8)
Hamilton Press
2021

A HEADLINE-GRABBING MURDER IN GHANA lays bare a web of troubling secrets that only private detective Emma Djan can unravel. Sharp mystery with an engaging sleuth offers vivid portrayals of Ghanaian life, from glittering high-rises to the streets. B PLUS

SLEEP WELL, MY LADY (AN EMMA DJAN INVESTIGATION #2)
Soho Crime
2021

A LAVISH COMEDY OF MANNERS transposes a classic farce plot to the world of 2015’s upper-crust, high flying Millennials. Gloriously baroque prose and a killer eye for detail. B PLUS

THE PORTRAIT OF A MIRROR
The Overlook Press
2021