A TRANSATLANTIC ROMANCE SET against the backdrops of music journalism in London, big finance in New York. SOLID B

FIX YOU
self-published
2014

APPEALING NEW YORK cozy mystery draws on the publishing world and the city’s old-money elite for color. SOLID B

ALMOST TRUE CONFESSIONS : CLOSET SLEUTH SPILLS ALL
William Morrow & Company
2013

Mixing the charm of chick lit with the suspense of a thriller requires a deft hand; in her debut novel, From Bangkok with Despair: (Mis)adventures in D. C., Tichakorn Khroopan Hill is well up to the task. The book follows Joyjira, a Thai reporter trying to make a new life in the US after a nasty breakup back in Bangkok. Joy’s an engaging character, whose breathless love for Hello Kitty and designer shoes is balanced by her practical approach to the challenges of her new life and new job.

The camaraderie (and occasional savage backbiting) of a city newsroom is vividly depicted here, as are perspectives of the Thai community in the US, from restaurant chefs to international students. If there’s fault to find with From Bangkok with Despair, it’s that the book does so much at once: it’s a coming of age story, a Beltway thriller, and a romance. Joy’s distinctive voice and character are strong enough to tie the book together, though, and delightful enough to leave readers wanting more from Tichakorn Khroopan Hill.

A FRESH THAI TWIST on the chick-lit thriller! Charming novel stars a Bangkok reporter new to Washington, DC.

TWO YOUNG WOMEN weather the changes of the 1960s in different ways.  A complex, deft portrait of friendship!

VIVID MASSACHUSETTS ATMOSPHERE, “townie”/”incomer” tensions, deftly captured in a tale of gossip and scandal.

WHIMSICAL WOMEN’S FICTION features vivid local (Anchorage, Alaska!) color, a memorable single-mom heroine.

MEMORABLY RESOURCEFUL HEROINE needs every bit of her fierceness to make her way in Victorian England. Engaging!

AN ARTIST RETURNS to Galveston, Texas, and searches the island’s history and her family’s secrets. Overwrought.

A CHILD’S SUDDEN DEATH fractures a family, reveals its secrets. Upper-middle-class melodrama, a bit formulaic.