Fans of Alex Michaelides’ bestselling thrillers The Silent Patient and The Maidens will be delighted that he’s returned with another notably unreliable narrator: Elliot Chase, a playwright who takes the famous Shakespeare quote “All the world’s a stage” quite literally in The Fury, a tantalizing slow burn murder mystery told as a play in five acts.
As befits an artist of his ilk, Elliot has a flair for the dramatic and an enthusiasm for gossipy speculation. When it comes to his own motivations, however, he is far more elusive—slippery, even—thanks to childhood wounds never fully acknowledged or healed, and present-day jealousies he attempts to stifle, with mixed results.
In The Fury, he has readers’ undivided attention, and he’s going to unapologetically enjoy it. “And before you accuse me of telling my story in a labyrinthine manner, let me remind you this is a true story—and in real life, that’s how we communicate, isn’t it?” Perhaps . . . or this is just a sly form of obfuscation from a seasoned dramatist. After all, he plainly states, “We are all the unreliable narrators of our own lives.”
Elliot’s best friend, movie megastar Lana Farrar, owns a remote Greek island named Aura. She hosts Elliot, her husband and son, and her longtime stage actress friend, Kate, for a luxurious Easter holiday. But Aegean winds known as “the fury” batter the island and cut them off from civilization for the duration of the storm. It is then that one of them is murdered, and all of them become suspects.
The British Cypriot Michaelides has cited Greek mythology and Agatha Christie as important influences; in The Fury he draws on elements of both as he creates a darkly immersive atmosphere rife with creeping dread, heightened passion and numerous dubious alibis. There is plenty of paranoid suspense, too, in this inventive take on a locked-room mystery that reminds us people are far more complex than they seem to be—or we would like them to be—for better or (murderously) worse.
Alex Michaelides blends Greek mythology and Agatha Christie to tantalizing effect in The Fury.
In Divine Might: Goddesses in Greek Myth, Natalie Haynes shoves aside the male-centric lens through which we’ve long viewed goddesses like Aphrodite, Demeter and Artemis, whether in history, literature, art or music. She steps into that breach armed with a sharpened gaze and copious research as she reveals to readers how these otherworldly women have been misrepresented and misunderstood in the past, and explores the ways in which they inspire and inform us in the present. BookPage asked the acclaimed author/scholar/comedian/broadcaster about her fascinating career and what she thinks we can all learn from the undersung women of the ancient world.
In last year’s Pandora’s Jar, you brought the likes of Medusa and Jocasta to the forefront. And now in this book, you turn to the goddesses in all their power and glory. What drives you to interrogate and explore how women were portrayed in myth and in art?
I can’t imagine not being interested in the portrayal of women: We’re half the world! And since almost all literature and art that survives to us from the ancient world is by men, it provides a fascinating canvas to explore. How did men imagine women, and how did they imagine powerful women, when they knew no such people in real life? What kind of goddesses would these men worship? I really wanted to explore the goddesses, the temples built to them, the stories depicting them, the art embodying them. So that is how Divine Might happened.
What was the most surprising, challenging and/or gratifying thing you discovered in the course of your research, in terms of seeing echoes of the ancient past in our present society and culture? Do you now have a favorite goddess?
The most challenging thing I discovered was just how little impact the goddess Hestia—once central to worship of all the gods in ancient Greece—had made on the modern world. There were so few examples of her in contemporary fiction and art that at the beginning of her chapter, I wasn’t sure I would be able to write it at all. But it turned out to be a really beautiful process, finding her where I could, and trying to explain how and why she had disappeared. I don’t have favorites—I change my mind with every chapter!
“Female anger is frightening to men. Always.”
Artemis may well be the most widely known goddess, with loads of mentions of her female-archer guise in ancient art and current pop culture. But while her strength and skill are routinely celebrated, you assert that at her core, “She is a true predator . . . fixed on death.” Will you share a bit more about what you found to be the most intriguing contradictions in terms of how Artemis has been portrayed and viewed?
I’m interested that Artemis is such a popular goddess here! I always assume Aphrodite/Venus must be the best known, just because of the sheer cultural penetration (and a planet named after her too.). Artemis is a puzzle because she is syncretized with so many other goddesses: every area in the Greek world seems to have known her by a different name and worshiped a different aspect of her. This is how you end up with a goddess who protects young girls, but also shoots and kills them, and a virgin goddess who is closely linked with the goddess of childbirth. I think it’s appropriate that she is so hard to pin down, though. Artemis belongs to the places away from cities and towns: She is a goddess of wild places, forests and mountains. We don’t really belong in her world; she is most at home with wild creatures. So we either accept we can’t understand her, or we become a little wild ourselves.
What differences do you see in art created by men versus women?
I think the more women make art, the more we’ll see different interpretations of what it means to be a woman. I was thinking about it today reading a review of Britney Spears’ new book: How she chooses to present herself seems completely different from how her management/family chose to present her when they controlled so much of her life. There’s a terrible poignancy to how long she has had to wait to be allowed to be her full self. And—more cheeringly—look at the Taylor Swift juggernaut. She remakes herself with each album, sometimes more than once. It’s a master class in depicting powerful womanhood in hugely varied ways. She’s inspiring millions of girls as she does it, so I think we could be in for an exciting time ahead.
You describe in colorfully unflinching detail some of Hera’s “spectacular and creatively unpleasant revenges.” And you note that modern culture often turns this exasperation into fodder for comedy rather than, say, a reasonable explanation for rage. Why do you think—even in myths that spoke plainly about murder, rape and other terrible things—Hera’s and other goddesses’ anger was assiduously avoided and downplayed?
“. . . women’s stories are every bit as valuable and compelling as men’s, every bit as important as I believe them to be.”
Female anger is frightening to men. Always. And it’s much easier to deny that if you claim that it’s irrational, that it comes out of nowhere, that it’s the consequence of being crazy or cruel. Otherwise you’d have to accept that structural inequality is irritating and make an effort to change it for the better. Sometimes I feel like Bruce Banner in The Avengers: “That’s my secret, Captain. I’m always angry.” He doesn’t wait for an alien invasion to be mad, he lives there. Well, me too.
Your first book, The Ancient Guide to Modern Life, was published in 2010, and you’ve since written several books—fiction and nonfiction—that challenge our assumptions about the ancient world. Have you met with any pushback to the new perspectives you’ve offered? How has your work and your life as an author changed since your first book?
I am told by academic friends that I am generally appreciated in their profession for encouraging so many students to pursue classics and ancient history. I’ve no doubt there are some scholars who hate me—that’s just a statistical reality—but I can’t honestly say I give them a moment’s thought. Who has the time?
Comedy + classicism is a pairing that’s worked quite well for you, to say the least! Which came first? When were you first inspired to combine the two? Does your BBC podcast “Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics” inform your books and vice versa?
Ha—I guess I would say I was funny before I was a classicist, but I was a classicist before I was a comedian. I started doing stand-up during my undergrad years. Since then the two have swirled around me most of the time, I suppose. The first few years in comedy were pretty low on classics (not much call for jokes on the ancient world in the late ’90s comedy circuit). But now these two fields have really merged for me. I love doing the live shows and making the BBC podcast. I’m extremely lucky!
What are you most hoping readers take away from this book?
I’m hoping that readers will come away from the book thinking that women’s stories are every bit as valuable and compelling as men’s, every bit as important as I believe them to be. I hope they’ll have a newfound respect for the huge power of these goddesses and the centrality of their role in the ancient world.
Is there anything you’d like to share about what’s next for you, goddess-y or otherwise?
Next up is season 10 of the podcast, I’ll be recording it in the spring. Still choosing who to include. And the new novel is about Medea, so that is going to be an intense time, writing her. But I wrote my dissertation on Euripides’ portrayal of Medea and Hecabe, so I have been squaring up to take on this story for decades. It feels like now is the time. Let’s hope I’m right.
Superstar athlete Arnie “Yash” Yashenko can’t believe it when Principal Carmichael tells him he won’t graduate eighth grade unless he goes to summer school—for gym.
When it comes to sports, Yash is no slouch: He already plays on the high school’s JV teams. But thanks to a change in state requirements, he’s going to be a slug, which is what everyone calls kids in the Physical Education Equivalency summer program (whose super-embarrassing acronym is indeed “PEE”). So, instead of training for high school football with his best friends Hammon and Amir, Yash grouses through gym class with the likes of sweet but super-uncoordinated Kaden; insightful former athlete Cleo; self-righteous wannabe journalist Arabella; twins and sworn enemies Sarah and Stuart; and oft-destructive class clown Jesse.
Slugfest, by beloved and prolific bestselling author Gordon Korman (who published his 100th book, The Fort, in 2022), is a rousing tale filled with hilarity and heart. Readers who love to root for underdogs and unlikely friends—a la The Bad News Bears, School of Rock and The Breakfast Club—will delight in the PEE kids’ gradual transformation from wary individuals tossed together by fate into true teammates who can achieve more together than apart.
Employing multiple perspectives with realistic, appealing voices, Korman explores how biases can take hold and posits that having an open mind can lead to a more fulfilling, fun life. We’ve all got something to offer; we just need to find the right context. This is true of the kids as well as septuagenarian PEE coach Mrs. Finnerty, a former second grade and home economics teacher who plies her charges with an astonishing array of delicious baked goods. Though the slugs scoff at her “kiddie games,” they learn playfulness and badassery are not mutually exclusive.
Whether he’s embodying the exquisite tension of a first date or the no-holds-barred thrills of a citywide flag football tournament, Korman’s gift for breathless play-by-play will have readers cheering for Yash and company to win at summer school and in life—whatever sporty or non-sporty form that victory might take.
Whether he’s embodying the exquisite tension of a first date or the no-holds-barred thrills of a citywide flag football tournament, Gordon Korman’s gift for breathless play-by-play will have readers cheering.
American pop culture indicates we’re pretty obsessed with marriage, but while there are TV juggernauts about bachelors and housewives, plus countless books, films and songs that praise (or bemoan) wedded life, there’s of course a lot more to marriage than a love story. Family law professor Marcia A. Zug is ready to educate us via You’ll Do: A History of Marrying for Reasons Other Than Love, an extensively researched, engagingly cleareyed look at the history of marriage in America, for better or worse.
The author, whose debut was 2016’s Buying a Bride, was inspired to write You’ll Do by her great-aunt Rosie, one of “generations of American men and women [who] have used marriage as a loophole to circumvent unfair or discriminatory laws.” As war loomed in 1937 Nazi Germany, Rosie, a Jewish woman living in Manhattan, went to Poland to marry her best friend’s brother and bring him to safety in the U.S.
In You’ll Do’s six chapters, Zug delves into marriages similar to her relatives’ as well as those entered into for money, government benefits, status, criminal defense or parental rights. She draws upon scholarly research, court cases and newspaper articles; illustrations and photos help capture the marriage-centric zeitgeist. Zug asserts marriage is a double-edged sword: “it can be beneficial, helping to combat racial, gender, and class discrimination . . . [and] can also further such oppression.” She shares numerous outrage-inducing stories, such as when Osage Indian women were married and murdered by white men pursuing land rights in early 20th-century Oklahoma. Zug cites numerous cases of domestic violence being waved away if it occurred within a marriage, and how in 2010, a Maryland woman learned that her health insurance only covered fertility treatments for the wed.
Other fascinating tidbits: gold-digging is now associated with women, but “Early American men’s interest in marrying for money is apparent in various anti-gold-digging laws.” Benjamin Franklin greatly disdained bachelors. And at Donald Trump’s 2005 wedding, a plane flew a banner proclaiming, “Melania, You’re Hired.”
You’ll Do is an illuminating and informative read that encourages us to broaden our perspective on American marriage and the systems that support it.
Marcia A. Zug’s You’ll Do is an illuminating and informative cultural history of marriage.
Kalvin Shmelton, sophomore at Gregg County High, is “a jack-of-all-treats, master of none” with a nice side hustle as a purveyor of $1 candygrams. The student council used to dominate the market, but Kalvin saw an opportunity to improve on their narrow offerings. After all, “nothing in the school’s handbook says students can’t be capitalists, too.”
In high school teacher Brian Wasson’s warm and witty debut novel, Seven Minutes in Candyland, another money making opportunity arises one fateful day in the utility closet that doubles as Kalvin’s HQ. He’s surveying his inventory when his longtime crush Sterling Glistern eases in, looking for a place to have a good cry. Intense awkwardness transforms into meaningful conversation when Sterling confides in Kalvin about her relationship troubles. Kalvin is able to offer a sympathetic ear and helpful advice: His psychologist parents have a successful couples therapy podcast and YouTube channel, and Kalvin’s been absorbing their teachings his entire life.
Soon, he’s the school’s go-to therapist, earning $10 per seven-minute session from the “rich kids.” It’s a thrill to not only help other people, but also stockpile lots of cash. Kalvin isn’t just working for spending money. He’s got an important goal: earn $11,737 by Valentine’s Day so he can present his parents with a family trip to Hawaii. Lately, their marriage has been on the rocks, and Kalvin is convinced the trip will help his family find joy once again.
But what if Kalvin can’t fix his family? As his deadline approaches, Kalvin’s anxiety switches into high gear, leading him to try to find some relief by meddling in his classmates’ lives. Why won’t some of his clients just take action based on his advice, already?
Seven Minutes in Candyland is an entertaining and empathetic read that urges us to embrace vulnerability, pursue emotional clarity and tend to our mental health. Readers will enjoy the story’s rom-com aspects: multiple will-they-or-won’t-they couples; a big upcoming school dance; and plenty of sweet surprises. Candy consumption is optional but encouraged.
Seven Minutes in Candyland is an entertaining and empathetic read that urges us to embrace vulnerability, pursue emotional clarity and tend to our mental health.
In Femi Kayode’s Gaslight, as in his 2021 debut, Lightseekers, readers inhabit the mind of Dr. Philip Taiwo—an unsurprisingly fascinating place to be, considering Taiwo is an investigative psychologist created by an author trained as a clinical psychologist. Mystery fans who revel in an intricate tale that focuses on the “why” of criminal behavior will enjoy this slow burning and atmospheric thriller.
Now living in his native Lagos, Nigeria, after 20 years in the U.S. (including several years working for the San Francisco Police Department’s internal affairs division), Taiwo is no stranger to questioning government officials while contending with obfuscation and antagonism. That serves him well when his sister, Kenny, asks him for help: Sade Dawodu, wife of wealthy and powerful megachurch bishop Jeremiah Dawodu, is missing, and the bishop’s been arrested for her murder.
The Grace Church elders see Sade—a vibrant young woman who occasionally disappears for days at a time—as impulsive and flighty, and thus aren’t overly concerned. But Kenny’s gut tells her something’s different this time, and she implores her brother and his associate Chika (a trained sniper and combat veteran) to find Sade.
Taiwo’s professional curiosity evolves into relentless determination as he uncovers corruption in the church and local government, and realizes the elders are more focused on clearing the bishop’s name than on finding Sade. Is that due to an intense reverence for the man, or is something more sinister afoot? Taiwo’s ambivalence about organized religion is brought to the fore as peril and violence rise up around him. “The more I dig into the case of the missing first lady, the more frayed at the edges what little faith I have becomes,” he thinks.
With Gaslight, Kayode urges readers to consider the risks of imbuing an individual with prodigious power, and the ways in which groupthink can take hold of an otherwise decent person or system. That, plus an emotionally complex narrator and a cast of well-developed characters, makes Gaslight a provocative and memorable mystery.
Femi Kayode’s provocative and memorable mystery Gaslight takes readers behind the scenes of a Nigerian megachurch.
Anyone immediately transported to a riverside pier by the lyric “So open up your morning light” will love Thea Glassman’s Freaks, Gleeks, and Dawson’s Creek: How Seven Teen Shows Transformed Television. “Today’s teen shows are leading the charge when it comes to progressive, diverse, and creative storytelling,” Glassman writes, but they wouldn’t exist without the seven predecessors she covers in her impressive debut: “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” “My So-Called Life,” “Dawson’s Creek,” “Freaks and Geeks,” “The O.C.,” “Friday Night Lights” and “Glee.”
In a wealth of new interviews with creators, writers, actors, crew and more insiders, Freaks, Gleeks, and Dawson’s Creek shares behind-the-scenes details that will delight devoted fans and excited newbies alike. While all of the shows drew heavily from their creators’ own teenage years, Glassman points out the unique choices and approaches that made each iconic. For example, “Fresh Prince” subverted typical sitcom format and “painted a nuanced picture of the Black experience. “My So-Called Life” inspired the first online campaign to save a show, and “Dawson’s Creek” had the first openly gay character in the teen sphere.
While Glassman acknowledges controversies that touched each show, she focuses on the creativity, heart and hard work that led to a groundbreaking era of teen TV. After all, as writer and pop-culture maven Jennifer Keishin Armstrong writes in her introduction, “There is no drama like teenage drama, in life and in fiction.”
This survey of seven teen shows explores how they broke ground with creativity, heart and hard work, paving the way for the genre’s progressive and diverse oeuvre today.
As Christina Wyman’s heartfelt and often heartbreakingly realistic Jawbreaker opens, Maximillia (Max) Plink receives distressing news from her orthodontist.
Dr. Watson says Max’s braces aren’t enough to prevent possible future double jaw surgery—it’s time to start wearing headgear known as “the jawbreaker” for 16 hours a day. It’s yet another thing that makes Max, a witty and kind seventh grader, feel like an outsider in her own life. She observes, “I basically have a shiny metal orb around my head. You could probably stand me on the roof of your house to get a better Wi-Fi signal.”
Despite this unwelcome fashion statement, Max perseveres. She’s used to trying to stay positive, because she’s already relentlessly bullied at school. The most enthusiastic participant in this cruelty is her own younger sister, Alex. Their parents routinely downplay Max’s concerns. Worried about finances, they’re having loud arguments more frequently than usual.
Thankfully, Max finds respite with her best friend Shrynn and as a writer for her school newspaper. When she learns of a journalism competition sponsored by their local Brooklyn news station, it sounds like the path to a happier future. But there’s a catch: A video essay is required for entry. “The thought of my face, my mouth, my teeth living online until the end of time makes me want to cry,” Max thinks.
Tantalizing suspense builds as the contest deadline approaches. As Max contends with all the stressors swirling around her, she wrestles with difficult questions: Should she insist her parents do something about Alex? Would it be a mistake to enter the contest and show her face to the world? Why is Shrynn acting so standoffish lately?
Wyman demonstrates an impressive ability to conjure up both the pain and delight of middle school with immediacy and empathy. An impassioned author’s note reveals that Wyman’s own background inspired this sometimes harrowing, but ultimately hopeful, story. “Sometimes finding joy takes a lot of work,” she notes. Reading Jawbreaker is an excellent and highly gratifying start.
Christina Wyman demonstrates an impressive ability to conjure up both the pain and the delight of middle school with immediacy and empathy.
Kids (and whimsical adults) often wonder what it would be like if inanimate objects came to life. Thanks to Leigh Hodgkinson’s The Princess and the (Greedy) Pea (Candlewick, $17.99, 9781536231328), they can marvel at a tiny vegetable who becomes voraciously self-aware.
One moment, the titular pea is just one among many heaped in a beautiful decorative bowl. The next, he’s standing with arms aloft declaring, “I am SO hungry!” But he doesn’t just have a little snack; no, he gulps down a Brussels sprout and makes his way down an elaborate banquet table, hoovering up all the food he encounters with hilariously messy results.
Hodgkinson, who is known for her work on the British children’s TV shows “Charlie and Lola” and “Olobob Top,” as well as numerous books such as Troll Swap, has created a visual feast of a picture book replete with vibrant colors, intricate patterns and expressive characters, such as the observant cat, who gapes at the pea’s antics—which include comical repurposing of the lacy tablecloth.
Inspired by “There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly,” The Princess and the (Greedy Pea) is also a cumulative rhyme. The text grows (along with the pea) as the pages turn, adding lines such as “It made him sneeze / when he guzzled the CHEESE” onto the refrain “Without a doubt / he swallowed a sprout. / What’s that about?”
The fairy tale “The Princess and the Pea” is folded in as well: It turns out a purple-clad princess was anticipating the feast. Alas, the louche legume has consumed nearly every crumb and left behind a graveyard of broken crockery, so the frustrated princess must go to bed hungry. But her bed is so uncomfortable! Kids will crack up when they realize why. The Princess and the (Greedy) Pea is a slyly funny, wonderfully rendered reimagining of children’s classics that will have kids clamoring for a reread—and a giant bowl of green peas, too.
The Princess and the (Greedy) Pea is a slyly funny, wonderfully rendered reimagining of children’s classics that will have kids clamoring for a reread—and a giant bowl of green peas, too.
Spencer Quinn’s Chet & Bernie Mystery books have delightfully punny titles like The Sound and the Furry and Tender is the Bite; the 14th installment in the bestselling series is no exception. In the Christmas-themed Up on the Woof Top, the twosome trade Arizona sand for Colorado snow when they’re hired for a most unusual case.
For the uninitiated: Chet the dog and Bernie Little of the Little Detective Agency are business partners and best friends. Chet may adore Slim Jims, but there’s nothing he loves more than the man he sweetly calls “my Bernie” throughout his often hilarious stream-of-consciousness narration. (To Chet, metaphors are baffling, tantalizing aromas are distracting and other animals are suspect: “I’ve had some experience with sheep, none good.”)
As Up on the Woof Top opens, the duo are attending a book signing with Dame Ariadne Carlise, a globally bestselling mystery author promoting her 99th book. Enchanted by Chet and intrigued by Bernie, Ariadne dispatches her assistant, Chaz, to hire them for the urgent job of helping Ariadne break her writer’s block by finding her muse, Rudy.
It’s a curious assignment: Rudy’s a reindeer who went missing from Ariadne’s ranch the day after Thanksgiving. Ariadne’s been keeping her struggles a secret, but Christmas and the deadline for book 100 are fast approaching, and her career and reputation hang in the balance.
At Kringle Ranch, faux snow is plentiful and a wreath-shaped blimp hovers in the sky, but underneath the manufactured merriment lurks great danger. Chaz is discovered grievously injured at the bottom of the Devil’s Purse gorge, where Ariadne’s boyfriend, Teddy, was found murdered decades before. Is Chaz’s situation related to Teddy’s demise? Will the (notably ill-tempered) sheriffs present and former help an investigation led by outsiders? And what does Rudy have to do with all of this?
A seemingly straightforward, albeit strange, tracking assignment evolves into a multilayered investigation as Chet and Bernie race against time to find the missing reindeer and unravel the truth about Chaz’s injuries and Teddy’s death. Tense interrogations, gripping action scenes and clever detective work make Up on the Woof Top an engaging, entertaining holiday treat.
Detecting duo Chet & Bernie (Chet’s a dog, Bernie is his owner) must find a crime novelist’s missing reindeer in Spencer Quinn’s clever and entertaining Christmas mystery.
Insider deputy editor Walt Hickey won the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Illustrated Reporting and Commentary. His wide-ranging, captivating You Are What You Watch: How Movies and TV Affect Everything makes it easy to see why.
The average American spends three-plus hours a day consuming media. “Across a lifetime,” Hickey writes, “that’s 22 percent of our time on Earth!” No wonder we’re curious about how media affects us. He asserts that, contrary to those who consider our favorite media a “bogeyman, a brain melter, a violence inciter, a waste,” it actually is “complex, fascinating, and often rather good.”
Hickey fascinates as he demystifies pop culture, sharing the outcomes of his experiments and studies. He’s a data journalist, and cheeky and informative visuals—charts, graphs, maps and little photos of famous people’s heads—bolster his pro-pop-culture assertions and illuminate personal stories, such as when he subjected his nervous system to a “Jaws” rewatch to discern which scenes most affected him. Colorful charts like “Movies Make People Exhale the Same Chemicals at the Same Times” bring his research into focus. He notes that when “The Hunger Games” film debuted in 2012, USA Archery’s merchandise sales quintupled. Similarly, the premieres of 1943’s “Lassie Come Home” and 1992’s “Beethoven” were both followed by spikes in the popularity of collies and Saint Bernards.
The author’s keen eye for detail and ability to see connections across genres enliven the narrative beyond theory and talking points. From the WWE to the Tax Reform Act of 1976, Scooby-Doo to geopolitics, Hickey offers a bounty of enthusiasm for our favorite stories.
Pulitzer Prize winner Walt Hickey champions pop culture with a cornucopia of studies, experiments and visuals in You Are What You Watch.
Dear reader, when you go on a road trip, do you stop only for food, gas and bathroom breaks? Or do you embrace detours to local oddities, historical sites and scenic overlooks?
Your answer will likely inform whether you’ll enjoy MSNBC news producer Dann McDorman’s unusual debut mystery, West Heart Kill. Will you deem it an exercise in delayed gratification with a side of lectures? Or a refreshing—nay, daring—metafictional take on the murder mystery?
West Heart Kill is definitely ambitious and absolutely entertaining. The year is 1976, the place is the private West Heart hunting club in upstate New York, and the detective is private investigator Adam McAnnis, there for a visit with his friend James Blake. The Blakes and the club’s other member families, all beneficiaries of generational wealth, are gathering to celebrate the Fourth of July. There shall be fine dining, hunting, swimming and a smattering of adultery.
But really, McAnnis is there at the behest of a mysterious client who’s hired the detective to ferret out conspiracies against him. West Heart has conflict aplenty: the aforementioned adultery, a proposal to sell the club and painfully unresolved resentments. McAnnis observes it all and, when a woman is found dead, a dark and stormy night serves as dramatic backdrop to multiple interrogations and indignant protestations, additional deaths and scandalous revelations.
McDorman does an excellent job of peeling the onion-like layers of his detective tale, carefully doling out surprises as the pages turn. It’s his penchant for digression that might prove controversial: He repeatedly pauses his story to contemplate literary conventions, sample different formats and interrogate the work of Sophocles, Agatha Christie, et al. He also playfully points out when he’s employing genre tropes like “the Great Detective Pondering the Case.”
As the author notes while wearing his second-person-narrator hat (he dons first- and third-person chapeaux, too), “The mystery, virtually since its inception, has invited rule-making and rule-breaking.” McDorman embraces that notion in a way that I, dear reader, found archly amusing. The journey, while meandering and sometimes confounding, had its own pleasing element of suspense: Wherever will he detour to next? West Heart Kill is an off-roading mashup of fact and fiction that will have readers asking “Are we there yet?” with varying degrees of enthusiasm and buy-in—and thus is sure to spawn exceptionally lively book club debates.
Dann McDorman’s extremely meta mystery, West Heart Kill, is sure to spawn exceptionally lively book club debates.
Sarah Brown knows and loves felines: She has a doctorate in the social behavior of neutered domestic cats, and the dedication page of her new book simply reads, “For the cats.”
Those who said “Aww!” at that information will delight in Brown’s The Hidden Language of Cats: How They Have Us at Meow. It’s a fascinating compendium of scientific information about our furry friends’ modes of communication interwoven with interesting anecdotes about Brown’s 30 years of fieldwork (plus her own cats’ hijinks at home).
Brown traces the history of cats’ evolution from solitary wildcats to the creatures who now reside in 45 million households in the U.S. alone. A crucial step in that process: “Cats supplemented their original scent-based language with new signals and sounds, designed for life alongside humans and other cats.” In a more recent development, researchers released data in 2017 about the “Feline Five,” a set of “personality dimensions similar to those of humans” (such as agreeableness and neuroticism) that people can use to better relate to their cats. After all, Brown notes, “Just like people, cats have complex personalities.”
Whimsical line drawings by Brown’s daughter Hettie add to the fun of this informative, accessible guide to what cats are telling us, whether through tail twitches, meows or exceedingly slow blinking.
Fifty Places to Travel With Your Dog Before You Die
For many dog owners, traveling with their pooch in tow is a must, but it’s not always easy to figure out where to go or how to prepare. There are rules of entry to consider, not to mention pet-friendly lodging. If border crossing is involved, vaccines and paperwork come into play too.
Not to worry: Fifty Places to Travel With Your Dog Before You Die: Dog Experts Share the World’s Greatest Destinations was created by Chris Santella and DC Helmuth to demystify the process of traveling with dogs and “provide a road map and inspirational guide for those who would take Fido along wherever they go.”
The duo turned to seasoned “dog travelers” to help them compile a list of superlative spots in the U.S. and abroad. Fittingly, it begins with Anchorage, Alaska, home to the Iditarod and Yukon Quest dog races. Those who seek a slower pace may want to relax in Palm Springs, California, or visit wineries in the Margaret River region of Australia. Hiking in Yosemite National Park could be fun, or perhaps a trip to Venice, Italy, where “dogs are typically welcome on gondola rides.”
Gorgeous color photos of people and their pets accompany each detail-packed entry in this practical and aspirational world tour for dog owners.
For the Love of Dog
In the introduction to her edifying and entertaining For the Love of Dog: The Ultimate Relationship Guide, author Pilley Bianchi notes that “The New York Times alone has published almost two hundred thousand articles on dogs and is currently averaging a new one every other day.” Many were about “a member of my family . . . a world-famous dog” named Chaser.
In 2011, Bianchi’s father, Dr. John W. Pilley, and their border collie Chaser went viral for their work together, particularly with regards to Chaser’s 1,022-word vocabulary and the revelation that “dogs are not only smarter than they have been given credit for, but capable of so much more.”
Bianchi, who refers to herself as “Chaser’s coteacher, producer, roommate, and water girl,” partnered with U.K.-based illustrator Calum Heath to honor her late father and their dog while showing readers how to tap into their own dogs’ special capabilities—for learning, for fun and for love.
In service of that goal, she shares a history and philosophy of dogs that name-checks Odysseus and Descartes; deeply ponders the values of play and praise; and cautions against making assumptions about breeds, which “can often lead us to miss the individual nature of a dog.” Heath’s illustrations frolic across the pages, adding humor and beauty to this eclectic, heartfelt tribute to the dogs we love.
These 3 charming nonfiction books about dogs and cats are the perfect pet-centric holiday gifts.
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