reading list: july - september

Colleen Gleason, Clockwork Scarab. San Francisco: Chronicle, 2013. A young adult Steampunk mystery starring the nieces of Sherlock Holmes and Bram Stoker? This first in a series features time travel and an Egyptian death cult as the girls begin working for the British Museum. Sarah Adams, Beg, Borrow, or Steal. NY: Dell, 2025. We return to Rome, KY, where Emily, a second grad teacher, has begun a novel to escape from the pain in her life. Then, her long-time nemesis buys the house next door. After much intrigue, Emily sells her book -- thanks to the new neighbor, her new boyfriend. Emily Henry, Great Big Beautiful Life. NY: Berkley, 2025. When she was little, Alice’s father played the music of Cosmo Sinclair for her, and now she has the opportunity to write a biography of his reclusive widow. If she beats out Hayden, a rock biographer, for the job. But something about it seems off, even before she starts falling for her competition. Will she uncover the real story, find love, or both? Eli Cranor, Mississippi Blue 42. NY: Soho Crime, 2025. Rae Johnson’s first case as an FBI agent takes her into the familiar work of college football -- familiar because her father is a National Championship-winning coach, and our author a former professional player himself. The case really gets interesting when the quarterback falls off the roof of a bar and lands on a pile of cash. Megan Abbott, Turnout. NY: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2021. Abbott does for the ballet what Stephen King does for pet dogs in this slow-burn thriller built around a children’s performance of the Nutcracker. Walter Mosley, John Woman. NY: Atlantic Monthly, 2018. When sixteen-year-old CC kills his father’s employer in self-defense, it sets him on an unexpected path to academic stardom in this powerful meditation on history and identity. Christopher Moore, Anima Rising. NY: William Morrow, 2025. In which Moor asks, “What if the Bride of Frankenstein’s Monster had lived?” in his usual humorous style. Kwame Dawes, Chris Abani, and Siwar Masannat, Toward a Living Archive of African Poetry. Brooklyn: Akashic, 2025. This volume collects introductory essays from the first ten box sets of chapbooks by emerging African poets produced by the African Poetry Book Fund. In it the editors detail their history and vision, opine on what they found, what they learned, and what they hope to leave, and make a good case for the importance of their work. Although it would be better to read each piece in the context of its collection, this is a valuable document in its own right. Alexa Martin, How to Sell a Romance. NY: Berkeley, 2025. I usually love Martin’s work, but this just didn’t move me. Frank Hopkinson and Michael Heatley, Boy in the Song. London: Anova, 2012. No Taylor Swift spoilers, but short explanations of fifty songs from the Beatles, Elton Joh, Carly Simon, and others. Good trivial fun.