Raised by her grandparents in the Jim Crow South the young Arlinda Willis “had a front-row seat” to the civil rights movement in Montgomery Alabama while growing up in nearby Toxey. In defiance of the systemic racism that shaped her upbringing—she grew up in “squalid conditions” in a “ramshackle house” without indoor plumbing or electricity—Willis was determined to forge her own destiny. In this biography based largely on conversations she had over the course of her multidecade relationship with the author (her co-worker and later caretaker) Willis describes how she joined her mother and millions of other Black Americans who participated in the Great Migration by moving north to Cleveland as an adolescent. By the 1960s she’d landed a job as a dancer for a local TV show called Upbeat which would later be syndicated nationally; there she’d share the stage with stars like James Brown. As a young adult during the civil rights and Black power eras she would also win runner-up in the first Miss Black Cleveland beauty pageant and tour with the band Rare Earth as a dancer. After landing a white-collar job at a law firm in California’s famously liberal Bay Area Willis notes that she still had to spend “years of proving herself of being twice as good as the [white] staff…just to be equal to them.” It was here that she met Cole a white man years her junior with an academic background in creative writing with whom she would form a lifelong friendship. Just as racism and misogyny shaped Willis’ early life Cole documents how medical racism—Willis suffered from undertreated pain and received delayed diagnoses—affected her final years as she battled cancer. What makes this work special is not just its poignant retelling of Willis’ life often in her own words; it’s also the author’s ability to place her experiences within a larger context of American history and structural racial inequality.

In this expansive memoir Slavova recounts her life from her childhood in Bulgaria to her present life in Los Angeles. Born in 1977 the author grew up with her sister Luiza a disciplinarian mother and a gentle father. After her Olympic judo dreams were crushed in a car accident involving her boyfriend Slavova made her escape to work on a French cruise ship. Her career as a cruise ship housekeeper was cut short when she stood up to an abusive boss leading to her arrest in Puerto Rico. After escaping the police she found work but her boss discovered a warrant for her arrest. Slavova escaped again to the small island of Vieques. There the author was able to thrive for several years before meeting the enigmatic James one of the terrible men who mark the transitions in her narrative. In the course of her tumultuous journey the author traded hospitality work for modeling acting and even running her own wedding-planning business. When she was diagnosed with breast cancer her relationships were tested and she realized what was truly important in her life. Slavova makes some intriguing writing choices such as starting her story in media res with the car crash that ended her judo career but many of the surprising events in her history are rushed in the telling and lack detail. For example while on the cruise ship Slavova recalls how she “found family in strangers” she met yet the book has no specific examples of this happening making the claim feel empty. The author too often relies on sentimental cliches; she concludes one chapter with the maxim “In the darkest moments even a single glimmer of light can be enough to save you.” Still Slavova’s story is compelling and even inspiring in the end.

Three children—CeCe Heiko and Ari—are the only people remaining on the island of Makeshift after a terrible event decimated their entire community of survivalists and also they believe brought an end to all humankind. Raised in an environment where certain adults are designated “conductors” to help lead the community and where everyone is considered a relation these three children though technically unrelated refer to themselves as “sisters” despite the fact that Ari is a boy. Practically feral but ferociously independent and resourceful they salvage for food on land cast nets for fish and crabs from the sea and spend their time diving in the treacherous waters searching for anything useful from the many ships that have sunk offshore. Ari the narrator and youngest of the group is the only one who can read or write. Heiko the bespectacled middle child has managed to tame a wolverine. CeCe the eldest assumes the role of conductor and soon decides it’s time to venture off the island and see what awaits them beyond their familiar surroundings. Only then—after canoeing together to the mainland and discovering that other humans do still exist—does it become clear to Ari and Heiko that their sister has experienced far more of the outside world than she’s let on. Following their brief but eye-opening foray to the mainland the three find their way back to Makeshift to rebuild the world they left behind and make it their own. Because the three children were in hiding during the event that set this story in motion the reader is forced to rely on their accounts and assumptions in the aftermath to make sense of what likely unfolded which doesn’t always work. And while the collective memory of their earlier lives provides much-needed background there are some lapses in logic that don’t always add up.

In 1988 20-year-old Sandra Ramirez is savagely kicked to death and left under an old oak tree in Santander Spain. She’d written a short story from the point of view of a stray dog that dies under the same oak tree and the murder remains unsolved two decades later. In 2008 master detective Hans Rekke and police constable Micaela Vargas team up on the cold case eventually putting them both in great danger. Rekke a psychologist and former concert pianist has extraordinary deductive powers that bring Sherlock Holmes to mind. Two people had kicked Ramirez he concludes one with much more force and a deep hatred of women. Rekke suggests they might be looking for a serial killer. Indeed similar unsolved cases have shown up in other countries and the victims are intellectual women. Victims also have strange symbols carved into their bodies as though they are cattle. Now the investigators believe the killings will continue. Meanwhile two men Pompe and Dag have strange conversations about women. The dominant Pompe calls himself a sadist and explains to the impressionable Dag that all men are sadists. “Admit it” he says “you’ve dreamed of seeing them suffer.” They are obvious suspects but they’re not alone. And during the investigation Vargas suffers a critical medical emergency that merely slows her down. When Rekke visits her in the hospital he sees another patient a weeping girl and notes that she’s a long-distance runner. “I can hear it in your breathing” he explains. Such uncanny observations permeate the story and make him an unusually interesting protagonist. Vargas boards in his house but they aren’t romantically involved. She does have a dubious love life though which leads to unexpected trouble. The threats continue to an edge-of-your-seat climax. Rekke and Vargas complement each other well with his unique talent and her down-to-earth competence. A neat final twist foreshadows the next novel in the series.

In her introduction editor and contributor Salazar describes this work as “a playlist of stories about music for music because of music through the music of poetry.” The collection spans a range of poetic styles geographical locations and time periods. The authors represent distinct cultural and ethnic backgrounds and include Indigenous and Afro-Latine writers and those with ties to Cuba Mexico Puerto Rico the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica. The theme of music as a cultural gift enjoyed via dances songs and instruments passed down from the ancestors forms a throughline. Latine musical legends past and present like Ricky Martin Selena and Bad Bunny are given their moments to shine. Standouts include the poignant “Ala’s Song” by Ari Tison (Bribri)—“…I sing words I know are older than me. / Words as old as flowers. / I pick them like a bouquet. / Weave them together in my heart”—and the moving “Altagracia’s Saturday Surprise” by Jasminne Mendez—“…when I hold Juliana’s guitar in my hands / it’s like pouring water on thirsty soil / and I know making music / is something I need.” In these stories music works as a balm to heal or overcome family issues as well as to help people discover and remember who they really are.

The story opens in September 1846 on Achill Island where 16-year-old Tessa O’Melia is being sent off to America to marry a stranger. (“Just don’t be foolish follow your instincts and stay away from strange men” her mother warns.) Her family is starving and her father is in jail having been accused of a murder that was really an accident. Sailing on the fever-ridden ship Dorcas Tessa meets a collection of companions who will shape her story. Nuala is a starving orphan; Mavis is a sharp-tongued prayerful spinster; Nifty is the ship’s apprentice with whom Tessa shares an innocent romance. After 42 days at sea Tessa lands in New York but the man she was sent to marry never comes to the docks. Lost and nearly preyed upon she’s taken in by Daniel a kind blacksmith from Donegal who walks with a limp. They marry a son arrives and Tessa slowly builds a life sewing fabric scraps into small toys she sells at the market. She makes friends with Kitty who has a club foot and Jeanette an escaped enslaved woman who lives in the attic of her building. Letters from Ireland bring news that her father has avoided being hanged and may be heading for America. Mavis dies of a fever and leaves Tessa a gift that changes her prospects. The narrative is capably told and heartfelt effectively building a cozy and twee atmosphere and Brady’s research on the famine the crossing and the squalor of Manhattan’s Five Points is evident. Characters die and get into trouble but the telling fails to locate much tragic irony black humor or deep character development in their stories—the result is closer to melodrama than genuine tragedy. Saintly Tessa’s longing for Nifty for Ireland and for her father sometimes feels repetitive and talismanic though it is evocative of a lonely immigrant’s experience of rumination and loss.

Goldberg was a student at New England Conservatory of Music when she joined the Klezmer Conservatory Band a group playing traditional Jewish dance music that originated in Eastern Europe. Four members of the group after learning of the plight of Soviet Jews who had been denied the right to emigrate decided to form a quartet to tour the Soviet Union and connect with the refuseniks. The point of the tour was to allow the stranded Jews (and other dissidents) to connect with their American allies while publicizing their plight. To gather information about the Soviet musicians—while concealing it from the KGB—Goldberg devised a musical code system with each note in a written melody representing a letter of the alphabet. The book tells of the Americans’ visits with the refuseniks and interaction with the Soviet system. A highlight was performing with the Phantom Orchestra of Tbilisi Georgia—a group of refuseniks and dissidents including many professional musicians. Their encounters with the KGB which followed them everywhere and often interrogated them finally resulted in their deportation for associating with “negative people.” But despite regular searches of the klezmer band’s belongings the KGB never solved the musical code—which years later became of interest to the cybersecurity community. The quartet’s experiences paled in comparison to what Soviet citizens faced: “[We] realized the searches interrogations and prison were a constant reality for these people” Goldberg writes. The book’s final chapters recount their post-tour experiences including the eventual emigration of many of the refuseniks to the U.S. or Israel.

Teddy Riggs prefers to be known as Daytona: “Fastest on the field. Fastest on the road.” Third-generation scion of an oil family he’s been cut off from his trust fund by his parents and lives with Granny who will cook him a dozen eggs to slake the appetite he’s developed on “the juice.” His “roid rage” shows up in present-day fights at his old athletic fields as well as flashbacks to incidents that have him banned from multiple Corpus Christi gyms. Teddy is in a downward spiral (think classic losers from Thelma and Louise to Richard Russo’s Hank Devereaux Jr.) but author Buxton allows him to develop as he falls including a sexual awakening and nascent sense of purpose. These flickers of growth will keep readers rooting for Teddy even when he’s in the midst of irrational actions and complicated manipulations of friends and family members trying every way he can to shake people down for money—often to fuel his huge fast-food orders; he eats multiple pizzas in a sitting and assures everyone this is misery. After he has a few encounters with a woman named Tammy he convinces her to head to Houston so he can attend a seminar given by Pat Dupree a life coaching guru who says “life is constantly testing our commitment to what we say we want.” Even after he’s received some of his idol’s spurious advice Teddy can’t stop the wild disastrous ride he’s on. At one point he lands in prison convincing his sister Pam a veterinarian to pay his bail. Teddy’s fate is all there in Pam’s reaction to his offer to pay her back in personal training sessions: “She smiles and starts laughing laughing like crazy and shaking her head.” She drives off leaving Daytona Teddy Riggs speeding toward his unhinged future.

Lady Caroline Morton who prefers just Caroline has been fortunate to work for Mrs. Frogerton since her father lost both her dowry and the family fortune. Mrs. Frogerton’s money comes from trade but she’s a kind employer treating Caroline like a daughter and relishing the murders they’ve helped solve together. Mrs. Frogerton’s doctor suggests a trip to Bath’s spa waters might improve the lady’s spirits. Although Dr. Harris has offered to marry Caroline she has much warmer feelings for Inspector Ross and at any rate plans to continue working even though she expects an inheritance large enough to support her. After Caroline arranges an apartment in Bath to accommodate two women and three dogs the women make friends with some of their new neighbors who range from pleasant people to raging snobs like Lady Greatmere and Lady Brompton who bully their paid companions. Several days after Lady Brompton announces that she’s the latest of their neighbors to receive a poison pen letter Lady Greatmere is found murdered in a locked room. Caroline uses her aristocratic title to impress the police but the sleuthing duo soon realize that the attractive confident Inspector Wells isn’t up to the task of solving the crime so they launch their own investigation. Noting that some money and a pair of earrings are missing from Lady Greatmere’s strongbox the police and some of the apartment dwellers think she was killed by her companion. Many of the companions are not fond of their mistresses but the leading suspect is a maid in the house—until she too is found dead.

Now that Halloween is in the rearview mirror in Eylan Hollow Bailey Briggs is gearing up for the Christmas season at the Lazy Bones Bookshop which she runs with help from her dedicated crew of workers and her big furry dog Jack. At a reception where two competing historical societies will discuss mapping the town’s tunnel system Bailey runs into bestselling horror author Rex Abbot—whom Bailey raised by her grandparents has recently learned is her biological father—and witnesses several arguments between society members. A few days later she heads to the Museum of Peculiar Oddities an unusual gift shop run by Finn Thomas a childhood friend and romantic interest who’s just turned a bank vault in his building into an escape room that he’s invited her to visit ahead of its official opening. Bailey’s companions include Rex; Walter Reeves from one of the historical societies; Graham Clark a historical society member who’d argued with Walter; Karolyn Robertson a local business owner; and Jude Collins another dueling history buff. They don’t get very far in solving the escape-room mystery before Walter keels over dead with a head wound. Since the prime suspects are obviously the other people in the room Bailey who’s worked with police detective Andrew Whitlock before decides to add crime-solving to her already packed holiday schedule. The collapse of a basement wall has revealed that the Lazy Bones is connected to the tunnels; further exploration shows that the bank vault is connected as well. Even if it’s no longer a locked room its most recent occupants all had motives to kill Walter.

The daughter of a distinguished lawyer Lasker-Wallfisch opens her memoir with chatty family letters and her father’s painful futile efforts to arrange emigration from Germany in the 1930s. As the persecution of Jews grew her parents were deported in 1942; her grandmother was also taken away. “The destination was unknown; they were never heard of again” the late British historian Martin Gilbert writes in the book’s preface. Still adolescents Lasker-Wallfisch and her sister Renate planned to escape by train to France but were arrested. Released from prison in 1943 the author was sent to Auschwitz where she escaped the ovens by knowing how to play a musical instrument. “I would like to remind whoever may read this that I had not seen let alone touched a cello for nearly two years at the moment I am describing” she writes. “I seem to remember that I played—or tried to play—the slow movement of the Boccherini Concerto. When I had finished I sat down and joined the camp orchestra. There was no real danger of my not passing the audition for up to the moment of my arrival the orchestra had not had a single bass instrument.” In 1944 as the Red Army neared she was transferred to Bergen-Belsen. “Here people were starving” she writes. “Here was typhus. Here was dirt lice no hygiene no ambulance no medicines. For fourteen days we stayed without bread. Rations were beets with water without salt.” Liberation arrived in 1945—“the liberation we had hoped for for three years.” Initially denied entry to Britain Lasker-Wallfisch eventually succeeded. She went on to enjoy a long successful career in music. “I have never regretted for one moment that I came to England to start my new life” she writes. “I have made my home here and I have a great deal to be thankful for.”

The Great Revelation was a shock to everyone in England; understandably so because they learned that the supernatural is real humans are relatively powerless—and Queen Victoria is a vampire. Miss Cora Hastings handles this series of revelations better than most becoming England’s first (and only) “species ombudsman” but even she’s shocked when she learns that the Devil is coming up from Hell to experience the Great Exhibition. He of course brings a full entourage including his son Marcellus a demon and the Marquis of Hell who’s also the most attractive creature Cora’s seen “across all the species.” Cora is assigned to escort the Devil around London which is mostly pleasant as his primary interests appear to be treacle tarts the British Museum and other mundane human pleasures. This also keeps her in constant contact with Marcellus who makes no secret of his (very welcome) interest in Cora. Their relationship does indeed become more intimate but even as she starts falling for him trying to unravel who’s behind multiple attempts on the Devil’s life takes precedence—as does the reality that their lives are very very different. Frampton is known as a historical romance author so fans may be surprised by the supernatural twist of her new series which layers strong worldbuilding and quite a lot of charm on top of her reliable attention to historical detail. At times the world Frampton creates is actually more compelling than the relationship between Cora and Marcellus which is surprisingly lukewarm at times despite several spicy moments. Still Frampton’s clever humorous writing and the well-executed premise will leave readers excited for their next visit to the Department of Supernatural Affairs.

Autumn in Oak Falls promises the annual Harvest Festival pumpkin spice lattes and small-town New England charm—a setting Willa has always cherished. However her life takes an unexpected turn when a distant aunt bequeaths her $25000 conditional upon her using the funds to explore “the world beyond Oak Falls”—and she must decide by Thanksgiving whether to accept. In one of her paths Willa continues working at the Little Acorn coffee shop and meets James Parker her boss’ son and the boy she had her first kiss with who’s recently returned to town after a broken engagement. In the other she considers leaving to study at the London School of Journalism; at the library she encounters snooty Theo Carmichael a new arrival to Oak Falls whose mother is from London. The story’s dual storyline structure lacks clarity leaving the opening chapters feeling disjointed. While the romantic tension is palpable—featuring enemies-to-lovers dynamics in which both young men initially come across as grumpy and caustic—the two narratives unfortunately contain repetitive beats. The characterization would have benefitted from deeper development to better ground Willa’s James’ and Theo’s decision-making processes. Willa and Theo are cued white and James has “dark skin dark hair and dark eyes.”

The story begins with Wifredo Lam’s childhood in a small Cuban village where he shared a home with seven older siblings his Chinese Cuban papá and his African-Taíno-Spanish-Cuban mamá. His papá’s calligraphy work and his godmother’s Santería ceremonies formed the first major influences on the budding artist whose predilection for sketching and drawing arose at an early age. His family’s relocation to La Habana where law school awaited proved antithetical to Wifredo’s desire to commune with art and nature. Engle then promptly charts Lam’s artistic arc from art school where a self-portrait led to the realization “that he was finally learning all the skills of an artist” to his travels abroad in Spain which galvanized the burgeoning painter to absorb from both the Old Masters and perhaps more importantly surrealist and cubist artists like Salvador Dalí Pablo Picasso and Joan Miró. The Spanish Civil War and thereafter World War II pushed Wifredo from Europe back to the Caribbean where he developed his unique style and eventually created his masterpiece La Jungla. Engle omits several key details about Lam’s life from the narrative (though those are fleshed out in the backmatter); instead this is a rich look at Lam’s artistic trajectory. Set on black and brown paper Alcántara’s superb gouache and pencil illustrations are stunning incorporating Lam’s influences with aplomb.

In a neat apparently empty pink bedroom an unseen narrator insists “There is a ghost in this room.” A pointed hat floats before the window and readers are invited to comment: “Do you like their hat? Do you like the way it brings out their eyes?” As the book progresses it becomes clear that Ghost is fretting about an upcoming party; they try on makeup practice small talk and ask for advice on a gift to bring the host. Ghost stumbles while going to get the present which unleashes feelings of panic conveyed in a series of “what if” statements swirling across a double-page spread. But after sharing these thoughts—and a cup of tea—with readers Ghost feels much better. Turns out Ghost is worried about making a good impression on the party’s host Martha (a fellow ghost). Will readers come too? Please? Inside Martha’s home the narrator reports that Ghost and Martha are happily chatting. “She’s laughing! She’s touching Ghost’s arm!” Though some of the social situations may not resonate with younger readers (worries about small talk Ghost’s anxieties stemming from a romantic interest in Martha) this nervous needy protagonist elicits plenty of empathy and the happy ending is a satisfying one. The detail-rich art cleverly suggests the spirit presence with glowing spots of light and empty space gradually showing more conventional white blobs with pink cheeks.

The setting is a city populated by expressive Pixar-style cars trucks and other motorized characters with windshield eyes and smiley bumpers. A variety of helpful trucks and service vehicles go about their work including ambulances fire engines helicopters tow trucks blue-hatted police cruisers delivery vans school buses dump trucks street cleaners repair vehicles that clean up after storm damage and food trucks that keep other vehicles well fed. They all work hard and deserve our appreciation notes the narrator: “So when you’re riding through your town / make sure you stop to look around / and wave and shout a big ‘thank you!’ / To helper trucks for all they do.” Riera brings the setting to life with simple rhyming couplets and creative variations of type size color and orientation. Weizman’s two-page-spread illustrations again portray a busy vibrant city with denizens whose pun-based names give them delightful character; for example there’s musician tour bus Trailer Swift street cleaner Sweeping Beauty and power-line repair truck Volts Wagon. The author’s appealing fondness for wordplay extends to the Brake Dance Academy and a drive-in cinema showing Alfa Romeo and Juliet. Young readers will enjoy the tour—as will many adults.

Frankie and Alter have turned over a new leaf: Giving up thieving they’ve gone into business as private detectives. One day they stumble across a rich man’s missing cat but when the owner offers them much less than the $10 promised reward Frankie steals a bowl on display in his home. When he breaks it a shard gets lodged in his palm. Soon after Frankie falls deep into self-loathing finding it impossible to give Alter the love he deserves—and then people around him start dying in horrific ways. Frankie isn’t sure if he’s responsible for these crimes or if he’s possessed by a dybbuk like the one that once haunted Alter. When an old friend and employee of Frankie’s goes missing Frankie searches for him meeting unsavory characters and often ending up fighting for his life. This gothic fantasy steeped in Jewish folklore is a slow-paced horror-filled bloodbath with a narrator readers may find it difficult to spend time with. While Frankie’s character is fully realized and the worldbuilding is impeccably detailed Frankie’s cold point of view is a drastic departure from Alter’s hopeful passionate narrative and the story feels in need of a more substantial anchor.

When Oakley High soccer player Summer is forced to transfer to rival Frost Lake High for 12th grade she worries that she’ll be surrounded by people who hate her will get stuck sitting on the bench and will lose out on her dream of a college soccer scholarship. Frost Lake soccer player Rowan on the other hand just wants his ex Amanda to notice him and his parents to ease up on their college pressure. It soon becomes clear that Amanda believes Summer is with Rowan—and is bothered. The pair (who are cued white) realize that by fake-dating they can make Amanda jealous while Rowan can help Summer fit in socially and use his parents’ connection to Frost Lake University to give her an edge with admissions. But the longer their ruse drags on the less they’re pretending. This stand-alone series entry has exciting sports scenes and genuine high stakes as Summer tries to find her place in the team and prove herself as a player. Although the romance takes center stage Summer and Rowan are both navigating other challenges that will ring true for many readers.