"The Jills"

New from Ballantine Books: The Jills: A Novel by Karen Parkman.

About the book, from the publisher:

In this propulsive debut, a Buffalo Bills cheerleader will stop at nothing to solve the disappearance of her best friend and teammate, navigating the dark underbelly of a hardscrabble city, the grime and glamour of professional cheerleading, and her own tangled family history.

Virginia is a Jill—a cheerleader for the NFL’s Buffalo Bills—living the life of her dreams: she spends her weekdays practicing, her weekends cheering, and her nights hopping between bars and clubs with her teammates, including the fearless, charismatic Jeanine, whose friendship has given Virginia confidence in spades and helped her forget her troubled past with her estranged sister, Laura.

One Sunday, Jeanine fails to show up for a game, and calls and texts to her go unanswered. Virginia embarks on an investigation into Jeanine’s disappearance, aided by a network of Jills, ex-boyfriends, seedy fixtures of Buffalo’s criminal underground, and unexpected figures from her past. But as her search grows increasingly dangerous and spirals into obsession, disturbing questions about who Jeanine really was begin to emerge.

Soon, Virginia finds herself wondering how well she knew her best friend, if she can trust the people she thought were protecting her, and whether—when trying to save the ones she loves most—she’s capable of saving herself, too.

Part bingeable mystery, part character-driven tale of a woman discovering her own strength in a system built by and for men, The Jills is a page-turning novel that brims with wit and heart while reminding us of the healing power of sisterhood.

Visit Karen Parkman's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Kant's Moral World"

New from Oxford University Press: Kant's Moral World: Ideas and the Real Use of Pure Practical Reason by Jessica Tizzard.

About the book, from the publisher:

Kant's Moral World offers a detailed defense of Immanuel Kant's practical metaphysics. While Kant is widely recognized for his moral philosophy, this study reveals how his ethical framework also serves as a foundation for answering some of the most profound metaphysical questions: Are we truly free? Do we have immortal souls? Can we rationally believe in God?

Through a careful and systematic interpretation of Kant's critical works, the book grounds his approach to these questions in the broader development of the concept of pure reason, which begins in the Critique of Pure Reason and stretches through the Groundwork and Critique of Practical Reason. Jessica Tizzard argues that our practical cognition of the moral law and transcendental freedom exemplifies pure reason's real use, which ultimately explains the primacy of practical over theoretical reason. This primacy, in turn, provides rational grounds for affirming the existence of the soul and God as necessary conditions for the realization of a moral world, encapsulated in Kant's idea of the highest good.

Combining rigorous textual analysis with philosophical clarity, this monograph offers a compelling new interpretation of Kant's metaphysical project. It invites scholars and students alike to reconsider the depth and coherence of Kant's vision, where morality and metaphysics are not separate domains, but mutually reinforcing aspects of human reason.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Alphabet Sleuths"

New from Severn House: The Alphabet Sleuths by Laura Jensen Walker.

About the book, from the publisher:

Disposing of a body is as easy as A, B, C! Introducing the Alphabet Girls, four senior gal pals turned accidental sleuths―The Thursday Murder Club meets The Golden Girls, with a splash of Killers of a Certain Age

At sixty-nine years old, Claire Reynolds is changing things up. She’s volunteering. Learning to rollerblade. She’s rescued a shelter dog. And today, she’s killed a man. It wasn’t on her to-do list, but stuff happens.

Besides, the man in question was strangling her good friend Daphne, and what’s a gal to do? Scream, possibly. Call the cops. Or―at retired officer Daphne’s insistence―call in the rest of their senior gal pals, roll up the body in a blanket, and toss it off a cliff.

The dead man is a member of the local crime family, and if the police get involved it’s not just Daphne at risk, it’s them all.

But the body’s just the start. Soon the Alphabet Girls―Atsuko, Barbara, Claire, and Daphne―must transform into the Alphabet Sleuths, if they’re to keep both their liberty . . . and their lives.

Meet Atsuko Kimura (75, retired journalist), Barbara Wright (age redacted, retired actress), Claire Reynolds (69, retired paralegal), and Daphne Cole (62, retired cop) in the first funny, fast-paced Alphabet Girls Mystery from award-winning author Laura Jensen Walker.

Visit Laura Jensen Walker's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Climate Change, Human Rights, and Adaptive Mobility"

New from Oxford University Press: Climate Change, Human Rights, and Adaptive Mobility by Lauren Sakae Nishimura.

About the book, from the publisher:

The potential for climate change to cause vast human movement is a major global issue. Dominant approaches to climate-related migration take mobility as the starting point, exploring legal frameworks that tend to provide protection for migrants only after they move and overlooking measures that could help avoid forced movement in the first place. In contrast, Climate Change, Human Rights, and Adaptive Mobility provides a new conceptual and legal approach to human mobility in the context of climate change, one that seeks to compel and shape more proactive, anticipatory action.

The author anchors her arguments in the international climate change regime, turning to obligations on adaptation found in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement. These obligations, though understudied and underutilized, have the potential to be a powerful legal tool. The book therefore seeks to lend them concrete legal meaning. It draws on international climate change and human rights law to weave together doctrinal analysis that considers treaty interpretation, regime interaction, and principles of environmental law with case studies in Bangladesh, the Pacific Islands, and the Sahel.

At its core, the book argues that adaptation obligations require states to take measures to address foreseeable risks and ensure human rights. It further argues that developed countries that have contributed most to climate change have legal duties to support others in adapting to its effects, adding a collective dimension to the problem of climate change and mobility.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Good Intentions"

New from St. Martin's Press: Good Intentions: A Novel by Marisa Walz.

About the book, from the publisher:

Even the best intentions can grow into obsession...

On the surface, Cady has the perfect life. She has a thriving luxury event-planning business, the man she’s loved since she was seventeen, and a social calendar she can barely keep up with. She also has Dana, her identical twin, her most trusted confidante. But when Dana dies suddenly, before Cady can say goodbye, everything shatters.

Yet to her family’s alarm, it isn’t grief for Dana that consumes her. It’s Morgan, a stranger Cady meets in the hospital waiting room that same day—a grieving mother whose tragedy mirrors her own. Cady doesn’t believe in coincidences. She becomes convinced that helping Morgan is the key to facing her sister’s death.

But is that really what she wants? Or is Cady drawn to Morgan for reasons far more complicated—and dangerous—than she’s willing to admit?

Sly, twisted, and irresistibly provocative, Good Intentions explores the moral gray zones we enter when the unthinkable happens—and the dark places obsession can take us.

Visit Marisa Walz's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Take Freedom"

New from The University of North Carolina Press: Take Freedom: Recovering the Fugitive History of the Denmark Vesey Affair by James O'Neil Spady.

About the book, from the publisher:

In 1822, Black Charlestonians attempted to overthrow slavery. They were exposed before they could strike, and many were tried and executed in what has come to be known as the Denmark Vesey Affair. Take Freedom reinterprets these events on the basis of new evidence and methods. James O’Neil Spady narrates the roles of a variety of Black men and women, arguing that the uprising was a broadly based, African-influenced social movement that marshaled radical love and fugitive practices of freedom to ignite a revolution that sought to liberate beloved friends, families, and communities from increasingly aggressive and racializing slaveowners.

Uncovering never-before-consulted, unpublished documents, Spady names the clerk who made the trial records and settles old arguments about their reliability. Take Freedom demonstrates the realism of the uprising movement’s strategy and uses social network mapping to illustrate the social dynamics within the Black community, emphasizing the roles of women and relationships among enslaved people. Ultimately, this book offers a more inclusive and expanded portrayal of this pivotal revolutionary movement.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Out of the Loop"

Coming soon from Crooked Lane Books: Out of the Loop: A Mystery by Katie Siegel.

About the novel, from the publisher:

She spent two years in a time loop. Now she’s ready to solve a murder. And maybe grab a bagel.

The Seven Year Slip meets Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers in this wholly original time loop mystery.

For the past two years, Amie Teller has been stuck in a time loop. Each day, she wakes up, and it’s September 17. Same day, same weather, same people, same conversations. Until one day, it’s September 18, and Amie is free.

Before she can celebrate, Amie learns her neighbor was murdered the day before—the day Amie has lived hundreds of times. Amie knows she has to help; nobody knows yesterday like she does. But acclimating to her new nonrepeating life proves to be more difficult than expected. How does one resume their life after a time loop, anyway?

Assisted by an ex-girlfriend who wants to make their friendship work and a grumpy neighbor who spends his days building Rube Goldberg machines, Amie sets out to track down who killed (and killed and killed and killed) Savannah Harlow.

Readers who love time loop novels, amateur sleuth mysteries, and original takes on classic tropes will love Out of the Loop.

Visit Katie Siegel's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Playing to the End"

New from the University of Nebraska Press: Playing to the End: Elder Black Men, Placemaking, and Dominoes in Denver by Steve Bialostok.

About the book, from the publisher:

In Playing to the End, Steve Bialostok immerses readers in the vibrant world of the card room at Denver’s Hiawatha Davis Jr. Recreation Center, where a group of older Black men gather to play dominoes, exchange playful banter known as “talking shit,” and cultivate a space of belonging. More than just a game, their gatherings are acts of Black placemaking—resisting cultural erasure, gentrification, and societal marginalization while fostering joy, resilience, and community.

Through five years of ethnographic study, Bialostok reveals how these men transform the card room into a sanctuary of identity and defiance, where humor and camaraderie become tools of self-determination. As they navigate the pressures of a changing neighborhood, their interactions affirm the power of play, talk, and collective memory in sustaining Black spaces. Playing to the End is a compelling testament to the significance of these gatherings and the ongoing struggle for autonomy, cultural affirmation, and social connection in an inequitable world.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Bone Queen"

New from Minotaur Books: The Bone Queen: A Novel by Will Shindler.

About the book, from the publisher:

A chilling horror-thriller debut where a mother's search for her missing daughter battles against the shadows of a historic, dangerous legend.

Single mother Jenna arrives on the tranquil shores of Athelsea fueled by the desperate hope to find Chloe, her teenage daughter who’s disappeared from their London home. She has no idea why–all she knows is that Chloe had changed in the previous two weeks, haunted by something, or someone, and the ferry ticket here is the only clue she has.

As she explores the village and interacts with the locals, Jenna soon realizes a macabre secret is being hidden in plain sight. A dark legend of a vengeful woman called the Bone Queen is spoken of in hushed tones amongst the villagers, some of whom are frantically trying to suppress the tale that has long terrorized their lives.

As Jenna starts to learn more about the Bone Queen and her previous victims, the village’s grip on reality begins to loosen and no one can say for sure who, or what, is responsible for the deaths and disappearances on Athelsea. Suffering from what she can no longer distinguish between paranoid hallucinations or real manifestations, Jenna must act quickly before Chloe is next…

The Bone Queen has left her mark, and one day she’ll collect.

Follow Will Shindler on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Carthage: A New History"

New in the US from W.W. Norton: Carthage: A New History by Eve MacDonald.

About the book, from the publisher:

A landmark new history of ancient Rome’s most famous rival―home of Hannibal, jewel of North Africa, and foundational power of the western Mediterranean.

For six hundred years, the city of Carthage dominated the western Mediterranean. Founded in the ninth century BCE as a small colonial outpost, by the third, it had grown into the area’s largest, richest empire. When, inevitably, it clashed with Rome for supremacy over the region, the conflict spanned over one century, three wars, and forty-three years of active fighting. After Carthage fell at last, the city was razed, and the tale of its defeat became a mere foundation stone in Rome’s legend. But in this landmark new history―the first in over a decade―rising-star ancient historian Eve MacDonald restores the story of Carthage and its people to its rightful place in the history of the ancient world, reclaiming a lost culture long overshadowed by Roman mythmaking.

Drawing on brand-new archaeological analysis to uncover the history behind the legend, MacDonald takes readers on a journey from the Phoenician Levant of the early Iron Age to the Atlantic and all along the shores of Africa. She reveals ancient Carthage as a cosmopolitan city not only of extraordinary wealth and brave warriors, but also of staggering beauty and technological sophistication. Home to Hannibal and Dido, to war elephants and vast fleets, at its height Carthage commanded one of the ancient world’s greatest navies and controlled territory spanning the coast of northwestern Africa to modern-day Spain, Sardinia, Sicily, and beyond. In gripping narrative, MacDonald shows how and why the Romans came to so fear Carthage, as one of the few rivals ever to inflict multiple defeats upon them―and what the world lost when it was finally gone.

Reclaimed from the Romans, Carthage is a dramatic tale from the other side of history―revealing that, without Carthage, there would be no Rome, and no modern world as we know it.

Visit Eve MacDonald's website.

The Page 99 Test: Hannibal: A Hellenistic Life.

My Book, The Movie: Hannibal: A Hellenistic Life.

--Marshal Zeringue