"A Field Guide to Murder"

Coming January 27 from Crooked Lane Books: A Field Guide to Murder: A Novel by Michelle L. Cullen.

About the book, from the publisher:

A cranky widower and his spirited caregiver team up to solve his neighbor’s murder in this charming and original mystery, perfect for fans of Richard Osman and Benjamin Stevenson.

Once a globe-trotting anthropologist, Harry Lancaster is now certain that all his grand adventures are behind him. Recently widowed and suffering from a fractured hip, Harry spends his days and nights behind a pair of binoculars, nose-deep in his neighbors’ affairs. His millennial caregiver, Emma, is determined to get him out of his armchair and back into the world.

Fate intervenes when Harry’s mysterious neighbor, Sue, phones, pleading for help. But instead of rescuing her, Harry and Emma find Sue dead: poisoned, days after a break-in at Sue’s house. Harry resolves to find out what happened, and Emma insists on going along for the ride. Together, they discover motives and suspects abound in Harry’s quaint condominium community—putting them both in the crosshairs of a cold-blooded killer.

Readers of Kristen Perrin and Deanna Raybourn will be charmed by this quirky, cross-generational murder mystery.

Visit Michelle L. Cullen's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Range of the River"

New from Stanford University Press: The Range of the River: A Riverine History of Empire across China, India, and Southeast Asia by Iftekhar Iqbal.

About the book, from the publisher:

Spanning nearly 4 million square kilometers, the Tibetan river system—including the Brahmaputra, Irrawaddy, Salween, Mekong, Red, and Yangzi—forms the largest contiguous network of rivers on the planet, stretching across eastern South Asia, mainland Southeast Asia, and southern China. The Range of the River uncovers the entwined histories of these vast waterways and the empires, human actors, and other—than—human forces that have shaped Asia since the 1850s. Both ethnodiverse and biodiverse, these rivers were more than contested imperial spaces—they were also channels of communal and material exchange, linking near and distant contact zones. They fostered connections across Asia, driving commerce, mobility, and cultural encounters that transformed them into shared, living commons bridging societies, political powers, and economic interests.

Tracing six major rivers across eight countries, Iftekhar Iqbal argues that these river systems formed the core of a discursive space where empires, regional political forces, ethnic groups, boaters, peddlers, explorers, merchants, and mules encountered each other in layered meanings and movements. This groundbreaking book reimagines the river not as merely a tool of empire but as a dynamic force in itself, shaping a truly transregional Asia. By weaving together diverse riverine life—worlds, The Range of the River invites us to rethink Asia's spatial history.

--Marshal Zeringue

"This Brutal Moon"

New from Orbit: This Brutal Moon (The Kindom Trilogy, 3) by Bethany Jacobs.

About the book, from the publisher:

Bethany Jacobs returns with the thrilling conclusion to The Kindom Trilogy that began with the Philip K. Dick Award–winning These Burning Stars, the debut epic space opera trilogy about revenge, power, and the price of legacy.

Violence has erupted across the Treble. The colony that Jun Ironway and Masar Hawks have fought to protect is now woefully compromised, and its people, unwilling to submit to tyranny once more, face a brutal fight for their lives and freedom.

In the midst of upheaval and rebellion, new enemies arise at every corner, including a familiar player who won't let power slip through his fingers again. Not when he has every Kindom Hand under his heel. And whether he will be as bloody-minded as his predecessors remains to be seen.

As the quiet ones launch their attack and all hope seems lost, Cleric Chono looks to unlikely allies to fight a final battle for peace. But one crucial question remains: where is Six?

Visit Bethany Jacobs's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Marginality"

New from Columbia University Press: Marginality: Solidarity and the Fight for Social Change by Jin Y. Park.

About the book, from the publisher:

In a deeply unequal world, numerous categories of people have been consigned to disadvantaged positions. Are those on society’s fringes doomed to remain there, or might marginality offer potential pathways toward a more equitable future?

This groundbreaking book reimagines marginality as a transformative force, interweaving personal narratives with cultural, literary, and philosophical analysis to reveal how perspectives from the margins can catalyze social change. Drawing on her own experiences as an Asian American female philosopher specializing in non-Western thought within an academic world dominated by white male–centered Western traditions, Jin Y. Park argues that personal stories are essential to philosophical inquiry. Ranging across non-Western philosophy, South Korean literature, and Asian American and African American voices as well as Western philosophy, she invites readers to examine their own feelings of marginality, reflecting on how lived experiences shape the search for meaning and values.

Bridging theoretical insights and real-world issues, Marginality offers fresh perspective on contemporary challenges such as violence, social discrimination, and economic inequality. Urging a radical rethinking of how we understand power, community, and social justice, this book calls on readers to embrace the solidarity of the margins to drive positive change.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Now That I Know You by Heart"

Coming January 20 from Lake Union: Now That I Know You by Heart: A Novel by Amy Hagstrom.

About the book, from the publisher:

A young widow embraces a life-changing new start on San Juan Island in a joyful and redemptive novel about closure, self-discovery, chosen family, and the courage it takes to live truthfully.

Newly widowed Shelby Wright has left the Portland suburbs for a new life on Washington’s San Juan Island to fulfill her late husband’s dying wish. Running the shuttered Captain Merrick Inn, where they’d honeymooned twenty years before, is also a chance for Shelby to prove she can go it solo. Miles from home and her young adult son, Shelby is ready to finally acknowledge to herself that she is gay. But becoming the person she’s hidden away for so long isn’t going to be easy.

As Shelby renovates and rebrands the inn, she meets charismatic winemaker Holly Caster. Their fast connection challenges Shelby to confront her emerging identity and lingering attachment not only to her husband, whom she loved, but to the best friend she left behind. When Shelby is welcomed by a supportive group of local queer women dubbed “the San Juan Sisters,” she’s on her way to making a professional venture―and a long-awaited personal quest―come true.

Both she and the inn may be in need of a little TLC, but Shelby is about to find love and purpose in the most unexpected places.

Visit Amy Hagstrom's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Wild Between Us.

Q&A with Amy Hagstrom.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Un-welcome to Denmark"

New from Manchester University Press: Un-welcome to Denmark: The paradigm shift and refugee integration by Michelle Pace.

About the book, from the publisher:

Un—welcome to Denmark, by Michelle Pace with Sarah El—Abd, critically assesses Denmark’s migration regime by directly engaging the voices of multiple stakeholders impacted by its harshness. It puts forward the theory of the 'unwelcome migrant' by undertaking an extensive analysis of the programmatic and legal foundations for the 'undeserving migrant' as well as of the lived experiences of Syrian refugees, welfare professionals and private businesses tasked with supporting them. It thereby documents the ways in which the Danish migration gaze produces and perpetuates the hyper precarity of the everyday lives of Syrians and the anxiety that overshadows the manner in which Syrians and those who support them navigate its maze. By so doing, it traces how a once admired, liberal, tolerant and open society with a strong reverence for human rights has turned into one of the harshest migration regimes in Europe, if not internationally.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Jilted Countess"

Coming soon from Harper: The Jilted Countess: A Novel by Loretta Ellsworth.

About the book, from the publisher:

In the aftermath of World War II, a young Hungarian émigré jilted by a G.I. persuades a Midwestern newspaper editor to help her find an American husband in this poignant novel, based on a true story, from the author of The French Winemaker’s Daughter.

The war stole Roza Meszaros’s dreams of becoming a ballerina and her aristocratic family’s fortune. But the penniless Hungarian countess’s fate takes a hopeful turn when she meets an American soldier named Joe, who promises to marry her and take her to the States. After two years of waiting to obtain the necessary money and paperwork to emigrate, Roza finally arrives in Minnesota—and discovers Joe has married someone else.

Determined to stay in America, Roza turns to popular newspaper columnist Cedric Adams to help her find a suitable husband. Sharing Roza’s story and her picture, Adams makes a special plea to his military readers. The response is overwhelming—nearly 1,800 World War II veterans bombard the paper’s offices with telegrams, flowers, candy, and cash, “a world-record” for marriage proposals, Adams tells Roza.

Like a 1948 version of The Bachelorette, Roza ultimately chooses Finn Erickson, a former soldier and railroad locomotive engineer. Putting aside her romantic ideals, she and her new husband settle into the small riverside town of Red Wing, Minnesota. But when Roza unexpectedly runs into her former fiancé, things quickly become complicated.

A captivating and unusual tale of love, loss, finding yourself, and creating your destiny, The Jilted Countess examines the meaning of marriage, the American dream, and what it takes to face our demons while searching for happiness.

Visit Loretta Ellsworth's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Love in Time: An Ethical Inquiry"

New from The University of Chicago Press: Love in Time: An Ethical Inquiry by Fannie Bialek.

About the book, from the publisher:

A meditative reconsideration of what it means to love as ever-changing beings in an ever-changing world.

We live in time, and so we love in time. Our beloveds change, and we change beside them. Sometimes we change apart, but it is this very changeableness, the braving of an unknown future together, that endears us to our lovers. Far from an ideal of constancy and commitment, then, love is an endeavor fraught with uncertainty.

In this book, Fannie Bialek sketches a view of love that does not ignore the vagaries of life but embraces them. In contrast to philosophical and religious attempts to secure love against finitude, Bialek’s love embraces its susceptibility to change and accepts the ethical challenges such change introduces. Attentive to our deepest vulnerabilities, Bialek develops a fresh ethics of love grounded by our humility before time.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Incidentals"

Coming March 31 from Little A: Incidentals: A Novel by Sheila Yasmin Marikar.

About the book, from the publisher:

A couple’s luxury vacation in the Maldives takes a sinister turn when they’re befriended by two strangers in a twisty and darkly comic novel by the author of Friends in Napa.

Sarah and Sam have lost the very spark that brought them together. In an effort to save their marriage, they embark on an anniversary trip to the Maldives where a week at a luxury resort might remind them of why they fell in love. On the plane, they meet Krista and Kevin, a happy older, exceptionally generous couple headed to the same destination and eager to make vacation friends. They could be just the marriage mentors Sarah and Sam need.

But when a dead body is pulled from the crystalline waters only days into the vacation, a dark pall is cast over the sunny coral isles. The official story is a tragic accident. But that doesn’t sit right with Sarah, who senses something off. What could these very wealthy, too-fast friends possibly want from a modest couple like them?

The answers could destroy what’s left of her marriage. Then again, a murder in the Maldives might be the best thing that ever happened to it.

Vist Sheila Yasmin Marikar's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Folk Engineering"

New from The University of North Carolina Press: Folk Engineering: Planning Southern Regionalism by Stephen J. Ramos.

About the book, from the publisher:

The understudied history of race, region, and planning in the US South

During the interwar years, the discourse of regional planning profoundly reformulated the spatiality of race and place in the United States. In the South, Jim Crow brutality and agricultural crisis fueled unprecedented population outmigration. Sociologist and author Howard W. Odum founded the Institute for Research in Social Science at the University of North Carolina to develop a Southern regionalism that reasserted organic territorial culture amid that flux. Regionalism connected the arts, humanities, and social sciences across the country in a collective effort to elevate place-based narrative and folk sensibility to an all-encompassing social theory.

Stephen J. Ramos refocuses the history of US regionalism and regional planning on the South, illuminating the modern tensions inherent in regionalism as nostalgic cultural practice paired with future-oriented planning ideology. By tracing Southern regionalists' intellectual history and institutional biography, Ramos explores how they developed a regional-nationalism through surveying and planning that came to inspire federal New Deal policies for the South. In showing how Odum’s influence crossed various borders, Ramos offers us a nuanced way to reappraise race, social science, and planning in the US South.

--Marshal Zeringue