"Good Guys"

New from Melville House: Good Guys by Mindy Misener.

About the novel, from the publisher:

In a small New England town in 2008, two estranged sisters become embroiled in a war crime involving a local hero …

Georgie and Jo are sisters, but they aren’t close. The situation seems worse once Jo goes off to college, making it obvious she’s happy about leaving Curtisville and Georgie and their disabled father behind.

Then, Gary Clemmons dies in the Iraq War. Gary—the son of their pastor, the hero of their hometown, and the brother of Georgie’s secret girlfriend—was famous for being a good guy.

But Georgie stumbles on a dark secret about Gary, and once Jo finds out, things begin to spiral out of control. The fallout will change both sister’s lives forever.

In the end, Good Guys uncovers the underbelly of a small town—the darkness of patriotism and masculinity, the harm caused by blind religious fervor, and the ways these dynamics can destroy families.

Visit Mindy Misener's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The First Woman Judge"

New from the University of California Press: The First Woman Judge: The Life and Legacy of Florence Allen by Tracy Thomas.

About the book, from the publisher:

The story of Florence Allen, the first woman judge in the United States, and women’s transformation of the legal system.

Florence Allen was the first woman judge many times over―first federal appellate court judge, first elected to a state supreme court, and first shortlisted for the U.S. Supreme Court. During Allen’s forty years on the bench, the country swung between progressivism and conservatism, with passage of a constitutional amendment for women’s voting rights, two world wars, the Red and Lavender Scares, and the New Deal.

Amid these changes, women used their new political standing to transform the courts, first by becoming active agents in the justice system, and then by developing theories of public law, social justice, and fair process. Exploring Allen’s fascinating legal life, Tracy Thomas recounts the larger history of how women infiltrated the legal system as judges, lawyers, jurors, and legislators to demand a more representative system of justice for the welfare of all.

Visit Tracy Thomas's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Pilgrimage of Primrose Honeychurch"

Coming October 20 from Lake Union: The Pilgrimage of Primrose Honeychurch: A Novel by Laura Jensen Walker.

About the book, from the publisher:

From the author of Death of a Flying Nightingale comes the moving story of a solitary seventy-year-old curmudgeon embracing the connection of family and daring to follow her dreams.

Primrose Honeychurch doesn’t really “get” people. Books, though, make perfect sense.

At seventy, the sharp-tongued recluse prefers to keep company with her own routines. But when a life-altering diagnosis leaves her worried she’ll never be missed, she decides it’s finally time to do something to leave her mark: something no one will ever forget.

Clutching her mother’s ashes and the book of her heart, Primrose hops on a plane, bound for Hay-on-Wye, the legendary Welsh “Town of Books.” Unfortunately, her literary pilgrimage just won’t follow the plot. After an accident derails her trip, she finds herself staying awhile with estranged family. But she senses a kindred spirit in the niece she’s getting to know, who uncannily understands the world much the same as Primrose herself does.

As rolling green hills and book-lined streets frame an unexpected season of discovery, what began as an unwelcome detour becomes something more profound. For the first time in her life, Primrose begins to glimpse the beauty―and courage―of true human connection.

Visit Laura Jensen Walker's website.

My Book, The Movie: The Alphabet Sleuths.

Q&A with Laura Jensen Walker.

The Page 69 Test: The Alphabet Sleuths.

Writers Read: Laura Jensen Walker (February 2026).

My Book, The Movie: The Postmistress of Puddlington.

The Page 69 Test: The Postmistress of Puddlington.

--Marshal Zeringue

"We Have the Rights"

New from Cambridge University Press: We Have the Rights: Protest and Democracy in Three African Cities by Marcus Walton.

About the book, from the publisher:

Does democracy matter for urban protest? Africa is the fastest urbanizing region in the world, with more citizens every day requiring access to goods like housing, energy, food, and transportation. At the same time, citizens across the continent have also indicated declining satisfaction with democracy. Thus, many citizens have turned to strategies like protest to meet their basic needs. Yet for urban communities fighting for access to these goods, does democracy still make a difference? Drawing on a decades-long comparison of urban protest in Cairo, Lagos, and Johannesburg, We Have the Rights challenges the conventional wisdom of the social movement literature, by showing that even when democratization has not altered the prevailing forms of protest, it can significantly improve protest outcomes. These findings suggest that democracy can empower urban communities, not by enclosing citizen participation, but by expanding the avenues and boundaries of institutional engagement.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Cursed Diamond"

Coming November 3 from Park Row Books: The Cursed Diamond A Novel by Anna Rasche.

About the novel, from the publisher:

In New York City a century apart, two women’s fates are bound by the dark legacy of the Midnight Diamond

2010. Jennie is working as a runner in the Diamond District when a friend’s sudden death leaves her with a cryptic note: “Not Safe.” Her search for answers leads her to an antique jewelry box, a clue to a century-old mystery and the legend of the Midnight Diamond—a rare blue gem rumored to bring ruin to all who possess it. As Jennie is pulled deeper into a world of secrets and danger, she realizes she is not just chasing a lost treasure; she is uncovering a story that was meant to stay buried.

1910. On an ocean liner bound for New York, heiress Marcella Porter returns home after being disgraced by scandal in London. Her path collides with a charismatic nobleman and the magnificent Midnight Diamond, which she unknowingly smuggles into the city. Mesmerized by its brilliance, Marcella feels an irresistible pull toward the diamond, and when the glittering façade of her charmed life begins to crack, Marcella must decide whether the Midnight Diamond is her salvation—or her doom.

Can Jennie break the centuries-old curse before it brings more ruin? Inspired by history’s most captivating gemstone, The Cursed Diamond is a thrilling mystery about fate, obsession, and the deadly costs of ambition.

Visit Anna Rasche's website.

Q&A with Anna Rasche.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Home Team Away"

New from the University of Michigan Press: Home Team Away: Watching European Football in Urban China by Yuan Gong.

About the book, from the publisher:

Home Team Away calls for a rethinking of sport fandom that is divorced from an attachment to location. As the first comprehensive account of the European football fandom in China, this book explores how the Chinese middle class subjectivity is formed through the cross-cultural, digital consumption of the Big Five leagues. Yuan Gong captures the embodied experiences of fans and fan clubs, fan discourses and activities unfolding on digital platforms on Weibo, Weixin, and Hupu, combining fieldwork in Shanghai and virtual ethnography. Gong argues that Chinese fans’ decisions to follow and engage with European football result from their material conditions, ideological contestation, and technology appropriation as a new demographic bloc arising during China’s transition to authoritarian digital capitalism. By engaging with their home teams away, the Chinese middle class fans perform as citizens with a global vision despite the resurgence of the nationalist and anti-Western sentiments.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Sutra Americana"

Coming October 20 from the University of Wisconsin Press: Sutra Americana by Monona Wali.

About the novel, from the publisher:

In 1960 S. K. Sharma, a brilliant young astrophysicist at the beginning of his academic career, has finally succeeded in bringing his wife, Sushila, from India to America. Intensely drawn to one another as star university students, the couple pursue an unlikely affair and marriage that crosses caste lines. Their sweeping, decades-long story of love, forgiveness, and coming of age takes place in a country that is both fascinated by and shuns them. The United States, with its exaltation of individualism, offers immense opportunities, but its looser sexual mores threaten to undermine the family’s happiness and devotion to one another.

As their three daughters become young women, they must navigate the tumultuous decades of the Vietnam War, the civil rights movement, and the women’s liberation movement. In their journeys of self-discovery, they upend their parents’ hold on them to craft radically new identities for themselves. As they discover their parents’ faults they grow increasingly puzzled by their devotion to one another, eventually learning how love and forgiveness have the power to overcome the most uncomfortable truths.

Visit Monona Wali's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Legacies of War"

New from Oxford University Press: Legacies of War by Kathrin Bachleitner.

About the book, from the publisher:

Legacies of War explores how war transforms societies. To map these legacies, the book focuses on three populations currently living through war: Ukrainians, Syrians, and Palestinians. Its empirical sections explore, first, people's narratives of conflict; second, their sense of national attachment; and third, their visions of a peaceful future. Together, these elements constitute a war legacy: as individuals interpret conflict, process collective emotions, and imagine the future, new political and social visions emerge that outline possible horizons for peace.

Visit Kathrin Bachleitner's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Void Dragon"

New from Orbit: The Void Dragon (The Shattered Lands, 2) by Annabel Campbell.

About the book, from the publisher:

The Void Dragon continues the epic fantasy tale that began with The Outcast Mage, following a young woman whose strange powers may destroy the world, and packed with intrigue, adventure and dragonfire.

Naila has escaped the chaos that engulfed her home city of Amoria, but at a terrible cost. Her allies have splintered and there’s a power growing inside of her that she doesn’t understand. It feels dangerous. It feels hungry.

Hunted by dragonriders, Naila must seek sanctuary at the great library of Awasef. Perhaps here she will find some answers―if they don’t kill her first.

But the land of Dahran is on a knife edge. The Queen’s advisor, the Wazira, is abducting mages and forcing them to join her cause. Worse still, Haelius Akana – Naila’s friend and the greatest wizard of his age―is among them.

As political conspiracies slide towards civil war, Naila’s power threatens to consume her and everyone she holds dear. Haelius may be the only person who can help her.

But only if he betrays his new master to stand at Naila’s side.

Visit Annabel Campbell's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"White Knuckling"

New from Cambridge University Press: White Knuckling: Holding On in America's Racialized Political Economy by Tess Wise.

About the book, from the publisher:

In White Knuckling, Tess Wise combines political economy, political development, and ethnography to develop a theory of systemic racism as a political process. Using a Racialized Political Economy (RPE) lens, she links institutions, material conditions, culture, and contestation to demonstrate how systemic racism both benefits and harms white middle-class families. Drawing on interviews with families and bankruptcy court records, she follows individuals under economic strain and experiencing 'white knuckling' as they work through debt to explore how financialization turns hardship into revenue. She reveals that the promised rehabilitation often fails, operating as hidden public-private welfare that can preserve some assets while entrenching precarity. Tracing scripts of deservingness and responsibility, Wise demonstrates how racism in political economy helps and hurts white middle-class Americans, blinding them to their racial privilege and undermining the mechanisms that would lead to race and class solidarity.

--Marshal Zeringue