The Disaster Gay Detective Agency: A Novel by Lev AC Rosen (Poisoned Pen Press). Reviewed by Nick Havey. “The Disaster Gay Detective Agency is (and this is not a criticism) formulaic. It is exactly what you want from a murder mystery. What sets it apart and made it one of my favorite books of the year so far is its believable cast of characters, their relationships, and the trajectory Rosen has set them on. They’ve got the runway to go far, and I sincerely hope the publisher agrees. There should be a sequel, but even if there isn’t, Rosen has written a delightfully quippy, absurdly referential, quotable romp that I couldn’t put down (and that you should pick up).”

Simple Stories by Lyonel Trouillot; translated by Willard Wood (Other Press). Reviewed by Susi Wyss. “Despite sometimes remaining unnamed, Trouillot’s characters are complex, varied, and as colorful as the crowded homes on the book’s cover. They include the trans mistress of a colonel ‘with no taste for violence,’ a maid in dangerously obsessive love with her master’s son, and a poet who calls himself James Bond. Writers, poets, and artists figure prominently, as do controlling mothers and ne’er-do-well men.”

The Man Who Stole the Gods: A True Story of War, Obsession, and a Global Art Conspiracy by Matthew Campbell (Portfolio). Reviewed by Mariko Hewer. “Given that many of these artifacts were pilfered during the civil war, such a demonstration would prove difficult. Nevertheless, a cadre of improbable allies — a former looter turned state’s witness; a Denver widow who falsified provenances while signing her emails ‘Giggles and more giggles’; and an archaeologist who used superimposed images to pinpoint stolen items’ original homes — was increasingly willing to take on the challenge. This cast of unlikely characters helps this tale of ‘war, obsession, and a global art conspiracy’ more than live up to its subtitle. Fans of true crime, history, and stranger-than-fiction, real-life folks will enjoy every page.”

Medea: A Life by Edith Hall (Yale University Press). Reviewed by Stuart Kay. “Medea speaks for women and immigrants. ‘It’s always hard for foreigners,’ she muses in an address to the women of Corinth. She flees from her father’s court, in which she’d lived virtually as a prisoner, and refuses to accept that Jason should abandon and divorce her with impunity. She spurns submission to male authority and talks about societal prejudice. She is defiant, complex, and emotionally relatable.”

The Midnight Special: The Secret Prison History of American Music by Colin Asher (W.W. Norton & Company). Reviewed by Charles Caramello. “Basing The Midnight Special on ‘the fact that genius exists within society, not in isolation,’ the author focuses on the lives and times of his subjects more than on their works. That is, he wants to plumb the circumstances — the where, when, why, and how — of the music’s production and reception, so he turns his insightful readings of albums toward that end. Those circumstances, of course, primarily concern ‘crime’ and punishment — the latter being incarceration, the former often the consequence of racism, poverty, and/or addiction combined with systemic injustice. That indelible music emerged from them is the miracle.”

The People’s Historian: The Outsized Life of Howard Zinn by Dave Zirin (Dutton). Reviewed by Peggy Kurkowski. “The academic fisticuffs, firings, protest marches, and birth of A People’s History form an engaging, accessible narrative, even if Zirin tends to some repetition and editorializing. He knows how to tell stirring stories from Zinn’s life, with perhaps one of the more powerful being Zinn’s seven years spent teaching at Spelman College, an all-female Black institution in Atlanta.”

Partita: A Novel by Barbara Kingsolver (Harper). Reviewed by Ryan Davison. “Partita is a virtuoso storytelling achievement that’s packed with musical insights accessible to those with little musical knowledge. As Livia grapples with pieces from Chopin, Mozart, Ravel, Beethoven, and Bach, we can follow along with a complementary playlist that accompanies the text. A reader, for example, can plug ‘Ludwig van Beethoven, Seventh Symphony, second movement’ into YouTube and listen to exactly what our protagonist struggles to perfect. Partita offers a ticket to the inner world of how musicians must fight through a work with their soul.”

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