The Best of Youth
by Michael Dahlie (W.W. Norton)
In Dahlie’s thoughtful and delightful new novel, Henry Lang is a fish out of water in the Brooklyn hipster scene. After Harvard, he’s invested a small portion of the $15 million he inherited from his parents’ death in a literary mag called Suckerhead. Despite a romantic rejection by Abby (a fourth cousin), the two visit her aunt’s Vermont farm, where Henry manages to accidentally kill a million-dollar flock of heirloom Libyan goats. Henry finally finds success of sorts when he ghostwrites a popular YA novel for a hot (and drug-addicted) actor who also has eyes for Abby. Poor Henry.
Insane City
by Dave Barry (Putnam)
Barry’s first solo novel in a decade (after collaborations with the likes of Ridley Pearson and Alan Zweibel) is packed with zaniness. Seth — a “tweet whore” who’s paid for brief missives on a wide variety of products — is about to marry ambitious lawyer Tina at a swanky Key Biscane hotel. As his “Hangover”-ish pals try to derail the nups, Seth faces a stripper and her pimp boyfriend, a Haitian family he’s rescued, a large albino python, missing wedding ring, lactose and gluten troubles and a trio of all-black-clad wedding planners.
The Hour of Peril
The Secret Plot to Murder Lincoln Before the Civil War
by Daniel Stashower (Minotaur)
Four years before he was shot dead at Ford’s Theatre, there was a conspiracy to kill Lincoln as he made his way by train from Illinois to Washington, DC, to take the oath of office. In this real-life historical thriller, Stashower examines the “Baltimore Plot” — mainly through the determined detective who foiled it, Allan Pinkerton. Pinkerton, whose firm was hired primarily by railroads, stumbled upon the murder plot while on a job in Baltimore to protect trains from attacks by secessionists in Maryland.
Fresh Off the Boat
by Eddie Huang (Spiegel & Grau)
When he was a third-grader in an Orlando, Fla., Christian school, Huang’s teacher gave him time outs for questioning Bible stories. He didn’t fit in, but this first-generation American didn’t fit in with Chinese traditions, either. Now a chef on TV and running Baohaus — serving Taiwanese street food — in the East Village, Huang preferred hoops, hip-hop and hanging out.
Little Elvises
A Junior Bender Mystery
by Timothy Hallinan (Soho Press)
In Hallinan’s second Junior Bender book, the line dividing good and bad, lawful and unlawful, is a crooked one — and Bender falls on both sides. He’s an LA burglar whose called upon by certain elements to clear up mysteries. In this case, Bender’s blackmailed into helping retired Philly music promoter Vinnie DiGaudio, who promoted Elvis wannabes back in the day. He stands accused of murdering a Brit tabloid reporter (we hate when that happens). Meanwhile the late reporter’s pretty widow has an eye on Bender, and so does his drunkard landlady — though she only wants him to search for her missing daughter.