’Til the Well Runs Dry
by Lauren Francis-Sharma (Henry Holt)
From a New York City-born daughter of Trinidadian immigrants, a debut novel set on the latter island. Francis-Sharma’s story begins in a seaside village in the north of Trinidad in 1943, where 16-year-old smart-alec seamstress Marcia Garcia is raising two small boys and hiding a secret. Everything changes when the boys disappear, she meets a young cop and they fall madly in love. Along the way she moves to New York, encountering new risks and rewards.
Don’t Ever Look Back
by Daniel Friedman (Minotaur)
What’s an 88-year-old declining detective do with his time? Solve another mystery, for a start. That’s the premise of Friedman’s (“Don’t Ever Get Old”) award-winning Buck Schatz novels. Set in Memphis, this second volume of the series finds Buck, at an assisted-living facility, irritated that he needs a walker to move around. But when a bank robber who has eluded the octogenarian for decades comes to him for protection, Buck runs with it, figuring he can get the robber to confess and end a long crime wave. Little does Buck realize his troubles are just beginning.
Dust & Grooves
Adventures in Record Collecting
by Elion Paz (Dust&Grooves)
Israeli-born Brooklyn photographer Paz has a passion for vinyl as well as his fellow obsessives. The glorious photos in this 416-page coffee-table tome show collectors at home with their collections, showing off covers or shelves full of records, as they explain their addiction. Some record rooms are hospital-corner neat, while others are Oscar Madison-messy. All are cool.
Last Stand at Khe Sanh
The U.S. Marines’ Finest Hour in Vietnam
by Gregg Jones (Da Capo)
They were never dubbed the Greatest Generation, but the soldiers who were sent to Vietnam were pretty brave. Amidst turmoil at home in 1968, some 6,000 American Marines and other troops defended their hilltop position at Khe Sanh against an attack by nearly 30,000 North Vietnamese soldiers. In Jones’ recounting of the 77-day siege, we see the battle from the trenches and the bunkers mostly through the eyes of the grunts on the ground.
The Farmer’s Away! Baa! Neigh!
by Anne Vittur Kennedy (Candlewick)
It’s meant for little kids, but even cynical grown-ups will at least get a chuckle at Kennedy’s hilarious animal-farm book — filled with colorful, expressive illustrations. When the farmer is out plowing the fields, the animals finally begin to enjoy themselves. Horses, dogs, chickens, cats and pigs picnic together. Worms and bugs and ducks find themselves on a roller coaster. Pigs, sheep, frogs and cows make like a Cypress Gardens, Fla., water-skiing team. And other animals dance at a formal outdoor ball to a dog playing a piano. All the while, the only words we see are animal sounds — neigh, baa, quack, cluck, ribbet, plus a few splish splashes and an eek. Even PETA couldn’t object.