John Dickson Carr's deliciously florid 1932 novel, The Corpse in the Waxworks, begins with the discovery of a young woman, stabbed to death and left floating in the Seine. She was last seen entering a local wax museum but never seen leaving. Henri Bencolin, examining magistrate of the Paris police, and his American assistant, Jeff Marle (who narrates the novel), explore the spooky Grand Guignol-flavored wax museum for clues and discover a second murdered young woman. She's been stabbed in the back and draped over the arms of the wax figure of the Satyr of the Seine. The two murdered young women, both daughters of former Cabinet ministers, had been best friends. Another clue leads Marle to investigating undercover at a very secretive sex club where its affluent members all wear masks.

Carr (1906-1977) is best known for his impossible crime/locked room mysteries, but Waxworks is an atmospheric whodunit bordering on improbable melodrama. Yet what atmosphere! Opening with two Edgar Allan Poe quotes, the rest of the novel is steeped in the same foreboding doom and deliriously overripe descriptions of musty halls of horror and a decadent, creepy sex club. Even with Carr playing fair with clues, few readers will guess the murderer's identity before the exciting reveal.

Poisoned Pen Press's reprint includes two excellent bonuses: an insightful introduction by Martin Edwards (The Golden Age of Murder) and the rare 1928 Inspector Bencolin short story "The Murder in Number Four"--a humorous locked-room murder mystery set on a moving train. A Golden Age mystery treat! --Kevin Howell, independent reviewer and marketing consultant

K.M. Jackson (who writes the Real Men Knit series under the name Kwana Jackson) has created a hilariously unlikely road trip adventure in How to Marry Keanu Reeves in 90 Days. Bethany Lu Carlisle is a Black artist, happily single in her 40s, but she has a forever-crush on Keanu Reeves. For more than 20 years, whenever Lu is upset or sad, she turns to Keanu's films for comfort. So when she sees a celebrity news article saying that the actor is getting married in 90 days, Lu is determined to meet Keanu and plead her own case with him first.

Lu has been close friends with Truman Erickson since high school, so when he offers to come along on her Keanu road trip, Lu is thrilled to have company. Lu and True have all kinds of zany adventures all over the country, as they hunt for Keanu from New York City to California: at conventions, hotels, camping and even bungie jumping. And along the way, Lu begins to realize that maybe her feelings for True are more important than her feelings for Keanu.

Funny, but also introspective as Lu tries to analyze her feelings for True and Keanu, and the role each man has played in her life, How to Marry Keanu Reeves in 90 Days is an entertaining romp. Readers who have struggled to express their own feelings will relate to Lu. And anyone who enjoys diverse, sexy romances is sure to relish How to Marry Keanu Reeves in 90 Days. --Jessica Howard, bookseller at Bookmans, Tucson, Ariz.

Olivia Dade follows Spoiler Alert with All the Feels, a hilarious and heartfelt opposites-attract romance. Dade again pairs a gorgeous A-list actor with a fat un-famous woman, and her characters are just as lovable as before, but their journey together looks entirely different. Alex Woodroe is the fun-loving, sharp-witted friend everyone loves to be around, but his big heart and ADHD are a liability in Hollywood. When he's arrested in a bar fight, Alex's producer hires Lauren Clegg, a reserved emergency services clinician in need of respite, to keep him out of trouble until the final season of his Game of Thrones-like show has finished airing. They're required to spend almost all of their time together, so Dade keeps the banter flowing. She skillfully develops her characters and their relationship through humor balanced with some deeper moments, moving from "Big Harpy Energy" jokes to a scene in which Alex explains why he writes fanfic to correct the way his character's final season arc depicts abusive relationships.

Lauren and Alex's connection builds slowly, a sweet and sarcastic friendship that ramps up to a few surprisingly steamy scenes during a two-week road trip. Much of the book's conflict is external, and these two generous people are fiercely protective of each other, making it easy for readers to stand firmly in their corner.

All the Feels delivers lots of laughs and gives the characters--and readers--a well-deserved happy ending. --Suzanne Krohn, librarian and freelance reviewer

No one knows what happened to the Ark of the Covenant, the legendary vessel holding Moses' engraved Ten Commandments, but "archeologists, mystics, and adventurers still seek for it in vain," explains Eisner-winning comics creator Rutu Modan in an introductory note to her intriguing graphic title Tunnels, inspired by true events. The Broshi clan aren't deterred, convinced of ultimate success; Modan turns their search into a dysfunctional family standoff, subversive sociopolitical exposé, biting criticism of academia and--rather surprisingly--a rollicking comedy of countless errors.

Israel Broshi was once a renowned archeologist and professor at Hebrew University. These days, he's stuck at home, barely interacting with his Filipina caretaker. His life's work has been usurped by former colleague Rafi Sarid, who's also taken Israel's son as his primary assistant. Israel's daughter, Nili, shadowed by screen-addicted son Doctor, is convinced she can complete her father's mission to finally find the Ark--especially after she discovers the location-revealing cuneiform tablet in the collection of smuggler/dealer/collector Abuloff. She'll have to contend with the enormous wall that now looms over the former work site, not to mention interested parties making demands on both sides--and beyond.

Modan's vibrant style fills the pages with sharply outlined panels, her characters immediately recognizable especially by their never-changing wardrobe even as weeks pass; Nili's high-waisted camel slacks and blue dress shirt, for example, instantly stand out. As the tunnels progress, participants multiply--IDF (Israeli Defense Force), ISIS, fame-seekers, what Modan calls "the crazies"--and all (temporarily) work together, ignoring the massive barrier above intended for separation. In highlighting those efforts of underground collaboration, Modan's ironic, inspiring genius enthralls. --Terry Hong, Smithsonian BookDragon

When James Ivory won his first Academy Award in 2017 for his screenplay for Call Me by Your Name, he was 89 years old and had been directing and writing films for more than 50 years with his business and domestic partner Ismail Merchant. In Solid Ivory, the filmmaker looks back on his long career making such Merchant Ivory classics as A Room with a View, Howards End and The Remains of the Day. Ivory may be in his ninth decade but he possesses a sharp memory and a storyteller's gift for compelling tales. He also never forgets a slight and still nurses grudges--making for a lively, affectionate and caustic memoir.

Ivory has great affection for Bengali filmmaker and mentor Satyajit Ray. Though he graduated from the University of Southern California film school, Ivory writes, "I didn't know what a director did until I went on Ray's set" and watched him interact with his cast and crew. Some of the other portraits of contemporaries and coworkers are less flattering, but Ivory always counterbalances anecdotes about bad behavior with insight into the insecurities behind the actions of others. He writes juicy and perceptive portraits of George Cukor, Lillian Ross, Vanessa Redgrave, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala and especially his nightmarish time directing Raquel Welch in The Wild Party. He also recounts his fractious relationship with the producers and director of Call Me by Your Name, a film he wrote and produced and was originally to co-direct.

Solid Ivory is a candid portrait of growing up gay before World War II and a captivating account of five decades making independent films. --Kevin Howell, independent reviewer and marketing consultant

In 1934, Anaïs Nin wrote to Henry Miller, who had been her lover, "I feel a kind of exhilaration and the tempo is like that of my blood." Nin wasn't writing of romantic stirrings; she was expressing her feelings about New York, which she was visiting at the time. Nin's sentiment is shared by many of the 30 contributors to the invigorating and occasionally heartbreaking Letters of Note: New York City, yet another title in Shaun Usher's proudly atavistic Letters of Note series.

For this collection, Usher has selected correspondence as old as George Washington's 1785 salute to the mayor of New York ("I pray that Heaven may bestow its choicest blessings on your City") and as young as Bianca Jagger's 2015 censure of the Financial Times for misreporting on her decades-prior antics at Studio 54 ("As an environmentalist and an animal rights defender, I find the insinuation that I would ride a horse into a nightclub offensive"). True to New York's democratic spirit, Usher also presents the words of everyday citizens; he includes exercised letters to the editor and a letter from a 9/11 widow to her dead husband.

A nonfan of New York was the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, who had the final indignity of dying in the city that he put pen to paper to call "the very loud, mad middle of the last mad Empire on earth" in 1950. Letters of Note is a pocket-size, big-impact tribute to a city about which words are seldom minced. --Nell Beram, author and freelance writer

Known for his compilations of lists and letters, Shaun Usher highlights that most common of domesticated animals: dogs. Letters of Note: Dogs features correspondence from authors and artists, and it opens with E.B. White's reply to the ASPCA about "harboring" an unlicensed dog. With characteristic twinkle, he argues, "If by 'harboring' you mean getting up two or three times every night to pull Minnie's blanket up over her, I am harboring a dog all right." Moving between the hilarious and the serious, Usher's collection offers a variety of dog stories, including a memo from former president George H.W. Bush ordering White House staffers to stop giving treats to their springer spaniel as she was on a diet.

This mostly light and humorous collection also deals with grief, as in the condolence letter by Bob Hope to FDR's dog Fala after the president's death in 1945. Writing in the voice of fellow dog Fido, Hope describes the president's powerful influence: "...people had confidence in his plans because his integrity and sincerity were felt the world over. In other words, he made a lot of people see the light, or as we'd put it, he put them on the right scent." Also moving is the scathing letter from travel editor Richard Joseph, addressed to the unknown driver who struck and killed their dog before fleeing the scene. Though focused on the canine set, Letters of Note: Dogs would make an excellent gift for any animal lover. --Sara Beth West, freelance reviewer and librarian

"The world doesn't get great unless we all get better," declares minister and speaker Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis (The Power of Stories) in the introduction to her third nonfiction book, Fierce Love. With that beginning, Lewis delves into nine daily practices that can help individuals, families and the broader human community break through divisions and create peace and justice where they live.

As a Black woman, Lewis has dealt all her life with sexism and racism; as a minister and a human being, she has dealt with conflict and other challenges. She speaks frankly and powerfully--parts of the text read like a rousing sermon--about coming to terms with her own past wounds and learning to focus her life on positive practices. These include self-love, kindness to others, working through emotional baggage and seeking both joy and justice. All of them are informed by ubuntu, the Zulu concept of community and interdependence that underlies Lewis's writing and speaking career and her ministry at Manhattan's Middle Collegiate Church.

While Lewis has a deep scholarly background in theology, psychology and anti-racism, the most powerful parts of Fierce Love come from her own story. She relates her deep and complicated love for her parents, the struggles of her 20s and the heartbreak of divorce, and her eventual path to the love and friendships that sustain her today. For those discouraged by deep divisions in their families and societies, Fierce Love weaves together one woman's experience with broader principles that can help readers build a more just, compassionate world. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams

The Secret of the Magic Pearl is a warmhearted tale of wonder, imagination and love for the sea, enhanced by fabulous, surreal illustrations.

Hector wants to be a deep-sea diver just like his dad. The boy's family used to run the marina, a place where "divers from up and down the coast came to meet," but Amedeo Limonta, "the bad guy in this story," built a rival complex next door and forced Hector's family out of business. When Hector turns eight, his dad takes him on his first deep-sea expedition, which is "like being on another planet." On the seabed, Hector notices a flashing light--the legendary Pearl, or "soul of the sea." His family decides to share this elusive beauty by exhibiting it for a time, but they understand they will eventually "have to take the Pearl back to the sea." Greedy Amedeo Limonta, however, wants it as his own.

Christopher Turner's translation of Elisa Sabatinelli's original Italian text is a fanciful ode to sailors, divers and the wonders of the sea that includes a touch of intrigue, a satisfying tale of friendship and a welcome caution against greed. Iacopo Bruno's lavish, colorful full-page and spot illustrations provide a visual feast, adding extraordinary elements to the text. There is even beauty hidden beneath the dust jacket, a fitting touch for a book that so nicely celebrates beauty beneath the sea. --Lynn Becker, reviewer, blogger and children's book author

In the luminous The Children's Moon, Carmen Agra Deedy (Rita and Ralph's Rotten Day) crafts her own folktale to explain why the moon is occasionally visible in the daytime. Jim LaMarche (The Carousel) uses a soothing palette for his illustrations that provide comfort with every page turn.

Every morning, the sun and the moon change places. The moon longs to stay in the sky to see the children whose laughter she hears only briefly before she sets. The moon pleads her case to the sun: "They never see me," she says, "Unless you'd let me come out by day?" The sun says no, telling the moon, "You know the rules." But the moon gives the sun a gift so precious that he eagerly acquiesces to sharing the sky, allowing his nocturnal friend a regular cameo appearance during daylight hours when the children are awake.

The power of Deedy's narrative lies in her ability to weave scientific fact into her mythic tale; she makes the phases of the moon comprehensible for young children while also subtly nodding to the importance of teamwork. LaMarche's acrylic and pencil illustrations in complementary hues of yellow, lavender, blue and green meld beautifully with Deedy's text, visually expanding both the magical and factual aspects of the book. His gentle color scheme stays consistent through the back matter, which includes additional information and educational resources. Deedy has crafted a delightful tale well suited for any setting. --Rachel Werner, author and teaching artist at Hugo House, Lighthouse Writers Workshop and The Loft Literary Center