Newport opens in 1921, with attorney Adrian de la Noye en route to Newport from Boston to draft a new will for his long-time client and friend, Bennett Chapman. Chapman is engaged to a much younger woman; his adult children are opposing the new will and questioning his fiancée's motives for marrying their aging father. Jill Morrow (The Open Channel) reinvents the age-old trope of a gold-digging bride and disappointed heirs by adding in an unexpected twist: Chapman has determined that he must marry this woman because the ghost of his first wife has instructed him to do so.

Of course, Chapman's insistence on his late wife's presence is enough to make anyone question his sanity--but in a time when séances and mysticism were very popular in some circles, Adrian and his apprentice, Jim, decide to hear the man out. Without knowing how much is real and how much is show, the group holds séances to commune with Chapman's late wife, which reveal much about the bride to be--and, unexpectedly, even more about the man Adrian once was.

Morrow has crafted a complicated mystery in Newport, though not of the typical whodunit variety. "There were enough secrets around [the house] to keep even Harry Houdini scratching his head in an effort to sort them all out," she writes. Readers will delight in trying to sort out those very secrets alongside Adrian, Chapman and a Newport-sized household full of strange company. Morrow has done an impressive job of pulling together various stories and threads into a cohesive and fast-paced novel of love and regret. --Kerry McHugh, blogger at Entomology of a Bookworm

Discover: A story of secrets, mysticism and a contested will, set in 1920s Newport.

The daughter of a successful Seattle businessman, Inara Erickson has planned to follow her father into international business. But when her aunt Dahlia dies, Inara inherits the family's rural estate on Orcas Island and makes a startling discovery. Hidden under a loose stair tread is a richly embroidered robe sleeve of blue silk, depicting scenes full of Chinese symbolism that seem to tell a story. Fascinated by the sleeve's beauty, Inara digs into its history and discovers a connection to Liu Mei Lien, a Chinese woman who lived on Orcas Island more than a century earlier.

In her debut novel, The Girl Who Wrote in Silk, Kelli Estes stitches a compelling dual narrative. Her depiction of 1880s Seattle draws on the well-documented eviction of hundreds of Chinese people from their homes and businesses throughout Washington State. Left entirely alone, Mei Lien manages to build a life for herself, but is haunted by her family's tragic fate. Meanwhile, Inara falls in love with the Chinese American history professor who helps her research Mei Lien's embroidery--but their relationship is jeopardized when Inara uncovers a shameful family secret. Inara is also working to transform Aunt Dahlia's old house into a boutique hotel, but she must convince her father (her primary investor) that she's capable of fulfilling her dream.

Though readers may predict the end of Inara's story, the historical narrative offers many more surprises. Like the multicolored silks on Mei Lien's sleeve, the novel's two stories eventually blend together to form a harmonious whole. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams

Discover: A richly embroidered silk robe sleeve found in an old farmhouse forges a surprising link between 1880s and present-day Seattle.

Merryn is up late at night, awaiting and fearing her husband's drunken homecoming, when she opens the door to find two policemen announcing that he has been killed in a car accident. She quickly bundles up their nine-year-old daughter, the precocious Tenney, and leaves Dallas, Tex., for her mother's home in San Miguel de Allende, in central Mexico.

The rest of Kaylie Jones's striking novel, The Anger Meridian, is set in San Miguel, where Merryn's mother, Bibi, presides over an opulent home and her frightened daughter's life. As Merryn struggles to navigate her husband's legacy (the FBI has followed her to Mexico to investigate his business dealings) and her and Tenney's future, she has the opportunity to confront many dishonesties, including her own. Lying is one of The Anger Meridian's central themes.

The tone of Jones's writing quivers with tension from the opening page. Merryn is traumatized, anxious, grinds her teeth at night; she behaves like an abuse victim. But where does her damage come from? And whom should she--and the reader--trust? A handsome American expat doctor, a lawyer friend of the family, a local yoga teacher, the members of Bibi's entourage and clever Tenney each offer different angles on Merryn's life. In the end, there are several puzzles to untangle in this lovely, finely plotted novel, which highlights colorful San Miguel and the complexities of family, loyalty and honesty. The Anger Meridian is at once a suspenseful mystery and a superlatively gripping story of self-discovery. --Julia Jenkins, librarian and blogger at pagesofjulia

Discover: A newly widowed woman is forced to face her own secrets, in vibrant San Miguel de Allende.

Stuart Prebble's U.S. debut, The Insect Farm, follows the lives of two devoted brothers, Jonathan and Roger. As boys, they were close, but as they enter adulthood they develop separate passions. Jonathan is obsessed with his stunning, brilliant wife, Harriet, and deeply, disturbingly jealous of the attentions she receives from other men. Roger is consumed with his intricate collection of insect tanks and habitats, housed in a garden shed, where he goes to lose himself for hours on end. Roger is mentally handicapped, and ability in caring for the insect farm is much greater than his abilities in other areas of his life.

When their family circumstances change, Jonathan leaves university to care for Roger, putting Harriet at a distance since she stays in school. From this point, a series of misfortunes and accidents raises faint questions about the minds of each brother, as they age together in quiet companionship.

This unsettling story is told in Jonathan's retrospective voice, as he looks back on the tragedies that have befallen his family. While each brother is a complex and subtly disconcerting character, this dubious point of view obscures them somewhat, and the reader's suspicions accumulate.

Suspenseful and ominous, The Insect Farm sketches a world of unstable truths, while posing questions about memory, relationships, perception and intuition. Through Jonathan's shifting narration, Prebble skillfully evokes an increasingly unnerving atmosphere, as it gradually becomes clear how little each brother really understands about the other--and about himself. --Julia Jenkins, librarian and blogger at pagesofjulia

Discover: A disquieting puzzle starring two odd but loving brothers with distinct fixations.

A multi-generational starship heads to Tau Ceti, a star system 11.9 light-years away. Shaped like two giant wheels with spokes, the ship is made up of biomes named for familiar places they most resemble: Nova Scotia, Siberia, Costa Rica.

Though traveling through space, the colonists age as they would on Earth. Freya is the young daughter of the ship's lead engineer, Devi, and her husband, Badim. Their family has known only life aboard their vessel. Devi problem solves and fixes everything that breaks down on the long 200-year voyage out to Tau Ceti; she is much needed. Freya--a third-generation colonist--is a little slow mentally, but kind. As she matures into a young woman, she wanders throughout the ship, meeting everyone, becoming as well known as her prickly, hyper-intelligent mother, who is also helping educate the ship's A.I. to become self-aware.

When the colonists arrive at their destination, the moon Aurora, they discover that they cannot survive there. Freya's wandering has endeared her to a large group of the colonists, and she leads one faction of the dwindling population back toward Earth, with new research from the home planet to help the ship get there safely; other groups choose to travel to nearby planets, set to hunker down and terraform across hundreds, if not thousands, of years.

Kim Stanley Robinson (Shaman) weaves Aurora into a thoughtful, intricate, highly scientific story of interplanetary colonization based on the physics of our own universe, yet never loses sight of the very real social dramas contained in this spacefaring microcosm of human life. --Rob LeFebvre, freelance writer and editor

Discover: A highly engaging science fiction novel of plausible interplanetary space exploration.

Everyday Detox recognizes, "With all of the hype surrounding the latest celebrity diets and weight-loss products, we are bombarded daily with conflicting health news--leaving us generally baffled about what to eat." Megan Gilmore (aka the Detoxinista) believes "detox" means ridding the body of toxins (drugs, alcohol, processed foods, BPA, refined sugars and chemical additives) and she transforms the overwhelming into attainable by focusing on what everyone agrees works: "Consistently eating real, unprocessed foods is the key to naturally detoxifying and uncovering the body you've always desired."

Gilmore's recipes optimize digestion (which requires more energy than any other function in the body) and remove toxins gently without fasting, juicing or calorie counting. Food is categorized into fresh fruit, starches, animal protein and nuts, seeds and dried fruit. Optimal digestion occurs when we eat only one category per meal (in addition to unlimited non-starchy vegetables), and then wait 3-4 hours before switching categories. This plan encourages nutrient absorption, portion control and caloric intake, yet discourages deprivation. Recipes include No-Bake Coconut Granola Bars, Cinnamon Coffee Cake with Macaroon Crumbles and Banana Coconut Muffins for breakfast; Cheesy Garlic & Herb Cauliflower Mash, Crispy Zucchini Chips and Curried Sweet Potato Bisque for side dishes; and Quinoa Mushroom Burgers, Cheesy Jalapeño Casserole, Cauliflower Fried "Rice" and Creamy Pumpkin & Sage Pasta for entrees. Gilmore believes the "all or nothing" approach of diets and other fads is not sustainable--or effective. Instead of giving up foods, she recommends focusing on the quality of the foods and how we eat them. --Kristen Galles from Book Club Classics

Discover: The benefits of eating the foods you love--just not at the same time.

In Vendetta: Bobby Kennedy Versus Jimmy Hoffa, investigative journalist James Neff (The Wrong Man) looks at the tumultuous events of the '50s and '60s through the prism of a decades-long feud between two powerful, diametrically opposed men. Bobby Kennedy came into contact with the famously mob-connected labor leader Jimmy Hoffa during his time as chief council of the Senate Labor Rackets Committee, where he earned his enduring reputation for ruthlessness by publicly dressing down men like Hoffa. Later, as Attorney General, his fixation on Hoffa grew, eventually evolving from a grudge to a crusade. Hoffa, for his part, claimed persecution and struck back in devious--and frequently criminal--ways.

Neff skillfully manufactures a narrative out of the political posturing and legal maneuvering that made up the bulk of this feud by emphasizing the personal dislike the men developed for each other. To Hoffa, Kennedy was a holier-than-thou scold, a patrician who looked down on Hoffa's lower-class manners and upbringing. To Kennedy, Hoffa was a blustering bully. Neff succeeds in describing how their clashing personalities led to conflict on a national scale.

Vendetta is full of fascinating depictions of corruption and political pressure, but its real draw lies in the titanic personal struggle at its center. That struggle acquires a cinematic flair as each man's fortunes rise and fall dramatically, with each of their lives ending in such a way as to fuel retroactive mythmaking. Neff tells a compelling real-life story about men who have acquired the patina of legends. --Hank Stephenson, bookseller, Flyleaf Books

Discover: A historical feud of epic proportions between two powerful leaders.

Noah Charney (Stealing the Mystic Lamb) is an art historian with a special interest in art crime. The Art of Forgery collects stories of forgers throughout history, organized into chapters by their various motivations, with beautiful and informative illustrations on almost every page.

The forgers themselves include partnerships and large workshops as well as individual artists. Some of the forgeries are wonderfully convincing, some much less so, but Charney explains the difficulty of authentication in many cases, and also how powerful the desire to believe a forgery can be. Wishful thinking and fear for their own reputations can motivate collectors, dealers and art experts to defend a suspect work. Even when the truth comes out, a forger may be greeted with admiration. Michelangelo began his career with a forged sculpture, and when it was discovered, the buyer became his first patron. Eric Hebborn created and sold hundreds of "old master" drawings, then wrote two popular books about it and was never charged. Lothar Malskat was so outraged when no one would believe his confession, he sued himself for fraud to prove his case.

Charney emphasizes fine painting, drawing and sculpture, but also glances at the falsification of furniture, wines, fossils, historic documents and religious relics. Most cases affected only the art world and wealthy collectors, but a few had serious and even dangerous political and religious effects.

This is a thorough introduction to the subject by an expert--a fascinating book for lovers of art and (mostly) bloodless crime. --Sara Catterall

Discover: An entertaining, well-illustrated history of master forgers in the art world and beyond.

Relatively few lucky pups get to romp on the beach, so photographer Kim Roderiques has shared the unleashed joy of canines captured in mid-frolic in Dogs on Cape Cod.

A celebration both of dogs and the natural beauty of the Cape--its beaches, gardens, dunes, grasses and glowing ambience--Roderiques's settings are perfect frames for the more than 200 dogs pictured, some captured in joyful play, others posing for portraits.

Elegant purebreds (a trio of British cream golden retrievers, a pair of pulis, a quintet of West Highland white terriers and more) dominate the images, but numerous mixed-breeds share the pages, underscoring a mission of the full-color oversized volume: a portion of the proceeds from sales goes to the Animal Rescue League of Boston's Brewster shelter.

Occasional literary quotes celebrate man's best friend. "Dogs are a link to paradise," reminds Milan Kundera. A line from poet Mary Oliver captions a photo of Irish setters in golden grasses: "of all the sights I love in this world--and there are plenty--very near the top of the list is this one: dogs without leashes."

A useful reference to dog breeds, a vicarious vacation to coastal Massachusetts and a stunning collection of portraiture and nature photography, Dogs on Cape Cod is a warm, enjoyable coffee-table book, and would be especially at home in a cottage by a bay. --Cheryl Krocker McKeon, manager, Book Passage, San Francisco

Discover: More than 200 dogs play or pose amidst the natural beauty of Cape Cod.

Christopher Gilbert's poetry collection Turning into Dwelling is part of the Graywolf Poetry Re/View series edited by Mark Doty, which brings essential books of contemporary American poetry back into print. This edition includes Gilbert's only published collection, the Walt Whitman Award-winning Across the Mutual Landscape (1984), plus an unpublished manuscript he finished shortly before his death in 2007.

In his penetrating introduction, Terrance Hayes describes Gilbert as an formalist, a jazzman, a bluesman. He was born in Alabama but moved early on to Lansing, Mich., "tribal families driven north/ to neighborhoods stacked like boxes," the radio "air waves politely segregated." He wanted to work in an "honest groove." As a psychotherapist who taught psychology, Gilbert found time to write poetry "between breaths" (quoted in Contemporary Authors Online).

His poetry often wrestles with the burden of fraught racial markers: "the anguish of my Black block rises up in me/ like a grief. My only chance to go beyond... is to speak up for the public which has birthed me." In "The 'The,' " he writes, "Walking home I am a/ you you you you you, a/ bad dream" who encounters "a ghost hand from a man/ who says he's Lazarus,/ who quotes Langston Hughes, whose black/ body is so black it's pre-/ African, it's purple, it's bruise/ set on a set of bones." Overlooked by society and many other poets (even Hayes didn't know his work at first), this collection resuscitates a previously quiet black poetic voice whose time has surely come. --Tom Lavoie, former publisher

Discover: A powerful, essential black poet who has been overlooked for far too long.

With just three words spoken over the span of a walk to the train platform, Antoinette Portis (Not a Box) shows how a child teaches an adult to pause and appreciate the moment.

"Hurry!" says a woman, glancing at her watch and leading a boy by the hand down the sidewalk. The child spies a Dachshund. On the next page, he says, "Wait." He bends down to let the dog smell his hand. "Hurry!" repeats the woman, as they walk past a blue truck with a fish pattern, and approach a construction site. "Wait" reads the text on the next double-page spread, as the boy waves to a worker who's filling in a pothole. The book's genius design, in alternating spreads, plays up the energy of the adult intent on reaching her destination--the exclamation point, the italicized text, the crowded double-page spreads--and that of the observant child pausing to take in his surroundings. Portis rewards readers who, like the boy hero, linger. The truck with the fish motif shows up a few pages later in front of a fish store. (A striped fish matches the boy's T-shirt.) As the adult urges the child to "Hurry!" past an ice cream truck, he points out a rainbow Popsicle stick ("Wait."), a foreshadowing of the book's climax.

Portis quickens the pace when rain arrives. "Hurry!" comes three times in a row. But the child tugs back ("Wait") to show his adult companion (who introduces the third word) a miracle of nature: "Yes. Wait." --Jennifer M. Brown, children's editor, Shelf Awareness

Discover: A nearly wordless picture book stars an adult in a hurry and the child who teaches her to wait.

In Lev Rose's engaging illustrated middle-grade novel, Woundabout, orphaned siblings process their grief by solving the hidden mystery of their new hometown.

Connor and Cordelia King, ages 11 and nine, are orphaned when an accident kills their parents. Along with Kit, their pet capybara ("like very large guinea pigs with only slightly better table manners"), they're placed under the guardianship of their nearest relative, the distant and mysterious Aunt Marigold. They quickly befriend her butler, Gray, and begin to explore the staid town of Woundabout, where no one varies their routine and questions are discouraged. "We all decided a long time ago that change is something to be avoided. It usually brings pain." While adjusting to their new home, they discover Aunt Marigold is not distant, as they had believed, but instead emotionally paralyzed by her own loss. As they bond, they begin to heal and process their grief together. But Connor and Cordelia are curious children, and soon discover that there's a mystery beneath Woundabout, concealed by the town's mayor--he's lost a secret artifact that helps him control the town and avoid change. Solving the mystery at the heart of Woundabout may prove to be the cathartic push toward a new normal that the whole family needs.

Siblings Lev and Ellis Rosen collaborate on an imaginative tale with abundant illustrations throughout, including several full-page pieces. The story features the perspectives of both Conner and Cordelia, making it accessible to girls and boys alike. A thoughtful novel about the process of moving on after tragedy. --Jessica Bushore, former public librarian and freelance writer

Discover: A brother and sister work through grief and make friends while solving the mystery surrounding their new hometown.