This review was first published in and is reposted with permission from Shelf Awareness.
​Three young women from different centuries wrestle with hunger and carve out lives for themselves in Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil, a haunting tale of immortality, death, and lesbian vampires by V.E. Schwab (The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue; A Darker Shade of Magic).
In the early 16th century, Maria decides that if she must marry, she will marry someone who will take her away from Santo Domingo, Spain. She succeeds as far as becoming the wife of a viscount, only to find herself in a new kind of cage, until a mysterious widow offers her a choice. In 2019, Alice is determined to make leaving Scotland for Harvard into a new start. An attempt at spontaneity leads to a one-night stand, which in turn leads to a desperate quest for answers. Lottie, who left Alice while she was sleeping, made her own bid for freedom years ago. Now, she has taken to feeding her tender heart on memories in an attempt to avoid a terrible price.
Schwab has created a vampire mythos at once beautiful and dark. Occasional encounters between these women and others of their kind suggest a larger world with more approaches to living as an immortal predator, but most of the time the lens stays tightly focused on these three. The result is both expansive, as their combined story stretches almost 500 years, and claustrophobically close, as the women and readers are trapped in their hunger: for blood, for love, for freedom, for their waning humanity. Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil is a brilliant, emotional fantasy. --Kristen Allen-Vogel, information services librarian at Dayton Metro Library
Discover: In V.E. Schwab's lush, dark vampire fantasy, the lives of three women intertwine across the centuries.

This review was first published in and is reposted with permission from Shelf Awareness.
​Journalist Todd S. Purdum (Something Wonderful) makes a compelling case that the United States' most influential Latino Hollywood executive was also its first, the "I" in I Love Lucy, in Desi Arnaz: The Man Who Invented Television.
Those who recall anything about Desi Arnaz beyond having his role as Ricky Ricardo tend to know him as the creator of the three-camera standard for television comedy. A closer look indicates that acknowledging this innovation only begins to hint at the heights to which he ascended as one-half of the founders of Desilu, which was at one point the largest producer of television in the world and, later, the company behind Star Trek. Mining Arnaz's own memoir and making skilled use of family scrapbooks, oral histories, and interviews with family, friends, and colleagues, Purdum gives readers an intimate and unvarnished depiction of a man who was described as harder to reach than the president but who never overcame his own tendencies to drink and philander.
A book about Desi Arnaz is, by necessity, also a book about one of Hollywood's notable power couples. Purdum sensitively conveys both the stormy nature of their relationship--Lucille Ball first filed for divorce in 1944--and the affection that endured long after their marriage ended. Arnaz sometimes said that his greatest skill was picking people, and Purdum leaves readers with new admiration for how well Arnaz used that talent and fresh compassion for his struggles, including the self-inflicted ones. --Kristen Allen-Vogel, information services librarian at Dayton Metro Library
Discover: The man who put the "I" in I Love Lucy finally receives his due as the United States' first and possibly most influential Latino studio executive.

This review was first published in and is reposted with permission from Shelf Awareness.
​A journalist draws out the grim story of the accomplice to "the Demon Barber of Fleet Street" in The Butcher's Daughter: The Hitherto Untold Story of Mrs. Lovett, a gritty Victorian thriller by David Demchuk (Red X; The Bone Mother) and debut author Corinne Leigh Clark.
Journalist Miss Emily Gibson is missing. Among her effects, the constables find a series of letters exchanged with a woman whom Miss Gibson believed may have been Mrs. Margery Lovett, hiding out in a convent instead of long since dead in Newgate Prison, as is widely thought.The woman and everyone else at the convent deny it, but as Miss Gibson pursues the truth, her correspondent reveals the events of her life. It's an account of poverty, oppression, and the macabre, graduating from the mundane violence of the butcher shop of her childhood to the doctor's house where she went into service after her father's untimely death.
Demchuk and Clark spin a hair-raising tale, marching readers toward the inevitable climax of Mrs. Lovett's narrative while also maintaining suspense about the fate of the missing journalist. It's clear that nothing good happened, but by whose hand and why? Musical aficionados should be aware that The Butcher's Daughter is set in the world of penny dreadfuls, not Stephen Sondheim, but it reaches beyond into a fully fleshed out portrait of Victorian slums. And if readers are reminded of other gory 19th-century legends, they may be on to something. Demchuk and Clark will keep them on the edge of their seats. --Kristen Allen-Vogel, information services librarian at Dayton Metro Library
Discover: Attend the tale of Mrs. Lovett, with more delightfully dark twists than heretofore imagined, in The Butcher's Daughter.

This review was first published in and is reposted with permission from Shelf Awareness.
​Detective Mallory Atkinson and Dr. Duncan Gray struggle to see justice done in a jurisdiction where their friend, Detective Hugh McCreadie, has no authority in Death at a Highland Wedding, a twisty and character-driven mystery by Kelley Armstrong (Disturbing the Dead; The Boy Who Cried Bear).
Mallory, originally from the 21st century, where she was a homicide detective, has settled into her decision to stay in 19th-century Scotland in the body of a housemaid. She and Duncan have obtained small fame as the stars of fictionalized versions of their crime-solving exploits--enough to attract notice among those they meet on their way with Hugh to attend his sister's wedding. Complicated history between the families has the potential to make the occasion awkward. A wildcat corpse found in a trap but not killed by it raises the investigators' suspicions. Before long, a guest is murdered and local law enforcement seizes upon a suspect of convenience. Mallory, Duncan, and Hugh must deliver the real killer to exonerate the accused.
With the fourth novel in her Rip Through Time series, Armstrong has delivered a mystery that will keep readers on their toes (with several plausible red herrings along the way) and populated it with endearing characters. Regular readers of the series may want to shake Mallory and Duncan a bit for their utter obliviousness regarding the other's affections, but in a good, can't-wait-for-the-next-installment way. The supporting cast is also well fleshed out, with the groom-to-be in particular proving far more interesting than his cranky first impression suggests. Historical mystery fans will cheer. --Kristen Allen-Vogel, information services librarian at Dayton Metro Library
Discover: Endearing characters and an intricate puzzle anchor the fourth novel in Kelley Armstrong's engrossing Victorian time-slip mystery series.

This review was first published in and is reposted with permission from Shelf Awareness.
​Four women discover the cracks in their all-female utopia in Eleven Percent, the sharply written debut from Maren Uthaug, translated from the Danish by Caroline Waight.
Everyone in the new society agrees that men, with their high levels of testosterone, cannot be allowed to roam free. The minimum number of men necessary for breeding are kept in "spas" for procreation and recreation. Yet all is not perfect. Medea and Silence fight for the survival of their pagan convent, where Medea works magic, raises snakes, and sometimes protests for better treatment of the men in the spas. Wicca, heir of an important family of priests in the remade matriarchal Christian church, did well in her "body" classes in school but now struggles with her ritualistic duties and is still haunted by a lover who left her years before. And Eva, who cares for the young males in a Center, is hiding a childhood secret that could destroy her position.
Uthaug's vision of a matriarchal society falling into the same traps as patriarchal ones is strikingly realized. Although conception is voluntary, maintaining the ideal ratio of males to females leads to its own impingements on reproductive freedom. As brutally as Uthaug depicts the struggles of the haves and have nots in her new world, she also includes moments of sly humor. The sexual slang in the more advanced levels of the body classes makes for some particularly witty inversions of the world as we know it. Fans of social science fiction will be well pleased. --Kristen Allen-Vogel, information services librarian at Dayton Metro Library
Discover: Four women in a female utopia learn that the end of patriarchy is not the end of oppression in this sharply written and strikingly realized novel.

This review was first published in and is reposted with permission from Shelf Awareness.
​The global impact of the American Revolution takes center stage in Shots Heard Round the World: America, Britain, and Europe in the Revolutionary War, a thoughtful history by John Ferling (John Adams; Winning Independence).
Popular histories of the American Revolution often mention the military participation of a few European notables, such as the Marquis de Lafayette and Baron von Steuben, and French Foreign Minister Vergennes's role in forming the Franco-American alliance, but keep their focus firmly on the 13 rebelling colonies. Not so in Ferling's examination of how a colonial rebellion became a world war--France, Spain, and the Dutch Republic were far from minor backers of a struggle limited to the North American mainland; they figure as major players in their own right. Ferling adroitly demonstrates how their interests in the Caribbean, Florida, and North America west of the British colonies turned the war into a threat to the larger British empire. These interests did not always completely align with their American allies (a Britain weakened by war could prove advantageous to Spain, but Spain was wary, as it knew the new country would expand toward its Louisiana territory).
Sometimes a little dry, but always informative, Shots Around the World presents a different, detailed angle on the American Revolution. Ferling offers an insightful examination of military commanders and civilian officials, including an uncommonly evenhanded assessment of British general John Burgoyne. Shots Heard Round the World offers a new appreciation of the judgments made and how uncertain the outcome of the war was until the very end. --Kristen Allen-Vogel, information services librarian at Dayton Metro Library
Discover: An insightful examination of the American Revolution as a world war offers fascinating new perspective on the competing interests of all the nations involved.

This review was first published in and is reposted with permission from Shelf Awareness.
The ability of humanity to face the unexpected is pushed to the limit in When the Moon Hits Your Eye, a sharp, absurdist satire from John Scalzi (Starter Villain; The Kaiju Preservation Society; The End of All Things).
It begins at the Armstrong Air and Space Museum. Its lunar rock sample initially appears to have been stolen and replaced with another material. Except it shortly becomes clear that not only have all the moon rocks on Earth now changed but the moon itself is also brighter than it should be in its crescent phase, as if it's reflecting light differently. Somehow, the moon has transformed into "an organic matrix" or, for those who want to be less technical: cheese. Worse, the moon cheese is unstable.
Readers follow a cast of characters from various walks of life as Scalzi explores how humanity reacts to the unprecedented. These characters include astronauts whose lunar missions are canceled, a billionaire of a familiar type who seeks to use the situation to the advantage of his own space exploration program, and a popular-science author whose profile skyrockets. Scalzi's trademark wit shines through as the apocalypse looms in a form more ludicrous than anyone imagined. The wealthiest scramble to be able to brag that they ate moon cheese. Some question their faith, some take to the streets, and some try to set personal matters straight before the end. To laugh instead of cry at how bad disaster response can get, turn to Scalzi. --Kristen Allen-Vogel, information services librarian at Dayton Metro Library
Discover: The world is ending not by fire, nor by ice, but by cheese in this sharply funny satire by John Scalzi.

This review was first published in and is reposted with permission from Shelf Awareness. 
​A ship's detective is rudely awakened to a plot to kill not only peoples' bodies but also the minds backed up in the ship's library in Murder by Memory, a charming science fiction mystery by Olivia Waite (The Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics; The Care and Feeding of Waspish Widows).
Dorothy Gentleman was supposed to be taking a break before being decanted into a fresh body. Instead, she wakes in a body that belongs to someone else. The book in the interstellar ship's library into which her memory had been copied was destroyed, so to protect her, the ship loaded her backup into the nearest body. Also, the ship informs her, someone is dead.
Waite weaves a twisty new take on the classic detective yarn with a delightful cast of characters. Dorothy has a shrewd mind honed over multiple lifetimes and uses it not only for keen detecting skills but in the playful turns of phrase in her narration. Some members of the crew quickly realize that she is not Gloria Vowell, whose body she inhabits, but others take her for who she appears to be--which is sometimes an advantage, but very much not so when dealing with Violet, Gloria's stunningly beautiful, sharply observant, and repeatedly wronged partner. A ship where death need not be permanent offers intriguing possibilities for murder plots; the fact that it can be when a memory book is destroyed keeps the stakes appropriately high. Readers will be eager for more from Dorothy. --Kristen Allen-Vogel, information services librarian at Dayton Metro Library
Discover: A detective on a generation ship awakens suddenly in a new body and in the middle of a murder case in this charming science fiction mystery.

This book was first published in and is reposted with permission from Shelf Awareness.

​A long-hidden diary in which a Lutheran pastor records a strange confession reveals a mysterious horror with repercussions that span centuries in The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, the chilling and original vampire novel from Stephen Graham Jones (The Only Good Indians; Don't Fear the Reaper).
In 2012, Etsy Beaucarne is struggling to publish a book that will earn her tenure when the diary of her great-great-great grandfather Arthur, who vanished in 1912, is discovered in a wall. As documented in the diary, Arthur's small Montana town is shocked by the discovery of an exsanguinated corpse. Soon after, a Blackfeet stranger appears among Arthur's congregation during the Sunday service and asks to make his confession. In a series of conversations, the stranger, named Good Stab, recounts a story that begins with a massacre and his encounter with a creature he calls the Cat Man, after which he can consume only blood. As the confession continues and more bodies appear, it becomes clear that Good Stab is in this specific church for a purpose, and even in Etsy's day, the horrors of the American West's past have not been laid to rest.
Jones has built a Native American revenge narrative on the scaffolding of a highly inventive approach to vampire lore, all the more horrifying for the logic that grounds it. Arthur's diary entries and the history the Blackfeet stranger tells him would be gripping enough on their own, but their ramifications for Etsy only heighten the stakes. Fans of westerns and vampires should snatch this up. --Kristen Allen-Vogel, information services librarian at Dayton Metro Library
Discover: Inventive vampire lore underpins a chilling tale of revenge for historical wrongs in the western United States in Stephen Graham Jones's gripping The Buffalo Hunter Hunter.

This review was first published in and is reposted with permission from Shelf Awareness.
​One of Charles Dickens's most memorable and problematic characters emerges in a more fully developed and freshly sympathetic light in Fagin the Thief, a gripping and atmospheric reimagining of Oliver Twist by Allison Epstein (Let the Dead Bury the Dead; A Tip for the Hangman).
Epstein's version of Fagin was raised in a Jewish enclave of London by a widowed mother, his father having been hanged for theft before his birth. She named him Jacob after "the cleverest of the patriarchs" and imagined a great future for him. But when a pickpocket in dashing clothes catches his eye, the 11-year-old boy talks his way into an apprenticeship and discovers he has a talent. A few years later, after his mother dies, Fagin is alone in the world, with only a knack for moving unseen through all sorts of hunting grounds to preserve him. But he doesn't stay alone for long. His first protégé, the mercurial Bill Sikes, becomes his lifelong friend, his menacing shadow, and ultimately his downfall.
Epstein paints a vivid picture of seedy lower-class London, worthily succeeding Dickens's own. The narrative sometimes diverges from the original, but Epstein's author's note acknowledges these occasions and offers compelling explanations. Without, as she says, "sanitizing Fagin or disowning him," she has made Jacob into a full man, determined beyond anything to survive and too clever for the space Victorian England allowed poor boys, orphans, and Jewish people. Fans of reimagined classics should snatch this up. --Kristen Allen-Vogel, information services librarian at Dayton Metro Library
Discover: This engaging and vivid return to the world of Oliver Twist paints a sympathetic portrait of how a boy on society's margins became a famous villain.