Roxane Gay attempts the impossible with her impressive The Portable Feminist Reader. All the major writings of feminists show up here, both historical and contemporary. The Portable Feminist Reader includes 65 impactful thoughts on women, feminism, and the state of our culture. Can one book summarize the condition of Feminism in the 21st Century? The Portable Feminist Reader is about as good as it is going to get.

It would be hard to imagine a more thorough survey of feminism. Roxane Gay includes classic pieces like “On Women’s Right to Vote” by Susan B. Anthony and less well known pieces like “The Black and White of It” (from Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases) by Ida B. Wells.

I was most intrigued by the SEXUAL POLITICS essays starting with “Manifesto of the 343 Sluts” by Simone de Beauvoir. Roxane Gay also includes the famous “If Men Could Menstruate” by Gloria Steinem.

My only quibble is the paucity of thoughts about the future of feminism. Trump and his minions are waging war on DEI and that will spill over to women’s rights. What can women do to protect the rights they’ve fought for? We’ll find out… GRADE: A

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Introduction by Roxane Gay — ix
A Note on the Text — xvii

THE PORTABLE FEMINIST READER

Part I: Laying a Foundation
“Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex” by Kimberlé Crenshaw — 3
“White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” by Peggy McIntosh — 11
“Derailing for Dummies” by Unknown — 18
“No More Miss America” by Various — 31
“Feminism Is So Last Week” by Jessica Valenti — 36
“Women’s March Guiding Vision and Definition of Principles” by Various — 42

Part II: Early Feminist Texts
“Declamation on the Nobility and Preeminence of the Female Sex” by Henricus Cornelius Agrippa — 51
A Serious Proposal to the Ladies by Marie Astell — 55
A Brief Summary, in Plain Language, of the Most Important Laws concerning Women; Together with a Few Observations Thereon by Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon — 58
“Are Women a Class?” by Lillie Devereux Blake — 72
“The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman — 75
“The Higher Education of Women” by Anna Julia Cooper — 93
“On Women’s Right to Vote” by Susan B. Anthony — 111
“The Black and White of It” (from Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases) by Ida B. Wells — 113

Part III: Multicultural Perspectives
“Under Western Eyes” by Chandra Talpade Mohanty — 123
“Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving?: Anthropological Reflections on Cultural Relativism and Its Others” by Lila Abu-Lughod — 143
“Why Do They Hate Us?” (from Headscarves and Hymens) by Mona Eltahawy — 151
“La Guera” by Cherríe Moraga — 160
“La Prieta” by Gloria E. Anzaldúa — 170
“Growing Up as a Brown Girl: My Chonga Manifesto” by Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodríguez — 181
“I Am Woman” by Lee Maracle — 185
“Sovereignty of the Soul: Exploring the Intersection of Rape Law Reform and Federal Indian Law” by Sarah Deer — 190

Part IV: Feminist Labors
“The Laugh of the Medusa” by Hélène Cixous — 205
“The Politics of Housework” by Pat Mainardi — 211
“I Want a Wife” by Judy (Syfers) Brady — 216
“Women and the Myth of Consumerism” by Ellen Willis — 219
“A Question of Class” by Dorothy Allison — 226
“The Advantages of Being a Woman Artist” by the Guerrilla Girls — 248
“Men Explain Things to Me” by Rebecca Solnit — 250

Part V: Gender Considerations
“A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century” by Donna J. Haraway — 257
“The Woman-Identified Woman” by Radicalesbians — 265
“Women Like Me” by Wendy Rose — 272
“We Are All Works in Progress” by Leslie Feinberg — 274
“Girl” by Alexander Chee — 284
Gender Outlaw by Kate Bornstein — 291
“Being Female” by Eileen Myles — 310
“Volcano Dreams” by Gabrielle Bellot — 315

Part VI: Black Feminism(s)
“The Combahee River Collective Statement” by Various — 323
“Race, Gender, and the Prison Industrial Complex” by Angela Y. Davis and Cassandra Shaylor — 334
“The Uses of Anger” by Audre Lorde — 356
“Holding My Sister’s Hand” by bell hooks — 366
“In the Name of Beauty” by Tressie McMillan Cottom — 381
“The Problem with Sass” by Brittney Cooper — 399
“The Meaning of Serena Williams” by Claudia Rankine — 404
“Black Girls Don’t Get to Be Depressed” by Samantha Irby — 412

Part VII: Sexual Politics
“Manifesto of the 343 Sluts” by Simone de Beauvoir –419
“Thinking Sex: Notes for a Radical Theory of the Politics of Sexuality” by Gayle S. Rubin — 427
“The Sexual Geopolitics of Popular Culture and Transnational Black Feminism” by Janell Hobson — 448
“Rape Joke” by Patricia Lockwood — 454
“If Men Could Menstruate” by Gloria Steinem — 458
“Assume the Position” by Patricia Hill Collins — 461
“Hooters Chicken” by Lizz Huerta — 495
“I Used to Give Men Mercy” by Terese Mailhot — 502
“Happy Hookers” by Melissa Gira Grant — 511
“Your Ass or Mine” by Virginie Despentes — 516
“To the Man Who Shouted ‘I Like Pork Fried Rice’ at Me on the Street” by Franny Choi — 525

Part VIII: Feminist Praxis
“Ecofeminism: Toward Global Justice and Planetary Health” by Greta Gaard and Lori Gruen — 531
“Gendered Geographies and Narrative Markings” by Mishuana Goeman — 537
“Slow” by Susan Stinson — 571
“Feminism and Disability” by Jenny Morris — 574
“Toward a Feminist Theory of Disability” by Susan Wendell — 583
“Sick Woman Theory” by Johanna Hedva — 589
“Making Space Accessible Is an Act of Love for Our Communities” by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna- Samarasinha — 603

Part IX: Looking Back, Looking Ahead
“Sisterhood Is Powerful” by Susan Brownmiller — 609
“Killing Joy: Feminism and the History of Happiness” by Sara Ahmed — 625

Acknowledgments — 629
Suggestions for Further Reading/Watching/Seeing/Listening — 631
Credits — 645

Syd Field, who has worked in the film industry for decades, tells the story of how he fell in love with movies. My favorite scene in Going to the Movies is when Syd Field, while soaking in a hot tub pondering Three Days of the Condor, comes up with a definition of a screenplay’s dramatic structure: “a linear arrangement of related incidents, episodes or events leading to dramatic resolution.”

While watching Chinatown and Manhattan, Field developed the idea of a “middle point” in Act II that turns a screenplay into two manageable 60-page units of dramatic action. More of Field’s lessons follow on the use of bookends, flashbacks, and the whammo, 

One of the reasons Going to the Movies is such a fun experience is Field’s tendency, whenever he sees a good film, “to take it apart and see how and why it works.” Syd Field analyzes dozens of movies in this book and you’ll come away with a new appreciation for those fields after learning what makes them tick. What’s your favorite movie? GRADE: A

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

INTRODUCTION — xv

1. La Grande Illusion — 1
2. Movies 101 — 19
3. Catching the Wave — 35
4. Shadows on the Wall — 51
5. Movies, Myths and Heroes — 69
6. In Search of New Beginnings — 85
7. The Wild Bunch — 103
8. The Blank Page — 115
9. Sunset Boulevard — 137
10. Turning Pages — 155
11. Sherwood Oaks –171
12. Chinatown — 189
13. The Paradigm — 207
14. Second Time Around — 223
15. Finding the Mid-Point — 239
16. Time Past, Time Present — 255
17. New Voices, New Visions — 269
18. On Going to the Movies — 285

Index — 303

You may find this hard to believe, but K-Pop Demon Hunters is the top-rated program on Netflix right now. This animated film is produced by the same SONY studio who did Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.

The plot is simple: three ultra-talented supernatural protectors use their popularity as girl band superstars to defend our mortal world from demon king Gwi-Ma (Byung Hun Lee).

The three lovely performers do it all: they sing, they dance, they slay demons. It’s fun to watch them slicing the evil spirits in half with their phosphorescent pink weapons. The K-Pop band also works to build a barrier–called the Golden Honmoon–that will block the demons once and for all from invading our world.

In addition to battling demons, the girls also have to contend with a rival Boy Band. Yes, this is all silly, but in the middle of a long hot Summer, K-Pop Demon Hunters is cool. GRADE: A

Track listing:

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	“Takedown” (Twice version: Jeongyeon, Jihyo and Chaeyoung)	Lindgren	LindgrenIan Eisendrath	3:01
2.	“How It’s Done” (Huntr/x: Ejae, Audrey Nuna and Rei Ami)	Danny ChungEjaeMark Sonnenblick	24IdoTeddy ParkEisendrath	2:56
3.	“Soda Pop” (Saja Boys: Andrew Choi, Neckwav, Danny Chung, Kevin Woo, SamUIL Lee)	ChungKushVince	24DominsukEisendrath	2:30
4.	“Golden” (Huntr/x)	EjaeSonnenblick	24IdoParkEisendrath	3:14
5.	“Strategy” (Twice)	Boy MatthewsCleo TigheEarattackLee Woo-hyun	EarattackLee Woo-hyun	2:48
6.	“Takedown” (Huntr/x)	Lindgren	LindgrenEisendrath	3:02
7.	“Your Idol” (Saja Boys)	EjaeKushSonnenblickVince	24IdoEisendrath	3:11
8.	“Free” (Ejae as Rumi, Andrew Choi as Jinu)	Jenna AndrewsStephen KirkSonnenblick	AndrewsKirkEisendrath	3:07
9.	“What It Sounds Like” (Huntr/x)	AndrewsKirkSonnenblick	AndrewsKirkEisendrath	4:10
10.	“Love, Maybe” (사랑인가 봐)	Kim Min-seok	MeloMance	3:05
11.	“Path” (오솔길)	Jang Woon-beomKang Joon-wooJo Gap-chuiKim Young-hyeonLee Soo-young	KangJo	3:41
12.	“Score Suite”	Marcelo Zarvos	Zarvos	3:00
Total length:				37:50

It’s Summer Reading Time and what better way to enjoy a hot, humid, buggy day in July (in the A/C, of course!) than by reading the first book in Simon Brett’s Fethering series, The Body on the Beach. Carole Seddon and her new friend, Jude Nichol, find themselves embroiled in a series of deaths.

It begins with Carole Seddon discovering a dead body on the beach while she was walking her dog. While Carole is retired, her skills from her many years of working in the Government kicks in and she finds some clues that lead…to a second body. Carole’s new neighbor, Jude, sees the series of bodies in a different light. Between the two approaches, the women discover the motive behind the deaths.

I’m a big fan of Simon Brett’s Charles Paris mysteries, but the Fethering series is almost as fun! GRADE: B+

Fethering Series:

Fethering is a fictitious village on England’s south coast (adjacent to Tarring). It is the place of residence of amateur sleuths Carole Seddon, a retired civil servant, and her neighbour, Jude Nichol, whose origins are obscure. Twenty-one Fethering mysteries have been published so far:

The Body on the Beach (2000)

Death on the Downs (2001)

The Torso in the Town (2002)

Murder in the Museum (2003)

The Hanging in the Hotel (2004)

The Witness at the Wedding (2005)

The Stabbing in the Stables (2006)

Death Under the Dryer (2007)

Blood at the Bookies (2008)

The Poisoning at the Pub (2009)

The Shooting in the Shop (2010)

Bones Under the Beach Hut (2011)

Guns in the Gallery (2011)

Corpse on the Court (2012)

The Strangling on the Stage (2013)

The Tomb in Turkey (2014)

The Killing in the Cafe (2015)

The Liar in the Library (2017)

The Killer in the Choir (2019)

Guilt at the Garage (2020)

Death and the Decorator (2022)

Death in the Dressing Room (2025)

The Classic Rhythm + Blues Collection: 1967-1969 in the TiME-LIFE series collects 30 hit songs from that era. This volume includes a few surprises. I haven’t heard the “Grazing in the Grass” instrumental by Hugh Maselela in many years. The same for The Originals’ “Baby, I’m For Real.”

Some of my favorites songs are included: Clarence Carter’s “Slip Away,” “I Second That Emotion” by Smokey Robinson and The Miracles, and “Ain’t Nothing Like The Real Thing ” by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell.

Many of these songs made up the soundtrack of my teenage Life back in the late Sixties. Do you remember these songs? Any favorites here? GRADE: A

TRACK LIST:

1-1	Marvin Gaye–	I Heard It Through The Grapevine Written-By – Barrett Strong, Norman Whitfield
1-2	Otis Redding–	(Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay Written-By – Otis Redding, Stephen Cropper*
1-3	Jackie Wilson–	(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher And Higher Written-By – Carl William Smith*, Gary Jackson (2), Raynard Miner
1-4	Jerry Butler–	Only The Strong Survive Written-By – Jerry Butler, Kenneth Gamble, Leon Huff
1-5	Aretha Franklin–	Chain Of Fools Written-By – Don Covay
1-6	The Temptations–	I Wish It Would Rain Written-By – Barrett Strong, Norman Whitfield
1-7	Johnnie Taylor–	Who’s Making Love Written-By – Bettye Crutcher, Donald Davis*, Homer Banks, Raymond Jackson
1-8	Aaron Neville–	Tell It Like It Is Written-By – George Davis (2), Lee Diamond
1-9	Wilson Pickett–	Funky Broadway Written-By – Arlester Christian
1-10	Marvin Gaye And Tammi Terrell–	You’re All I Need To Get By Written-By – Nickolas Ashford, Valerie Simpson
1-11	Aretha Franklin–	Respect Written-By – Otis Redding
1-12	Smokey Robinson And The Miracles*–	I Second That Emotion Written-By – Al Cleveland, William “Smokey” Robinson*
1-13	The Isley Brothers–	It’s Your Thing Written-By – O’Kelly Isley, Ronald Isley, Rudolph Isley
1-14	Diana Ross And The Supremes*–	Someday We’ll Be Together Written-By – Harvey Fuqua, John Bristol*, Robert Beavers
1-15	The Originals–	Baby, I’m For Real Written-By – Anna Gaye*, Marvin Gaye
2-1	Marvin Gaye And Tammi Terrell–	Ain’t Nothing Like The Real Thing Written-By – Nickolas Ashford, Valerie Simpson
2-2	The Temptations–	I Can’t Get Next To You Written-By – Barrett Strong, Norman Whitfield
2-3	Aretha Franklin–	I Never Loved A Man (the Way I Love You) Written-By – Ronny Shannon*
2-4	Sam & Dave–	Soul Man Written-By – David Porter, Isaac Hayes
2-5	Junior Walker And The All Stars*–	What Does It Take (To Win Your Love) Written-By – Harvey Fuqua, Johnny Bristol, Vernon Bullock
2-6	Marvin Gaye–	Too Busy Thinking About My Baby Written-By – Barrett Strong, Janie Bradford, Norman Whitfield
2-7	Clarence Carter–	Slip Away Written-By – Marcus Daniel, Wilbur Terrell, William Armstrong
2-8	Hugh Masekela–	Grazing In The Grass Written-By – Philemon Hou
2-9	Tyrone Davis–	Can I Change My Mind Written-By – Barry Despenza, Carl Wolfolk
2-10	Archie Bell And The Drells*–	Tighten Up Written-By – Archie Bell, Billy Butler
2-11	The Dells–	Stay In My Corner Written-By – Barrett Strong, Bobby Miller, Wade Flemons
2-12	Joe Simon–	The Chokin’ Kind Written-By – Harlan Howard
2-13	Four Tops–	Bernadette Written-By – Brian Holland, Edward Holland, Jr., Lamont Dozier
2-14	Jerry Butler–	Hey, Western Union Man Written-By – Jerry Butler, Kenneth Gamble, Leon Huff
2-15	The Dells–	Oh, What A Nite Written-By – Johnny Funches, Marvin Junior

About 20 years ago, Rick Robinson urged me to read Edward Marston’s mysteries. Marston is a prolific writer who has written more than a 100 mysteries in various series. Inspector Colbeck’s Casebook (2014) collected a Baker’s Dozen of short stories featuring Marston’s Inspector Colbeck of Scotland Yard. All the stories in this collection involve trains–frequently someone getting murdered on a train–and Colbeck, and his partner Sergeant Victor Leeming, get called in to investigate.

While I found all the stories in Inspector Colbeck’s Casebook entertaining, I particularly enjoyed “Rain, Steam and Speed” which features Colbeck’s wife–a painter–who provides critical information to solve the case. Colbeck’s wife shows up again in “Puffing Billy” to assist her husband in another baffling crime.

If you’re in the mood for some historical mysteries set in the 1850s, The Railway Detective series delivers clever mysteries and a variety of characters. GRADE: A

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

PREFACE –7

Wetting the Coal: A train worker discovers a body in a coal trolley. — 13

Rain, Steam and Speed: A Turner painting is stolen during a train unloading. — 33

The Railway Church: A church warden’s Sunday routine is disrupted by a crime at St. George the Martyr Church. — 55

A Family Affair: Inspector Colbeck’s father-in-law has his wallet stolen. — 79

The Hat Trick: A newlywed couple searches for the spot of their engagement during a country walk. — 97

Helping Hand . — 119

Songs for a Swedish Nightingale . — 139

Suffer Little Children . — 157

The Missionary . — 175

On Guard . — 195

The Barber of Raven Glass . — 215

Puffing Billy . — 237

The End of the Line — 259

Purists of Isaac Asimov’s Foundation trilogy will balk at this Apple TV+ version where each season jumps 100 years into the future. Season 3 starts with a partly new cast, a new set of plot problems, and some of the old cast continuing the story of Foundation vs. Empire as well.

Genius mathematician Hari Seldon, who invented psychohistory–the mathematics that accurately predicts the Future–is aging in real time at the secret Second Foundation site.

Meanwhile an incredibly complex computer program, hiding in a giant, impenetrable vault at the first Foundation, threatens the Empire. Gaal Dornick (Lou Llobell)–Seldon’s protege–is in cryo-sleep, waking every few years to help train the Second Foundation to prepare for the coming of the vicious psychic mutant, The Mule.

Yes, 80% of the current characters and plot do not appear in Asimov’s classic SF novels. No matter. The cast is good, the production values are top-notch, and the plot of mathematics trying to prevent the downfall of a Galactic Empire still fascinates me. A new episodes drops every Friday. I’ve watched the first episode of 10. GRADE: Incomplete, but treading towards a B+

“Despite their complicated relationship, the presidents [Biden and Obama] remained in touch, so it was not unusual when Obama swung by the White House in June for a private lunch in the residence. For a while, it genuinely felt like two old friends catching up….But Obama was also there to deliver a message: Trump was going to be incredibly difficult to defeat for a second time.” (p. 66)

Josh Dawsey (Wall Street Journal), Tyler Pager (New York Times), and Isaac Arnsdorf (Washington Post) trace the steps in 2024 that led to Trump winning and the Democrats getting crushed. Dawsey, Pager, and Arnsdorf–along with Trump–are convinced the attempted assassination in Butler, Pennsylvania assured Trump’s victory.

Dawsey, Pager, and Arnsdorf also show how Biden’s mental problems–which showed up so dramatically In his Debate debacle with Trump–sank Biden’s campaign. Could the Democrats have won the 2024 Election if they had more time to run a primary for a candidate rather than running Kamala Harris? Perhaps. But the Democrats made too many mis-steps in 2024 that led to the Trump victory.

The Republicans won the House, the Senate, and the Presidency in 2024. We now live with the Democrats struggling to find a message that will bring voters back to them. At the moment, only 19 percent of respondents to a new Quinnipiac University poll approve of the way the Democratic Party is handling their job in Congress. You can’t win with those kind of numbers!

Dawsey, Pager, and Arnsdorf’s autopsy of the 2024 Election year is full of surprises. Who could have predicted that every time Trump came out of the Courthouse to speak to the media his poll numbers would go up. Even after Trump was convicted, his base grew even larger!

Biden and the Democrats didn’t realize the economic problems they weren’t addressing. The Federal Reserve cut interest rates in 2024, but it was too little too late to help the Democrats. Trump and the Republicans promised lower inflation and lower prices. That was a winning message.

I admit that reading 2024 was like reading about the last day of the Titanic. But there are lessons to be learned from that campaign. Let’s hope the Democrats rediscover their mojo in 2026! Are you optimistic…or pessimistic about the 2026 Mid-Term Elections? GRADE: A

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Introduction — ix

Part One: Comebacks

Point of no return — 1

Not dead — 20

Just business — 35

Inevitable — 43

Sleepwalking — 58

Capitulation — 75

Part Two: Rematch

A poor memory — 89

A takeover — 107

Criminal — 120

The block — 135

“We’re F—-ed” — 148

The drumbeat — 166

July 13, 2024 — 186

Unity — 205

Lord Almighty — 221

Part Three: Shakeup

Unburdened — 233

Cruel summer — 243

Honeymoon — 255

“Kick his A—-” — 268

Paranoia — 281

A man’s world — 291

Warnings — 308

Garbage in, garbage out — 317

The ballroom and the boiler room — 328

Epilogue — 336

Acknowledgments — 357

Notes — 365

Index — 385

[How many of these 25 mysteries have you read?]

Crime fiction has thrived in the past 25 years, gaining more readers, introducing new writers and producing works likely to become future classics. This list favors writers who have come to the fore in recent decades over more seasoned authors (some of whom have nonetheless produced outstanding titles in the 21st century). Each book below, whichever its subgenre, tells a terrific story in an especially memorable way.

All Things Cease to Appear (2016)
By Elizabeth Brundage

Lyrical, moving and shocking, this novel turns on the murder of a college professor’s wife in an upstate New York farmhouse in the 1970s. “All Things Cease to Appear” shifts in time as it changes tone, from noir to gothic to near spiritual. It’s a police procedural, a study in suspense and a spin of the karmic roulette wheel. Sound extraordinary? It is.

Big Sky (2019)
By Kate Atkinson

Jackson Brodie, a put-upon English private eye, is the hero of Kate Atkinson’s sometimes-funny, sometimes-grim series of finely written mysteries. Here, the detective’s attention shifts between a client who fears a stalker and the possibly homicidal man he meets by chance and talks out of suicide. “It was a good day,” Jackson thinks, “when you saved someone’s life. Even better when you didn’t lose your own.”

Birnam Wood (2023)
By Eleanor Catton

In this outstanding literary thriller, New Zealand guerrilla gardeners growing crops on public land catch the eye of a U.S. billionaire who offers to finance their utopian dreams. The alleged philanthropist proves more hustler than humanitarian and has the high-tech tools to take control of the lives of those who threaten his schemes.

Bluebird, Bluebird (2017)
By Attica Locke

Darren Matthews, a black Texas Ranger, heads to the small town of Lark to investigate two murders that may be linked by racism. “This land is my land, too, my state, my country,” the officer makes clear. “I can stand my ground.” Attica Locke sets up a dramatic triptych of novels with this mystery, a sequence she brings to stunning closure.

Bury Your Dead (2010)
By Louise Penny

Louise Penny’s enduring series, featuring Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreté du Québec, began in 2005. In this sixth entry, the murder of a history buff pulls Armand into an investigation that resurrects old controversies surrounding Quebec’s origins. The Gamache saga had great appeal from the start; with “Bury Your Dead,” the author found her mature style and hit her accomplished stride.

Dark Sacred Night (2018)
By Michael Connelly

Michael Connelly keeps his continuing oeuvre young by introducing new characters who forge connections with his veteran Los Angeles detective Harry Bosch. “Dark Sacred Night,” one of the most affecting books in the Connelly canon, teams Harry with LAPD night-shift exile Renée Ballard to investigate the death of a teenage Hollywood sex worker.

Death of a Red Heroine (2000)
By Qiu Xiaolong

Inspector Chen Cao of the Shanghai Police Bureau first appeared in this groundbreaking work by Qiu Xiaolong, set in the aftermath of the Chinese government’s crackdown on the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. The poetry-writing Chen must investigate the killing of a woman who has been hailed as a “model worker,” but his inquiries are hampered by government officials. The detective does his humane best within limited options.

Elegy for April (2010)
By John Banville (as Benjamin Black)

The Irish novelist John Banville first used the pen name Benjamin Black in 2006 when he began writing a series of psychologically dense mystery novels set in 1950s Dublin featuring a moody consultant pathologist named Quirke. “Elegy for April” finds a newly sober Quirke in pursuit of a missing doctor with a reckless streak.

Find You First (2021)
By Linwood Barclay

In the 1990s, Linwood Barclay was arguably the funniest newspaper columnist in Canada. Today, he’s one of the world’s best suspense novelists, mixing thrills, humor and poignancy. “Find You First” springs from a millionaire’s plan to contact children he may have once sired as a sperm donor. His generous notion provokes the schemes of some of his other would-be heirs.

The Hunter (2024)
By Tana French

Cal Hooper, an ex-cop from Chicago, has moved to a West Irish village for a quiet life restoring furniture. Assisting him is Trey, a teenager grieving her dead brother. Trey’s long-absent father appears with a scheme that may pull them all into disaster. Tana French made her name with outstanding police procedurals; in this book she focuses on a smaller cast, widens her emotional range and stirs in rough-hewn humor.

IQ (2016)
By Joe Ide 

“IQ” is Isaiah Quintabe, a big-brained, Sherlock Holmes-inspired private investigator from East Long Beach, Calif. In this first outing in Joe Ide’s character-driven series, IQ must protect a fading rap star from an assailant while pondering the death of his own older brother in a suspicious hit-and-run accident.

The It Girl (2022)
By Ruth Ware

The English author Ruth Ware, a star of contemporary mystery fiction who favors a traditionalist approach, blends the mechanisms of Agatha Christie with the psychological acuity of later writers such as Ruth Rendell. “The It Girl,” perhaps her best book, has a young woman revisiting the decade-old murder of her best Oxford frenemy after a journalist suggests the wrong man was blamed.

The Last Equation of Isaac Severy (2018)
By Nova Jacobs

A dark, delightful and sui generis treat comes in this clever “novel in clues” probing the death of a Southern California mathematician and chaos theorist who is electrocuted in his backyard Jacuzzi. Suicide? Murder? Cosmic jest? Isaac Severy has entrusted a secret about his esoteric research to his granddaughter Hazel, who tries to solve the enigma of her grandfather’s demise.

The Long Drop (2017)
By Denise Mina

This versatile Scottish author has written crackling police procedurals, a reporter-sleuth series, a Raymond Chandler pastiche and historical fiction. “The Long Drop,” based on actual Glasgow events of the 1950s, scrutinizes a notorious murderer and his strange connection to a family member of some of the victims.

Magpie Murders (2016)
By Anthony Horowitz

This witty master of metafictional mysteries writes books that are pleasurable puzzles. “Magpie Murders” is the first in a series that involves Susan Ryeland, a book editor on the hunt for the missing last chapter of a murdered writer’s final book.

One-Shot Harry (2022)
By Gary Phillips

Harry Ingram, a black crime-scene photographer in Los Angeles, is the hero of this crackerjack thriller set during the era of the civil-rights movement. Martin Luther King Jr. is coming to town for an event that would be dubbed the Los Angeles Freedom Rally, and Harry looks forward to plenty of photo ops. But when Harry’s white Army buddy is murdered, Harry feels honor-bound to crack the case.

The Plot (2021)
By Jean Hanff Korelitz

The cash-strapped author Jacob Finch Bonner takes a job teaching writing at a low-profile college, where a student claims to have concocted a surefire fiction plot. The student dies before writing the story—Jacob pens and sells it as his own. The result is a success, but someone turns Jacob’s life into a nightmare. Also memorable is Ms. Korelitz’s 2024 follow-up, “The Sequel.”

Razorblade Tears (2021)
By S.A. Cosby

Two Virginia men—one black, one white, both ex-cons—meet following the murders of their two sons. One father wants retribution; the other hesitates: “Folks . . . talk about revenge like it’s a righteous thing but it’s just hate in a nicer suit.” Desecration of the victims’ graves, though, jolts the pair into fateful action. “Razorblade Tears” presents a gripping dual portrait of grief driven to extreme ends.

Small Mercies (2023)
By Dennis Lehane

Boston-bred Dennis Lehane has been publishing atmospheric, psychologically complex crime novels since 1994. His finest work may be this gritty account of a tough Southie mother chasing after her missing teenage daughter during the summer of 1974, as Boston experiences a period of social turmoil around the desegregation of its public schools. A cop trying to help undergoes his own epiphany.

A Talent for Murder (2024)
By Peter Swanson

Peter Swanson has written several excellent thrillers since debuting with 2014’s “The Girl With a Clock for a Heart.” This one opens with a New Hampshire librarian growing suspicious about her traveling-salesman husband. (“You think I’m some kind of serial killer, Martha?” he jokes.) She and her grad-school friend Lily, a sort of freelance avenging angel, connect with a private-detective colleague. Together they facilitate the swift workings of fate.

The Thursday Murder Club (2020)
By Richard Osman

The English television producer Richard Osman became a mystery writer with the creation of this quartet of amateur sleuths in a British retirement village. Mr. Osman pleased readers on both sides of the Atlantic with his winning mixture of suspense and sentiment: Three sequels (a fourth is due in September) have proved similarly irresistible.

The Turnout (2021)
By Megan Abbott

Megan Abbott excels at depicting fierce rivalries and obsessive pursuits. “The Turnout” is set in a ballet school for tots and teens, run by two sisters and one husband. The owners’ lives are rattled by a plan for grandiose renovations, while competitive fever spreads among the students and parents. Old resentments are resurrected, with chilling results.

The Twenty-Year Death (2012)
By Ariel S. Winter

This intricately structured work presents three linked novellas, each told in the style of a different noir master. Taken together, the tales chart the downhill trajectory of an American writer over two decades, from France to the U.S. A police inspector, a private eye, a movie star and a murderer are linked to the ultimate narrator in ways only revealed at the very end.

What the Dead Know (2007)
By Laura Lippman

The author of the Tess Monaghan series of private-eye stories, Laura Lippman has also written terrifically noirish stand-alone works. In this one, the 30-year-old unsolved disappearance of two young sisters makes the news again after a woman comes forth to claim she is one of those long-lost girls. But where is her sibling?

Your House Will Pay (2019)
By Steph Cha

The fateful connections between two families—one Korean-American, one African-American—are unraveled in this ambitious and richly rendered saga. Steph Cha’s novel is propelled by the determination of a 27-year-old daughter of immigrant parents to better understand her family’s links to a black man in his 40s whose sister was killed during Los Angeles’s civil unrest of the early 1990s.

Copyright ©2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

Appeared in the July 19, 2025, print edition as “25 Years of Fictional Mayhem”.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Season 3 returns with “Hegemony, Part II”–the conclusion of the story ending Season 2. The evil aliens, the Gorn, are continuing with their treachery and the crew of the Enterprise is in the middle of the trouble.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Season 3 has 10 episodes. A new episode drops every Thursday on Paramount+. If you’re looking for a series that resurrects the vibe of the original Star Trek from the Sixties, this is it. Are you a Star Trek fan? GRADE: Incomplete, but treading towards a B+