It’s official: summer is here. Although the annual deluge of summer titles properly started in May, June sees the arrival of seasonal favorites like Elin Hilderbrand and Mary Alice Monroe, and no shortage of thriller titles. But if a beach read isn’t your thing, there is no shortage of other crisp new options hitting shelves this month.
--Trump books have become such a commonality that the appearance of another exposé hardly prompts more than a murmur of interest. However, Michael Wolff created enough of a stir in January with Fire and Fury (holds at one point topped 800) that it’s worth noting that his newest, Siege, will be on shelves in early June. Focusing on the second year of Trump’s presidency up to the delivery of the Mueller Report, Wolff delves deep into the psyche of a president who is ‘increasingly volatile, erratic and exposed.’ If you prefer your politics less hyperbolic, conservative columnist George Will offers a philosophical and theoretical basis of current conservative thought in The Conservative Sensibility; Publishers Weekly notes that readers of all political stripes will find much to engage with.
--Debuts! There are a few notable first timers appearing on shelves this month. Linda Holmes, host of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast, bows with Evvie Drake Starts Over. A story of two individuals reeling from the loss of the lives they once led, the novel is generating comparisons to Rainbow Rowell and Taylor Reid Jenkins. Evvie Drake appears in late June. De’shawn Charles Winslow’s debut In West Mills spans decades in the life of a singular woman. Azalea ‘Knot’ Centre is a strong woman who lives life on her own terms—which doesn’t endear her to the denizens of rural West Mills, North Carolina during the 1940s. Reviewers have praised Winslow’s ear for dialog and his unforgettable heroine. In West Mills is available early in June. There have been a number of retellings of Pride and Prejudice, but Uzma Jalaluddin’s debut Ayesha at Last sets itself apart by mixing hard issues of discrimination and alcoholism with Austen’s classic romance, all set in a Toronto Pakistani-Canadian community. Booklist calls it ‘swoon worthy,’ while Publishers Weekly suggests it will appeal to those who aren’t familiar with the Austen original. Look for it on romance shelves early in the month.
--A few notable mysteries to look for in June: Good things come to those who wait, and Jackson Brodie readers have been waiting since 2011 for a new installment featuring the detective. The wait ends June 25, when Brodie turns his attention to a case in his new home in rural Yorkshire. Another UK favorite, Denise Mina, sets her standalone thriller Conviction, very much in the present. Anna McDonald finds her quiet Glasgow life shattered when the podcast she is listening to dredges up some very painful memories that refuse to stay in the past. Library Journal applauds Mina’s ‘a gutsy, endearing heroine and a wondrously surprising ending.’ For a mystery a bit closer to home, Matt Goldman adds to his series featuring Minneapolis-based PI Nils Shapiro with The Shallows, due out in early June. Shapiro investigates the murder of a lawyer found drowned with a fishing lure strung through his mouth, but the investigation takes a strange turn when the lawyer’s firm receives a bomb threat—just as a prominent right-wing politician is in the same building. And then the bodies start piling up. Goldman mixes 40’s style detective noir with a storyline that includes meaningful secondary characters and a distinctive dry wit.
Click on through for the full list of titles. Happy reading!