This week, it’s a summer romance with a sinister bent; a gripping post-WWII thriller with two wisecracking leads; and a laugh-out-loud look at defiant seniors, out to save their social group. In nonfiction, we go behind the scenes with the greatest band in history, and delve into the lifestyles of the rich, famous, and vindictive. See you on the beach!
Tourist Season
By Brenda Novak
Mira
Ismay Chalmers picked the wrong time to visit Mariners Island, a 5-by-10-mile spit of land off Cape Cod.
After passing the California bar, she headed to her future in-laws’ summer place, Windsor Cottage, to relax until fiancé Remy could join her. She is just settling in when a hurricane roars up the coast, rattling the walls and knocking out power. While searching for flashlights, Ismay discovers a secret panel in Remy’s room. Its contents make her question everything she knows about the man she plans to marry.
The Windsors’ handyman Bo Broussard stops in, bearing lanterns and candles. After a tree crashes into his own house, Ismay returns the favor, inviting him to shelter with her. They’re unexpectedly joined by Remy’s snarky twin brother, Bastian, who immediately stirs up trouble.
Novak skillfully blends romance and mystery in this fast-paced novel, where almost everyone has a secret, and the riddles don’t unravel until the final page.
Under the Paper Moon
By Shaina Steinberg
Kensington Publishing
There’s nothing more noir than a ‘40s-era thriller, and this one has all the right stuff: spies, counter-spies, and a pair of hard-boiled gumshoes who have seen too much to trust in true love.
In 1944, Evelyn Bishop and Nick Gallagher are part of the Office of Strategic Services, an elite intelligence corps aiding resistance fighters in the last days of World War II. Evelyn has a single mission: to infiltrate a POW camp and rescue her brother, Matt. Nick has a mission of his own: to protect Evelyn from the inevitable heartbreak of war. Both goals prove impossible, and the friends-turned-lovers part on a bitter note.
By 1948, both are back in L.A., where Evelyn is a private investigator, and Nick, a little worse for alcohol, works security for a rich arms manufacturer. After his client is gunned down, the onetime couple find themselves working two ends of the same case, until, reluctantly, Evelyn agrees to team again with Nick.
Bodies and suspects soon pile up in this debut novel, which is slick, smart, and jam-packed with snappy dialogue that recalls Nick and Nora Charles. It’s a delight to read.
How to Age Disgracefully
By Clare Pooley
Viking
Retired businesswoman Daphne is celebrating a milestone birthday—but in her case, “celebrate” may be the wrong word.
On the cusp of the Big 7-0, Daphne has been widowed for 15 years. Her life is increasingly solitary. She has no friends and no discernible purpose beyond “stalking her neighbors and talking to her plants.”
To get back in the game, she forces herself to join a senior social club for at the local community center. There she meets Art, an unemployed character actor; Art’s loyal sidekick, William; and the group’s coordinator, Lydia, a meek housewife who longs to be a badass. She also encounters Ziggy, a poor but gifted teen dad who uses the center’s free daycare and dabbles in petty crime to pay the bills.
After a disastrous accident at the group’s first meeting, the motley crew must face off with officials who want to demolish the old community center, which has become a haven for the neighborhood it serves.
“How to Age Disgracefully” is a charming book about unexpected friendships, feisty old folks, and the bonds that can grow when people admit they need each other.
All You Need Is Love
By Peter Brown and Steven Gaines
St. Martin’s Press
In this oral history of the Beatles, authors Brown and Gaines talk with most of the major players: Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono, as well as business associates, fellow musicians, friends, family, and assorted hangers-on.
The candid interviews, conducted in 1980 and 1981, track the band’s all-too-brief tenure (start to finish, the Beatles were together for only a decade), and focus mostly on the turbulent last chapter, as the world’s most famous foursome grew up, grew apart, and inevitably, went their separate ways.
“All You Need Is Love” pulls back the curtain on an extraordinary moment in music history, telling the story from markedly different perspectives. It also offers a sensitive portrait of the man behind the mop-tops, manager Brian Epstein, a gay man in an era when homosexuality was illegal, whose early death was the beginning of the end of the world’s greatest band.
Capote’s Women
By Laurence Leamer
G.P. Putnam’s Sons
Fans of the FX series “Feud: Capote vs. The Swans” will love this deeper dive into Truman Capote’s career-ending roman a clef.
In 1975, the little giant of American letters published an excerpt from his novel-in-progress, “Answered Prayers.” He expected to be celebrated for the thinly veiled scandal sheet, filled with gossip about his society friends. Instead, he was shunned by his adored “swans,” and never recovered, socially or otherwise. A decade later, “Answered Prayers” was still unfinished, and Capote died at 59, after years of drug and alcohol abuse.
In “Capote’s Women,” Laurence Leamer offers a tantalizing glimpse into the lives of the uber-rich women who befriended the author, including Babe Paley, Lee Radziwill, C.Z. Guest, Slim Keith, Marella Agnelli, and Pamela Churchill. This is a quick and satisfying read, perfect for a day at the beach.
