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Professional Scrabble fan John D. Williams' new memoir is chock full of interesting tidbits (like lists of important words with Q, X and J) but gets bogged down in tedious biographical detail.

Rick Moody's new novel takes the form of online travel reviews written by the lonely but oddly eloquent Reginald Morse. Critic Jason Sheehan says it's Moody at his most inventive, playful and biting.

Oil refineries emit benzene — a chemical that can cause cancer and other health problems. From 2018 to 2021, 25 oil refineries in the U.S. had high levels of benzene at their fence lines for more than two weeks after the plants should have taken action to lower them.

Rowling studied real criminal case studies to write the latest in the Cormoran Strike mystery series — "It was horrible," she says. But writing under a pseudonym remains "a very private pleasure."

The slightly demented homemakers in Helen Ellis' new collection wield sharp elbows and sharper knives, but critic Heller McAlpin says the stories build to touching, unexpected punchlines.

Ron Wimberly's energetic re-working of Romeo and Juliet focuses on Tybalt, the "Prince of Cats." It mashes up wildly diverse elements into a fresh creation, the visual equivalent of a DJ's mix.

Moonglow is a playful, fictional take on the family memoir. Set in 1990, it stars young author "Mike" Chabon, who's visiting his dying grandfather. Grandpa, it turns out, has led a remarkable life.

Ta-Nehisi Coates continues his tangled, philosophical (and big-selling) superhero tale with Black Panther: A Nation Under Our Feet. Coates' storytelling resonates, but his character can often ramble.

Kathy Wang's new novel centers around a dying patriarch who's been hinting for years that he's sitting on a fortune, and the gleefully selfish, myopic family that's jockeying for the money.

Lisa Locascio's novel follows 18-year-old Roxana, whose summer abroad in Denmark becomes both a political and sexual awakening when she falls for the Danish student charged with helping her settle in.