New Summer Releases Part 1

THIS BODY OF DEATH, Elizabeth George (April 20)
George has once again delivered a thick, knotty, densely plotted mystery. As always, it isn't a book to tear through in an hour, but one to read slowly, over many sittings, and savor. This time out, George, turning to her usual characters, highlights Scotland Yard inspector Thomas Lynley — still grieving the senseless deaths of his wife and child — as he takes a tentative step back to his old job by investigating the murder of a young woman found in a cemetery.

HALF LIFE, Roopa Farooki (April 27)
Farooki's novel follows the life of a troubled Indian doctor who marries without coming to terms with her past relationships — something which she decides, finally, that she must do. A lovely, graceful, and utterly compelling love story.

GIRL IN TRANSLATION, Jean Kwok (April 29)
Though the plot may sound mundane — a Chinese girl and her mother immigrate to this country and succeed despite formidable odds — this coming-of-age tale is anything but. Whether Ah-Kim (or Kimberly, as she's called) is doing piecework on the factory floor with her mother, or suffering through a cold New York winter in a condemned, roach-infested apartment, or getting that acceptance letter from Yale, her story seems fresh and new.

THE INVISIBLE BRIDGE, Julie Orringer (May 4)
Orringer's debut story collection, How to Breathe Underwater, was greeted with fanfare several years ago; this novel, her first, is the tale of Hungarian brothers during World War II.

THE LAST STAND, Nathaniel Philbrick (May 4)
If anyone can breathe life into the oft-told tale of Lieutenant Colonel George Custer, it's Philbrick, who evoked the Pilgrims in 2006's Mayflower and 19th-century whale traders in 2001's In the Heart of the Sea.

SLOW LOVE: HOW I LOST MY JOB, PUT ON MY PAJAMAS AND FOUND HAPPINESS, Dominique Browning (May 9)
When Browning, the hard-charging founding editor of House & Garden, found herself suddenly, unexpectedly unemployed, she literally did not know how to fill her days — at first. But the enforced vacation, she found, had unexpected benefits.