SUNDAY,NOVEMBER 22 , 2020 .THEWASHINGTONPOST EZ EE E7
bestbooks
wonderfullyserved by narrator Angus
King,aScotsmanhimself whose mod-
eratebutintelligibleGlaswegianaccent
brings further authenticity. (Dream-
scape,unabridged,17½hours)
[email protected]KatherineA. Powersreviews
audiobookseverymonth forThe
WashingtonPost.“Shuggie Bain”
By DouglasStuart
Stuart’sdebut is abrilliant, heart-
rendingworksetindecayingworking-
class neighborhoods around Glasgow
oftheThatcherera.Shuggieisagentle
boytryingtomanagehismelodramatic,
self-destructive alcoholic mother.Stu-
art’sgenius at evoking place, predica-
ment and intense emotional states, isnownedactorandimpresario.Bar-
ryMcGovern gives brilliant rendi-
tionsoftheIrishmanStokerandof
HenryIrving,whosevoicehereisa
thespianthunder.Anna Chancel-
lor pipes up on occasion as the
warmvoiceofEllenTerry, Stoker’s
friendand Irving’s leading lady.
(Dreamscape, unabridged,11^2 / 3
hours)grandfather,personifiedhere in the
fictionalreservation-born Thomas
Wazhack.(HarperAudio,13½hours)“Shadowplay”
By JosephO’Connor
O’Connor’s ingeniousnovel is
based on the life of Bram Stoker,
author of “Dracula,”and his rela-
tionshipwithHenryIrving, re-BYKATHERINEA.POWERS“DeaconKing Kong”
By JamesMcBride
“Sportcoat”isa71-year-olddeacon
who lives in aBrooklyn housing
projectin1969.Hisdrinkofchoiceis
King Kong,aconcoction home-dis-
tilled by his friend, “Hot Sausage.”
This hilarious,movingnovel is also
chargedwithacurrentofunderstat-
edanger.Writteninthemostglorious
prose,itsbeatandbuoyancyisdeliv-
ered by DominicHoffman, amaster
at capturingthe rhythm of backchat
andinrenderingBrooklynese,South-
ern and Spanishspeech.(Penguin
Audio,unabridged,14hours)“MemorialDrive:ADaughter’sMemoir”
By NatashaTrethewey
In this piercing investigation of
memory,loss andlove, former U.S.
poetlaureateTretheweysharesthe
storyofher mother’s murder by her
second husband, aviolent, manipu-
lativesadist.Tretheway’snarrationis
elegiacinremembering her mother
—andsteelyasshereadsthechilling
transcriptsofhermother’stelephone
conversations with her killer.This
heartbreakingmemoirwillstaywith
listeners long after it ends. (Harper-
Audio,unabridged,5¼hours)“The NightWatchman”
By Louise Erdrich
Erdrichreads her ownmoving
andinspiringnovelwonderfully,en-
hancingthetextwiththesincerityof
herNativeAmericaninflectedvoice.
Thebookisafictionalversionofthe
Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa
Indians’struggle to quashthe U.S.
government’s attempttoripuptrea-
tiesand destroy Native American
rights, acampaign led by Erdrich’sLend an ear
to these top
audio picks
ILLUSTRATIONSBY AYSHATENGIZFORTHE WASHINGTONPOSTBYMAUREENCORRIGAN
ANDRICHARDLIPEZ“CityofMargins”
By WilliamBoyle
In his fifthnovel, Boyleagain
capturestheBrooklynneighborhood
where he grew up. He knows the
musicoftheItalianAmericanvoices,
frompunk to bar stool to operatic.
Mobgoons,collegedropouts,melan-
choly widows and pink-haired rock-
ers mix it up in this deliciously
convoluted tale thatreadslikea
freshnewseasonof“TheSopranos.”“DeadLand”
By Sara Paretsky
Privateeye V.I. “Vic”Warshawski
is back for the 20th time in a
perfectlypitchedpolitical-rotthrill-
er.The novel’s robustly flavorsome
castincludesasemi-deranged land
preservationist, acorrupt Nobel
Prize winner,aChileanAyn Rand
discipleandseveralwonderfuldogs.“DjinnPatrol on the Purple Line”
By DeepaAnappara
Setinasprawlingslum in an
unnamedcityinIndia, “Djinn
Patrol”follows9-year-oldJaianda
group of friends as theyinvesti-
gate themurderofaclassmate.
Despite thetragicevents that un-
fold, Jai’svoice retains astubborn
lightness, awilltobelieve in the
possibilityofdeliveranceinthis
fallenworld.“Long Bright River”
By LizMoore
“Long Bright River”isboth a
suspensetaleandafamilysagathat
explores the relationshipbetween
twosisters—oneacop,theotheran
opioidaddict—wholiveinPhiladel-
phia. This sweepingstorytwists,
turnsandsubvertsreaders’expecta-
tions,whilealsogrowingintosome-
thing else: an elegiac novel about a
blightedcity.ment. Hisnarrative —set among the
glitzy-rich of Palm Beach —wanders
around abit, but with all the lovingly
bitingdetail,thereisn’tapageherethat
flags.Everybodyisnipped,tuckedand
artificially bronzed —and acrucial
you-see-it-coming-and-can’t-wait plot
pointinvolvesPOTUS’smalfunctioning
tanningbed.Daffyandgauche,yes,but
adeliciouson-pointsendup.“ThreeHoursinParis”
By CaraBlack
“Three Hours in Paris” isn’t just
anyold formulaic “Get out!” tale.
Black’sspy story, setduring World
WarIIinoccupied Paris, stars an
Americanfemale sharpshooter who
is parachutedintoFrance to assassi-
nateAdolfHitler.Ofcourse,shefails.
Usingwitsalone,shemustevadethe
Gestapo and makeitback across the
EnglishChannel.Chancesofsuccess?
Slim to none. Chances thatyou’llbe
abletoputBlack’sthrillerdownonce
you’vepickeditup?Alsoslimtonone.“Troubleis What IDo”
By Walter Mosley
Mosleyhasproducedanabsorbing
noir beautyofatale about aBlack,
94-year-oldMississippi bluesman,
aptlynamedPhilip “Catfish”Worry,
bentonagooddeedthatcouldgethim
killed. He hires Mosley’slongtime PI,
LeonidMcGill,toinformthedaughter
of abillionaire white racistthatthe
bigot is actually Catfish’s offspring
fromalong-agoaffair. PartofMcGill’s
fee willbeabottleof147-year-old
bourbon that “was so smooth thatI
imagined agreen snakeslithering
across an emerald lawn”—afitting
descriptionfortheentirenovel.
[email protected]Maureen Corrigan,who teaches
literatureatGeorgetownUniversity,is
the bookcriticfor the NPRprogram
“Fresh Air.”RichardLipezwritesthe
DonaldStracheyPI novelsunderthe
nameRichardStevenson.“Th eMissingAmerican”
By Kwei Quartey
With“TheMissing American,”
Quartey haslaunched aseries with
privateinvestigatorEmma Djan. Her
firstbig case involvesthe middle-aged
American of the title,who travels to
Ghana to track downwhoever swin-
dledhim out of $4,000 in an Internet
scam. Thesearch for him is both sus-
pensefulandwonderfullyatmospheric.“One by One”
By Ruth Ware
Ware’s latestisthemostbrazenly
Christie-ishofallhernovels,direct-
ly taking inspiration from “Ten Lit-
tleIndians.”Waresetsherstoryata
ritzy ski chaletinthe French Alps,
where employeesof atech start-up
disappear,one by one, from awork
retreat.Wareexpertly scatters red
herrings,sothateventhemostalertreader becomesdiverted into false
deductionsanddeadends.“Th eSearcher”
By Tana French
Thetitle of French’s lateststand-
alonecrimenovelisanodtotheJohn
Ford-vexedmasterpiece, “The
Searchers,”and likethatbook,itis
essentiallyaWestern.Aloneman,an
outsider—inthiscase aretired
Chicagocop —isdrawn into an
obsessivequesttofind ayoung per-
son who has disappeared in asmall
Irish mountaintown. This hushed
suspensetaleaboutthwarteddreams
ofescapemaybeFrench’s bestyet.“SqueezeMe”
By Carl Hiaasen
Scabrousand unrelentingly hilari-
ous, “Squeeze Me” demonstrates that
the Trump eraistruly Hiaasen’s mo-Agripping array
of mysteries, thrillers
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|".$ -) +-,0 ,#*),- )' 16-2898applause always sounds better when it roars.Advertise in The Guideto the LivelyArts! 202-334-7006|[email protected]