Ask a bookseller

Maya Aurichio of Maria’s Bookshop in Durango, Colo, recommends "Saint X" by Alexis Schaitkin. She called the novel a thoughtful twist on a “classic beautiful dead white girl thriller.” 

Sally Wizik Wills of Beagle and Wolf Books and Bindery in Park Rapids, Minn., recommends a new book by a local author this week: Doug Mayfield’s “The Saint Patrick’s Day Hero.” The novel begins after a horrific mass shooting at a fictional college in Minnesota.

Theresa Woodward of CatTale’s Books and Gifts in Brainerd, Minn., recommends “Phoebe and her Unicorn” graphic novel series, which she has been loving reading with her 6-year-old daughter, Phoebe.

Lisa Deyo of Sweet Reads in Austin, Minnesota (across from the Spam Museum) recommended the murder mystery “The Devil’s Kettle” by fellow Austin-based writer J.J. Ollman. 

Amanda Toronto of Word Bookstore in Brooklyn, N.Y., says she can’t stop thinking about a memoir she read recently: “The Magical Language of Others” by poet and translator E.J. Koh. 

Cat Bock of Parnassus Books in Nashville, Tenn., recommended a brand-new work of literary criticism by George Saunders with a tempting subtitle indeed: “A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life."

The book explores the work of Franz Boaz, founder of cultural anthropology, and a circle of women scientists whose work 100 years ago helped inform our notions of identity today.

Chuck Neal of Chapters Bookstore in Miami, Okla., recommended a nonfiction title on a ubiquitous topic this week: “Money: the True Story of a Made-up Thing,” by Jacob Goldstein of NPR’s Planet Money.

The story follows the very likeable Violette Toussaint, caretaker of a cemetery, whose days are punctuated by cemetery visitors.

Jerry Lenaz of The Cloak and Dagger Mystery Bookshop in Princeton, New Jersey recommends Minnesota writer William Kent Krueger’s mystery novel "Mercy Falls."