"Bug Hollow," by Michelle Huneven. (Penguin Press/TNS)

A comfy chair, sunglasses, an Arnold Palmer and these books are your ticket to a great summer

‘Bug Hollow’ by Michelle Huneven

A tragedy forms the foundation of this warm-hearted and wonderful novel about a family in California, but to Huneven’s credit, “Bug Hollow” is never overwrought, melodramatic or even devastatingly wrenching. Instead, it’s an inspired, down-to-earth meditation on the different phases of existence. Its characters pass from childhood to adulthood, from middle age to old age, falling in love and falling out, making mistakes, coming to understand each other better, and learning to forgive and move on as the rhythms of their lives shift and flower. If you’re new to Huneven’s work, “Bug Hollow” will send you looking for more.

‘Murder Takes a Vacation’ by Laura Lippman

To the novel’s delightfully wry narrator, she’s Mrs. Blossom. To close friend Elinor, she’s Muriel. To me, she’s Virginia Woolf’s “Mrs. Dalloway,” after her famous party. Mrs. Blossom is not a risk taker. She “orders off menus,” is “prone to inferring condescension,” is “trusting and trustworthy,” and knows life mostly from “books and podcasts.” Mrs. Blossom is 68, an ex-investigator from Baltimore who, after winning the lottery and to mark the 10th anniversary of her husband’s death, takes a cruise on the River Seine. Murder and mystery board with her. I adored the vintage vibe of this meticulously written mystery.

‘Endling’ by Maria Reva

Set in Ukraine in 2022, Reva’s magnificent “Endling” follows Yeva, a rogue conservationist trying to rescue endangered snails. She lives in her mobile lab, financing her work via the shady romance tour industry. Needing more funds, Yeva reluctantly agrees to help two sisters aiming to kidnap a group of Westerners on one such tour — and then Russia invades. The story is riveting, heartbreaking and darkly humorous, and Reva, who was born in Ukraine, pulls off the neat meta trick of inserting herself into the story without losing her compelling narrative thrust. Undoubtedly one of the best books of the year.

‘The Phoenix Pencil Company’ by Allison King

Magical pencils that can hide and reveal secrets play a starring role in this engaging debut about two women who grapple with history and understanding their places in the world. Monica Tsai, a college coder, uses a computer program to find her grandmother Yun’s long-lost cousin in Shanghai. She’s sure Yun, who weathered two wars in China before immigrating to the U.S., will be happy. But Yun, who is losing her memory, is reluctant to expose her granddaughter to the dangers inherent in her magic — and in the past. Their captivating narratives paint a portrait of love, regret and sacrifice.

‘Midnight at the Cinema Palace’ by Christopher Tradowsky

Set in San Francisco in the early 1990s, this coming-of-age novel from a St. Paul writer shines with a heady, nostalgic glow while never ignoring reality. Fresh out of a Midwestern college, movie-besotted Walter Simmering arrives in the city as the AIDS epidemic continues. He falls under the spell of Cary and Sasha, a stylish, charismatic couple who bend gender norms in ways he has never imagined. Cary and Walter want to write a noir screenplay that pays tribute to San Francisco’s past glamour, but sex, love and discovery are powerful distractions, and Walter begins to realize paradise can’t last forever.

‘So Far Gone’ by Jess Walter

Balancing on the narrow path between comic observation and dark realism isn’t easy, but the “Beautiful Ruins” author navigates the journey with blistering humor and an insider’s eye. A shambling former journalist who lives off the grid in eastern Washington is unwillingly hauled back into family life, thanks to a grown daughter who has disappeared, her conspiracy-theorist husband (who’s tied up with a religious, gun-loving militia) and two grandchildren he hasn’t seen in years. “So Far Gone” can be funny, but Walter captures the contradictions and complexities of contemporary American life, where ideological divisions aren’t merely arguments but dangerous fault lines.

‘Great Black Hope’ by Rob Franklin

Privilege, class and racial injustice clash in Franklin’s intriguing debut, in which Smith, a young Black man, is arrested for buying cocaine at a party in the Hamptons. Navigating his way through the court system/sketchy mandated treatment and disappointing his wealthy, successful Atlanta family in the process, Smith learns a shocking lesson: that though money softens the blow and he’s better off than most first-time Black offenders, the weight of judgment still falls heavily.

‘The English Masterpiece’ by Katherine Reay

Never underestimate the power of a creative woman with nothing to lose, or the arrogance of a wealthy one who manipulates those she perceives as weak. Set in London’s Tate Gallery, after Pablo Picasso’s death in 1973, this enthralling novel follows Lily, a struggling working-class artist. Lily works for Diana, rich, educated and the director of modern art at the Tate. Diana’s everything Lily thinks she wants to be. Success is at Lily’s brush tips until she spots a fake at a Picasso commemorative exhibit. The investigation embroils Lily in a global art forgery scheme involving Nazi-looted art.

‘A Murder for Miss Hortense’ by Mel Pennant

I love a book that takes me into a world far from mine. Pennant, a British playwright, has done that in this stellar debut, infused with the patois and traditions of an Afro-Caribbean community in England. Miss Hortense “pays attention to everything,” and doesn’t forget a thing. She’s a retired nurse and avid gardener, but also a disgraced neighbor — because of a mysterious “thing that no one spoke about.” In her quiet town of Bigglesweigh, she helped found the Pardner network, a banking cooperative that made investments to ensure that the community thrived. When the Pardner’s banker is murdered, Miss Hortense investigates.

‘I Become Her’ by Joe Hart

Imogen knows “how darkly seductive lying to yourself can be.” After all, her job is corporate risk assessment. But when you consider all the risks, all the bad things, life looks “like it was made of knives.” Imogen’s paranoia is palpable in Minnesota author Hart’s mesmerizing Patricia Highsmith-meets-Alfred Hitchcock mystery. Imogen is unnerved and unnerving. While on her honeymoon, she pushes Lev, her husband, overboard. Accidentally? Maybe. Has she murdered before? Maybe. Lev, it turns out, recovers with amnesia, heightening Imogen’s paranoia. Suddenly, her life’s a “land mine,” waiting to be tripped.

‘The Grand Paloma Resort’ by Cleyvis Natera

Situated in a decadent luxury resort in the Dominican Republic, Natera’s setting resembles the TV series “The White Lotus.” But it’s much more. With an unflinching point of view and an electrifying plot, the novel exposes how class and race shape desire. The story follows the lives of the staff, particularly the Moreno sisters, with “silences and secrets” between them, and Pablo (whose services are, ahem, wide-ranging). Many tourists may have the “same skin color” as the staff, but, says one of the sisters, it must be nice “to have the freedom to choose the high ground that wealth afforded.”

‘Salt Bones’ by Jennifer Givhan

El Valle is a place near California’s Salton Sea where “daughters disappear.” Mal, a mother of two daughters and the sister of a disappeared woman, has held onto “her family’s pain like a birthright.” Her sister’s case was “never closed, but it’d never really opened either” because Indigenous and Latina communities in El Valle are not a police priority. When more daughters go missing and the mythical “La Siguanaba,” a horse-headed woman, rides into Mal’s dreams, it’s an omen Mal can’t ignore — good or bad. Givhan’s prose is lush, lyrical, and deeply visceral. This is a piercing and perceptive psychological thriller.