★★★★★ An innovative character study in which an aging woman's life story is revealed through the letters she writes and receives from a myriad of people.

★★★★★ A woman returns to the elite boarding school she attended after 20+ years to search for answers about the murder of her roommate senior year.

★★★★☆ When a lawyer starts to dig into the murder of his best friend, all signs seem to point to conspiracies involving his own law firm.

★★★★★ Another gritty offering from Mottley, who this time explores teen pregnancy and a small group of teen moms who help each other through it.

★★★★☆ Teddy Roosevelt's sons embark on a quest in 1929 to obtain a specimen of a giant panda, an animal rarely seen and wholly unknown at the time.

★★★★☆ A novel premise gives way to a well-structured mystery in which a young woman must solve her own murder before an aneurysm kills her.

★★★★★ A mother debates what to name her son, and her three choices create three parallel timelines in this mature and solidly composed debut.

★★★☆☆ A serial killer returns to Portland after almost twenty years to terrorize a local radio host, targeting the one person who saw him and lived.