1. Paul D. Pearlstein’s review of The Winning Ticket: Uncovering America’s Biggest Lottery Scam by Rob Sand with Reid Forgrave (Potomac Books). “Tipton was soon charged for buying the ticket and for lying to investigators. Despite his legal jeopardy, he refused to explain how — or if — he was able to predict the winning numbers. Without a smoking gun, and arguing only circumstantial evidence, Sand went forward with his prosecution of Tipton and squeaked out a conviction from a jury. It was only after the trial that the prosecutor learned the Iowa Hot Lotto rigging was not a one-off. Computer geek Tipton had been orchestrating substantial lottery payouts, mostly for his brother and friends, across multiple states for years.”


2. Jennifer Bort Yacovissi’s review of French Braid: A Novel by Anne Tyler (Knopf). “French Braid brings us all the way into the pandemic and eventually into David’s point of view. Through the years, he has presented a frustrating mystery to his parents and sisters as to why he holds himself at such a remove from the rest of the Garretts. The women share a quiet, collective blaming of David’s older wife, Greta, whom they see as cold and overly direct, while Robin is certain it’s because he made David work ‘the summer of the plumber’ before he started college. They cast about for specific reasons, but it’s a misguided search.”


3. Tayla Burney’s review of Cleopatra and Frankenstein: A Novel by Coco Mellors (Bloomsbury Publishing). “For some, the onset of true adulthood proves elusive and unattainable well beyond the legal achievement of it. Lots of people only reach it when their experiences or circumstances force it upon them. Others never get there — languishing in a kind of adolescent purgatory for years or decades. Unless you’re Peter Pan, it’s not so cute never to grow up. And the characters in Coco Mellors’ Cleopatra and Frankenstein are not Peter Pan.”


4. Joan Leotta’s review of The Sicilian Method: An Inspector Montalbano Mystery by Andrea Camilleri; translated by Stephen Sartarelli (Penguin Books). “Reading The Sicilian Method was time well spent both for the insights into Camilleri and for the entertainment of watching my favorite detective eat his way through the problems laid before him until he solves a complicated, exciting mystery set against the magical landscape of Sicily. If you’re a devotee of the series, you won’t want to miss it and will want more.”


5. Michael Causey’s review of Unmask Alice: LSD, Satanic Panic, and the Imposter Behind the World’s Most Notorious Diaries by Rick Emerson (BenBella Books). “The diary and movie told the story of a white, middle-class teen who was overtaken by drugs and eventually killed herself in confusion and despair. The poignant emotional saga was seized upon by high-powered people ranging from Art Linkletter (who was seeking to understand his own daughter’s apparent suicide) to President Richard Nixon, who leveraged it to fuel his so-called War on Drugs. There was just one problem: The diary was a hoax.”

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