Nairobi Heat

Mukoma Wa Ngugi's sizzling thriller follows detective Ishmael Fofona from his usual beat in Madison, Wisconsin -- where a white woman's body has turned up on the doorstep of an African peace activist -- to Kenya, where he searches for answers and finds that the terror of past genocides casts a long shadow. Fofona's quest for the truth turns into an action-packed cross-cultural ride, crackling with detail garnered from the author's experience reporting on the African communities in which this story is set.

May 18: Parade, the "first modern ballet," premiered in Paris on this day in 1917. The production was a collaboration of some of modernism's most famous -- music by Erik Satie, scenario by Jean Cocteau, costumes by Picasso,…

Ethan Rutherford and Matt Burgess (Dogfight: A Love Story) on the writing of Rutherford's surreal and fiercely funny story collection The Peripatetic Coffin

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