“Dogs know instinctively that yesterday is gone and tomorrow is never promised—that the only time we ever truly have is now.” —From This Dog Will Change Your Life by Elias Weiss Friedman with Ben Greenman (June 3)

Bill Clinton is again collaborating with author James Patterson to reimagine life in the White House as an action-packed adventure. In the duo’s third stand-alone thriller, The First Gentleman (June 2), the (fictional) president’s husband finds himself on trial for murder. It follows their 2021 hit, The President’s Daughter.

Older detectives are having their moment in fiction, solving crimes with savvy and wit. Detective Aunty by Uzma Jalaluddin (May 6) features widow Kausar Khan, who sets out—with her granddaughter’s help—to find the real killer after her adult daughter is accused of murder. In Murder Takes a Vacation by Laura Lippman (June 17), middle-aged Muriel Blossom tackles a case involving stolen art.

Don’t Forget Me, Little Bessie by James Lee Burke (June 3) Brave to a fault, teenager Bessie Holland ends up making some enemies in early-1900s Texas, which is teeming with ruthless oilmen and violent outlaws. She flees to New York, only to face a different kind of lawlessness, in this absorbing tale about good, evil and the busy space in between.

Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid (June 3) Reid (Daisy Jones & the Six) sets this page-turner in the 1980s. We first meet Joan Goodwin, an astronomer among the astronaut trainees in the space shuttle program, helming mission control as her teammates face a crisis in space. Suspense builds as her backstory unspools, including her love for another female astronaut.

My Friends by Fredrik Backman (May 6) In this heart wrencher by the author of A Man Called Ove, Louisa, a troubled aspiring artist, is deeply drawn to a painting decades after its creation. After a brief encounter with the painter before his death, she’s determined to uncover the compelling tale of friendship, love and grief that inspired it.
—Christina Ianzito