I'm Gilbert Cruz, editor of the New York Times Book Review and this is the Book Review

Podcast. Many months ago back in January we gave you a

look ahead at the first half of the year in books. Now it's June and it's time for a

preview of what summer has in store.

Joining me today, our book review editors Liz Egan and Jumanakatib,

and the three of us are going to offer a very eclectic,

not at all comprehensive, look at books that we are interested in that are

coming out in June, July, and August. And whether you're planning on taking a

week off, a weekend off, or even just a day off.

We hope that one of these titles will be the right one for you. Liz, how are you?

Good, how are you?

Jumana, you've been here a million times.

Welcome back. Hi, Gilbert, thanks for having me.

Jumana, you're in LA.

What are people reading in LA?

What are you seeing in the stores?

What do you see on the streets?

So since I'm in LA, I've been thinking a lot about the literary canon of Los Angeles.

And so it seems perfect to start our conversation today with one of Los Angeles's most beloved literary figures, which is Easy Rollins from Walter

Mosley.

So in Mosley's latest novel, which is called Farewell Amethystine, we find Easy, he's 50, improbably, he's made it to middle age, and he takes on a missing person's case. A woman comes to him and says, I need you to help me find my husband.

And he gets uneasy about this right away, and it spins out into all the things we love about the Easy Rollin series.

...