The novel’s setup: the Black owners of a luxurious vacation home unexpectedly show up at their home, surprising the white family who is renting it.

“Don’t Turn Around” hinges on two women making a nighttime drive from Lubbock to Albuquerque for a reason initially unclear.

In ‘Mill Town,” Mexico native Kerri Arsenault wrestles with the personal and public toll of toxic pollution from the mill that “smelled like money.”