NYT Books

Our columnist reviews May’s most chilling releases.

The days are long, but this summer’s bounty of historical fiction will remind you that the years are short.

There be monsters in four new volumes out this month (yes, even in “Nancy”).

“Make eye contact, shake their hand, ask them about themselves and then sign their book with a genuine smile,” suggests the author of the Wyoming-set mystery series. The 20th, “First Frost,” is just out.

In “The Playbook,” James Shapiro offers a resonant history of the Federal Theater Project, a Depression-era program that gave work to writers and actors until politics took center stage.

In “The Editor,” Sara B. Franklin argues that Judith Jones was a “publishing legend,” transcending industry sexism to champion cookbooks — and Anne Frank.

In “Cunning Folk,” Tabitha Stanmore takes us back to a time when the use of “service magic” was an everyday — and underground — practice.

In “The Loves of Theodore Roosevelt,” Edward F. O’Keefe explores the informal kitchen cabinet that helped Roosevelt, the 26th president, speak softly and carry a big stick.

“The Devil’s Best Trick,” Randall Sullivan’s in-depth occult investigation, is not for the easily frightened.

In David Nicholls’s “You Are Here,” a boggy trek through the English countryside becomes an unlikely impetus for midlife romance.