Sacramento certainly has its dark side. Like every big city, it has its share of homelessness. Residents struggle to keep up with the high cost of living in California. Housing is too often unaffordable, thanks in part to an influx of telecommuting tech workers from the Bay Area. But Freeman ignores the city’s real struggles, offering instead a collection of stories that could take place just about anywhere. In “The Former Detective,” Jamil Jan Kochai’s hero works at the Port of Sacramento but seems never to have left Afghanistan. Editor Freeman’s “Intersections” takes place largely in the West Bank city of Bethlehem. “The Sacrament,” Reyna Grande’s story about a painter and a sex worker, is set in East Sacramento, a locale not particularly known for art or sex work. And Luis Avalos’ “A Textbook Example,” supposedly set in Broderick (now called West Sacramento), actually takes place largely on the campus of UC Davis. Two of the stories really do give a sense of what Sacramento is (or was) like. Naomi J. Williams’ “Sakura City” provides a powerful look at Sacramento’s now-destroyed Japanese community, and Nora Rodriguez Camagna’s “Painted Ladies” at life in the Sacramento River Delta. For the most part, though, the collection is a study in lost opportunities. Surely a noir set in the capital city of the country’s most populous state, the city that gave rise to the Gold Rush, offers the chance to chronicle misdeeds that are genuinely Californian.

Starting her third year at the Arcanum Training Institute for Marvelous and Uncanny Endeavors, Ella, a 13-year-old Black girl whose great-grandfather, Jean-Michel Durand, created the institute, has a lot on her plate. Along with keeping up with her magic lessons, Ella’s determined to uncover more of the secrets and lies surrounding the world of Conjurors and Marvellers—and her school in particular. This pursuit leads her to explore mysteries surrounding New Orleans’ Underworld and the history of the creation of the Cards of Deadly Fate, a conjure deck used to imprison people. She still has the help of best friends Jason and Brigit, and this time even more classmates join them. But will their search for answers be worth it, or will their efforts unravel the fabric of their magical society in possibly irreparable ways? Clayton continues to expand on the complex and fascinating magical world she’s populated with dynamic and appealing primary and supporting characters. This sequel delves even deeper into the culturally diverse world Ella and her friends inhabit, taking readers on an emotional ride. This work will best be appreciated by those who are familiar with the earlier books in the series.

In 1841 Louisiana, surveyor Alexandre LaBranche errantly draws a boundary line that puts many of his father’s slaves on his neighbor’s plantation. Oops! His fed-up father tells him he’s worthless and disowns him. Alexandre leaves home and is introduced to Texian president Mirabeau Lamar. (They weren’t called Texans until statehood.) Having confirmed that the youth can determine latitude and longitude, Lamar offers him $10,000 to map the Texas border up to the source of the Rio Grande, also secretly hoping he’ll find the 300 lost soldiers Lamar had sent to Santa Fe. Off the lad goes in a wagon, but soon two thieves rob him and toss him into a bramble-filled ditch. A free Black woman named Noeme eventually rescues him. She works for Sam Houston, who later succeeds Lamar as President. Various characters disparage Alexandre’s surveying skills and consider him a “plantation dandy” who can measure the Earth by looking at the sun and stars but can’t use a compass. He is a terrific mapmaker, though. His maps show every last building, Mexican soldier, and tortilla press along the Rio Grande in lifelike detail and perspective. The contrast between Alexandre’s professional skills and shortcomings strain believability: “You learned geography…but you didn’t learn which way the wind blows,” Houston tells him. Houston falsely accuses Alexandre of a murder and gives him the choice of either hanging in a gallows or spying on Mexico. The desire to prove himself, make money, and avoid execution all give plenty of motivation to forge ahead. The underlying events in this engaging novel are true. Before statehood, Texas was “the most ill-defended and beleaguered republic in North America” with undefined borders and constant attacks on Anglo settlements like San Antonio. There was indeed a massacre at Hacienda Salado where the 17 prisoners who drew black beans from a jar were executed by a firing squad. There are nice twists, enjoyable main characters, and rich local color. But will Alexandre achieve his goals?

About two hours into her flight home from a visit to her father, Makayla Rossi feels a sharp pain in her bladder and realizes that she desperately needs a bathroom break. But her fussy infant son, Liam, is finally snoozing peacefully. So rather than taking him with her and risk having him howl for the remaining five hours of the trip, she goes it alone. Naturally, she comes back to find Liam’s bassinet empty. Makayla alerts the cabin crew, who search the plane fruitlessly. The reader is teased with the usual missing-in-flight possibilities: Did someone steal Liam? Is Makayla, whose mother had transient global amnesia, suffering from a similar memory loss? Is she making the whole thing up? But anyone who wants answers has a while to wait. Cole seesaws back and forth between the crisis in the cabin and several innings of casual chit-chat between the pilot and copilot, and every bit of dialogue sounds exactly the same. Even Special Agent Castillo, once the flight crew decides to notify the authorities, speaks in the same pedantic, expository way as the frantic mother and harried flight attendants. It isn’t until Makayla’s husband, Jack, finally gets looped in that the heat gets turned up, and from there, the narrative gets flat-out bizarre. What starts as just another routine, midair missing baby hunt turns into a wild-ass killing spree that will make air travel seem even less appealing than the airlines’ new pricing and fee structures already have.

Wilem,a leaf-sized Habilis, grew up on a remote farm. Years ago, one of the caretakers who raised him gave him a rare Aura Seed, which he must plant in a far-off place if the moon ever turns blood-red—the first sign of the land becoming barren and dying. When Wilem is certain this change is occurring, he embarks on a 1,000-mile quest to dip the Aura Seed into a particular river before planting it. Along the way, he meets a fellow Habilis, Remik, as well as the gentle but rock-hard-skinned giant, Teul. They traverse a forest with all sorts of dangers, including a flying, thick-beaked Bennu, which can easily pick up a Habilis, to merciless, wolflike Kangals that travel in packs. Complicating their already harrowing trek is an ancient parasite that’s feeding off the land—the reason that harsh weather is making the terrain even tougher to travel. Wilem, Remik, and Teul don’t have much time to reach their goal and stop the parasite’s devastation. Mikulski’s streamlined tale boasts a colorful cast. Wilem helpfully recognizes most of the creatures they run into, thanks to his oft-cited favorite book, Creatures of The Expanse: A List. Not every one of them is a threat; some are quite helpful, and one, despite its initially frightening appearance, turns out to be sympathetic. There’s also a rewarding dynamic between Wilem, Remik, and Teul; the trio always watches out for one another, though Wilem can’t help but wonder if the others only follow him for his hearty supply of filishberries (which grow astonishingly fast wherever he plants them). Their riveting quest builds to a terrific final act that’s full of surprises. King’s lightly sketched but detailed black-and-white line artwork highlights the fine characters and creatures, including Wilem, Remik, and Teul in action and a list of profiles that precedes the narrative.