4 books not to miss, including James McBride’s ‘Deacon King Kong,’ ‘Chicago Catolico’

National Book Award-winning author James McBride. | Riverhead Books

Some new and recent book releases that definitely are worth a read:

‘Deacon King Kong’ by James McBride

Riverhead Books, fiction, $28

What it’s about: The National Book Award-winning author is back with a witty and widely anticipated novel, set in a housing project in Brooklyn in 1969, that looks at what happens to witnesses to the shooting of a drug dealer.

The buzz: “ ‘Deacon King Kong’ is many things: a mystery novel, a crime novel, an urban farce, a portrait of a project community,” author Junot Diaz writes in The New York Times. “Fortunately, it is also deeply felt, beautifully written and profoundly humane; McBride’s ability to inhabit his characters’ foibled, all-too-human interiority helps transform a fine book into a great one.”

Click for to read an excerpt or hear an audio sample of James McBride’s “Deacon King Kong.”

‘Chicago Catolico’ by Deborah E. Kanter

University of Illinois Press, nonfiction, $24.95

What it’s about: A history of “neighborhood change and rebirth in Chicago’s Mexican American communities” offering what’s touted as “the first-ever study of Mexican-descent Catholicism in the city.

The buzz: “This is a book about Mexicans and Mexican-Americans, but it is also a significant look at how Chicago works,” Third Coast Review writes, “and how American cities work.”

Deborah E. Kanter’s “Chicago Catolico.”

‘Trouble is What I Do’ by Walter Mosley

Mulholland Books, fiction, $24

What it’s about: Edgar Award-winning crime-fiction writer Walter Mosley offers the sixth installment in his much-loved series featuring morally ambiguous private investigator Leonid McGill.

The buzz: “Even at less-than-peak performance, Mosley delivers enough good stuff to let you know a master’s at work,” Kirkus Reviews writes.

Click for an excerpt of Walter Mosley’s “Trouble is What I Do.”

‘Fiebre Tropical’ by Juli Delgado Lopera

The Feminist Press, fiction, $17.95

What it’s about: A Colombian teenager and her immigrant family move to their dream destination of Miami only to face many disappointments in this author’s first novel.

The buzz: “You can open this novel anywhere and find sunbeams, the signs of a writer who is grinding their own colors,” The New York Times says.

Juli Delgado Lopera’s “Fiebre Tropical.”