'ADNAN'S STORY: The Search for Truth and Justice After "Serial"' by Rabia Chaudry. Devotees of the "Serial" podcast recall Chaudry as a friend of Adnan Syed, the Maryland teen convicted of murdering his ex-girlfriend when he was 17. Syed has been in prison since 2000, though a judge recently granted him a new trial. "Adnan's Story" should satisfy those who can't get enough of this perplexing case. (St. Martin's $26.99)
'ONE OF THESE THINGS FIRST' by Steven Gaines. The author of "Philistines at the Hedgerow," a juicy account of Hamptons privilege, recalls his 1960s childhood in Jewish Brooklyn, and a stint at Payne Whitney, the top-shelf clinic where a psychiatrist aims to cure him of homosexuality. The clinic's cast includes a woman who claims to be JFK's ex-mistress and a Broadway producer who takes Gaines under his wing. (Delphinium, $24.95)
'I WILL SEND RAIN' by Rae Meadows. This novel _ inspired by a 1936 Dorothea Lange photo of Dust Bowl migrants, with echoes of Steinbeck's "Grapes of Wrath" _ imagines the life of the Bell family of Mulehead, Oklahoma, as they wait and pray for rain. Father Samuel prepares by building his own ark, teen daughter Birdie carries on with a neighbor son, and mother Annie receives unexpected attentions from the mayor. (Henry Holt, $26)
