FLOATING IN A MOST PECULIAR WAY by Louis Chude-Sokei (Houghton Mifflin

Harcourt). Unspectacularly but irresistibly beautiful memoir by a man whose life would probably sound disorderly in my telling—so I won't; wouldn't be fair to his deeply pleasurable, witty book. It's even, actually, kind of endearing. Which I'm guessing he'd think an odd thing to say about it, since there's no sign in it that he's after that, either. The pleasure, here, is that he experienced his life, as he lived it, as a curious, always surprising and interesting adventure: from Biafra (in a war), to Jamaica, to Inglewood, California (a part of Los Angeles: I drove through Inglewood, once, at around the time he lived there, with the car doors locked; for Louis as a boy, it was yet another interesting planet to live on). His growth, and the development of his mature sensibility—distinct from, and yet within and identifying with, American Black life and academic and literary culture—is lightly told and deeply felt. And, indeed, as mind-expanding as that great David Bowie song about Major Tom, floating in that most peculiar way. It's hard enough to describe, and so easily mis-described (as I've surely just demonstrated), that it may never see a bestseller list; but that's where it belongs, as much as on annual awards lists, where it will be expected and welcomed.

A STRANGER IN TOWN by Kelley Armstrong (Minotaur). The sixth of this series of thrillers set in an isolated Yukon town that's a haven for carefully vetted and accepted people fleeing or just withdrawing from one or another previous life. These are, we might say, outdoor locked-room mysteries, but there are always larger things at stake; in this one, the mysterious ways this system works begin to emerge, to a degree that threatens the town's existence as a secret.

EXIT by Belinda Bauer (Atlantic Monthly Press). A real find, this writer, at least to this column (she's actually pretty well established). Very British, drily comic, surprising and touching. We move from one close point of view to the next of a varied cast, including an initially unenthusiastic police detective, all of whom grow before our eyes, surprising themselves as much as us, as Bauer leads us through a twisty, surprising but satisfying plot. Delightful stuff.

KNOCK KNOCK by Anders Rosland (Putnam). And another strong crime novel by a well established writer new to the column; also very smart, intricate and twisty, but “delightful” doesn't leap to mind for it. This is Scandinavian noir (Swedish) at a high level. Scary-dark: the murderer of a family—all but one—emerges from the dark past meaning to kill the only witness to his long-ago crime. Who was 5 at the time.