Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead
Whitehead has a way of making us think we’re looking through a window into another world with his novels, and then shifting the light so that we realize we’re looking in a mirror.
A Dangerous Business by Jane Smiley
This story of an unlikely pair of detectives, inspired by one of literatures first detectives, is a window into the world of mid-nineteenth century women living in a male-dominated world and the rough and tumble world of prospectors, sailors, and the Wild West of a bygone era.