With beach season around the corner, it’s the perfect time to refresh your “to be read” pile and watch list for the summer months. Whether you want to get lost in a thrilling murder-mystery while laying in the sand or switch up your go-to late night movie, these local releases will keep you entertained as we head into summer.
MOVIE
Agent Game
Alexandria-born actor Dermot Mulroney, known for his work in My Best Friend’s Wedding and The Family Stone, takes on a grittier role with this action-packed spy thriller. Mulroney plays Harris, an agent at a CIA “black site” who is scapegoated for murder when an interrogation at his facility goes south.
BOOK
The Unquiet Dead, by Stacie Murphy
With TV audiences embracing The Gilded Age, this new release set in 1893 Manhattan is a highly anticipated sequel to the NoVA author’s debut novel, A Deadly Fortune. The supernatural murder-mystery thriller features medium Amelia Matthew and her brother Jonas using her ability to speak to the dead to solve a murder, working against the clock to clear the name of an accused boy whom they believe to be innocent.
BOOK
Race to the Bottom: Uncovering the Secret Forces Destroying American Public Education, by Luke Rosiak
Loudoun County schools keep making national news, and now this new book from an investigative reporter based there uses the area as a kind of microcosm to take a critical look at the American public education system. Rosiak questions everything from the role of “special-interest groups” to the metrics that schools use to calculate success rates.
BOOK
Hiking with Kids Virginia: 52 Great Hikes for Families, by Erin Gifford
Exploring Virginia’s great outdoors isn’t exclusive to grown-ups: With this handy guidebook of more than 50 family-friendly hiking spots around the Commonwealth, you can plan a fun, outdoorsy day that will appeal to all ages. Of the 52 hikes, six are in the Northern Virginia area and 17 are in the Shenandoah Valley, so you can taste adventure without wandering too far from home.
Feature image courtesy publishers
This story originally ran in our May issue. For more stories like this, subscribe to our monthly magazine.
