FICTION
The beating of Rodney King. The botched investigation in the O.J. Simpson murder case. Repeated allegations of scandal and corruption. The Los Angeles Police Department has managed to distinguish itself as much for its failings as for its successes, and the sometimes sordid world of the LAPD is brought to vivid life in Connie Dial’s gripping debut novel, “Internal Affairs.“

If you want a book written right, write it yourself. That’s the conclusion Trinace Johnson came to after she began looking for books about food allergies for her allergic son, Jordan. “Most of the selections of child food-allergy books were really, really bad,“ Johnson said. “I kept thinking, ‘I can write a way better and more interesting story than these.‘