The debate on whether nature or nurture shapes a person fuels Samantha Jayne Allen’s third tightly coiled novel about Texas private investigator Annie McIntyre. As indicated in its title and plot ...

In the new novel "Kin," two girls, Annie and Vernice, are cradle friends. The book opens with Vernice as a toddler speaking her first word. TAYARI JONES: (Reading) Mother, I said, softly at first. As ...

When a character refers to the dual narrators of "Kin" as "crib sisters," he's immediately informed that the correct term is "cradle," not "crib." There's a reason for that distinction, I think.