Author: Matt Damsker, Special to USA TODAY

In ‘The First Conspiracy,’ authors Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch recount the secret plot to kill George Washington. The book is breezily entertaining.

Tom Barbash’s new novel ‘The Dakota Winters’ is set in the Dakota in 1980, and John Lennon is a key character. A book review.

In ‘Seduction: Sex, Lies, and Stardom in Howard Hughes’s Hollywood,’ Karina Longworth assess the mogul through a feminist perspective. A book review.