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Harry Markopolos spent nearly a decade on Bernard Madoff's trail. He says his efforts to alert securities regulators about Madoff's schemes were repeatedly ignored. In a new book, he details how the Securities and Exchange Commission still lacks the tools for the job.

Juggling a caregiving role with a full-time job is daunting. But it can be even more difficult working during the end stages of a loved one's life. Some companies are exploring initiatives to help their employees manage the ultimate transition.

The leaders of U.S., Japan, Australia and India met at a virtual summit today where they announced a major initiative to get 1 billion vaccines to fight the coronavirus pandemic in Asia.

In 1795, a young man named William-Henry Ireland signed a tattered piece of paper "Wm Shakespeare." It was the first of hundreds of documents that he forged and passed off as William Shakespeare originals. Doug Stewart tells his story in The Boy Who Would Be Shakespeare.

Literary theorist Stanley Fish is obsessed with Frank Sinatra — and he's not afraid to admit it. For his Ol' Blue Eyes fix, Fish reads James Kaplan's lengthy biography Frank: The Voice. The story isn't new, but he can't resist imagining himself in the high-flying world of the legendary crooner.

Anjanette Delgado has had it with the self-assured smugness of old-school detectives. She recommends three tales celebrating amateur sleuths — a clerk, a captain and an 11-year-old girl — as they fumble through their newfound detective duties.

The fictional Chinese detective Charlie Chan, who starred in a series of novels and movies between the 1920s and the 1950s, is often dismissed as a "Yellow Uncle Tom." But in the fascinating, sometimes maddening history Charlie Chan, Yunte Huang argues that Charlie is much more than a stereotype.

In the information age, the unexplored is hard to come by. Author Richard Harvell recommends three titles to take you back to a time when the unknown was a little more accessible — and to remind you of the power of wonder and imagination.

As the game of Scrabble turns 60, the business of Scrabble remains serious. Wall Street Journal sportswriter Stefan Fatsis, who chronicled the world of Scrabble in his book Word Freak, talks with Robert Siegel.

ALEC: The Years Have Pants, by Eddie Campbell, collects the artist's comics about his alter ego, in biographical order. Critic Glen Weldon says the massive volume brings notes of sadness to the surface of Campbell's charming stories.

Mildred Muhammad says the random murders of 10 people in 2002 were part of an attempt to commit the perfect crime: to kill her and divert suspicion to a crazed gunman. She says she endured emotional and mental abuse throughout her 12-year marriage to John Muhammad and hopes to help other domestic violence victims with her new book, Scared Silent.

Susan Orlean chronicles the life of the beloved four-legged movie star and the owner who adored him. Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend is Orlean's magnum opus, exploring unlikely survival, Hollywood friendship and the tribulations of American life in the early 20th century.

With Wendy and the Lost Boys, Julie Salamon has written the perfect biography for playwright Wendy Wasserstein's legions of fans, a book as entertaining and personable as its subject.

The best books don't just get inside a character's psyche, they get in the reader's head, as well. Author Ismet Prcic recommends Irvine Welsh's Marabou Stork Nightmares, a funny, provocative, cerebral novel that explores the meaning of violence.

As it turns out, Raymond Chandler isn't the only writer who can channel the dark charisma of deceptively sunny California. Author Hector Tobar recommends John Fante's Ask the Dust, a novel that captures the grit and glamor of Los Angeles' past.

Margaret Atwood's novel Cat's Eye is as philosophical as it is emotional, as poetic as it is psychological. Its story of an abusive friendship helped author Margaux Fragoso to recover from a relationship with a toxic frenemy.

It wasn't just the creepy carnival that drew Seth Grahame-Smith to Something Wicked This Way Comes. It was also the book's frank portrayal of parents who don't behave like grown-ups. Do you remember when you realized your parents weren't perfect? Tell us about it in the comments.

This week, President Joe Biden held his first press conference. Ron Elving, NPR's Senior Washington Correspondent, tells us how he did.

The gun used in the Boulder, Colorado mass killing looked like an assault-style rifle, but it's actually a pistol. That complicates the firearm definitions as lawmakers try to pass gun control laws.

NPR's Ari Shapiro checks in with Olga Sagan, owner of Piroshky Piroshky bakery in Seattle, one year after the coronavirus pandemic hit her business hard.