Fiction Reviews: Week of 8/6/2007

Scottish writer Spence (Stone Garden) fictionalizes the life of Thomas Glover, a 19th-century Scots entrepreneur who built a mercantile empire in Japan, and whose life inspired Madame Butterfly and Miss Saigon. In 1858, the young Glover, son of a coast guard officer, works as a clerk in Scotland. He lives with his family, but longs to see the world, and takes a job in Japan with Jardine, Mathieson & Co., a British trading house. Soon, Glover is also working as an independent trader in arms and opium, among other things. As he forms connections with a number of different Japanese clans, Glover falls in love with a courtesan, and the consequences last for generations. He also slowly gets wrapped up in the fate of Japan, as the country makes the transition away from a feudalism fraught with clan violence. Spence opens this lively and epic historical narrative in 1945, at the moment of the U.S. bombing of Nagasaki. Thoughtful and vivid, the novel adds rich detail to a life known mostly in broad strokes. (Nov.)

Love, tulips, painting, Dutch patriotism and the dynamics of personal and political power inform Laker's sprawling saga, set in Holland during the time of Rembrandt and Vermeer (both of whom serve as secondary characters). Francesca is the eldest daughter of the painter Hendrik Visser and a talented artist in her own right. So is middle sister, Aletta, while the youngest, Sybella, is far more interested in marrying well. Hendrik is successful, but his drinking and gambling keep the family in penury. Once the girls' mother dies, Francesca has new responsibilities, which she must soon balance with an apprenticeship to a little-known Vermeer. Tulip grower Pieter van Doorne makes a delivery at the house one day while Francesca prepares to pose as flower goddess Flora for her father. Pieter is instantly smitten, but the man who commissioned the Flora painting, wealthy ship owner Ludolf van Deventer, has designs on Flora, as well as on the country's political future. Laker (To Dance with Kings) excels at broad-strokes portraiture, moving from 17th-century intrigue to intimate glimpses of daily life. The absorbing plot unfolds slowly and conveys real passion for both life and work. (Nov.)

Steyn's fine South African import debut deals with the ravages of the “big disease” and bottom-line–oriented health care in southern Africa. Protagonist Dr. John Morgan toils at a remote hospital in an unnamed southern African country at the dawn of the 21st century. Retroviral drugs are prohibitively expensive, and a cynical but bighearted Morgan is constantly at odds with his boss, Superintendent Holmes, a typically penny-pinching, arrogant hospital administrator. Morgan's ragtag team of surgeons perseveres in the most deplorable conditions, dealing in doses of gallows humor to leaven the strife the staff and dying patients face. Mr. B, a well-connected and sympathetic businessman, organizes a massive fund-raising “beerfest” and gives Morgan the proceeds, but even this “large sum” can only cover two years' worth of drugs for six patients. Enter Father Michael, the local priest for more than three decades, who offers Morgan some down-to-earth counsel and proposes a lottery to determine who of the suffering scores gets treated. By turns tragic, startling and humane, Steyn's medical epic dramatizes how poverty-stricken people struggle in a harsh land with a harsher disease. (Nov.)

Eighteen years after Pillars of the Earth weighed in with almost 1,000 pages of juicy historical fiction about the construction of a 12th-century cathedral in Kingsbridge, England, bestseller Follett returns to 14th-century Kingsbridge with an equally weighty tome that deftly braids the fate of several of the offspring of Pillars' families with such momentous events of the era as the Black Death and the wars with France. Four children, who will become a peasant's wife, a knight, a builder and a nun, share a traumatic experience that will affect each of them differently as their lives play out from 1327 to 1361. Follett studs the narrative with gems of unexpected information such as the English nobility's multilingual training and the builder's technique for carrying heavy, awkward objects. While the novel lacks the thematic unity of Pillars, readers will be captivated by the four well-drawn central characters as they prove heroic, depraved, resourceful or mean. Fans of Follett's previous medieval epic will be well rewarded. (Oct.)

Set in 1967, Mosley's brilliant 10th Easy Rawlins thriller finds the middle-aged Easy still fighting some of the same battles he fought in his first outing, Devil in a Blue Dress (1990), as an angry young WWII vet trying to make his home in postwar Los Angeles. His “family” has grown from none to many over the years, and now Easy is dealing with the loss of the love of his life, Bonnie, and his decision to make her leave him. Despite Easy's vulnerability and anguish, he's a staunch friend and a fierce protector of those he loves. Easy's two most dangerous friends, Raymond “Mouse” Alexander and Christmas Black, have both disappeared and both are being hunted. Easy must find them before those who want to destroy them do. Mosley knows his territory as intimately as a lover knows his beloved, and Easy's tortuous progression from man-child to man may have reached its climax in this searing and moving novel. (Oct.)

Israeli novelist Govrin (The Name) juxtaposes one women's difficult search for personal and professional fulfillment against modern Israel's quagmire of political and social issues. Ilana Tsuriel's accidental death at the book's opening quashes her vision for a revolutionary architecture project in Jerusalem. The project borrows concepts about land and property ownership from biblical texts and is intended to promote peace in a city perpetually in turmoil. Left behind are her journal notes, photographs and sketches. As the title suggests, Ilana's work and private life unfold, often in dialogue with her deceased Zionist father, in a patchwork of musings justifying her personal and professional choices; assessing her father's role in Israel's independence; considering her scholar husband's Holocaust obsessions; finding terms for the perpetual clash between Israelis and Palestinians. She also has multiple affairs, not the least significant of which is with a Palestinian involved with her Jerusalem project. While many observations are vivid and immediate, the vast amount of territory Govrin tries to cover dissipates the narrative and Ilana herself, whose motivations never completely crystallize. (Oct.)

In this rich debut from New Zealander King, amateur naturalist Thomas Edgar leaves his young wife, Sophie, behind, and sets off from turn-of-the-20th-century England for the Brazilian Amazon. His quarry is an elusive butterfly that he hopes to be the first to find and name for his wife—the Papilio sophia. Thomas returns to England many months later physically weak, obviously disturbed and unable to speak. Frustrated and concerned, Sophie desperately seeks the cause of his turmoil. Her search reveals a world of corruption and violence, spearheaded by the rubber tycoon, Mr. Santos, who bankrolled Thomas and his fellows. King employs Apocalypse Now levels of depravity to get across the greedy, exploitative nature of the rubber trade at the beginning of the 20th century; it's enough to make the protagonist mute, and it may have a similar effect on the squeamish reader. But the violent twists are more shocks to the system than to the plot, which founders when furthest from Thomas and Sophie. There's plenty of life in their strained marriage, though, making this a noteworthy debut, and King a writer to watch. (Oct.)

Picking up connected characters from her 1996 National Book Award–winning story collection Ship Fever, the latest from Barrett follows her Pulitzer Prize finalist Servants of the Map. In the fall of 1916, as the U.S. involvement in WWI looms, the Adirondack town of Tamarack Lake houses a public sanitarium and private “cure cottages” for TB patients. Gossip about roommate changes, nurse visits, cliques and romantic connections dominate relations among the sick—mostly poor European immigrants—when they're not on their porches taking their rest cure. Intrigue increases with the arrival of Leo Marburg, an attractive former chemist from Odessa who has spent his years in New York slaving away at a sugar refinery, and of Miles Fairchild, a pompous and wealthy cure cottage resident who decides to start a discussion group, despite his inability to understand many of his fellow patients. As in Joshua Ferris's recent Then We Came to the End, Barrett narrates with a collective “we,” the voice of the crowd of convalescents. Details of New York tenements and of the sanitarium's regime are vivid and engrossing. The plot, which hinges on the coming of WWI, has a lock-step logic, but its transparency doesn't take away from the timeliness of its theme: how the tragedy, betrayal and heartbreak of war extend far beyond the battlefield. (Oct.)

Blogger Vadino (bunnyshop.org) does a good job in her first novel of capturing the inner life of a chronic worrier as she navigates late '90s New York City. The reluctant assistant editor of a dot-com fashion magazine, Betsey Nilssen stocks up on freeze-dried foods, convinced the world is going to end on January 1, 2000. But Betsey's busy, pre-apocalypse best friend Bridget Callahan is planning her perfect wedding, and office crush Ryan Wells finally returns Betsey's affections. Though Betsey is crazy about him, and he seems devoted, his having just split with his longtime girlfriend causes some doubts that Bridget exploits. Bridget, meanwhile, is dispassionate about fiancé James, which causes Betsey to wonder who has the right attitude when it comes to being in love. Vadino peppers her prose with unmistakable and convincing period references (the Discman, Zima, the X-Files), including a quick (and heartbreaking) line about being disoriented downtown until spotting the World Trade Center. Office politics at the scrappy e-mag run true, and while Betsey's neurotic obsessing could be pruned, Vadino gets into her head while still making her sympathetic, especially as her fixation on Ryan threatens to send her off the deep end. The novel's bittersweet tone carries through to a satisfying conclusion. (Oct.)

Stone Barrington and Holly Barker, Woods's longtime investigative and romantic duo, search for a rogue CIA agent on a beautiful tropical island in this low-voltage thriller. At the request of U.S. President Will Lee, Barrington and Barker travel to the Caribbean island of St. Marks to track down Teddy Fay, an agent-turned-assassin who has been on the loose for years. They find a mix of luxurious beach clubs, corrupt but genial politicians and a shady expatriate community that enjoys the local government's don't-ask-don't-tell approach to foreigners. What they don't find is Fay, a master of disguise and escape. Woods (Fresh Disasters) brings in his usual cast, including Barrington's sidekick Dino Bacchetti and CIA boss Lance Cabot, and spends as much time on fine dining and vacation fun in the sun as he does on the actual mission. The plot smartly picks up momentum toward the end, and a handful of character developments will keep fans eager for the next installment. (Oct.)

Fans of late SF icon Dick (1928–1982) who have yet to discover his obscure nongenre works will be pleasantly surprised by this profound—and perplexing—1986 posthumous tragicomedy. Unpublished in the U.S., this tale revolves around two truly miserable characters: Jim Fergesson, a world-weary, ailing garage owner preparing to retire, and Al Miller, a shiftless used car salesman who rents lot space from Fergesson. Learning that Fergesson is investing his life savings in a questionable real estate venture, Miller hatches a series of ill-conceived and delusional schemes he hopes will grant him some sort of redemption and save Fergesson from getting scammed. Evoking the economically booming, socially repressive and prejudiced America of the 1950s, this paranoid and ambiguity-filled exploration into the psyche of the small businessman showcases not only Dick's wild imagination and sardonic wit but also, and most notably, his mastery at intertwining perception with reality. (Oct.)

Mawrdew Czgowchwz (pronounced “Mardu Gorgeous”)—the diva heroine of McCourt's classic, recently reissued opera novel of the same name—is back in a brilliant form in this sequel, which resurrects the literary, musical and gay scene of 1950s New York. About half relates to Czgowchwz's 1956 trip across the Atlantic on the Queen Mary with her “consort,” Jacob Beltane, to Ireland, where she is to star in Pilgrim Soul, a Douglas Sirk–like movie about the Irish revolt of 1916. Much of the rest relates to the Gotham-centered peregrinations of Mawrdew's friend, the gay poet S.D.J. Fitzjames O'Maurigan. Their two stories are seen from the vantage point of Bloomsday, June 16, 2004, by O'Maurigan and Czgowchwz in late life. McCourt employs a brilliantly campy style as they recreate New York at its Cold War cultural apogee. The most stylistically astonishing chapters are intermezzos of conversation caught on the wing at Everard's Bath house, the book's pre-Stonewall place to meet and greet in gay New York. Characters sometimes talk too much, and the narrative feels willfully confusing at points. But readers should persevere: this novel is an astonishing piece of modernist legerdemain. (Oct.)

A unit of young American soldiers lost in an unnamed city in an unnamed desert nation struggle to maintain a tenuous grip on their lives in this haunting debut novel by Eck, a veteran of U.S. Army efforts in Somalia. Narrator Joshua Stantz recounts his wanderings with such quiet objectivity that the horrors he witnesses evoke winces and poetic details stand out in contrast: there are wounds that hiss and bubble, but there is also a girl's lone eyelash falling from the creases of a letter. Early in the book, Joshua is part of a group of six soldiers who, separated from their unit and under murky circumstances, kill two boys, but almost everything else about their circumstances remains unclear: where exactly are they and why? and who is the enemy? With these questions in the air, the formal rules of engagement become all but useless as the troops navigate a landscape rife with dangers—warring clans, armed thugs, the elements. Eck goes beyond the on-the-ground chaos of battle to capture the physical and psychological disorientation of modern war. (Oct.)

Cezair-Thompson conjures the tragic glamour of golden age Hollywood against the backdrop of lusty, turbulent Jamaica in her dual generational coming-of-age saga. Ida Joseph is 13 years old when Errol Flynn is nearly shipwrecked off the coast of her hometown of Port Antonio in 1946. Flynn instantly loves Jamaica and, eager to find a refuge from stateside scandal, purchases an island across from the port. Navy Island becomes the setting for his glittering parties, movie projects and affair with Ida in her senior year of high school. Flynn refuses to take responsibility for the resulting child, May, and after trying to make a go of it in Jamaica, Ida leaves May and heads to New York City, where she marries a wealthy baron friend of Flynn's who purchases the island after Flynn dies. May grows to adulthood on Navy Island, develops something more than a crush on a married family friend 40 years her senior and indulges in drugs and free love. Jamaica's tumultuous progression toward self-governance—with the violent chaos it unleashes on Navy Island—reveals certain hidden truths about the baron. For all the high drama, the reader never feels fully privy to Ida or May, but Cezair-Thompson otherwise succeeds magnificently in evoking a world distant in both time and place. (Oct.)

Hart surpasses his bestselling debut, The King of Lies (2006), with his richly atmospheric second novel, which offers a tighter plot, more adroit pacing and less angst. Five years earlier, Adam Chase was arrested for murder, largely on the basis of his stepmother's sworn testimony against him. He was acquitted, but nearly everyone, including his father, still thinks he did it, and Adam's deep bitterness has kept him away from home ever since. Now, at the request of a childhood friend, he's back in Salisbury, N.C., where all the old demons still reside and new troubles await. The almost Shakespearean snarl of family ties is complicated by a very modern struggle between economic progress and love for the land, between haves and have-nots. Throughout, Hart expertly weaves his main theme: that by their freedom of choice, humans are capable of betrayal but also of forgiveness and redemption. This book should settle once and for all the question of whether thrillers and mysteries can also be literature. 150,000 first printing; 15-city author tour. (Oct.)

Hurricane Katrina's floodwaters failed to wash away evil in bestseller Spindler's grim vision of New Orleans. In the storm's aftermath, police discover a refrigerator stocked with severed right hands, evidence in a string of bizarre murders attributed to “The Handyman.” A shallow grave containing a hand-less body and the badge of Sammy O'Shay, an NOPD captain shot and killed during the hurricane, convinces Capt. Patti O'Shay that the Handyman is responsible for her husband's death. Meanwhile, exotic dancer Yvette Borger claims to have received cryptic, obsessive love notes signed “The Artist,” but the NOPD questions her motives and credibility. When O'Shay picks up on similarities between her Handyman and Borger's Artist, the by-the-book captain finds herself bending the rules to get to the heart of the stripper's story. While strong female leads compete for space, overwritten backstory and subplot sometimes drag on the investigation's urgency. Spindler (Cause for Alarm) hints throughout at the killer's psychology, but nothing prepares for the ludicrous diagnosis offered at the end. (Oct.)

Swain, author of the gambling crime series starring Tony Valentine (Grift Sense, etc.), avoids many of the clichés of the antisocial ex-cop novel in this chilling stand-alone. A specialist in finding missing children, former cop Jack Carpenter was fired from the force for assaulting a prisoner. Broke after a civil lawsuit and estranged from his wife and daughter, he's living in a seedy beachside apartment north of Miami, Fla., with his dog. Then Simon Skell (aka the “Midnight Rambler”), whom Carpenter helped convict for murdering prostitutes, is released from prison on a technicality. Determined to prove Skell guilty, Carpenter is frozen out by the cop on the case, but help comes from an FBI agent whose daughter vanished years earlier. The tension rises as the investigation widens far beyond Skell. Well-defined characters and intricately woven subplots, one involving a nail-biting scene at Disney World, make this a page-turner. 12-city author tour. (Oct.)

Memoirist Knipfel (Slackjaw and Ruining It for Everyone) here presents Ned “Noogie” Krapczak, a friendless, 35-year-old schlub who works as an ATM re-stocker and repairman, lives with his mother and is obsessed with old movies. It's clear from the beginning that Knipfel is knowingly drawing on affable loser stereotypes, particularly when he has Noogie steal his first $20 from one of the cash machines entirely by accident. The magnitude of Noogie's theft, however, soon sets him apart: working piecemeal, Noogie steals close to $5 million in $20 bills before being forced on an elaborate road trip with his cat, Dillinger. The book's first half traces Noogie's haphazard flight through unremarkable American towns and has an oddball charm: the possibility that Knipfel's sad creature might have gotten away with such a simple, substantial crime provides real renegade pleasure. In the second half, however, Knipfel shifts focus to the cops and FBI agents trying to track Noogie down: their crews feel thin and underrealized in comparison. Nevertheless, Knipfel's talent for empathizing with the underdog, evident is his earlier work, makes Noogie's adventures poignant and funny. (Oct.)

In its first English translation, the debut novel by Yu Hua (author of the subsequent novels To Live and Chronicle of a Blood Merchant) depicts a family's life in the Zhejiang province of Maoist China during the 1970s. At both the core and outskirts of the family is narrator Sun Guanglin, a middle son who is given up for adoption and returns, five years later at age 12, after tragedy befalls his adoptive family. The narrative flits between time and space to create the landscape of Sun Guanglin's youth: his family's home burns down shortly after he returns, a local wedding takes on macabre overtones, a death in the family leads to ill-fated homespun opportunism and family loyalty is fleeting. As memories converge, the line between fantasy and reality blurs, leading Sun Guanglin to observe, “Our lives after all, are not rooted in the soil as much as they are rooted in time.... Time pushes us forward or back, and alters our aspect.” Though the fractured structure has its disjointed moments, Barr's translation perfectly captures the ebb and flow of a community on the brink of change. (Oct.)

Grace's latest featuring series hero ex-navy SEAL Nolan Kilkenny spins a complicated fugue around papal succession. After the tragic loss of his beloved wife and unborn son, Kilkenny arrives at the Vatican and is soon called to the side of the dying pope Leo XIV. The pope discloses that more than 20 years earlier he made Yin Daoming—who has been a religious prisoner in China for longer than that—a secret cardinal. He asks Kilkenny to head up a team to go to China, free Yin and bring him back to the Vatican. Standing in Kilkenny's way is intelligence agent Liu Shing-Li of the Chinese Ministry of State Security, a very serious fellow indeed. Interspersed with rescue mission chapters are detailed descriptions of the Vatican's inner workings and the details of the process of pope selection, which thrills-only readers may find distracting. But Grace (Bird of Prey) builds a suspenseful head of steam as Kilkenny and friends overcome twists and obstacles in a dangerous race against Liu's forces. (Oct.)

A spirited indentured servant gets tangled up in the 17th-century Massachusetts Bay Colony witch hunts in this ambitious historical drama. Halfway through her 15-year indenture at a Mexico City convent, Concepción Benavidez escapes only to be captured by pirates and taken to Boston, where she's sold into slavery. Nathaniel Greenwood, a local merchant, is impressed that the “papist slave” can write and purchases her to help his disabled father-in-law manage his chicken farm. Renamed Thankful Seagraves, Concepción, who was repeatedly raped by the pirate captain, soon discovers that she's pregnant. Greenwood's barren wife, Rebecca, covets Concepción's newborn daughter, Hanna, and sets out to take her away. As their struggle over the girl unfolds, witch hysteria grips the colony, and Concepción is drawn into the fray when Hanna fingers her for a witch. De Alba's recreation is undercut by thin characterizations—the men are mostly cruel and the women victims, the notable exception being Concepción, who clings to her dignity under the most trying conditions. But De Alba (Sor Juana's Second Dream) has a firm grasp of her historical material and portrays the pirate life as convincingly as the witch trials. Readers interested in the period will want to give this a look. (Oct.)

Filmmaker Rose ranges widely in his fiction debut, drawing in everything from non-Euclidian geometry to “dyasnimagnosis” (a paranoid condition in which “the subject will begin to believe that the world itself is a construction, that her surroundings are false, the buildings and trees merely set pieces”—The Matrix, anyone?). Thus proceeds the Borgesian enterprise Rose calls the Library of Tangents, the short tales and mini-theories being what one supposedly finds there, with the title section being one of seven “Special Exhibitions.” In one piece, the inhabitants of the fifth island of Japan develop a musical language akin to Morse code; other entries feature an architect who designs a city without shadows, bioluminescent bacteria that create multicolored fog, and another rare psychological condition that causes its subjects to become deaf solely to the waltzes of Chopin. Other musical musings find Christian Doppler's studies in the physics of frequency driving “kinetic symphonies,” in which music arises from hidden and improbable sources. Rose's matter and manner recall Lawrence Weschler's Mr. Wilson's Cabinet of Wonder, but Rose has a distinct voice and take on arcana, fictitious and otherwise. (Oct.)

The latest from French novelist Oster (A Cleaning Woman) uses the common cold as a deceptively offhand metaphor for love, and achieves a depth that is comic, sad and very Gallic. The unnamed narrator claims that he lives with a constant low-level cold, and that he inevitably infects every woman with whom he is in a relationship. He loves his partner, Laure, who has, for the past year, proven impervious to infection. As the two set off in their car for a friend's birthday party on the distant island of Braz, Laure is seized with cold symptoms. It shocks her, and the resulting chain of events, closely observed from the narrator's perspective, makes up the rest of the book. The result is a love story deeply informed by Beckett (complete with the narrator acquiring a limp like that of Molloy's title character), where swells of feeling are tracked in sneezes as involuntary as love itself. The narrator's dispassion, which is likely to turn more than a few readers off, paradoxically betrays the depth of his feeling at every turn, giving a story in which almost nothing happens very large stakes indeed. (Oct.)

Former trial lawyer Bell (No Legal Grounds) starts this engaging whodunit series kickoff by plunging successful young L.A. attorney Ty Buchanan into deep mourning for his fiancée, Jacqueline Dwyer. Apparently, wife-murderer Ernesto Bonilla shot himself on a highway overpass and his body landed on Dwyer's car, killing her. Buchanan, in the grip of intense grief, is further burdened when a scruffy man accosts him at the funeral and demands money in exchange for “the truth”: that Dwyer survived Bonilla's fall, only to be murdered. When the police dismiss this explanation, Buchanan risks his career and his life to get to the bottom of the mystery, crossing paths with a variety of powerful movers and shakers and ending up a murder suspect himself. Readers will enjoy Bell's talent for description and character development, even if the overall setup of a white-collar worker scouring the mean streets is familiar terrain. (Oct.)

It's 1865, the Civil War is just over, but some folks in Texas still settle Yank-Reb scores with bullets and nooses. Shrake's 10th novel, a fast-paced western, begins with Confederate captain Jerod Robin waiting to be hanged for murder in Austin. Also in the hoosegow waiting for the hangman is blustery English novelist Edmund Varney, who is accused of stealing the horse of Lt. Tom Custer, the famous general's younger brother. Their jailer and tormentor is Santana Leatherwood, leader of a cold-blooded family of misfits who want Robin dead because of a family feud—and Varney dead just for the fun of it. A wacky judge named Dingus sets both men free, but they and Flora Blowprie (a young black fortune teller also spared by Judge Dingus) end up fugitives again after Flora shoots a would-be rapist. En route to Robin's family plantation, they pick up Isabella Bushkin, the abandoned wife of a disgraced Yankee politician, and now all four must shoot their way through soldiers, outlaws and Leatherwoods. A mysterious letter in Robin's jacket, Flora's ominous predictions and the truth behind the Robin-Leatherwood feud add suspense to this action-packed yarn. The ending is delightfully unpredictable and provides a satisfying conclusion to this well-crafted western tale. (Oct.)

Hill's tightly written, satisfying sequel to 2006's Getting Hers finds high-class madam Tess McDonald, chic businesswoman Kimberly Shepherd-Benning and East Harlem car thief Nicole Perez living the high life in Aruba, satisfied by the results of their triple murder conspiracy. Special Agent Vincent Royal tracks down Tess, who shoots him for his trouble, then changes her mind and gets him to a doctor, while Vincent reveals that he wants Tess to leave her Aruba house of sin and settle down with him. Meanwhile, Nicole schemes to replace Tess's possibly untrustworthy assistant, Charrie. Hill's smooth plotting and keen pacing keeps the pages turning as the consequences of opening “Pandora's box of revenge” are revealed. (Oct.)

The title is a hint of what to expect in this frustrating traipse through divorcedom from the great niece of that guy who wrote Dr. Zhivago. Originally released in the U.K. as the novelization of Pasternak's Daily Mail column, the novel stars Daisy Dooley, a 39-year-old “dopey divorcée” searching for a man unlike the “dodgy men with dire agendas” that dominated her past. Since Daisy stopped working to please her husband, she now lives with her mother and her dachsunds named Dougie, Donald, Dominic, Doughnut, Des, Deborah, Desdemona, Diandra, Dennis, Dusty and so on. She has the inevitable “girlie gossip and giggle” with her married friend Lucy and her commitment-phobic pal Jess. Then there's her best male friend, Miles, a “rollickingly rich” philanderer. As Daisy plunges into the dating pool, looking up old flames and embarking on disastrous affairs, Pasternak eventually gets into the meat of a conventional chick-lit story, but by then it's too late to reverse the uneasy feeling that another annoying alliterative bomb will explode. (It will.) There are enough dopey characters to populate a sitcom (one is currently in development with ABC), but the reading experience is less than exhilarating. (Oct.)

Literary agent, amateur historian and sailing enthusiast Hammond sets his sprawling debut novel, the first in a series, in the crucible of the American Revolution. The maritime action follows the adventures of Richard Cutler, a young rebel who signs on as a midshipman aboard the Ranger, a sloop-of-war of the fledgling Continental navy captained by John Paul Jones. Cutler's motives are independence for his country and revenge for his older brother, Will, who was seized from a merchantman and flogged to death by the Royal Navy. Serving alongside Jones on the Ranger and later the Bonhomme Richard, Cutler fights in dramatic sea battles and meets many of the key characters in the Revolution, including Ben Franklin, the Marquis de Lafayette and John Adams. He also shares his romantic interest in British beauty Katherine Hardcastle with a young British naval officer, but his capture off the British coast could mean he misses out on the war and the woman. Drawing on five years of historical research and a lifetime of sailing, Hammond vividly recreates an early chapter in American history. (Oct.)

Maria Anna Mozart (1751–1829), nicknamed “Nannerl” by her brother Wolfgang Amadeus, was also known in her lifetime as a musical child prodigy, but was outshone by her younger brother. In this energetic debut, Italian TV scriptwriter Charbonnier fictionalizes Nannerl's life, beginning with her tender years in the household of ambitious and tyrannical patriarch Leopold Mozart. Depriving her of her beloved violin (“not an instrument for girls”), Leopold forces Nannerl into a supporting role for Wolfgang, which Charbonnier dramatizes with melodramatic verve. Nannerl's adult epistolary love affair inevitably gets tangled with Wolfgang and his career, though the two remain close throughout his short life. There's a blunt immediacy to the writing (carriage horses “t[ake] off with a whinny of euphoria”; characters exclaim “Holy Shit” at moments of crisis), and Charbonnier is more concerned with bursts of emotion than period detail throughout. Deep this isn't, but it does capture some of the electricity than ran through the family. (Oct.)

MWA Grand Master Francis's first collaboration with his son Felix, a former physics teacher who researched many of his father's previous bestsellers, introduces an engaging hero, though longtime fans may find certain plot elements, like an unlikely love interest and sinister figures somehow connected with shady racetrack doings, less than fresh. The reputation of Max Moreton, a young wunderkind chef with a restaurant in Newmarket, England, suffers after guests at an affair he caters fall ill with food poisoning. This calamity nearly jeopardizes another job—feeding several dozen attendees at a major horse race. While that meal goes off without a hitch, a terrorist's bomb decimates the crowd at the track. Despite the official theory that an unpopular Middle Eastern ruler at the event was responsible, the chef wonders whether the bombing is related to the earlier food poisoning and turns amateur sleuth. Crisp writing and well-paced action help offset the routine plotting. (Sept.)

Oenophiles and fans of CBS's Cold Case will relish May's slightly far-fetched second outing to feature France-based Scottish sleuth Enzo Macleod (after 2006's Extraordinary People). When the corpse of powerful American wine critic Gil Petty turned up in southwest France, local cops were perplexed: the body was dressed in the robes of a local fraternal organization and appeared to have been practically pickled in wine. Four years later, shortly after Enzo, who specializes in unsolvable murders, reopens the case, another wine-saturated corpse is found. Petty had made countless enemies in the wine world, and his ex-wife and daughter had few kind words to say about him, but what connects him to the second killing? Enzo's emotional drama with both his daughters and romantic attractions to two charming ladies, plus tidbits about wine production and the art of wine tasting, make this a full-bodied, satisfying read. (Nov.)

In Barry's captivating debut, Towner Whitney, a dazed young woman descended from a long line of mind readers and fortune tellers, has survived numerous traumas and returned to her hometown of Salem, Mass., to recover. Any tranquility in her life is short-lived when her beloved great-aunt Eva drowns under circumstances suggesting foul play. Towner's suspicions are taken with a grain of salt given her history of hallucinatory visions and self-harm. The mystery enmeshes local cop John Rafferty, who had left the pressures of big city police work for a quieter life in Salem and now finds himself falling for the enigmatic Towner as he mourns Eva and delves into the history of the eccentric Whitney clan. Barry excels at capturing the feel of smalltown life, and balances action with close looks at the characters' inner worlds. Her pacing and use of different perspectives show tremendous skill and will keep readers captivated all the way through. (Oct.)

Enlivened by a large cast of familiar two- and four-legged characters, “Sister” Jane Arnold's sixth adventure in Virginia hunt country (after 2006's The Hounds and the Fury) opens with the discovery of a nude female corpse tied to an equine shop fixture. The Jefferson Hunt community is appropriately distressed, but master of foxhounds Sister really gets outraged when a valuable trophy goes missing and then turns up in her stable. Suspects abound among the well-heeled and well-mounted but rather undeveloped members of the hunt. Brown's well-researched descriptions of hunting will please aficionados who don't mind her talking-animal conceit, but otherwise the prose is undistinguished; the “useful terms” section at the back is almost superfluous, though the exhaustive dramatis personae in the front is not. The tale is mostly carried by its unusual setting and a rather cozy plot featuring high-tech and financial wizardry. Author tour. (Oct.)

The indestructible Agatha Raisin, still at the top of her game in her darkly droll 17th whodunit (after Love, Lies and Liquor), is feeling woefully middle-aged after hiring Toni Gilmour, an endearing U.K.-style Nancy Drew full of teen energy and charm. As Toni takes over the pet recovery end of the sleuthing business, Agatha looks into a mysterious letter from Phyllis Tamworthy, the rich matriarch of the Manor House in the idyllic Cotswolds, who suspects family members of plotting to kill her before she can change her will to disinherit them. Agatha and her friend Sir Charles Fraith attend Phyllis's 80th birthday party, only to see the lady keel over, poisoned by hemlock in her salad. Digging into Phyllis's past yields an even darker mystery. Bestseller Beaton's dry wit enhances Agatha's struggles with aging, men and her most challenging case yet. (Oct.)

Memory Mine shop owner Carmela Bertrand finds herself caught up in New Orleans Halloween mayhem in Childs's sprightly fifth scrapbooking mystery (after 2006's Motif for Murder). In an alley behind her friend Ava Grieux's Juju Voodoo Shop, Carmela discovers the body of fashion model Amber Lalique, who was in the shop only moments earlier. The cops suspect Giovanni, Ava's sexy new tarot card reader, whose brother, Santino, is Amber's ex-boyfriend. Carmela and Ava become determined to uncover the truth and throw themselves headlong into danger, filling in as models for the big Halloween night unveiling of Moda Chadron's newest fashion creations, snooping around New Orleans and even venturing into the creepy bayou. Childs rounds out the story with several scrapbooking and crafting tips plus a passel of mouth-watering Louisiana recipes. (Oct.)

Dagger Award–winner Cleverly takes a break from her acclaimed Joe Sandilands series (The Bee's Kiss, etc.) to launch another 1920s series, this time with an amateur sleuth protagonist. Laetitia “Letty” Talbot, a neophyte archeologist, turns detective while visiting Theodore Russell, an authority on Crete's history who's determined to find the tomb of the Greek god Zeus on the island. Letty dislikes Theodore but befriends his frail wife, Phoebe. Soon after, Phoebe hangs herself, an act so out of character that Letty joins forces with the local inspector to probe deeper. When the autopsy reveals that Phoebe was pregnant and Theodore could not have been the father, Letty finds a range of potential suspects in the potential fathers-to-be. A witness to the crime eventually turns up to solve the case, making this less of a puzzler than the Sandilands books, but the crisp writing and depth of characterization should please traditional mystery fans. (Oct.)

Donovan's sharp series debut introduces the “Spider Women” of New Hampshire's Black Widow Agency, who right the wrongs done to innocent women by dastardly men. Katie Mahoney founded BWA after her ex-husband pulled strings and got her kicked off the police force. Young computer forensics expert Alexandria Axelrod, witty office manager Margo Norton and financial whiz Jane Landers all have their own stories of male mistreatment. The Spider Women don't hate all men, though: those who are sympathetic (like local cop Joe Kennedy) and gay (like Margo's brother, Marcus, and his partner, Antoine, who own the shop next door) are considered tolerable. The latest BWA client is automotive designer Amber Gordon, whose ex-husband gained custody of their daughter through nefarious means. Donovan, who has assisted the FBI with her own computer forensics expertise, leavens this tale of female vigilante justice with humor and insider details. (Oct.)

Greer's latest C.J. Floyd novel, which ties the JFK assassination to a thriller plot, will appeal mainly to conspiracy buffs, though the author offers little original material or theory. The historic crime resurfaces in the present day when an earthquake damages the Eisenhower Memorial Tunnel in Colorado, revealing (in a move reminiscent of the 1984 film Flashpoint) the corpse of Antoine Ducane, who had hinted that he knew the truth behind the murder and then disappeared in the 1970s. The discovery of Ducane's body sets off a chain of violent events, and soon Greer's series detective and antiques dealer C.J. Floyd (last seen in 2006's The Fourth Perspective) gets involved. Greer derails any suspense with flashbacks to mobsters Santo Trafficante and Carlos Marcello discussing the need to kill the president. Given the many plot holes (why did the mob let Ducane live for a decade after Dallas?), Greer might want to stick to giving C.J. less controversial mysteries to solve. (Oct.)

Horror tales to suit virtually every taste make this follow-up to the Stoker-winning Dark Delicacies (2005) a fulfilling feast of fear. As with its predecessor, Howison and Gelb imposed no thematic restrictions on contributors, and the result is a refreshingly varied anthology of above-average quality. Peter Atkins's “Stacy and Her Idiot,” a wry exercise in supernatural noir, perfectly couches its horrors in the hard-boiled idiom. Joe R. Lansdale transforms man's best friend into his worst nightmare in “Dog,” a taut thriller that achieves the intensity of supernatural fiction in its riveting account of a maniacal dog's relentless pursuit of a human victim. In Barbara Hambly's suspenseful “Sunrise on Running Water,” a vampire passenger aboard the Titanic struggles to avoid inevitable immolation the morning after the ship goes down. In addition to rare short stories from novelists Max Brooks and Robert Masello, the volume includes an eclectic mix of older and younger talents that ensures broad-based appeal to horror readers. (Oct.)

In this outstanding sequel to Wilson's Hugo-winning Spin (2005), we are taken to the mysterious planet Equatoria, a world apparently engineered for humanity by the inscrutable machine intelligences known as the Hypotheticals. Turk Findley, a man with a criminal past, runs an aeronautical charter service on the newly settled planet. Lise Adams, who hires Turk, is a would-be journalist searching for her vanished father, a scientist obsessed with the Hypotheticals and their illegal life extension technology. Meanwhile, young Isaac, genetically manipulated by rogue scientists so that he may become a conduit between humanity and the AIs, is coming of age, and something enormous and unknown is assembling itself far underground. The various science and thriller plot elements are successful, but this is first and foremost a novel of character. Turk and Lise, who might well be played by Bogart and Bacall, are powerfully drawn protagonists, and their strong presence in the novel makes the wonders provided all the more satisfying. Those unfamiliar with Spin may flounder a bit, but Wilson's fans will be ecstatic. (Sept.)

Set 12 years after A Meeting at Corvallis (2006), Stirling's latest novel of a chaotic near-future U.S., crippled when the mysterious Change rendered most technology nonfunctional, combines vigorous military adventure with cleverly packaged political idealism. When assassins pursue a traveler into Oregon's Willamette Valley, the resulting skirmish propels the heirs of three influential local leaders on a risky continent-crossing mission to Nantucket. Stirling's narrative deftly balances sharply contrasting ideologies—the Mackenzies' proto-Celtic clan system in Oregon against Gen. Lawrence Thurston's strict and principled military democracy in Idaho, the zealotry of the Church Universal and Triumphant versus the pagan Powers venerated by the Mackenzies—though the most difficult cosmological questions are never addressed. Meanwhile, there are hints of otherworldly intervention and time travel on Nantucket, echoing the parallel continuity established in Island in the Sea of Time and its sequels. Despite these fuzzy underpinnings, the thought-provoking and engaging storytelling should please Stirling's many fans. (Sept.)

In this tantalizing prequel to Czerneda's Trade Pact Universe trilogy (A Thousand Words for Stranger, etc.), the roots of the Clan refugees are revealed. On the planet Cersi, the seven Om'ray clans coexist with the technologically superior Tikitik and Oud, who maintain peace by banning change. Aryl Sarc, a young Om'ray of the Yena Clan, hides her forbidden psychic abilities, but when a UFO attacks Yena harvesters, Aryl teleports her best friend, Bern, to safety, while others die, including her brother. The Tikitik then abduct Aryl and set her to spy on the off-world Strangers who may have sent the UFO. Human researcher Marcus Bowman's fact-finding mission on Cersi becomes inextricably linked to Aryl's adolescent rite of passage. Czerneda's world-building flair and fascinating characters set this intricate story well above most SF series prequels. (Sept.)

Modesitt's 14th novel of the island-continent Recluce (after 2004's Ordermaster) introduces Rahl, a short-tempered but diligent copyist with a knack for wielding a truncheon. These skills prove vital when he's banished to the distant continent of Hamor for mouthing off to the ordermages who are trying to teach him to control his unusual abilities. As Rahl explores the cities of Nylan and Swartheld and endures assault, a memory-erasing drug and a second exile to the coal mines of Luba, his natural sense of order increases, but his quick anger and recklessness lead him into a series of blunders from which he only barely recovers. Though Rahl mostly manages to stay a sympathetic character, readers may grow impatient with his tendency to shoot himself in the foot. Modesitt renders the people and places of Recluce and Hamor somewhat humorlessly but with diligent attention to detail, treading the narrow line between exquisite world-building and overbearing verbosity. (Sept.)

Military SF specialist Ringo teams up with real-life rocket scientist Taylor for this far-out sequel to 2005's Into the Looking Glass. Much of the science deals with the arcane mysteries of quantum mechanics, lending the often grim events an absurdist twist appropriately reminiscent of Lewis Carroll. Several years after an experiment that opened a gateway from central Florida into other dimensions, Doc Weaver, a physicist turned U.S. naval officer, adapts an alien star drive to a nuclear submarine and creates humanity's first warp-capable star ship. The goal of Capt. Steven Blankemeier and Cmdr. Clay White of the Alliance Space Ship's unfortunately named Vorpal Blade is to scout out worlds contaminated by the alien Dreen. The awkward use of alien vocabulary to censor the predictably foul-mouthed marines only slightly hinders the shoot-'em-up action as the scientists and crew of the Blade blast through whatever adversity comes their way. (Sept.)

British newcomer Abercrombie fills his muddled sword-and-sorcery series opener with black humor and reluctant heroes. Logen Ninefingers, a barbarian on the run from an ex-employer who's now king of the North, finds his loyalties complicated when he switches sides and becomes a valuable source of intel to the beleaguered Union. Glokta, a torture victim turned torturer, gets roped into securing the Union's position against both the invading Northmen and the incompetent Union king and council, and ruthlessly wields his skills in attempts to weed out traitors. Foppish Jezal, a preternaturally excellent swordsman, manages to win the contest to become the Union champion, thanks to a little help from Bayaz, a mage with his own agenda. The workmanlike plot, marred by repetitive writing and an excess of torture and pain, is given over to introducing the mostly unlikable characters, only to send them off on separate paths in preparation for the next volume's adventures. (Sept.)

Following a sex hex gone wrong, magical matchmakers Dorcas and Ambrose Lowell have been exiled to the tiny town of Big Knob, Ind., where they're soon drawn to Sean Madigan, whose green eyes and carpenter's body have for years bewitched the town's females. Tired of meaningless conquest, Sean just wants to grab a cup of coffee without getting mobbed, so in exchange for some pro bono wood work, Dorcas and Ambrose agree to turn off Sean's charm. Too bad, then, that he's soon in desperate need of his persuasive powers: when department store location scout Maggie Grady arrives in town, sights set on a plot of land that Sean has long been eyeing, Sean is sure he could seduce the sexy scout into abandoning her plans. Forced to win Maggie the old-fashioned way—with down-home cooking and throw-down romancing—Sean has his work cut out for him. Meanwhile, Dorcas and Ambrose have a secret identity to protect and an ornery, poker-addicted dragon to rehabilitate. If readers can fall under the spell of her outlandish premise and forgive some less-than-urgent pacing, they'll find the same trademark blend of comedy and heart that won Thompson's Nerd series (My Nerdy Valentine, etc.) a loyal following. (Oct.)

In Gibbins's sequel to Atlantis, marine archeologist Jack Howard searches for an ancient gold menorah seized by Vespasian's army during the sack of Jerusalem. While Jack and his team of scientists and historians follow clues from Istanbul and England to the Arctic, Canada and Mexico, a group of neo-Nazis (who have co-opted an organization as old as the Crusades and dedicated to the relic's safety) conspire to find and use the menorah to destabilize the world's religions. Stilted exposition, in which Jack details large chunks of history for colleagues who should already know it, mars an otherwise interesting backstory, and cardboard characters rouse little sympathy. Elsewhere, an overwhelming surfeit of detail serves at best to drag down the suspense, at worst to cause terminal confusion. Those with an already-strong sense of Roman, barbarian, Viking and English history, as well as those with a sincere desire to learn, will appreciate Gibbins's alternate history of King Harald Hardrada's defeat, if not necessarily the teacherly style or clunky adventure story in which it's couched. (Oct.)

Goodman's latest Regency romance concerns Emmalyn Hathaway, living with her relatives in London since the tragic death of her parents three years earlier. Emma spends her days assisting her artist uncle and her privileged younger cousin, Marisol, until she becomes the victim of a savage attack. Believing that the attack was meant for her cousin, Emma seeks out Restell Gardner, who offers protection and sleuthing services for a price. A confirmed bachelor and notorious rake (or so he wishes), Restell is taken with young Miss Hathaway and her plight. By taking on her case, he soon discovers that all is not as it seems in the Vega household and that Emma may truly be in danger. The attraction between Restell and Emma is hard to deny, and their dialogue sparkles with wit and emotion. Though there's enough intrigue and romantic charm to please any Regency fan, the mystery takes center stage, casting the romance in a secondary role. Regardless, authentic characters and a thrilling story line will keep readers smiling and guessing. (Sept.)

The first novel in Cresswell's new Ravens trilogy is a taut suspenser concerning the double life of missing multimillionaire and secret bigamist Ron Raven. Having disappeared from a Miami hotel room, leaving signs of a bloody struggle, Raven's trail leads police to his two families, whom he had for 25 years kept in separate cities—one in Chicago and one in Thatch, Wyo.—and entirely clueless about each other. As police uncover deeper levels of deception, it comes to light that Raven used his Wyoming wife's ranch as collateral on a loan he received from his Chicago wife's brother, Adam. Furious, Adam shows up at the ranch to demand his money, only to find that Raven's fortune has vanished with him. Soon, he and Raven's daughter Megan (of the Wyoming clan) set out on a global search for the missing millions, leading them into a web of intrigue and murder. Grabbing readers from the get-go, Cresswell's book is fraught with sex, secrets and double-crosses, and her cast of characters—especially the charismatic leads—are sharply developed. Full and satisfying, Cresswell's twisty series kickoff is sure to please. (Sept.)

Ronald Reagan was a controversial president, no question. Revered by some, reviled by others, he was acknowledged to be an orator of the highest order. This “graphic biography” sets out to explore Reagan's life, but the creative team seems unsure which side they're on, so they veer between gauzy hagiography and hard-fact criticism without ever offering a coherent thesis about Reagan's appeal or legacy. Helfer (Batman: Journey into Night) is strongest when he lets Reagan speak for himself (the dialogue on the page when Reagan is shot is particularly effective). Buccellato (Battle of the Bands) and Staton (Green Lantern) provide interesting graphics—showing the rapid successive deaths of the hardliners who preceded Gorbachev as a series of X-ed out portraits, or unraveling the complicated self-dealing behind Reagan's GE Theater job with a cleverly modified organization chart. Overall, the cartoony art fits Reagan's “aw-shucks” persona, but undercuts Helfer's discussion of Reagan-era scandals. Helfer also crowds more powerful images (like the Challenger explosion) with wordy caption boxes. This book makes an adequate primer of the Reagan era, but the lack of coherence limits its appeal. There are too many jabs for Reagan's disciples, and not enough bite for his critics. (Sept.)

Another manga where a young boy comes of age and realizes his destiny as a great warrior is set apart by its emphasis on the seasons and their meanings—as well as the lack of any other development. Akira's 14th birthday means an attack from which he's saved by a lovely girl who has similar seasonal powers to those he's developing. She moves in with him, providing “fan service” for ogling as well as protecting him from random mystical monsters. They fight with weapons and cards, by yelling the names of special calendar days and natural signs at each other. There's scant characterization and motivation beyond magical battles, and the American reader may find the lists of monthly meanings, spell names, flowers and birthstones somewhat overwhelming. It's a good thing that the genre plot is so predictable and familiar. Beyond the cultural confusion, the storytelling is confusing, with everyone looking alike and events shown in hard-to-read fashion. Even the usually interesting translation notes become incomprehensible, simply cross-referencing holidays and months. The cultural trivia can't compensate for the omission of any real entertainment. (Sept.)

After a long stint assisting Wendy Pini on fan-favorite Elfquest, Strait strikes out on his own with a manga-style tale of intrigue in the world of faerie. Cosmo and Vogue are modern faeries, obsessed with glamour and looking to take over from their stodgy predecessors. They've talked Oberon out of his crown, put Titania to sleep and are about to retire Puck. Meanwhile, the unfortunately named Goat trains to be a faerie princess with the help of her friend Mushroom—an actual magic mushroom. Like most “volume ones,” this is pure setup, but there's no padding. By the end of the volume, the status quo has been shaken harder than a melontini. Strait's art is eye-catching: more anarchic than pure manga; it's influenced as much by Tex Avery as by CLAMP. Strait has good comic timing, a breezy sense of storytelling and a sly sense of humor. He sends up manga conventions, without in-jokes getting in the way of the story. The subject matter and approach will immediately appeal to old-school fantasy fans of the kind who appreciated Robert Asprin and Phil Foglio's Myth Adventures series. (Aug.)

Here's a tightly written, cute little shojo manga with promising dramatic undertones. Rando, the high school bully, awakens from an accident-induced coma with the face of Rina, the girl he loves—the plastic surgeon assumed the photo in Rando's pocket was of Rando. Rina's family assumes Rando is Rina's long-lost twin, Yuma. Still besotted, Rando takes up life with his new family as his beloved's best friend and sister. Rando bumbles through the required school physical and uses flirting to attempt to control the karate club, while sweet, shy Rina slowly teaches the former bully to be a good person. Dr. Manabe, Rando's licentious plastic surgeon (“say the word, and I'll give you a sex change!”), is a total hoot. The art is standard manga, a little cluttered, but it creates strong characters. The story plays for coy laughs and social complexity—Rando must learn to sit with his legs crossed in his school uniform—rather than sex and angst. The result is a story that treads the line between funny and outré: when Dr. Manabe superglues fake breasts on Rando, the effect is hilarious and winsome without ever being cheap. A scene where a slimy teacher attempts to force Yuma/Rando into a sex act definitely makes this for older teens. (Aug.)