Fiction Reviews

Keats (The Pathology of Lies) re-imagines Jewish folklore in his collection of stories about the Talmudic idea of the Lamedh-Vov, 36 righteous souls who must exist at all times in order for humanity, and the world, to sustain itself. A fictional author's foreword by Jay Katz, Ph.D., summarizes the idea of the Lamedh-Vov and establishes its legitimacy by citing a list of names Katz found while excavating a German synagogue. The stories that follow—covering 12 of the 36 souls—are based on Katz's discussions with villagers. The heroes of these stories include a liar, a thief, an idiot and a whore—not your typical folk heroes. Gimmel the Gambler, for example, loses his fortune to a beautiful peasant woman with one roll of the dice; with her new riches, she's able to marry the king. The accomplishment of this book is more about stylistic mimicry than originality; Keats's ear for the language of folktales comes through nicely, though because of the stories' limited scope, they lack bite. (Feb.)

This first adult novel from short story writer and YA novelist Lynch explores the midlife crisis of a lonely, stagnant California community college music professor, Gordon Clay. The improbable plot begins with a Paul Auster–like coincidence: a late-night phone call from a woman with the same name as his ex, wanting to know if Gordon has her son—apparently, this is a different Carrie looking for a different Gordon Clay. Afterward, Gordon is left to wonder at the fate of the missing boy, the synonymous couple and his nagging chest pains. Gordon's meandering journey of spiritual and self-discovery leads to unlikely confrontations with one-dimensional, largely unlikable (and occasionally hateful) characters like tone-deaf music student Sister Cecilia and Polynesian single mom Mikilauni Kukula. Frequent digressions on music and religion make a welcome break—Lynch knows her subjects—but in the end, the mundane plot and its contrived resolution will test readers' patience far more than it does poor Gordon's heart. (Feb.)

Peopled by a handful of vulnerable yet resilient creative types, among them poets, musicians, teachers and artists, Canadian author Windley's accomplished story collection focuses on the domestic scene, examining how family, lovers and neighbors leave their indelible marks. Mostly centered on or near Vancouver Island, Windley's cagey moments of conflict deftly illuminate her narrators' capacity for both pettiness and grace. In “The Joy of Life,” Alex finds herself living in the shadow of her best friend Dsire's idyllic life, but chances picking up the pieces when Dsire begins drifting from her husband and child. “Felt Skies” features a woman looking back on her connections with her strict mother and with her first adult lover, a much older man. Marisa of “Children's Games” moves into her lover's house and struggles to relate to his disagreeable, unpredictable son. Despite an abundance of similarly middle-class, introverted female characters, Windley keeps readers' attention with a fast pace and an eye for fresh details that make her efficient, achingly human dramas absorbing and sympathetic. (Feb.)

Boice's overlong second novel (after MVP) opens with a startling meditation on the dead body of a 17-year-old suicide, Grayson Donald, hanging from a basketball hoop in Centreville, Va. From there, the story branches out to portray Grayson's troubles and those of his community, focusing on the mostly affluent residents of the subdivision where he lived. Beginning with Grayson's alcoholic, porn-addicted father and ambitious, devoutly Catholic mother, the narrative plumbs the lives and minds of a variety of characters, including housewife Ellen Eubank, neurotically dependent on her daily bath; schoolteacher and Home Owners' Association member Mitzy Hurkle, obsessed with her neighbor's regulations-violating curbside basketball hoop; and party boy Trent Batchelor, unemployed and living with and leaching off his pushover parents. Despite the variety of their needs, the characters are uniformly self-absorbed, incapable of connecting with others and endowed with desperate, rapacious appetites; the sameness of their situations becomes tiresome. While Boice's commentary on suburban banality is nothing short of savage, it's also too predictable and thin, as if he can't get over his own contempt for his characters. By the end, Grayson's suicide seems nonsensical, but not for the reasons intended. (Jan.)

Baker's bangup debut mixes the exuberant eccentricities of John Irving's Garp, Anne Tyler's relationship savvy and the plangent voice of Margaret Atwood. In an upstate New York backwater, Truly, massive from birth, has a bleak existence with her depressed father and her china-doll–like sister, Serena Jane. Truly grows at an astonishing rate—her girth the result of a pituitary gland problem—and after her father dies when Truly is 12, Truly is sloughed off to the Dyersons, a hapless farming family. Her outsize kindness surfaces as she befriends the Dyersons' outcast daughter, Amelia, and later leaves her beloved Dyerson farm to take care of Serena Jane's husband and son after Serena Jane leaves them. Haunting the margins of Truly's story is that of Tabitha Dyerson, a rumored witch whose secrets afford a breathtaking role reversal for Truly. It's got all the earmarks of a hit—infectious and lovable narrator, a dash of magic, an impressive sweep and a heartrending but not treacly family drama. It'll be a shame if this doesn't race up the bestseller lists. (Jan.)

Weitz takes a weak stab at a collegiate version of Prep in this disappointing me-too. Beautiful but virginal Natalie Bloom, a student at the University of Connecticut, has traded her working-class past for a spot at the bourgeois party school. While she maintains good grades, she is less successful in the social scene—a menacing environment where horny frat boys lurk in dark corners and couples easily betray each other—until she meets Patrick in, naturally, the library. Though Natalie insists she's shy, her dialogue with men is snappy and direct, and she and Patrick move toward dating in a series of dull getting-to-know-you conversations. When the relationship turns sexual, Natalie finds herself doubtful about his intentions, but she soldiers on until a weakly developed subplot about her brother's suicide somehow brings her to her senses. Without a comprehensible or urgent plot, the novel relies on its characters, but bland Natalie is surrounded by equally forgettable, interchangeable supporting personalities. When Natalie finally does find her happy ending, the reader won't really care. (Jan.)

Former Elle editor Lee delivers a standout debut dealing with the rigors of love and survival during a time of war, and the consequences of choices made under duress. Claire Pendleton, newly married and arrived in Hong Kong in 1952, finds work giving piano lessons to the daughter of Melody and Victor Chen, a wealthy Chinese couple. While the girl is less than interested in music, the Chens' flinty British expat driver, Will Truesdale, is certainly interested in Claire, and vice versa. Their fast-blossoming affair is juxtaposed against a plot line beginning in 1941 when Will gets swept up by the beautiful and tempestuous Trudy Liang, and then follows through his life during the Japanese occupation. As Claire and Will's affair becomes common knowledge, so do the specifics of Will's murky past, Trudy's motivations and Victor's role in past events. The rippling of past actions through to the present lends the narrative layers of intrigue and more than a few unexpected twists. Lee covers a little-known time in Chinese history without melodrama, and deconstructs without judgment the choices people make in order to live one more day under torturous circumstances. (Jan.)

Forrest mates an FBI thriller with an erotic paranormal, producing a hybrid that works better as fang-fantasy satire than urban fantasy. Back for their second outing (after Eternal), the colorful Kahill vampire clan of Clare Point, Del., have for ages vowed to “rid the human race of its foulest members,” hoping that God will release them from their vampiric curse. The foul member of this installment is the Buried Alive Killer, who's slaughtered more than 10 families and for 14 years has stalked the lone survivor, Macy Smith (from the first family of victims). Using the Internet screen name Teddy, he claims always to be watching her. FBI Special Agent (and vampire) Fia Kahill has been fielding Macy's complaints about Teddy's unwanted attention; after the latest family murder, Fia calls in Macy to meet Fia's helpful vampire pal, Arlan Kahill. As they work to foil Teddy, the love triangle that develops among them is predictable, the suspense limp and the serial killer one of the most cartoonish in recent memory. Still, Forrest excels whenever things get steamy. (Dec.)

Dunn fails to deliver in her newest melodrama, a meandering historical that chronicles the expedition of Rafael, a Spanish retainer sent on what he is told will be a brief trip to construct a sundial for Mary Tudor. But once he arrives in xenophobic and unstable England, Rafael does little but whine about the weather and how much he misses his wife and son. Unfortunately for Rafael, his project is delayed, and while waiting to return home, he becomes infatuated with Cecily, a tender housekeeper who becomes his constant companion despite their language barrier. They fall in love (albeit excruciatingly slowly), but their affair is complicated by Rafael's conflicting feelings for his wife. Mary, meanwhile, plays a very secondary role until a late-book shift in which she becomes a paramount force in the narrative as it tumbles toward a surprising conclusion. Although Dunn nails Rafael's fascination with sex, and her eye for detail remains sharp, much of the prose feels stilted, and the interminably slow plot is hobbled by a wallowing narrator and facile treatments of isolation, religious tension and icy domestic life. (Dec.)

Sundell's latest historical romance is a rich, exciting exploration of old but trustworthy themes, set on the edge of the 19th-century frontier. Rebecca Rose, the daughter of a Nevada City prostitute, is determined to carry on with the life of easy virtue herself until she can avenge her mother's murder. When Rose and a client, wealthy and powerful Morgan Larkspur, unexpectedly fall in love, it's not what either of them want. But when Rose's quest for vengeance intersects with Larkspur's familial obligations, the results may be disastrous for them both. Despite relying on classic stereotypes—the wealthy but hands-on businessman, the hooker with the heart of gold and, of course, a sinister villain—Sundell delivers a strong story set in the quintessential frontier town. Genre fans will be delighted, but the mystery surrounding Rose's mother's death will be self-evident to astute readers. The harsh conclusion feels rushed and a little too tidy—omitting some of the minor characters right at the point when they are most likely to be heard—but this is historical romance of a satisfying order. (Dec.)

A master of the pulp western formula—good guys, bad guys, barmaids, fistfights, gunplay, double-crosses and frontier justice (i.e., pumping the bad guys full of holes)—Cushman delivers in these four novellas, originally published between 1946 and 1949. In “Reckoning at Robber's Roost,” a mysterious highwayman, with a surprise for everyone, tangles with a local tycoon, a corrupt sheriff and a gang of bandits who don't take kindly to competition. “The Gambler's Code” finds notorious gambler Shanghai Nivens in Alaska thinking he's inherited a bank, only to find he's heir to nothing but trouble: a girl, a gunman, a lynch mob and more looking to instigate a permanent bank holiday. “The Craft of Ka-yip” is the smart tale of an old Indian foiling an owlhoot gang's steamboat robbery, using a dangerous but clever ruse. In the title story, a young cowboy is falsely accused of robbery and murder, but saved by two curious saddle pals; the three amigos then go on to solve a mystery, expose a conspiracy and discover the secret of a dead man. Great literature this is not, but it sure is fun. (Nov.)

Set on Christmas eve in Santa Fe, N.Mex., this action-packed novel from bestseller Morrell (Creepers) may not achieve holiday classic status, but it does feature an appealing hero. Wounded and on the run, undercover agent Paul Kagan shelters beneath his jacket a five-week-old infant. Russian mobsters are after the baby, the son of a charismatic Palestinian, Ahmed Hassan, who preaches peace in the Middle East. Those who make their money off that struggle wish to silence Hassan by holding the baby hostage. Paul makes his stand in a house where Meredith and her crippled son, Cole, await the return of his abusive, alcoholic father, Ted. While setting interesting traps to foil his attackers, Paul tells a spymaster's version of the tale of the magi. This slim volume will make the perfect stocking-stuffer for deserving thriller readers. 5-city author tour. (Nov.)

Through multiple perspectives, Beahrs (Strange Saint) vividly depicts Jacobean England in his second historical. After a brief prologue set in the Virginia colony in 1621, the first narrator, Sarah, flashes back to the events that caused her to flee the Old World. When vagabonds descend on Sarah's village, Sarah clashes with their leader, the cruel Sam Ridley, who had abused a sin-eater, a man down on his luck or short of wits, paid to symbolically assume the transgressions of the community's most recent dead. Her retribution sets Ridley on her trail. Mary, a refugee from an unhappy marriage, soon joins Sarah and Bill, another sin-eater that Ridley has targeted, on their travels. While the ultimate showdown with Ridley and its resolution will surprise few readers, the author convincingly presents the main characters' inner lives in a manner that calls to mind Iain Pears's classic An Instance of the Fingerposts. (Nov.)

Chute, author of the acclaimed The Beans of Egypt, Maine, returns to Egypt with an emotional but uneven novel portraying the St. Onge Settlement, a rural co-op community led by the mythic, flawed, Gordon St. Onge, hero of the downtrodden who people the Settlement along with Gordon's wives and children. Through her distinctive, muscular prose and vivid depictions of Maine's resilient residents, Chute revisits familiar themes: the government's injustices toward the poor, restrictive gun legislation, faults in the education system and the evils of corporations. The novel also defends and demystifies the militia movement (Chute is involved with the 2nd Maine Militia, a grassroots organization advocating for the working class). The narrative, fractured with a multitude of perspectives, jumps between Gordon, Richard “Rex” York, head of the local militia, and Settlement kids Mickey Gammon, 15, and precocious six-year-old Jane Meserve, whose mother is incarcerated on spurious drug charges. By turns inspiring, then preachy, Chute, who in the acknowledgments says there are five completed novels about the Settlement, which might explain the unresolved story lines, has an undeniable talent for depicting humanity at its most impassioned and impoverished. (Nov.)

When Lucy King receives a heart transplant, she gets more than a new ticker—she gets the memories, friends and quest of donor Will Stafford, descendant of Queen Elizabeth's spiritual adviser, John Dee. Soon, Lucy's on the trail of a secret protected by generations of Dee's heirs. Unfortunately, ruthless fundamentalists pursue, convinced that Dee's secret holds the key to the Rapture. A softer, semifeminist riff on The Da Vinci Code, Hardie's debut is richly woven, drawing on sources ranging from Elizabethan mysticism to computer games; the intricacy of the quest will pull readers in, but the story loses steam before coasting to a disappointing end. Hardie falls victim to some of the same pitfalls as Brown, letting interesting background material devolve into dry recitation and fact-combing. Further, her characters are almost all kindly, whip-smart do-gooders or swaggering bad guys, and Hardie is reticent to put her heroes in real danger (lest it interfere with their research). She blurs the lines between faith and reason cleverly, but her labyrinth of exposition will probably wear out readers before they find the exit. (Nov.)

Anyone concerned about the future of horror will find plenty of reassurance in this outstanding reprint anthology showcasing short fiction by today's best writers in the genre. Straub (The Throat) skillfully varies tempo and style, mixing stories of psychological terror with more traditional ghostly tales. Thomas Tessier puts a fresh spin on the empty old house theme in the memorable “In Praise of Folly,” in which the lonely protagonist pursues his fascination with bizarre structures to the Adirondacks. Tessier subtly raises chills even as the tale proceeds to its inevitable and dark conclusion. Another winner is Dan Chaon's “The Bees,” a powerful account of a man haunted by mistakes of the past. Ramsey Campbell's terrifying “The Voice of the Beach” echoes Algernon Blackwood's classic “The Willows,” with its account of two friends' fateful encounter with a remote beach that may be an entry point to another dimension. Aimed at a general audience, this volume also includes works by Stephen King, Elizabeth Hand, Kelly Link and Joe Hill. (Nov.)

McElmurray's evocative second novel journeys into the New Age subculture, beginning with Kentucky repo man Jason Sanderson, still grieving for Sam, the son he lost 10 years ago. Desperate, Sanderson leaves his concerned wife to find his son's former lover, Lory Llewellyn, who he believes can help him understand his loss. His search is short—serendipitously, Lory shows up at a repo job—and it's her globe-trotting account of discovery with Sam that provides most of the narrative. McElmurray traces Lory's life from troubled girlhood to courtship to treks across Asia and the American Southwest seeking enlightenment; readers will soon suspect that Sam is looking not for answers, but for a way to avoid them. Sanderson himself tells a story filled with questions, passion and despair, and as the intertwining flashbacks roll out, the two characters move ever closer to the 26,000-year cycle-ending Harmonic Convergence of December 24, 2012—after which, Mayan prophesy suggests, the world will be changed unalterably. Though eventually McElmurray's world begins to glow with magic possibilities, the novel closes on a rather foregone conclusion, a letdown for her intriguing ideas and her genuine characters. (Nov.)

In this romantic spine tingler from Walker (Through the Veil), psychic teen Taige Branch of Gulf Shores, Ala., falls in love one summer with Cullen Morgan, a boy on vacation from Georgia, after he rescues her from being raped by a couple of drunken louts at a beach resort. Four years later, after a psycho murders Cullen's mother in Atlanta, Cullen breaks up with Taige, outraged that his psychic girlfriend, who had saved little kids' lives in front of his eyes, couldn't foresee and stop the tragedy. Eight years after that trauma, Cullen asks Taige, now a member of an FBI special task force, for help in finding his motherless daughter, Jilly, a talented artist with psychic abilities who's been abducted by a child predator. A sweet love story alternates with an exciting manhunt. Romantic suspense fans will find much to like in Taige, a fearless beauty, half-white, half-black, who's not just another “medium” clone. (Nov.)

Fans of Harper's superb historical trilogy set during the Crusades (The Mosaic of Shadows, etc.) are likely to be disappointed by this middling thriller, yet another variation on the Indiana Jones theme. In 1947, the British, Americans and Russians are all looking for the legendary shield of Achilles because it may contain “Element 61,” a chemical element then missing from the periodic table that could be used in weapons. C.S. Grant, a British adventurer in need of a government pardon, agrees to help recover a murdered archeologist's notebook that may hold clues to the shield's whereabouts. A number of stock supporting characters, including an attractive female archeologist and an elderly scholar, accompany Grant to Crete in search of answers. While Harper offers some interesting discussions about the origins of Homer's poems, some readers may weary of such formulaic plot elements as a slow-motion romance, gunfights, hairbreadth escapes and the loss of a key clue. (Nov.)

Prolific evangelical Christian fiction author Kingsbury (Between Sundays) revisits characters from her previously well-received 9/11 series in this stand-alone focusing on sheriff's deputy Alex Brady, who lost his fireman father in the twin towers attack. Now 25 years old, Brady, whose faith once ran sure and strong, turned from God and family after his father's death. He relocates to California and spends all his time trying to find the bad guys and put them away with the aid of his K-9 partner, Bo. Bent on preventing arsonists from setting more fires, Brady is stunned to discover that others have endured similar loss but have made peace and moved on. Despite his anger, Brady's heart begins to thaw when unexpected memories and people re-enter his life, forcing him to choose between bitterness or hope. In typical Kingsbury style, by book's end the troubles are tidily wrapped up, which is clearly not so in real life. But the novelist's ability to accurately express life's sorrows and grief through her characters' inner dialogue rings true time and again. (Nov.)

Linguist Ramona Elise Griffen, an Austin, Tex., widow in her mid-30s, is renting the studio out back (her late husband's) to a robust, 25-year-old Italian immigrant student named Leonardo da Vinci. Ramona, hoping to shake her grief and find a way back to “Normal” (“The world is divided into two types of people: Grievers and Normals”), begins by dating da Vinci. In the two years since her husband's unexpected death, Ramona has cared for their two preadolescent boys and taken comfort in junk food, but when da Vinci enters the picture, she finds herself reinvigorated. Soon, she's also unwittingly caught the eye of the debonair local doctor who's dating Ramona's pretentious younger sister. Lott cleverly includes passages from Ramona's doctoral thesis on the language of love and never falters in her depiction of Ramona's overwhelming grief, tackling honestly her guilt over newfound happiness. Pure romance escapism written smartly, this latest from Lott (The Stork Reality) is satisfying and uplifting. (Nov.)

In this run-of-the-mill police procedural from bestseller Kellerman, his 23rd novel to feature L.A. consulting psychologist Alex Delaware (after Compulsion), high school miscreant Chance Brandt has been assigned to perform community service at the Bird Marsh, a nature sanctuary near Marina del Rey. After Chance dismisses as a prank an anonymous phone call warning him that there's a corpse buried in the marsh, Lt. Milo Sturgis, now “Special Case Investigator” for the LAPD, and Sturgis's team find four bodies there, all women missing their right hand. When Sturgis identifies one of the victims as Selena Bass, who worked as a piano teacher for the wealthy Vander family, the police focus on Travis Huck, the manager of the Vanders' Pacific Palisades estate, as the prime suspect because Travis has a criminal past. Kellerman fans wanting more of the same should be satisfied, though Sturgis gets less benefit from Delaware's psychological expertise than usual. (Nov.)

Orth, who worked five years for a nonprofit organization in Manila, Philippines, captures both the beauty and cruelty she witnessed there in her stellar first novel, set in the early 1980s near the end of Ferdinand Marcos's despotic reign. Doming Aquinaldo, a rebel whose father was murdered by Marcos's henchmen, is employed as a driver for a U.S. diplomat, Trace Caldwell, who supports the regime's oppressive policies. Doming eventually finds an ally (and lover) in Trace's lonely wife, Rue, who comes around to Doming's view after witnessing the everyday atrocities to which U.S. officials turn a blind eye. Orth vividly evokes the Manila of that era, from the beggars to the superstitious prophecies that substitute for hope, with such sensory details as the sound of a ripe mango hitting the ground and the bitter tang of rice wine vinegar on a piece of tanguigi (e.g., a whitefish). A judicious peppering of Tagalog lends further authenticity. (Nov.)

Originally published in 1949, Tanpinar's sweeping literary masterpiece is a love story of his native Turkey and of the flesh. As Turkish culture shifts from its traditional roots to a more modernized society in the 1930s, protagonist Mümtaz seeks to preserve the past. After his parents' untimely death, he becomes a devotee of Turkish literature under the tutelage of his cousin and mentor, Ihsan. Mümtaz is “like a figure in a novel, confronted by tragedy at a young age, ensuring that its effects would always afflict him” and perhaps that is why he chooses to focus on a disappearing past. He soon falls in love with Nuran, an unattainable woman with a complicated background. Mümtaz believes that his love for Nuran will be enough to save them both from the changing times and protect them from disaster. Tanpinar's lyricism and resonant plot will leave U.S. readers wondering why they've had to wait so long to read this exquisite novel. (Oct.)

Winner of the 2006 Australian/Vogel Literary Award, Castles (Falling Woman) spins a brooding and intricate contemporary saga about the denizens of an Australian riverside hamlet. Rose Baker, an author of women's erotica, lives alone and rents a small house from her sister Billie's boyfriend, James Mancini. After a brief and loveless fling with James, Rose discovers she's pregnant, but delays in telling Billie. Trying to escape from his abusive father, Danny Raine moved to the secluded village after faking his own drowning. Using the alias “Danny Reynolds,” he operates a local water taxi and is attracted to the lonely Rose. But Rose takes up with Kane, a drug dealer with a shady past. The other residents of the town—including a man who copes with the loss of his family by setting fires in the surrounding forest—and their various relationships are deftly interwoven, though the climax is somewhat predictable. The “River Baptists” of the title—euphoric churchgoers often found in their baptismal pools—give the otherwise dour narrative a glimmer of hope and redemption. (Oct.)

After rescuing Dean Martin in Everybody Kills Somebody Sometime (2006) and Frank Sinatra in Luck Be a Lady, Don't Die (2007), Vegas pit boss Eddie Gianelli and New York gunman Jerry Epstein reunite to save Sammy Davis Jr. in Randisi's breezy third Rat Pack mystery, set in the gambling hubs of Nevada (Tahoe, Reno, Vegas) in 1961. Davis, anxious to recover an embarrassing photo stolen from his home, hires Eddie to handle the exchange. When the transfer produces only a corpse, Eddie and Jerry end up in a lethal high stakes game with blackmailers, hit men, cops, federal agents and politicians—possibly including the newly installed president, JFK. Randisi shows both respect and affection for his historical characters as he highlights the antics of the Rat Park, who made the burgeoning gambling and entertainment empires of Nevada their playground. No doubt the Rat Pack could have used a real Eddie G. (Dec.)

A ghost turns sleuth in the intriguing first of a new series from Hart (Death on Demand), who's won Agatha, Anthony and Macavity awards. When Bailey Ruth Raeburn and her husband die on their cabin cruiser during a storm, Bailey joins the heavenly host. Later, she returns to earth via the Rescue Express to her hometown of Adelaide, Okla., to help the rector's wife, Kathleen Abbott. After finding the body of a dead man on her back porch, Kathleen fears either she or her husband might be accused of the crime. Bailey Ruth helps her to move the body, inaugurating a search for the killer that proves difficult as the victim was despised by many. As Bailey Ruth uncovers more than one crime, she must contend with her own violations of the Precepts for Earthly Visitation and adjust to her powers on earth. Hart blends an enjoyable fantasy with realistic characters and an engrossing plot that's sure to charm even ardent materialists. (Nov.)

At the start of Ballard's sweet seventh mystery to feature Lucy Nan Pilgrim and her guardian angel, Augusta Goodnight (after 2006's The Angel and the Jabberwocky Murders), the folks of Stone's Throw, S.C., are preparing for Christmas when Dexter Clark, a not very nice man with a criminal record, falls to his death from a balcony at Willowbrook, Lucy Nan's grandmother's plantation home. Then someone drugs Idonia Mae Culpepper, who'd begun dating town newcomer Melrose DuBois, and steals a locket DuBois had given her. Later, Opal Henshaw, DuBois's landlady, breaks her neck in a fall from a church balcony. Might Opal have known too much about the locket's provenance? Could Melrose be a thief and a killer? Augusta as always makes a delightful earthbound angel in a Southern cozy fragrant with holiday spices and, yes, a selection of enticing recipes. (Nov.)

Istanbul straddles the divide of Europe and Asia, and its polyglot population of 12 million seethes with political, religious and sexual tensions, as shown in the 16 stories in this strong entry in Akashic's noir anthology series. Most of the stories are fittingly dark, though a couple are lit by a macabre humor: Hikmet Hukumenoglu's “The Smell of Fish,” about a woman's efforts to discourage suitors, and Algan Sezginturedi's “Around Here, Somewhere,” about a drug runner's attempted escape. Sadik Yemni's “Burn and Go” delivers a memorable account of a childhood accident's fearsome consequences. A lonely older woman and a polite young man share a ride in Feryal Tilmaç's fateful “Hitching in the Lodos.” Most contributors are either natives of Istanbul or longtime residents, and their stories reflect religious extremism (Jessica Lutz's “All Quiet”) and governmental repression (editor Ziyalan's “Black Palace”) as well as the disaffection common to the genre. This is a welcome complement to the mostly historical mysteries set in Istanbul. (Nov.)

In Hill's solid 23rd Dalziel and Pascoe procedural set in Yorkshire, Det. Supt. Andy Dalziel doesn't see much of his longtime colleague, DCI Peter Pascoe, because Dalziel is recovering from the serious injuries he suffered in Death Comes for the Fat Man (2007) in the quiet resort of Sandytown. When the charred corpse of wealthy Lady Daphne Denham turns up in a revolving basket that had been used for a pig roast in Sandytown, the two policemen pursue largely independent investigations. Much of the background to Denham's demise comes from e-mails that in spots may puzzle those unfamiliar with e-mail jargon. More deaths follow before Hill offers a final twist that's unlikely to catch experienced genre readers by surprise. The crotchety Dalziel's chafing at the restrictions at the convalescent home where he's staying provides some amusing distraction from the somewhat leisurely crime solving. Newcomers might better start with earlier books in the series. (Nov.)

Congresswoman Carly Wagner, five-term U.S. congresswoman from Texas, and Mr. Jones, her sexy and enigmatic sleuthing partner, must figure out who strangled Judge Goodwin Deeds with a computer mouse cord in Power's diverting if lightweight second Washington, D.C., puzzler (after 2006's Missing Member). When Carly's 12-year-old daughter, Jordan Underwood, discovers the body at the Deeds's house, where she'd gone without permission one night to play a computer game with the judge's two children, Jordan rushes home, where she surprises her mom enjoying a smooch on the couch with a date, Mississippi senator Sam Lyman. A nervous Jordan later admits she actually went to the Deedses' to retrieve a disk her Wiccan friend Sherry Bunting made that puts a hex on the opponent of Sherry's father, a Kentucky senator, in the fall election. Along for the ride is Carly's pet chimpanzee, Abe Lincoln, who plays a lively role in uncovering a sneaky killer. (Nov.)

Less a conventional mystery than a study in Chinese-American culture, Chang's second novel (after 2006's Chinatown Beat) offers another tantalizing glimpse of precinct and street life in Manhattan's Chinatown. When a prosperous family of four dies in their apartment, NYPD Det. Jack Yu determines it is murder/suicide, probably an effort to save face. Saving face, a powerful motivator in Chinese culture, drives many characters, including Yu's boyhood friend, now gang boss, Tat “Lucky” Louie; young turk Koo Jai, who's trying to pull one over on Lucky; and Sai Go, a dying smalltime bookie who wants to keep his dignity. DA Alexandra Lee-Chow, in contrast, embodies the struggles of ordinary Chinese-Americans who are neither crooks nor celebrities. While some may feel there are too many specifics about Chinese takeout meals and the finale is a bit of a copout, Chang deftly keeps the action moving as he brings the Chinatown neighborhood alive in all its guises. (Nov.)

Hugo winner Bear (Undertow) perfectly captures the essence of faded hopes and exhausted melancholy in this postapocalyptic melodrama based loosely upon Norse mythology. On the Last Day, the historian Muire fled the battle, leaving her sibling Valkyries to die. More than 2,300 years later, only a single city, Eiledon, has survived as the dying world slowly turns into ice. Ashamed of her cowardice, Muire now vows to keep the last humans safe, but as she slowly pieces together the horrific truth behind the magic that has kept Eiledon standing, she must decide whether it's worth the price. Readers will be captivated by Bear's incredibly complex, broken characters; multilayered themes of redemption; and haunting, world-breaking decisions. While stilted prose slows the beginning of the tale, its finale is both rewarding and compelling. (Nov.)

In his foreword, David Stuart Davies asserts that the authors of these 11 stories pitting Holmes against the supernatural “are very well-versed in the world of Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson.” Unfortunately, this authority fails to come through. The eloquence of the one standout, Barbara Roden's “The Things That Shall Come Upon Them,” only emphasizes what the others lack. Roden effortlessly involves Holmes in a mystery derived from M.R. James's classic tale of terror, “Casting the Runes,” featuring psychic sleuth Flaxman Low. By contrast, Martin Powell's “Sherlock Holmes in the Lost World” sees Holmes battling ape-men and dinosaurs without any display of his remarkable intellect, and M.J. Elliott's “The Finishing Stroke” pays so much homage as to neglect originality. As a whole, this mixed bag fails to differentiate itself from other similar anthologies. (Nov.)

Returning to the land of the Sevenwaters trilogy (Daughter of the Forest, etc.), Marillier deftly weaves a fey story of human interaction with the Fair Folk. Clodagh, the third daughter of the lord of Sevenwaters, is the practical one who keeps things running while her aging mother awaits the birth of a male heir. At her sister's wedding, she meets rude, closed-off Cathal, one of her cousin Johnny's personal guards. Shortly after, when the Fair Folk replace the newborn heir with a changeling creature, Clodagh and Cathal put their lives and sanity on the line to rescue the child. Marillier's gripping tale of adventure and enduring love bobbles slightly at the start, mostly due to Clodagh's modern attitude and cadence, but slides quickly and assuredly into a grand tale of ancient Erin. (Nov.)

In this alternate history romp, 16th-century Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León, searching for the fountain of youth, instead finds a crashed UFO and a portal to another world. A century later, Father Jerónimo, an extraterrestrial Grella posing as a monk, is plotting an alien takeover after helping the Spanish Armada defeat the British with antimatter, or “St. Antony's fire.” Capt. Thomas Winslow, merchant adventurer and privateer, whisks Queen Elizabeth to safety in Virginia, accompanied by several notables including astrologer Dr. John Dee and young actor William Shakespeare. There they learn that the lost Roanoke colonists went to a world where 19 years have passed during one year on Earth, and Virginia now leads a war against the Grella. White (Blood of the Heroes) leaves the ending open, suggesting more daring and implausible adventures to come. (Nov.)

In Steele's fifth collection of short science fiction stories, the adventurers who look outward are rewarded with learning where they truly belong, be they canines transplanted off Earth (“The War of Dogs and Boids”), prospectless teens who stumble across a time-travel repair mission (“Escape from Earth”) or a virtual author breaking free of marketing straitjackets (“The Last Science Fiction Writer”). Staying too close to home, in contrast, leads nowhere, as the savage survivors of the next Ice Age find out in “Take Me Back to Old Tennessee.” If Steele (Galaxy Blues) could resist the tendency to pick on the easy targets in obvious ways, he would make his points more convincingly, but even his more unsubtle stories are written in a direct, entertaining style, with morals many readers will share and appreciate. (Nov.)

Readers with a taste for intelligent horror will welcome this collection from the versatile Thomas (Stories from the Big Black House). The longest among the 25 entries, “The Weird Old Hole,” is a fine traditional horror tale. After the Bicklehams move a steamer trunk in the cellar of their old house, revealing the hole of the story's title, they unwittingly unleash mysterious and ferocious beasts from another dimension. Another standout is “Fingers of Stone,” about a modern encounter with the legendary Gorgon. Even the shortest piece, the two-page “An Office Nymph,” manages to pack a wallop. Thomas distinguishes himself with subtlety and careful plotting in a genre in which gore and shock are often the norm. S.T. Joshi provides an appreciative foreword. (Nov.)

Compelling characterization is the driving force behind this enthralling story of hope. Born without facial features due to Treacher Collins syndrome, declared legally dead and signed over to a secret CIA program as an infant, 20-year-old Sarah Sims has spent her entire life hidden from the mainstream world. Her only distractions are her work as a computer espionage expert and a steady diet of classic movies until her aunt, Renee, discovers Sarah is still alive, providing her first chance to explore a life outside her physical and emotional seclusion. Hunt (The Elevator) fuels the completely engrossing story with dual present-tense narration by the two women. Readers are drawn into their lives, sharing their joy and fear as they approach a fulfilling and surprising climax. A touch of suspense adds to the powerful themes of second chances and new beginnings. (Nov.)

Genre hopping seems to suit horror writer Schow (Havoc Swims Jaded) as he lets out all the stops in this high-caliber action story. It's no exaggeration to say that Barney has a more intimate relationship with guns than he does with any human, living or dead. That's why Mexicans call him el hombre de las armas, the gunman. It's also why old army buddy Carl Ledbetter drags him into a messy situation when Carl's fiancée, Erica, is kidnapped in Mexico City. At the prearranged money drop things start to go awry, and eventually a badly beaten, mutilated, shotup and half-starved Barney emerges, determined to get revenge on the kidnappers and anyone else who gets in his way. This is a gory, fast-paced pulp tour de force in the classic style. (Nov.)

A taut race to identify and apprehend the person who is killing look-alikes of popular Richmond, Va., TV anchorwoman Kendall Shaw is enhanced with a dash of sexual tension plus generous handfuls of emotional baggage. After two women who resemble Kendall are found dead, it's clear that sooner or later the killer will directly target the aggressive newscaster. As homicide detective Jacob Warwick, who saw Kendall at her most vulnerable after rescuing her from an insane kidnapper, struggles with his attraction to her, he also needs to simultaneously protect her and keep her sharp reporter's instincts away from police business, all while she denies that she's in danger or needs any help. With a gift for artful obfuscation, Burton juggles a budding romance and two very plausible might-be perpetrators right up to the tense conclusion. (Nov.)

The Napoleonic era comes brilliantly alive in James's debut adventure romance. Sarah, Lady Munroe, has traveled to postrevolution Paris with her half-brother, Ross, to find their long-lost younger brother. Young Jamie suffered few ill effects while residing at a Parisian brothel thanks to the protection of Gabriel St. Croix, a “glittering catamite” who returns to England with them at Jamie's insistence. While Gabriel's attraction to Sarah begins as an innocent shared admiration for astronomy, their sensual love scenes intensify as Gabriel reconciles his tender feelings with his sordid past. The pace never falters when the lovebirds are separated and pursue adventures on their own. The extensive historical detail goes a long way, but Sarah and Gabriel's heart-wrenching struggle to keep their love alive is what will really keep readers entranced throughout this epic read. (Nov.)

All five Ripley novels in a hardcover boxed set.

More than 50 years after Highsmith first introduced him in The Talented Mr. Ripley (1955), fans of the dashing and dangerous Tom Ripley can enjoy all his adventures in one set—The Talented Mr. Ripley, Ripley Under Ground, Ripley's Game, The Boy Who Followed Ripley and Ripley Under Water. Highsmith (1921–1991) first gained prominence with her 1950 novel, Strangers on a Train, adapted a year later to film by Alfred Hitchcock. But it was Ripley who cemented her name in the burgeoning genre of psychological suspense. From his first murder—of rich playboy Dickie Greenleaf in Talented—to his graceful fade into anonymity in Under Water, Ripley is everything crime fiction fans love in an (anti)hero: a charmingly slick killer who can worm his way out of anything. (Oct.)