Fiction Reviews

The family ties that bind (and choke) are the overarching theme of Oates's grim but incisive collection. The title story takes the form of a rambling letter from an Andrea Yates–like mother after her infanticide is completed, detailing her belief that God has instructed her to drown her five little children who have “not turned out right.” “A Princeton Idyll” gives us a series of letters between a chipper children's author, granddaughter of a famous physicist, now deceased, and his sometimes sentimental, sometimes-bitter former maid; the result, in true Oatesian fashion, is dark family secrets and a good deal of denial. In “Vigilante” a son, struggling with his recovery from substance abuse, helps his unknowing mom by exacting revenge on his estranged dad. “Special” is told from the perspective of an elementary-school girl who moves toward desperate action watching her autistic older sister strain her parents' marriage and, worse, garner all their attention. Throughout the collection, Oates seamlessly enters the minds of disparate characters to find both the exalted and depraved aspects of real American families. (Apr.)

Haji traces in her impressive debut the fortunes of a family divided by secrets and lies as much as by the 1947 partition of the Indian subcontinent. Saira Qader, an American teenager of Indo-Pakistani descent, lives a sheltered life in California with her older sister, Ameena, and their overprotective and fiercely traditional parents. Saira's view of her family changes dramatically when she attends a wedding in Karachi and learns that her mother had lied to her about Saira's grandfather: he is not dead but living in London with a second family. As she learns more about her grandfather's work with Gandhi and the independence movement, Saira dreams of going to college instead of marrying early like her sister, and later carves out a life as a war journalist. But an unforeseen tragedy makes her choose between her peripatetic existence and the more traditional (and perhaps more desirable) setup awaiting her at home. Haji achieves an effortless commingling of family and social history in this intricate story that connects a young woman and her family over continents and through generations. (Mar.)

In this gorgeously written yet elusive book, sophomore novelist Sher (Gentlemen of Space) chronicles a surreal road trip and uses the Singer Sewing Company as a metaphor for the erosion of America. In the early 1980s, Milton Menger, a wealthy art dealer, receives a phone call from an old friend, Charles Trembleman. Charles, a painter turned Singer salesman, badly burned his hands when the motel where he was staying caught fire, and he needs someone to drive him across his territory. So Charles and Milton embark on an odyssey across the South, staying in decaying motels, visiting Singer showrooms and inadvertently finding themselves in the shadow of Alsby Kennel, a “nineteenth-century American painter of the Cumberland School” they both admire. The pair also crosses paths with Jane Garnet, a fellow Singer agent and femme fatale. The novel's first two-thirds is spectacular and features a David Lynch–like creepiness enhanced by inventive prose, but Sher loses his footing in the third act as other motels burn down and the novel draws to a strangely inconsequential conclusion. Still, fans of offbeat stories and dazzling prose will find this novel inspired and inspiring. (Mar.)

Jim Rath has an unusual set of ambitions: “My goal was a thorough understanding of water,” he says. “But not on a chemical level. Not in any way you could test.... I wanted to know why the water is always calling to us, what it wants to tell us.” In this ambling adventure, he attempts to find out. Combining Rath's story (including the predictable dissolution of his marriage) with that of Homeland Security agent Les Diaz, Rotter, in his first novel, weaves a semisuspenseful tale of (possible) international terrorism and, uh, water parks. Parading from a Colorado Springs, Colo., Hilton all the way to the Prospector's Bend theme park outside of Denver, Rath and Diaz engage in a battle of something like wits; Diaz thinks Rath is a jihadist, while Rath—at best a dreamer, at worst a psychopath—thinks Diaz is a merman from an imaginary underwater city. While Rotter makes a solid effort, the fantasy element of the book remains half-baked and, despite the timely and biting humor throughout, the thrill of the goofy 320-page chase isn't quite enough. (Mar.)

Johnson's bittersweet and often humorous hen-lit debut portrays the lives of five very different Southern women: compassionate Lorraine, bossy Margaret, grief-stricken Bernice, ambitious April and brusque Rhonda. At the center of this character-driven novel is Lorraine, a nurse at the nursing home where Margaret and Bernice live. As the three women drift into friendship, hairdresser Rhonda arrives to take a part-time job, and the older women begin to change her life. Lorraine's daughter, April, meanwhile, is also gradually drawn into the circle. The story unfolds slowly over decades and life milestones, giving the characters plenty of time to reveal themselves. Johnson has a sure ear for Southern speech, though the dialect can become tiresome, and the narrative's lack of plot makes the novel feel overlong. Nevertheless, the underlying message of the power of love and friendship resonates, as does its depiction of the way in which people leading unremarkable lives can have a tremendous impact on those around them. (Mar.)

Lovely's debut novel, a touching journey of the heart, tracks what happens to two Midwestern families after a death and a gift of life. Archeologist Alex Voormann and his plant biologist wife, Isabel, had a pleasant enough life in Iowa until Isabel was struck and killed while riding her bicycle. Alex reluctantly complies with her wish to be an organ donor, which saves the life of Janet Corcoran, a 34-year-old Chicago art teacher and mother of two. Lovely thoughtfully weaves the tales of these two families together, tracing the realities of love and loss of all kinds as Alex attempts to move on, the man who was driving the truck that killed Isabel begins popping up in unexpected places, and Janet seeks out Alex and Isabel's mother to thank them and express her guilt and empathy. Lovely does a great job of staying out of sappy melodrama as the gravity of Isabel's death pulls the cast together in memorable fashion. The delicate handling of loaded material, attention to detail and depth of character make this a standout. (Feb.)

A formulaic foray into the world of Renaissance Italy, this novel based on the life of painter Fra Filippo Lippi will be lapped up by fans of historical romance. In the year 1457, Lippi, a Carmelite monk in Prato, spots the lovely Lucrezia Buti and wants to use her as a model for his paintings and frescoes. Lucrezia's visits to the painter's bottega are misinterpreted by the convent's corrupt and powerful prior general, with irreparable consequences for the girl. But Lippi and Lucrezia fall in love, and through a series of intrigues involving the disappearance of a relic revered as miraculous by the people of Prato, the painter and his lover are vindicated and can live happily ever after—at least until the hasty last chapter. Albanese (Blue Suburbia) and art historian Morowitz have taken a historical rumor and fashioned it into a saccharine, tidy and satisfying romance. (Feb.)

What do you get when you give a metrosexual superhero a sidekick, an identity crisis and the ability to predict the weather? The answer: Captain Freedom, the lovable hero of Robillard's debut novel. Once a popular superhero, Freedom's celebrity is on the wane, and instead of going quietly into retirement, he goes in search of his origin. Along the way, Freedom visits with a life coach, tries to find his lost father and writes his memoirs. He also laments his lack of a completing other half: an arch-nemesis. Causing trouble for Freedom, meanwhile, is the sniveling journalist/would-be superhero Skip Goodwin, whose antagonistic history dates back to the superhero school he and Freedom attended. Although Freedom manages to maintain a successful career into retirement and stay in the public eye, he also has a lot to learn about personal relationships. Robillard keeps the satire fast and furious, with laugh-out-loud moments competing with strangely insightful quips. It's funny and smart, and even readers who've long given up comic books will enjoy the ride. (Feb.)

The search for a stranger's history leads down a narrative cul-de-sac in Plimpton Prize–winner Ball's accomplished and clever second novel (after Samedi the Deafness). When pamphleteer Selah Morse witnesses a taxi run down a young woman, he takes her to the hospital and, in telling the staff that he is her boyfriend and that her name is Mora Klein, is given custody of her. She is amnesiac, and his orders are to reconstruct her memories through story. The book then begins anew, and the narrative folds in upon itself again and again, launching in new directions and each time leaving the earlier story incomplete. Throughout, Morse searches out Mora Klein's identity, picking up other travelers along the way, among them a Coney Island mind reader; a doting husband who may or may not have made a deal with the devil; a love interest for Morse fascinated by the pamphleteer's opus; and a fiddle-playing dog. Though literal-minded readers may struggle to follow Morse's arc as the stories converge and he slips deeper into layers of story, Ball's skill with language and delight in comic absurdity make this an immensely enjoyable, brain-busting experience. (Feb.)

At the start of bestseller Fairstein's entertaining 11th legal thriller to feature ADA Alexandra Cooper of Manhattan's Sex Crimes Prosecution Unit (after Killer Heat), Alex persuades librarian Tina Barr to go to the hospital after a burglar posing as a fireman assaults Tina at her East Side home. After Tina disappears, a woman's corpse turns up in Tina's abandoned apartment that looks like Tina's landlady, heiress Minerva Hunt, but in fact is Minerva's Romanian housekeeper. Alex and her sidekick, NYPD detective Mike Chapman, later learn that Tina was once employed by Minerva's father, Jasper Hunt, a rare book and map collector. The investigation leads Alex and her team into the dark depths of the New York Public Library in search of stolen items that certain bibliophiles and antique map enthusiasts would kill for. Full of fun information about the NYPL, the plot builds to a cool resolution that sets up Alex's next adventure involving a disturbing cold case. Author tour. (Jan.)

A literary veteran of the Napoleonic Wars and the U.S. Civil War, Cornwell returns to the Hundred Years War era in this action-packed if slightly melodramatic epic about King Henry V and the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. Nicholas Hook, an English forester, is on the run after interfering with a rapist priest and ends up a mercenary defender at Soissons, where he saves a young and beautiful novitiate, Melisande. With his French prize in tow, he returns to England and signs on with Henry's army as an archer. Back on French soil, he fights and slogs his way to Agincourt, where 6,000 Englishmen confront 30,000 French soldiers. Hearing the voice of St. Crispinian whispering to him in times of personal crisis, Hook has his hands full with the French and defending himself from the vengeance-seeking rapist priest and Melisande's father. The crisply rendered battle scenes are adrenaline rushes of blood, thunder and clashing swords that transport the reader back to the early 15th century. Unfortunately, Hook's Hollywood-ready construction undercuts the “you are there” feeling of Cornwell's otherwise vivid recreation of Henry V's greatest military triumph. (Jan.)

The salad days of Hollywood intersect with Jack London's final days in this spirited but loquacious imagining of the author's volatile relationship with real-life actor and filmmaker Hobart Bosworth. It's 1916, and Bosworth, director of half a dozen highly successful films of London's works, is desperate for a hit to bail out his sinking studio. His only recourse is to travel to Hawaii and ask his estranged friend for an original script to film. London offers a somewhat unlikely adaptation of his prehistoric epic, Before Adam, for which Bosworth gives a dry run as a short-lived stage vehicle cast with the local natives. Malmont (The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril) crafts an entertaining buddy story, but as the novel's focus shifts from Bosworth to London, the plot wanders distractingly all over the map and dissipates its dramatic impact in a surfeit of subplots. Some judicious edits could have made this novel as taut and lean as one of its subject's tales. (Jan.)

In this bleak and thrilling novel, the fifth from Booker Prize–nominee Galgut, the author creates an antipastoral, postapartheid noir that centers around Adam Napier, a depressed poet who retreats to a rural South African town to write. Rather than write, Adam drinks and wallows in depression. The story accelerates once he meets Canning, a former schoolmate who regards Adam as a personal hero even though Adam cannot remember him. As it turns out, Canning is a wealthy businessman with a vendetta against his dead father: he plans to transform an idyllic game preserve his father owned into a golf course. While Canning facilitates business between corrupt politicians and shady businessmen, Adam sinks deeper into a moral quagmire and continues to fail as a poet. At the heart of this tightly wound novel is a story of betrayal—within an individual, among friends and neighbors and within a society. With Adam, Galgut has created a transcendent loser, a contemporary cousin to Bellow's magnificent Tommy Wilhelm in Seize the Day. (Jan.)

In the exciting first of a projected trilogy featuring real-life Confederate naval hero Cmdr. Rafael Semmes, mystery author Peffer (Old School Bones) spends as much time ashore as at sea as he tacks from the infighting among Lincoln's cabinet to the unsavory adventures of Semmes's Irish lover, Maude Galway, and the almost endless maneuvering and bickering among federal officials and officers over capturing Semmes. After joining the nascent Confederate navy in 1861, Semmes converts a packet boat into a warship in New Orleans, escapes the Federal blockade and begins a remarkable and lengthy run of predations on Yankee shipping. While some readers may wish for more high seas action, the character of Semmes, an ardent believer in the Southern cause as well as a daring and resourceful commander, and the difficult conditions under which he operated make this a compelling and colorful read. (Jan.)

In this remarkable debut, Bauermeister creates a captivating world where the pleasures and particulars of sophisticated food come to mean much more than simple epicurean indulgence. Respected chef and restaurateur Lillian has spent much of her 30-something years in the kitchen, looking for meaning and satisfaction in evocative, delicious combinations of ingredients. Endeavoring to instill that love and know-how in others, Lillian holds a season of Monday evening cooking classes in her restaurant. The novel takes up the story of each of her students, navigating readers through the personal dramas, memories and musings stirred up as the characters handle, slice, chop, blend, smell and taste. Each student's affecting story—painful transitions, difficult choices—is rendered in vivid prose and woven together with confidence. Delivering memorable story lines and characters while seducing the senses, Bauermeister's tale of food and hope is certain to satisfy. (Jan.)

Nick Sunder, a disillusioned Boston lawyer, has been backpacking in Asia for more than a year when disaster strikes at the start of Mastras's stirring first novel: the police in Peshawar, Pakistan, arrest him for cutting his French girlfriend's throat. Innocent of the crime, Sunder escapes custody by killing a cop. He heads into the Himalayas on foot, and after several weeks arrives at a remote medical clinic in the Indian-controlled part of Kashmir, where he gets a job as an aid worker, falls in love with a female Muslim doctor and witnesses horrifying acts of terrorism. Mastras, a TV writer (Breaking Bad) who's trekked through Asia himself, delivers a winding, character-rich plot full of authentic detail and regional history. While sentimentality mars some passages, the odysseylike story grips. Though Sunder's naïveté can be distracting at times, readers will cheer him along his path toward spiritual renewal, guided by the wisdom and advice of the titular Fidali, whom he meets on his journey. (Jan.)

These nine gorgeous stories from novelist and screenwriter Raymond find pallid Northwesterners testing the moral perimeters of their decent lives. In “The Suckling Pig,” set around the preparations for a dinner party, the divorced middle-aged host hires two Mexican men for some yard work at his suburban house, then adds them to the guest list to spur on what turns out to be a transformative and class-blurring evening. The wayward protagonist of “Train Choir” hopes to make it to Alaska and find work with the fisheries, but she gets caught stealing food for her dog, setting off a chain of mishaps that sinks her deeper into a perverse, solitary rut. In “Young Bodies,” 17-year-old Russian émigré Kendra sneaks into the store where she works to return the money she'd stolen, only to get locked in the mall for the night with an increasingly unsympathetic co-worker. A sense of fragility pervades these characters' lives, and as the upsets that threaten each of them simmer, Raymond reveals how close failure (and worse) lingers. (Jan.)

In this evocative novel of redemption, Greenwood (Undressing the Moon) finds humanity and redemption in the life of a smalltown widower and his legacy of guilt. In 1980, 12 years after his involvement in the murder of a black man, railroad worker Harper Montgomery is still living under a cloud of guilt. Alternating between past and present, Harper's narrative reveals bit by bit the circumstances of the crime, as well as the long-devoted lover Harper was, and the caring father he's become. Harper's narrative makes a mystery of much: we know he participated in the murder, but not why. We know his wife died, but not how. Already struggling to raise his daughter, Shelly, further questions surround his decision to take in pregnant teen Maggie. As the past catches up the present, however, Harper's grave fears give way to unexpected and poignant developments. Greenwood is a writer of subtle strength, evoking smalltown life beautifully while spreading out the map of Harper's life, finding light in the darkest of stories. (Jan.)

Stilted prose and improbable situations mar the 10th and last novel to feature Chicago cop Larry Cole (after Criminal Element) from police lieutenant Holton (1947–2001). Eight years after murdering a watchmaker in Switzerland, international criminal Carlos José Perfido has assumed a new identity as an acclaimed musical actor. When someone guns Perfido down on a Chicago stage one night, the killer at first appears to be Morgana Devoe, the love interest of Cole's police cadet son, Butch. Devoe used an elaborate gun-concealed-in-binoculars device to fire two shots at Perfido, in revenge for her watchmaker uncle's murder, but ballistics soon show that the third, fatal shot, came from another weapon. Even action fans who could care less about plot coherence will struggle to keep a straight face, especially during the climactic gladiatorial showdown involving a man-eating tiger and two starving lions set up by the mastermind of the book's violence. (Jan.)

At the start of Stone's chilling second thriller, set in the early 1980s and the prequel to Mr. Clarinet (2007), Det. Sgt. Max Mingus and his black partner, Det. Joe Liston, think a decomposed body discovered in a primate park in Miami, Fla., is just one of the city's more bizarre murders. But when a tarot card—the ominous King of Swords—is found in the victim's stomach and his entire family killed, it's clear something darker is at work. The detectives are soon hot on the trail of a young Haitian pimp and his fortune-teller mother, who are thought to be linked to voodoo gang leader Solomon Boukman. Rumors abound about Boukman's human sacrifices and allegiance to the voodoo god of death, Baron Samedi, but few have actually seen his face. With police corruption rampant, Mingus and Liston realize that in order to take down Boukman, they'll have to hunt him alone. The violence is every bit as gruesome as in Clarinet, but Stone expertly harnesses it to propel his multilayered saga of good, evil and everything in between. (Dec.)

Jimmy, the canine star of Merrill's second fun-loving doggie novel (after Walking in Circles Before Lying Down), is the Tony Robbins of the dog world and holds informal seminars with the neighborhood dogs to instruct them in the art of manipulating their human masters (the key, he intones, is nose down, eyes up). Jimmy's poochly wisdom—spot-on and hilarious throughout—is made available courtesy of his owner, Gil, an unlucky in love handyman who learns how to communicate with dogs. This launches the novel's plot, as Gil shoots down Jimmy's idea that he is Gil's biological son. Soon, Jimmy is intent on meeting his birth mother, who happens to belong to Gil's now-remarried ex-wife. A series of setbacks beset the duo, and the tribulations provide lessons in life, love and finding happiness. The conversations with the wry, wise and lovable Jimmy (and his three other oddball dog pals) comprise the novel's heart and comedic through-line—discourse ranges from business matters to why dogs pee so many times during walks. Markoe's hilarious dialogue should be a must-read for dog lovers. (Dec.)

Set in post-WWII London and Berlin, Ferris's run-of-the-mill second crime thriller to feature PI Danny McRae (after Truth Dare Kill) finds the former soldier, recently traumatized by a serial killer case, handling routine investigations-for-hire in between sessions with an army psychiatrist. McRae is jolted out of his rut by Eve Copeland, “ace reporter, with nice legs,” who offers him steady money if he gives her access to information that will enable her to regain the prominence as a journalist she'd enjoyed during the war when she had to compete with fewer male colleagues. Predictably, McRae finds himself falling for Copeland, who turns out to be a German whose real name is Ava Kaplan. When she disappears, McRae pursues her trail to occupied Berlin. Ferris captures the feel of bleak postwar Europe (“gaps like old women's gums among the warehouses and tenements”), but readers should be prepared for a standard plot and characterization. (Dec.)

A good kiss goes a long way, especially in a Christian romance novel that is surely free of much physical entanglement beyond the perfect smooch. Bestselling romance novelist Hunter, in her newest, offers the requisite great kiss and loads of tension between Josephine Mitchell, who returns to her family's Blue Ridge Orchard when her sister's pregnancy becomes a crisis, and Grady MacKenzie, the orchard manager, who doesn't trust Josie for a minute. There are secrets to be kept, guilt to overcome, past heartbreak to repair—all fodder for a good romance. The author adds more weight than usual as Josie's guilt over an accident in her past threatens her very life, but like all good romances, everything is tied up at the end. And even though the tale becomes overwrought as Hunter plumbs the depths of Josie and Grady's thoughts and introduces a plethora of side plots (Aunt Lola's pie; Alzheimer's suffered by the father of Josie's childhood friend; Josie's father) this Women of Faith Fiction title is sure to grab readers by the heart. (Dec.)

Evangelical Christian writing duo Rue and Arterburn collaborate again in this follow-up to Healing Stones, the first of many (one hopes) Sullivan Crisp novels. Therapist Crisp re-emerges in this second outing after a stint of therapy he himself undergoes as he grapples with his faith following his wife's suicide and their baby girl's death. Enter the less-than-doted-on obstetrics nurse Lucia Coffey, who is battling her weight, her drug abuser husband and her famous televangelist, miracle-healing sister, Sophia. When Sophia's private plane bursts into flames and her face is burned beyond recognition, Lucia, with all her acumen and saucy wit, takes on the task of tending to her injured sister. What happens during the healing process is both tender and tragic, and psychologist Crisp is dead center in the middle of all the action. This well-written tale will move and engage readers in its volatile mix of questionable religious healing claims and the real deal—inner restoration of the soul. (Dec.)

Bestseller McKenna (Extreme Danger) aims for the heart with scorching precision in this well-researched romantic thriller in which the erotic elements fit the action and the central relationship doesn't interfere with the plot. Glamorous Tamara Steele, a career criminal turned jewelry designer, is doing her best to be a good mother to her three-year-old adoptive daughter, Rachel, a Ukrainian orphan rescued from a black-market organ donor ring. Unfortunately, Tam's dark past is catching up with her: gangster Daddy Novak wants revenge for the murder of Kurt, his son and heir, with whom she was once involved; another crook, Georg Luksch, has hired Val Janos, a sexy covert operative, to deliver Tam to his bed so he can make her his love slave. Val and Tam emerge as fully fleshed-out characters as the smitten Val decides to help Tam rather than deliver her to the odious Luksch. McKenna fans will enjoy glimpses of her popular crime-fighting McCloud clan, whose members are also intent on protecting Tam and Rachel. (Nov.)

At the start of this X-rated crime novel from Risqué (The Sweetest Taboo), an unidentified woman bent on revenge is hiding in a closet in an apartment that the sex-addicted mayor of New York City, Kenyatta Smith, uses for trysts. The woman shoots Eve Johnson, a high-priced prostitute, while Eve and Smith are engaged in sex. The killer has just enough time to escape unseen before the oblivious Smith realizes he's cuddling a corpse. Since Smith ensures that the body disappears, the FBI becomes involved in what's treated as a missing persons case. A steamy affair develops between FBI special agent Blessing Shield and Eve's employer, Collyn Bazemore, who operates an exclusive call-girl business, Red Light Special. Was it Smith's neglected, long-suffering wife, Monday, who murdered Eve? Or did one of Smith's many disgruntled lovers pull the trigger? Some readers may have a tough time identifying with the selfish, abusive Smith. Others may wish Risqué had focused more on political intrigue and less on bedroom play. (Nov.)

Soon after plus-sized PI Savannah Reid helps San Carmelita, Calif., Det. Sgt. Dirk Coulter nab a peeping Tom at Clarissa's House of Pain and Gain in McKevett's lively 14th mystery to feature the proprietor of the Moonlight and Magnolia Detective Agency (after 2008's Poisoned Tarts), obnoxious diet guru Clarissa Jardin reports her womanizing, gambling husband, Bill, missing. When Bill turns up as a frozen corpse with a bullet in his skull, Bill's mother hires Savannah to prove Clarissa killed her son or hired someone to do it. Savannah suspects Clarissa offed her hubby, but she and Dirk discover a few other potential culprits, notably Clarissa's twin, very fat sister, who posed for Clarissa's fake “before” pictures in ads promoting her fitness and diet plan. McKevett (the pseudonym of Sonja Massie) delivers another amusing tart-tongued cozy that goes down like a yummy guilt-free dessert. (Jan.)

In summer the Baltic island of Gotland, Beowulf's old stomping ground, offers stunning scenery for tourists and white nights for love and lust, all of which shape the backdrop of Det. Supt. Anders Knutas's investigation into one horrifying crime after another in Swedish author Jungstedt's absorbing third police procedural (after 2007's Unspoken). The decapitation of a harmless pony is followed by the “threefold” Viking ritual murder of a female archeology student, who's been carrying on a torrid affair with a secret lover, then two more grisly executions, all punctuated by chilling glimpses into a psychopathic mind. The fluid translation evokes the stark economy of the ancient sagas, where all that mattered was how one fought and died. A little of that old warrior spirit still inhabits Jungstedt's tired, frustrated Swedish policemen and journalists, facing monsters within and without and, like Beowulf, never giving in. (Dec.)

Ozzie Campbell disappears just before he's about to go on trial for murdering Jacobia “Jake” Tiptree's mother in front of the then three-year-old Jake in Graves's engrossing 12th mystery to feature the handywoman and former Manhattan financial manager who's resettled in Eastport, Maine (after 2007's The Book of Old Houses). Jake's instincts go on high alert after a pair of obvious out-of-towners show up in Eastport, asking questions about her. Then someone abducts Leonora, the little girl Jake has been caring for while her mother is on vacation in Europe, and Leonora's teenage babysitter, Helen Nevelson. The narrative twists around Helen's desperate escape and survival story, and Jake's own tale of capture and rescue as they both battle heartless kidnappers, the harsh terrain and puppet master Campbell's efforts to force Jake to recant her witness statement. Relentless pacing, an appealing heroine and perfectly loathsome antagonists will more than satisfy series fans. (Dec.)

In Barbieri's witty third cozy to feature English professor Alison Bergeron (after 2007's Extracurricular Activities), Alison befriends Hernan Escalante and his extended family from Ecuador at the soup kitchen where she's doing community service north of New York City. When the beaten body of Jose Tomasso, one of Hernan's relatives and an illegal immigrant, surfaces in the Hudson near Riviera Pointe, a luxury condo development in the Bronx where Jose was a construction worker, Alison offers to help Hernan find out what happened. After a second murder at Riviera Pointe, Hernan disappears. Alison's investigation leads her and her sidekicks, including her faithful canine companion, Trixie, into all sorts of nail-biting danger. An offer of assistance from former sweetie Jack McManus, marketing director for the New York Rangers, tests Alison's relationship with her main squeeze, NYPD detective Bobby Crawford. Barbieri scores again with this high-octane blend of romance, laughs and chills. (Dec.)

A beautifully rendered setting and memorable characters more than offset the rambling narrative of this debut, the first of a projected series from British author Brooke (the husband-wife team of Philip O'Brien and Jane Brooke) to feature an appealing Scots-Spanish detective whose mixed heritage gives him valuable perspective. Sub-Insp. Max Romero, a liaison to the Muslim community, is the man in the middle as the impact of the death of pretty young graduate student Leila Mahfouz, in the Spanish village of Diva near Grenada, ripples outward. Mahfouz's demise sparks both a murder investigation and a politically motivated inquiry into the “European Training Centre for young Muslim entrepreneurs.” A stain of corruption reaching back to the 1936 death of poet Federico García Lorca provides a haunting counterpoint to the current crime. Romero, besides assisting the local police investigation, must also deal with pressure from a powerful antiterrorist group. The many plot threads of this thought-provoking mystery can be hard to follow, but readers who persevere will feel well rewarded. (Dec.)

Civil war looms between the forces of Julius Caesar and Pompey, providing an ominous background for Roberts's compelling 12th Roman historical to feature Decius Caecilius Metellus (after 2007's SPQR XI: Under Vesuvius). Recently raised to the post of praetor peregrinus, Metellus is enjoying traveling outside Rome hearing cases involving foreigners, but he gets an unexpected shock at the Oracle of the Dead near the southern Italian town of Baiae. The corpse of Eugaeon, a priest of Apollo, surfaces in the rushing stream of water inside the oracle's temple. Oddly, Eugaeon's body shows no sign of violence but is completely hairless. After the priest's missing colleagues, initially the prime suspects, also turn up dead, the astute sleuth comes to believe that these current killings are but the latest of many. Metellus puts his own life at risk in an exciting case that engages the attention of Pompey himself. (Dec.)

In British author Purser's sprightly eighth Lois Meade cozy (after 2007's Sorrow on Sunday), Lois, who operates a cleaning service called New Brooms, looks into the murder of 78-year-old Clement Fitch and his infamously loud rooster, Satan. Lois's son, Douglas, Clem's new neighbor in the town of Tresham, becomes a prime suspect after an anonymous informant claims to have seen Douglas knock the pensioner to the ground. Members of the Meade family, Lois's employees and Douglas's new girlfriend all seek to prove Douglas's innocence. To do so, they must unmask the true identities of Clem's neighbor across the street, Mrs. Imogen Blairgowrie, a supposedly visually impaired New Brooms client, whose slimy son, Alastair, might be involved with organized crime. Purser supplements the sleuthing with spot-on observations of working-class village life and the trials of running a small business, though a rushed resolution leaves some questions unanswered. (Nov.)

Handsomely equipped with a comprehensive introductory historical essay, editor's notes and selected bibliography, this distinguished anthology is a model of genre research. These previously untranslated stories, published from 1871 onward, offer reading virtually unknown to most American (and many German) readers. Some authors combine scientific and philosophical issues, like Kurd Lasswitz in his witty tale “To the Absolute Zero of Existence: A Story from 2371,” while others, as in Erik Simon's 1983 title story, pose psychological puzzles involving alien phenomena. Though the earlier stories in particular demand painstaking reading, all of them repay it with rewarding insights into German and Austrian culture and the many possible uses and misuses of science. (Dec.)

Talented African-American authors Banks (The Shadows), Massey (Don't Ever Tell) and Due (Blood Colony) explore ancestral roots in intriguing horror novellas. Banks puts a time-travel twist into “Ev'ry Shut Eye Ain't Sleep,” in which antique dealer Abe Morgan helps a friend, Rashid Jackson, protect Aziza, Rashid's granddaughter, from “the shades” after Aziza inherits her grandmother's house. In Massey's “The Patriarch,” a crime novelist brings his fiancée to Coldwater, Miss., to introduce her to his mom's kinfolk, but runs afoul of a powerful family secret. Due's “Ghost Summer,” the best of the trio, also works as a YA novel. Davie Stephens, who's determined to become a 12-year-old ghost buster, and various family members find themselves haunted by a 1909 cold case in Graceville, Fla. All three contributors successfully combine scary themes with rich historical detail. (Dec.)

The third Timeweb Chronicles space fantasy episode (after 2007's The Web and the Stars) concludes “eco-warrior” Noah Watanabe's personal journey. Watanabe has unprecedented access to the disintegrating Timeweb that spans the universe, but interaction with it begins to change him into something more than human. Meanwhile, the threat of the mysterious Hib-Adu Coalition unites the human Merchant Prince Alliance and the shape-shifters of the Mutati Kingdom in common cause. As the political situation and the Timeweb decay, Watanabe struggles to protect his people from the forces imprisoned within the Web. Only diehard fans will last to the end of the novel, which suffers from clunky writing, a plethora of sketchy characters, a confusing plot, stakes so high as to be meaningless and a pace alternately breathless and leaden. (Dec.)

Alternate historian Turtledove (The Man with the Iron Heart) opens this fantasy with Hasso Pemsel, a tough Wehrmacht captain, cornered in a Berlin museum as the Russians close in. Pemsel falls into another world, where he promptly rescues beautiful blonde half-goddess Velona from three swarthy men. Velona seduces him and explains that the blond Lenelli invaders rule over the dark native Grenye, keeping them subjugated with magic. Experienced from fighting on the Russian front, Hasso brings modern military ideas to the Lenelli before they invade the Grenye stronghold of Bucovin, but when the Grenye capture him, conversations with intelligent, lovely high priestess Drepteaza start to erode his assumptions about both races. Pemsel's slow enlightenment breaks no new ground, but his story will appeal to fans of Turtledove's straightforward style and military know-how. (Dec.)

This light novella set in A.D. 2234 (112 years after Resnick's lauded Kirinyaga stories) chronicles the attempt by the Maasai people of Kenya to set up a utopian society called Kilimanjaro on a terraformed planetoid orbiting Earth. Though they're determined to avoid Kirinyaga's mistakes, problems arise from the beginning. The chapters read more like puzzles than stories, presenting difficulties and too-easy solutions that mostly rely on the leaders' willingness to swallow their pride and buck tradition, but Resnick works in plenty of intriguing detail about the culture and character of the settlers and the new world that they model as closely as possible after the one they are leaving behind. The juxtaposition of an ancient tribal society and a bucolic but futuristic setting will keep readers happily engaged. (Dec.)

Blaylock's contemporary fantasy thriller features an intriguing and convincing reluctant hero, amiable cartoonist Calvin Bryson. Bryson's quiet life gets a jolt when his uncle, Al Lymon, invites him to visit New Cyprus, the isolated home of the mysterious Knights of the Cornerstone. Bryson's cousin also sends him a package to take to Lymon, but before Bryson makes it to New Cyprus, the parcel is stolen. Only afterward does Bryson learn it was a decoy, intended to mask the transport of the genuine Veil of Veronica, a legendary relic with magical properties. The plot line begins to sound familiar when Bryson falls for a childhood friend, but as the Knights and their enemies battle for control of the veil, Blaylock (The Digging Leviathan) bolsters the predictable climax with solid prose, summing to an enjoyable read. (Dec.)

The sequel to 2008's Inside Straight, a revamp of the shared Wild Cards universe, features crises ripped directly from today's newspaper headlines and summer blockbusters. A burgeoning gas shortage has sparked an invasion into the Middle East; New Orleans is hurricane-beset and zombie-ravaged; someone has set off a nuclear explosion in Texas; and genocide rages in Nigeria. The conflicts between the compellingly human superheroes on the U.N.'s Committee shape this fast-paced alternate history. Veteran contributor and now assistant editor Melinda M. Snodgrass pens standout chapters featuring British triple-agent Double Helix, who drives the plot while posing as both seductive Committee member Lilith and Middle Eastern assassin Bahir. While those unfamiliar with the Wild Cards mosaic novels will flounder, the clever twists on today's political landscape and the unique powers of several new “aces” will lure back past readers. (Dec.)

A unique angle and smart plotting highlight the launch of Stanton's Beaufort & Company paranormal mystery series. After inheriting her uncle's Savannah, Ga., law practice, Bree Winston-Beaufort gets a call from Benjamin Skinner, a despised—and deceased—billionaire. Bree, thrust into the mysterious world of Celestial Law, agrees to represent the late Mr. Skinner before the Celestial Court, where he is on trial for greed. A cast of colorful and imaginative characters, including handsome, annoying PI Gabriel Striker, support her as she searches for witnesses to Skinner's rare altruism and untimely death. Stanton (A Taste for Murder and others as Claudia Bishop) balances the pace skillfully, seamlessly weaving Bree's bewildering supernatural experiences into her investigation. Engaging and charismatic, angel's advocate Bree will be a breath of fresh air for fans of paranormal cozy mysteries. (Dec.)

Former USAF officer Reeve channels her flight experience into this crisp military SF debut. Major Ariane Kedros is a jaded N-space pilot who left the Armed Forces of the Consortium of Autonomous Worlds under the shadow of war crimes committed against the Terran Expansion League. Given a new identity to protect her from TEL retribution, she wanders around uncharted areas of space with her friend Matt Journey, seeking unusual artifacts and taking on occasional intelligence gigs for AFCAW. When several of her former crewmates are killed, Ariane is sent on a new undercover assignment that brings back haunting memories and puts her in considerable danger. Reeve drives the story at a breakneck pace, providing a fine mix of derring-do, honor and courage, and the familial bickering and affection of a close-knit crew. (Dec.)

A jumble of paranormal elements bogs down this otherwise interesting love story, which shares a milieu with 2007's Betrayed. Overwhelmed by the impending death of her mother, Beth Ann Raines returns home to care for her 10 nieces and nephews, abandoned by her errant siblings. The last thing she wants is for her handsome high school crush, Alex Foster, to come barreling back into her life, even though she's dreamed of him for years. When Alex reveals his own dream of Beth in danger, they begin to explore their mental powers and are thrown into a world of angels, demons and an ancient evil force trying to destroy them. Chaos reigns supreme, with characters barely introduced and relationship development drowned out by supernatural events, and even readers familiar with Betrayed will struggle to make sense of it all. (Dec.)

Seasoned romance writer Sinclair (Into the Mist) sends an accident-prone angel to earth in this holiday heart-warmer. After Dora overpolishes a fellow angel's halo and sends another tumbling off a cloud, she begs to become mortal. Her superior angel grants her wish, but only until Christmas, assigning her to act as a nanny to six-year-old orphan Penny and help Penny's uncle, Tony, learn how to love again. Lighthearted humor is interspersed with romance as Dora learns how to drive and cook and earns the affection of her charges. While the burgeoning romance between Dora and Tony is intense, their physical relationship is gently glossed over, a feature that will appeal to many readers of holiday fare. Sinclair's smooth, succinct writing and memorable characters will keep readers engaged all the way to the charming twist conclusion. (Dec.)

Novelist Hill, author of Heart-Shaped Box, crafts a gripping account of the shattered Locke family's attempt to rebuild after the father/husband is murdered by a deranged high school student and the family subsequently moving in with the deceased father's brother at the family homestead in Maine. But as anyone who has read horror fiction in the past 70-odd years will tell you, it's a bad idea to try to leave behind the gruesome goings-on in your life by moving to an island named “Lovecraft.” What begins as a study in coping with grief soon veers into creepy territory as the youngest Locke discovers a doorway with decidedly spectral qualities, along with a well that houses someone or something that desperately wants out and will use any means available to gain freedom, including summoning the teenage murderer who set events in motion in the first place. To say more would give away many of the surprises the creative team provides, but this first of hopefully several volumes delivers on all counts, boasting a solid story bolstered by exceptional work from Chilean artist Rodriguez (Clive Barker's The Great and Secret Show) that resembles a fusion of Rick Geary and Cully Hamner with just a dash of Frank Quitely. (Oct.)

Rozum and Chee's series has a promising start, but the ensuing story never quite lives up to expectations. The story follows an organization founded by Nostradamus with the mission of using its considerable wealth to prevent the 16th century seer's disastrous predictions from coming true. As the 21st century begins and the prophecies refer to current events with increasing frequency, Agent Stephen Valentine, a veteran field operative, is experiencing doubts about his life's work. Rozum uses the reader's expectations of the archetypal secret conspiracy thriller to create genuinely surprising moments as Agent Valentine investigates a possible terrorist attack on New York's water supply. But by the resolution so little has been revealed about the motivations of any of the major characters that it's difficult to care about what happens. Chee's art creates a dark and shadowy atmosphere suited to the story's content, but it isn't always strong on emotional nuance. In the end there are too many questions raised and not enough answers given, although there's clearly an intention to continue the story. (Oct.)

Noted independent cartoonist Kim Deitch (Alias the Cat; Boulevard of Broken Dreams) teams up with his brothers, writer Seth Kallen Deitch and illustrator Simon Deitch, to provide this experimental collection of “Pictofiction.” It's not quite the revolutionary expansion of graphic novels the Deitches sell it as; it's illustrated prose with an occasional comics page. Kim's artwork, when it appears, is the highlight of the book, demonstrating the assurance he has acquired over years of underground cartooning. His depiction of a bottle cap convention in his novella, “Sunshine Girl,” is sly and witty, and his illustration of brother Seth Kallen's story, “Unlikely Hours,” is more of an illumination, employing inventive interactions between drawing and printed typeface. Simon's artwork is more static, so it's appropriate that he confines himself to illustrating a prose story (Seth Kallen's pastiche, “The Golem”). Still, like many experiments, this one is a qualified success. In some stories, extended blocks of text undermine the visceral impact of the artwork. Both Kim and Seth Kallen exhibit a tendency to wander off into various odd digressions, understandable in traditional prose but oddly redundant when paired with their brothers' illustrations. Still, a failed Deitch brothers experiment is more engaging than many lesser talents' moderate successes. (Sept.)