Fiction Reviews

A television commercial director strikes up a bizarre relationship with the object of his infatuation in Phillips's enthralling fourth novel. Behind his hipness and attitude, Julian Donahue is going through an emotional crisis that started when his two-year-old son died of a freak infection. His wife, Rachel, reacted by vigorously cheating on him; Julian, meanwhile, went impotent. But his potency returns one night in his Brooklyn apartment as he listens to a CD by rising Irish singer-starlet Cait O'Dwyer. As his interest in her music and career grows into a full-blown obsession, Julian meets washed-up rocker-turned-painter Alec Stamford (who harbors a few of his own bizarre yearnings), and Julian is propelled to do more than mill around in the back of crowds at Cait's performances. Phillips is in top form and does a brilliant job of transcribing the barrage of Julian's sensory data into cool and flexible prose. This is a triumphant return for Phillips to the level he achieved in his wonderful debut, Prague. (Apr.)

Wilson's captivating debut collection paints an everyday world filled with characters obsessed by weird impulses. Whether it's Guster, the narrator of “The Shooting Man,” who goes to great lengths to discover the secret of a sideshow performer whose trick is to shoot himself in the face, or the three bored college grads of the title story who compulsively dig a tunnel beneath their town, Wilson creates a lively landscape with rich and twisted storytelling. A few stories satirize the odd ways families react to tragedy, for example, “Grand Stand-in,” which revolves around an elderly woman hired by families who wish to avoid telling their children about an unforeseen death. Two of the best stories involve teens: in “Mortal Kombat,” two unpopular quiz bowl stars become enamored of a video game and each other, while “Go, Fight, Win,” features a cheerleader who prefers building model cars to the company of her schoolmates. While Wilson has trouble wrapping up a few stories (“Blowing Up on the Spot,” “The Museum of Whatnot”), most are fresh and darkly comedic in a Sam Lipsyte way. (Apr.)

McCormack (Six Weeks to Toxic) throws 40-year-old, hard-driving Toronto TV producer Minnie Gallant a curve in this sprightly Canadian import when her boss rejects her latest pitch. Minnie's boss suggests she take the summer off, and it couldn't have happened at a better time: her aging uncle Rex wants to give assisted living a shot and asks Minnie to take over his Prince Edward Island home. She settles in her uncle's comfy, ramshackle house; dotes on Dosie, an old nag; helps out at the local diner; and before long, Minnie's hooked up with the hottest fisherman in town. Her relationship with Joe should be the beginning of a happy ending, but the politics and economics of fishing and conservation make an abrupt entrance, driving a wedge between them. McCormack's intoxicating love of language and funny quips (one woman's hair is “longer than it would have been if she lived in Toronto”) keep the story cruising, and the ending is unexpected yet appropriately feel-good. (Apr.)

Umrigar (The Space Between Us) continues her exploration of cultural divides in this beautifully written and incisive novel about an American couple's experience in India. Frank and Ellie Benton, grappling with the death of their seven-year-old son, move from Ann Arbor, Mich., to Girbaug, India, where Frank takes a job running a factory. While he tackles the barriers faced by an educated, wealthy American in charge of a Third World work force, Ellie, a psychologist, makes inroads with the impoverished locals at a health clinic. Frank has a difficult time adjusting at work, and at home he takes an interest in their housekeepers' son, Ramesh, and begins tutoring him. While Frank buries his grief by helping Ramesh, he ends up in competition with the boy's bitter father, Prakash, and further damaging his already troubled marriage. Umrigar digs into the effects of grief on a relationship and the many facets of culture clash—especially American capitalism's impact on a poor country—but it is the tale of how Frank's interest in Ramesh veers into obsession and comes to a devastating end that provides the gripping through line. Umrigar establishes herself as a singularly gifted storyteller. (Apr.)

An ancient pillar depicting two female gladiators gives Whitfield the inspiration for his first novel, an action-packed, blood-soaked and sexy sapphic first-century saga. Fans of epic cat fights, girl-on-girl action, war strategy and bloody combat will hardly be put off by the stilted language and clunky character work that litter the way as a shipwrecked Spartan priestess, Lysandra, is forced into combat as a female gladiator. Meanwhile, her lover, the stunning Gladiatrix Secunda Eirianwen, and mean-as-a-snake veteran warrior Sorina mix it up Roman-style for slave owner Lucius Balbus, who runs the lucrative gladiatrix games. Lysandra rises through the ranks, her eyes on buying her freedom, but before she can free herself, she must engage in a breathless, knock-down, drag-out big-screen battle with Sorina. Think: girls gone wild—with swords. (Apr.)

Olsson (Astrid and Veronika) explores the hard-won wisdom that can come through grief. When classical musician Adam Anker (né Lipski) stumbles upon a WWII exhibit at a museum in New Zealand and sees his birth name attached to an elderly woman's plea for information, he decides to search for his long-buried past as a way to lend clarity to his daughter Miriam's future. But later that day, Miriam is killed in an accident, and Adam spends the next year in mourning before contacting the woman, Clara Fried, and beginning a journey that spans three continents and four decades. Along the way, Adam returns to his native Poland after 20 years in New Zealand, discovers a family secret and, through letters and old friends, begins to know his parents as people. He also finds the strength to patch up his relationship with Miriam's mother, Cecilia, who narrates the final part of the book in second-person. Olsson's dense, magisterial prose pulls the reader in immediately, and Adam's profound sadness is perfectly handled—it's palpable, but never saccharine or overbearing as the narrative builds toward its unexpected conclusion. (Mar.)

Daniel Knox, a dive instructor and former archeologist, is just one of many characters searching for Alexander the Great's lost tomb in British author Adams's less than suspenseful debut. Aboard a dive boat in the Red Sea, Knox goes against his better judgment and rescues an attractive young blonde from the clutches of wealthy Hassan al-Assyuti, who's intent on rape and battery. Knox must then go on the run, leaving him barely enough time to fall in love with Gaille Bonnard, a demotic language expert working on a dig connected to Alexander in northern Egypt. In Alexandria, construction manager Mohammed el-Dahab has stumbled on a necropolis that will eventually point all the competing searchers toward Alexander's actual tomb. Thriller fans with an interest in Egyptology and Alexander will find much to like, while those seeking swift action and adventure will find themselves bogged down in too many subplots and historical factoids. (Mar.)

While raiding a terrorist cell at the start of this exciting thriller from Stoker-winner Maberry (Dead Man's Song), Baltimore PD Det. Joe Ledger shoots two .45 slugs into Javad Mustapha, killing him very dead. Four days later, while trying out for a secret government antiterrorist unit, Joe has to kill Javad all over again. It appears the terrorists have figured out a way to make zombies, and they're about to turn the legions of the undead loose on the world. Terrorist El Mujahid and his brilliant scientist wife, Amirah, who created the zombies, are working with villainous international businessman Sebastian Gault. That Sebastian and Amirah are having wild sex in the lab shows that loyalties within the group of conspirators aren't all they should be. Joe leads a team of elite fighters against the zombies, a job he performs with spectacular skill. Plenty of man-to-zombie combat, a team traitor and a doomsday scenario add up to a fast and furious read. (Mar.)

May (Pilate's Wife) tells the story of two American reporters from different eras caught up in Mexican intrigue. In 1923, real-life reporter Alma Reed exposed the theft of Mayan artifacts from the Yucatán, leading to an affair with the governor and the ire of local reactionaries. May's fictional modern-day reporter, Sage Sanborn, is a travel writer on a Yucatán junket enticed to tell Reed's story by a mysterious American she meets in a bar. Their explorations and ensuing affair echo Reed's exploits, but the mirrored-narrative premise doesn't build to anything substantial, and May's narrators—Alma and Sage—are pretty vanilla as far as adventuring heroines go. (Mar.)

Kelsey's middling midlife crisis tale follows the travails of British magazine editor Hope Lyndhurst-Steele, whose 50th birthday ends up being far more traumatic than she could have imagined. Her teenage son is chasing a trampy single mom, her husband wants to move out, her estranged mother is diagnosed with terminal cancer and she's ousted from her job. Hope already feels sorry for herself, so all of this seems likely to crush her until she uses the knocks to gain a new perspective on her life and discover inner strengths. Kelsey unfortunately allows her heroine to be annoyingly self-involved for most of the book, and while her turnaround is refreshing, it comes too late to hook the reader. Save the grating narrator, this menopausal empowerment tale is safely by-the-numbers. (Mar.)

In this crackling follow-up to L.A. Outlaws (2008), bestseller Parker brings the Wild West to Southern California. After helping to bring down a corrupt lawman in L.A., sheriff's deputy Charlie Hood has transferred to the desert community of Antelope Valley, where his hopes for a quieter life are shattered one night during a routine call: someone guns down his partner, Terry Laws, in their patrol car. Nicknamed “Mr. Wonderful,” Terry is an unlikely target for a hit, so Charlie joins forces with Internal Affairs to track down the killer. But Terry's squeaky-clean veneer starts to crack the deeper Charlie digs into his personal life. There are large influxes of cash, and Terry's old partner, a reserve deputy, has connections to the Mexican drug trade. Parker creates a desert no-man's-land unique in its corruption, but no less dangerous than the roughest of South Central street corners, and Charlie Hood is the perfect reluctant hero to patrol it. (Feb.)

Aspirations and family ties play out across three generations of the Khalil family in Farooki's fine new novel (after Bitter Sweets). Lucky Khalil is a talented young soccer player with his sights set on taking the World Cup home for England. His father, Jinan, is the serious-minded, hard-working son of a Pakistani immigrant, married to Delphine, a modern-day Madame Bovary who's longing for a more romantic, less ordinary existence. The patriarch of the Khalil family, Zaki, is a shopkeeper and gambler with wanderlust and an attraction to his son's wife. When Delphine gives in to Zaki's advances, family bonds are stretched to the breaking point. As the characters make inroads on their ambitions, the cross-purposes of their desires and responsibilities threaten to crush the family. This complex saga can be challenging to follow through its shifting points-of-view, but it's worth the ride for the flawed yet likable cast who question what, exactly, leads to a more fulfilled life. This character- and culture-rich novel will appeal to Jhumpa Lahiri and Zadie Smith fans looking for quainter fare. (Feb.)

Taking a break from WWII historical romance, Jenoff (The Diplomat's Wife) delivers a cool, contemporary romantic thriller. Ten years have passed since American Jordan Weiss, a State Department intelligence officer, lived in Cambridge, England, where she suffered the loss of her gifted rower boyfriend, Jared Short, in an apparent drowning. After hearing from her former roommate and best friend, Sarah Sunderson, who has terminal ALS, Jordan transfers from Washington to the London office. She has a surprisingly quick reunion with Jared's friend Chris Bannister, a journalist who asks for her assistance in proving Jared was murdered. In a harrowing series of events, Jordan discovers Jared's death might be connected to the State Department's investigation of American and British companies that are laundering and funding Albanian mob activities. Jenoff keeps the pace brisk and the plot tight, flipping smoothly between Jordan's past and present while concluding with a jaw-dropping cliffhanger. (Feb.)

A nostalgic collection of stories by the celebrated author finds humor and tenderness in unexpected encounters. A few of these brief tales deliver the trademark Bradbury chill, such as “The Reincarnate,” in which a newly dead man harbors the doomed hope of rejoining the living. Or the creepy “Fly Away Home,” which sends to Mars “rocket men” who re-create buildings from their hometowns to keep from going mad. Other stories are sentimental character studies, such as “Massinello Pietro,” about a flamboyant man who keeps a menagerie that the neighborhood and the police see as a public nuisance, or “Pietà Summer,” an affecting boyhood memory about a sleep-deprived 13-year-old who's excited about the two circuses coming to town. Other stories delve into romantic ironies, as in “Un-pillow Talk,” in which two new lovers unravel the steps that brought them to bed, or the curious title story, which follows a married American man through Paris as he pursues an alluring young Frenchman. Though many of these feel like they've been sitting in a drawer for decades, Bradbury's fans will find his fiction still open to experimentation. (Feb.)

Set in Victorian England, Harwood's spellbinding second novel (after The Ghost Writer) pays homage to such 19th-century suspense masters as Wilkie Collins and Sheridan LeFanu. When orphaned gentlewoman Constance Langton inherits Wraxford Hall, a derelict mansion on the Suffolk coast, from an aunt she has never met, the lawyer handling the conveyance warns her to sell the hall unseen. When he sends her a bundle of documents concerning the home's history of death, madness and occult apparitions, Constance feels a deep affinity for Nell Wraxford, who disappeared from the hall with her infant daughter years earlier under suspicion of murdering her enigmatic husband, Magnus. Hoping to clear Nell's name, Constance visits the hall with a group of psychic researchers. Harwood invokes the hoariest clichés of supernatural suspense, from stormy nights to haunted houses, and effortlessly makes them his own. The novel's voice, too, is superbly crafted, accurate for the period but never self-consciously antique. (Feb.)

Diamond's debut is a heartbreaking journey into the aftermath of tragedy. Jack Philips is driving home one night outside of London when he strikes and kills 13-year-old Laura Jenkins. With two small daughters of his own, police officer Jack is devastated, even though the death is ruled accidental. As he struggles to put his life back together, Jack quits his job and his marriage falls apart. He also spots Laura's father, Derek, lurking around his house, accompanied by Laura's ghost. The only other person that sees this ghost is Laura's mother, Lisa, who, crushed by her daughter's death, also undergoes some unexpected changes, from consulting a psychic to asking for a divorce from her increasingly distant husband. Jack and Lisa share narration, though the two characters' voices become almost indistinguishable as they face similar struggles and try to figure out what Laura's ghost is trying to tell them. The tragedies, large and small, continue at a relentless pace, and Diamond takes pains to make palpable the full weight of grief and guilt. (Feb.)

Santa Claus goes on trial for shooting his brother in this zany legal thriller from Edgar-winner Breen (Eye of God). Of course, he's not really Santa, he's Charlie Baines, a big (unnamed) city philanthropist viewed as its official Santa Claus. Charlie is accused of murdering Andrew, his Grinch-like brother, who was planning to tear down a historic theater. A bloodied white Santa beard was left at the crime scene. Prosecution leader Melba “Jumping-Jack” Wooten, a former WNBA basketball star, faces off against a defense team led by hotshot Gordon Moon, who considers himself a “white Johnnie Cochran.” Breen peppers the proceedings with courtroom antics, loosely reworking the trial scenes in Miracle on 34th Street as if they were conducted by Boston Legal–style lawyers. Going for laughs more than poignancy, Breen adds a candy cane twist in the form of a mysterious newspaper informant known as Deep Snow. (Feb.)

The major player in this intense thriller by seminal rapper and radio show host Dane is a gifted mathematician who gives up a possible career with the FBI for a life of crime. Dupree Reginald “Numbers” Wallace, mentored by gambler and former pimp Crispy Carl, goes from Brooklyn boy genius to hustler in order to make fast cash to help his single mother take care of his sisters, Lakeisha and Takeisha, an especially urgent task once Takeisha's diagnosed with cancer. Although his sister's cancer goes into remission and Numbers plans on getting out of the game, he's soon got plenty of others depending on him—his pregnant girlfriend, his wild girl on the side and his crew of hustlers. But the life leads to a nightmare equation, and Numbers just might not make it out. It's fast and furious—Dane spins some seriously solid action. (Feb.)

Punchy, brief takes on complicated mother-daughter relationships dominate French novelist Castillon's tantalizing English-language debut. A daughter cares for her cancer-stricken mother in “A Parka and Some Fur-lined Boots,” breeding resentment and rage-driven guilt (“She has no idea how much she irritates me with her cancer,” snaps the daughter), while in “There's a Pill for That,” a demonic mother overmedicates her helpless child. Another mentally unbalanced mother in “Munchhausen Syndrome by Proxy” indulges in just that. Men in these breezy takes frequently wreak havoc on the daughter-mother relationship: the young mentally handicapped narrator of “Knots and Nuts” overhears her mother making plans to run away with her lover and delivers a terrible punishment; in “Punching Bag,” the divorce of her parents turns an angry teenager into a “war machine.” Occasionally, true warmth emerges, as in “Shame,” when a high schooler recognizes her mother's humanity. Sharp, perceptive and edgy, these stories take the reader to some profoundly uncomfortable places. (Feb.)

In Ellis's scorching sequel to City of Fire (2007), LAPD robbery and homicide detective Lena Gamble is surprised when she's handed a particularly horrific murder case. Her trusted supervisor, Lt. Frank Barrera, even warns her that it may be a trap. A dismembered female body found in a dumpster in Hollywood offers little in the way of clues until an anonymous witness delivers the Jane Doe's driver's license and a flash drive showing the victim's kidnapping. Gamble follows every lead even when her own bosses spy on her and warn her off investigating the son of a powerful pharmaceutical company owner and a physician who knew the dead woman. Finding the missing witness before the killer finds her may be Gamble's only hope of solving this deliciously twisted crime novel in which nothing is what it appears to be. Ellis succeeds masterfully in both playing fair and pulling surprise after surprise in a story that feels like a runaway car plunging down a mountain road full of switchbacks. (Feb.)

Azuchi's 1981 post-WWII novel, a perennial favorite in Japan, focuses on the then-new concept of the supermarket chain. Tired of toiling for big business, successful banker Kôjima Ryôsuke decides to trade in his job to work with his cousin Ishikari's burgeoning supermarket chain. As he begins to examine their methods and find new ways to sell products, Kôjima alarms the company's rank-and-file, in particular managing director Ichimura, who has his own agenda. Unbeknownst to Kôjima, select employees are meeting in secret to support Ichimura and ensure “he continues to be the [company's] guiding spirit.” Working with a consultant, Kôjima soon discovers troubling departmental practices, including the sale of unsafe foods, contaminated work areas and employee theft, but his attempts to uncover the depth of the problem could put a halt to the company's expansion. This pleasing novel makes a revealing commentary on loyalty, trust and progress in a rapidly changing Japan. (Feb.)

In this powerful collection of 11 short stories, Nelson's brilliantly constructed characters negotiate love, family, home and truth. Nelson consistently pays exquisite attention to detail, resulting in rich, vivid characters and settings. In “OBO,” a family is gathered together for the holidays, their day reflected in the items on the kitchen table: “sparkling glitter that stuck in the syrup... then later... came the peanuts and poker chips and whiskey.” In “Kansas,” a wife's pregnancy (“a weapon he could plant like a bomb”) keeps an unhappy marriage alive. In “Party of One,” a woman secretly suffering from cancer meets her sister's adulterous lover in a bar to put an end to the relationship. While most of the stories in this collection have been previously published (many in the New Yorker), two are new: “We and They” and “People People.” Nelson writes with wonderful grace and skill, each word carefully chosen, each passage carefully constructed. This beautiful collection is another remarkable accomplishment for a writer often hailed as one of our most talented storytellers. (Feb.)

Kelly (Past Secrets) brings a strong voice and deft hand with character to this engaging story about repairing three generations of broken hearts. Izzie Silver is a smalltown Irish girl turned successful booker at a top modeling firm in New York City, where she dreams of someday setting up her own agency for plus-sized models. She's fallen in love with Joe Hansen, a financier who is handsome, generous, charming—and married. Unfortunately, Izzie doesn't think she can go to her normal advice source on this one—her grandmother Lily just wouldn't understand. Meanwhile, Izzie's aunt, Anneliese, learns her husband of 37 years has been having an affair with her best friend. Things get worse for Izzie and Anneliese when Lily suffers a stroke, but through Lily's old journals dating back to WWII, the women discover Lily had some romantic secrets and massive heartbreak of her own. Kelly cleverly subverts women's fiction clichés and delivers some excellent and unconventional plot twists. The conclusion won't leave a dry eye in the house. (Feb.)

With this, her excellent debut novel, Watson makes quick work of a setup that could prove challenging for even seasoned authors. Seven-year-old Asta grows up in rural Maine in the late 1970s, where she and her sickly nine-year-old brother, Orion, are kept locked in their house by their crazy mother, who fills their heads with tales of the plague-ravaged wasteland waiting outside their door. Equipped with little beyond what their mother provides, the children are wildly creative, surprisingly intelligent and share a deep bond with each other. But when their mother disappears and the two venture outside, they face the real world and real people for the first time. As Asta processes what's going on and is separated from her brother, she's reluctant to recognize what was wrong with her previous life. Asta's narration is full of the wonderment and matter-of-factness of youth, and her eye-opening trip into reality is flawlessly executed by Watson. (Feb.)

In this scattered retelling of her own family's struggles during the Great Irish Starvation, Kelly captures the suffering but neglects the inner lives of her thinly drawn characters. In Bearna, Ireland, in 1839, Honora Keeley falls in love with Michael Kelly after finding him swimming in Galway Bay, and they soon marry despite her father's objections. For a short time, life, while far from perfect, is sweet. Then comes the blight, destroying most of their potato crop. After losing the harvest for the third time in four years, the Kellys flee to America and settle in Chicago. Though the research is meticulous and the famine horrors are catalogued in great detail, the Kellys' lives in America are presented haphazardly, making it difficult to keep track of the huge cast of characters when decades are skipped seemingly at random. The characters themselves function more as types—greedy landlords, arrogant Englishmen—to further the plot. Despite its flaws, the novel may appeal to fans of Frank McCourt and Irish history, as the trials of the Kelly family echo the struggle of the Irish to assimilate while retaining their own heritage. (Feb.)

Liberty Lane returns in Peacock's newest Victorian London melodrama. Worried about funds, the industrious Liberty (last seen in A Foreign Affair) accepts a commission from Benjamin Disraeli to spy on Columbine, a dancer whose indiscretions could cause a public scandal. When Columbine turns up poisoned after feuding with Jenny, another dancer, Liberty decides she must track down the killer before Jenny hangs for the crime. What she uncovers is a web of secrets drawing together the mighty with the dregs of society. Peacock skillfully interweaves figures of real Victorian London, while avoiding the genre's typical focus on aristocracy. London's artistic underbelly is grimy, gritty and has instant appeal that the ton can't match. The mystery flows smoothly, with well-placed red herrings, excellent reveals and pleasing surprises. Readers should look forward to their next meeting with Liberty and her friends, particularly gruff, wise groom Amos, the Watson to Liberty's would-be Sherlock Holmes. (Feb.)

When her best friend Gemma's parents are killed in a house fire, Jessilyn Lassiter's parents take the girl in. Trouble is, the year is 1932, Gemma is black, the Lassiters are white, and they live in a small Virginia town. Spunky Jessilyn is 13 years old, but her story will appeal to readers of all ages. Winner of the Christian Writers Guild's 2007 Operation First Novel contest, Valent's debut is both heartwarming and hand-wringing as it shows how one family endured the threats small and large of a prejudiced community while maintaining moral integrity. The cast of characters is rich. Jessilyn's mother wrestles with the social cost of challenging convention, her father is a dream dad and the neighbor's wisdom is as spicy as her cake. Jessilyn's romantic interest and penchant for trouble keep the tone light while the plot reminds readers of the evil that ordinary human beings are capable of doing, even in the name of righteousness. The book stares down violence and terror, making its affirmation of surprising goodness believable. (Jan.)

In the weeks before Hurricane Andrew sweeps down on Cuba in 1992, Dr. Mano Rodriguez is caught up in intrigue in this thoughtful, lushly detailed neo-noir from Arellano (Don Dimaio of La Plata). Constant hunger is the order of the day, a week's pay from the pediátrico purchases either a liter of gasoline or eight ounces of coffee: “By the summer of 1991 everything stopped. Fidel called it the Special Period.” In this almost fantastical world, a teenage prostitute named Julia enlists Mano's help in escaping from her pimp. Much Spanish dialogue, with prompts in English on more difficult words, deepens the sense of locale. And how do you deal with murder in a police state that has zero tolerance for homicide and doesn't know the meaning of a cold case? The title comes from a blemish under Mano's right eye, a small hemorrhage shaped like Havana. How he got the mark as a boy is one of the many horrors of life in Castro's Cuba. (Mar.)

In Edgar-winner Stabenow's excellent 16th Kate Shugak novel (after 2007's A Deeper Sleep), feisty, independent Kate faces challenges on various fronts, starting at home with her 16-year-old foster son, Johnny Morgan, and her Alaska state trooper boyfriend, Jim Chopin. In a national park known as “the Park,” whose “backbone, its moral center, its royalty” are “the four aunties” (all widows), a Canadian mining firm, Global Harvest Resources Inc., is planning a massive operation that will affect every park resident. Meanwhile, a lot of folks are taking the law into their own hands; a series of brutal snow machine robberies raises the stakes. No one writes more vividly about the hardships and rewards of living in the unforgiving Alaskan wilderness and the hardy but frequently flawed characters who choose to call it home. This is a richly rewarding regional series that continues to grow in power as it grows in length. Author tour. (Feb.)

Murphy's diverting 14th mystery to feature talking feline gumshoe Joe Grey (after 2008's Cat Deck the Halls) finds Joe a little annoyed by all the lovey-dovey stuff run rampant in Molena Point, Calif. A year earlier, Joe endured the explosive wedding of Max Harper, the town's chief of police. Then came the Valentine's Day nuptials of his human housemate, Clyde Damen. Joe welcomes the opportunity to swing into sleuth mode after a female skeleton wearing a bracelet engraved with a cat is uncovered at the ruins of an old estate by Joe's feral feline associates. When another skeleton is identified as that of Molena Point accountant Carson Chappell, who went missing in Oregon before his wedding almost 10 years earlier, Joe really has his work cut out for him. Murphy's gentle blend of fantasy and mystery includes revelations about her unusually verbal cat detectives sure to please series fans. (Feb.)

The charm has begun to wear a bit thin in Atherton's 14th paranormal cozy to feature U.S. ex-pat Lori Shepherd (after 2008's Aunt Dimity: Vampire Hunter). Lori, despite the sage advice of ghostly Aunt Dimity, remains somewhat feckless and immature, still relying on snap judgments instead of reasoned thought, as she sticks her nose into the affairs of others in the idyllic Cotswolds village of Finch. When Calvin Malvern (aka King Wilfred the Good) arrives with his motley crew for a Renaissance faire to be held on land belonging to his uncle, Lori's neighbor, many of the villagers enter into the spirit of the thing, including Lori, who can't resist the thought of playing dress up. Odd accidents befall King Wilfred, and Lori begins to wonder about sabotage and regicide. Hardcore fans will no doubt enjoy the froth, but newcomers may find it a bit too precious. (Feb.)

A foreign plot to assassinate Winston Churchill drives Roberts's disappointing ninth mystery to feature Lord Edward Corinth and journalist Verity Brown (after 2007's Something Wicked). In early 1939, MI5 sends jaded aristocrat Corinth to Cliveden, the Astor estate in Buckinghamshire that's headquarters for those who support appeasing Hitler, to investigate the threat. Corinth's fiancée, the Communist-leaning Brown, is also visiting the estate, where she's trying to cultivate Joseph Kennedy, the U.S. ambassador to Britain. A string of murders that appear to be related to Kennedy provides the couple with a more conventional case to pursue. Unlike, say, Jack Higgins in The Eagle Has Landed (about a German scheme to kidnap Churchill during WWII), Roberts fails to compensate for the assassination attempt's inherent lack of suspense with enough else of sufficient interest. Some readers may find the historical detail that lends credibility to other books in the series less convincing in this latest entry. (Feb.)

At the start of Alcorn's entertaining second Norman de Ratour mystery (after 1997's Murder in the Museum of Man), Norman, now the Museum of Man's director in the vaguely New England city of Seaboard, ponders the mysterious deaths of two colleagues. The bodies of Prof. Humberto Ossmann and Dr. Clematis Woodley, who detested each other, were discovered in sexual embrace on the floor of the genetics lab where they worked. Grim news about the health of Norman's wife, Elsbeth, and the arrival of her grown daughter, Diantha, throw him into a frenzy of guilt and lust. The fate of a missing anthropological expedition is further cause for concern. Alcorn, a former travel director for a Harvard University museum, illuminates the machinations and turf wars of feuding museums and universities with dark wit. Some readers may find the puns and alliterative names (e.g., food critic Korky Kummerbund) too heavy-handed, but those with a taste for satirical whodunits will be well rewarded. (Feb.)

Summertime and the living is frightful for South Carolina lawyer Avery Andrews in Pickens's fifth Southern Fried mystery, a less successful entry than the previous one, Hush My Mouth (2008). First, there's the chain-saw wielding mannequin her niece sees in a fair's chamber of horrors that turns out to be a mummified corpse. Next, a pre–Fourth of July picnic at Bow Falls turns deadly when Rinda Reimann, a professor's wife, falls into the falls. When Rinda's husband is too distraught to cope, an overprotective friend asks Avery to file an insurance claim on the professor's behalf. Avery's suspicions about Rinda's “accident” deepen after the postmortem raises some serious questions. While Avery's sassy assistant, Shamanique, easily tracks down the carny corpse's identity, the effort to discover who pushed Rinda to a watery grave gets bogged down in too much financial detail. Cozy readers looking for escape from reality may want to skip the concluding tips on how to avoid consumer fraud. (Feb.)

Set in 1199, Clare's compelling 12th mystery to feature Sir Josse d'Acquin (after 2008's The Paths of the Air) takes the knight and his friend, Helewise, the abbess of Hawkenlye Abbey, to France, to confer with Eleanor of Aquitaine, mother of the recently deceased Richard the Lionhearted, about a memorial chapel to be built at the abbey. The queen draws Josse aside with an additional assignment—to investigate rumors that her son participated in obscene satanic rituals in which young boys were savagely butchered. To the knight's chagrin, he soon uncovers credible evidence that Richard was involved and must keep his word to Eleanor to suppress it. Meanwhile, members of the shadowy organization behind the killings, the Knights of Arcturus, come to England in an effort to keep their secrets. Lean, evocative prose; characters readers can relate to; and a high-stakes puzzle make this a superior medieval historical. (Feb.)

Scholes's mesmerizing debut novel, the first installment of the five-volume Psalms of Isaak saga, launches him into the stratosphere of contemporary epic fantasy. Fueled by an impressively serpentine story line that explores deep philosophical issues of knowledge and power, the novel begins with a literal bang: Windwir, “the world's greatest city” and home of 200,000 people as well as the famed Androfrancine Order and its enormous library, is completely destroyed by a mysterious weapon unleashed by an unknown foe. Left oddly untouched are the Androfrancines' mechoservitors, one of whom, Isaak, may be the only one who knows what happened and why. Readers will be intrigued by the subtle, adept world building and ensemble cast of brilliantly complex characters, but it's Scholes's pure storytelling prowess that makes this tale of devastation and retribution so unforgettable. (Feb.)

Armstrong expands her Women of the Otherworld series (following 2008's Living with the Dead) with these tales of the male werewolves of the American Pack. In “Infusion,” Malcolm Danvers tracks down a Japanese sorceress who seduced him in 1946. When he kills her and attempts to kill their young son, Jeremy, his father insists the boy be raised with the pack. Armstrong's stories then focus on Jeremy's son, Clayton, as he matures into full werewolfhood. Closing the volume is “Kitsunegari,” a tale of encounters between a fox spirit and Jeremy during his time as pack leader. The intriguing tales, originally published as serials on Armstrong's Web site, unfold so fluidly that they read almost like a novel, providing a good introduction to new readers and a real treat for fans. (Feb.)

Nebula and Hugo–winner Kress (Dogs) presents a fascinating mystery in classic SF style. The alien Atoners come to Earth with a startling message: some 10,000 years ago, they committed a crime against humanity, kidnapping human beings and establishing colonies on 14 other planets. Now they are asking for 21 human Witnesses to travel to those distant worlds and uncover the nature of their crime. Cam, Lucca and Soledad head to the double planets of Kular A and Kular B, worlds where life is cheap but may not end at the moment of death. The knowledge that they bring back changes civilization dramatically. Though the novel is somewhat marred by an over-hasty conclusion that leaves a number of plot threads dangling, Kress's philosophical explorations will keep readers hooked and thoughtful. (Feb.)

Bujold's Sharing Knife series concludes on a cheerful note that will please fans of fantasy romance. The Lakewalkers have been humanity's only defense against the Malices, vicious creatures who turn their victims into murderous zombie-like “mudmen.” Dag, a former patroller exiled for insisting that the deliberately aloof Lakewalkers reach out to farmers, has finally found a Lakewalker “medicine maker” willing to teach him healing magic. When Dag disobeys the rules to help a seriously ill farm boy, he's kicked out again, and he and his pregnant farmer-born bride, Fawn, head north to a friend's home, braving mountains swarming with mudmen. The frontierlike setting and its postapocalyptic elements are the stars here. Although the first half of the book is slow going, Bujold piles on the action later, making her characters earn their happy ending. (Feb.)

Noble's impressive romantic thriller debut introduces hot CIA operative Dante Johnson in the first of a steamy new series. Dante almost rots in a Thailand prison after a fatal ambush in Cambodia that took the lives of two fellow agents. He blames his former lover, contract agent Catalina Dion, now presumed dead. Finally rescued, Dante heads for Key West to recharge, but then he smells Cat's signature fragrance, answers a public pay phone by his boat and triggers an explosion. Soon he learns that Cat is really in hiding from a Russian scientist who blames Dante and Cat for the accident that killed his family, and she needs Dante's help to survive. Vengeance quickly turns into romance. Noble spiffs up the standard hearts and bullets format with plenty of action in all senses of the word. (Feb.)

This intense thriller establishes Dane (No One Lives Forever) as a diva of the flawed, baggage-laden but likable heroine. Putting romance on the back burner and the business of catching bad guys first, hard-boiled Chicago bounty hunter Jessica Beckett pursues a personal vendetta against child abuser Lucas Baker. When Baker turns up dead and is linked to a multinational human trafficking organization, Globe Harvest, the cops tag Jess as a possible suspect, but she's already off on another chase, looking for a teen who may have been a Globe Harvest victim. The search takes Jess from Chicago to Alaska, puts her in personal peril that evokes flashbacks to her nightmarish youth and surrounds her with a dazzlingly imaginative supporting cast of characters. Dane pulls out all the stops en route to the dramatic, rose-tinted finale. (Feb.)

Crandall (Pitch Black) opens this tense thriller with a 15-year flashback. When teen Ellis Greene's cousin Laura was kidnapped and assaulted, Ellis bravely defied family who wanted to blame Laura's impoverished would-be boyfriend, Nate, and testified against the real culprit, Hollis Alexander. Now out on parole, Hollis bribes journalist Wayne Carr into reinvestigating the case and attacks the emotionally fragile Greene family. Nate comes back to sleepy Belle Island, S.C., and is drawn to Ellis, now a schoolteacher who's unable to open up to her longtime boyfriend, Rory. Yet the chain of events is not as obvious as everyone once thought, and the discoveries Ellis and Nate stumble on are likely to get them killed. Crandall keeps the tale taut and twisty, drawing a persuasive picture of a family distorted by unhealed grief and unrevealed secrets. (Feb.)

This fast-paced series opener spins off from Caine's Weather Warden series (Gale Force, etc.), with plenty of excitement to draw in new readers. Cassiel, a newly exiled djinn, is perplexed and uncomfortable with mortality. The Wardens find her and place her under the care and supervision of Manny Rocha, an Earth Warden who supplies Cassiel's aetheric and worldly needs. In exchange, she helps him with his cases. Just as she gets acclimated and starts trading smoldering glances with Manny's brother, Luis, Cassiel comes under attack by unknown forces, with deadly consequences for fighting back. Cassiel's struggle with her humanity adds depth while opening doors for more character development as the series progresses, and a cliffhanger ending will keep fans eager for the next installment. (Feb.)

For everyone who didn't get quite enough coverage and analysis of the longest presidential campaign in American history, 08 provides a brief and breezy graphic account of all that led up to the Obama-McCain November showdown. New Republic senior editor Crowley provides the semaphore-like text (“It started like any other debate. Bush-bashing. Bickering about health care. Iraq”). The b&w illustrations are courtesy of Shooting War's Goldman, who brings a punchy and dramatic rhythm to a rendering that could all too easily have been done by the numbers (though his fixation on wrinkles leaves many faces looking like they are covered with spiderwebs). Unlike most nonfiction comics concerning current affairs, 08 doesn't assume an omniscient narrator, creating instead a rather creaky framing device of a washed-up veteran political reporter, taking a flight with his editor while the editor reads his latest story on the campaign. The voice of this old ink-stained cynic allows the narrative to be a little less vanilla, but it's still not much more than an illustrated time line. Though Crowley and Goldman don't dumb anything down, they still skip past much interpretation. (Jan.)

This second English-language collection of the lighthearted, loosely autobiographical Swedish comic strip gives readers an endearing look into the slacker lifestyle of writer and artist Kellerman. The strips are usually one-off gags that occasionally link together into short vignettes. Kellerman depicts everyday events in the lives of himself and his friends, who are portrayed as anthropomorphic animals. Rocky, the dog that represents Kellerman, accurately describes his comic's usual content at one point, calling it “Cute funny-animals who f*** and drink!” Other topics touched on include attempts at fame, relationships and having kids. Kellerman isn't trying to preach or encourage deep thoughts; he's honestly and unapologetically celebrating the lifestyle he and his friends live, and the comic strip is written to connect with others living that life and to get them to laugh along with Rocky and his pals. The similarity of many of the jokes means that, as a book, it's repetitive in a way that it wouldn't be if read over time as individual newspaper strips. But Kellerman's portrayal of Rocky, faults and all, is so genuine and unflattering to himself that it's difficult not to feel a real human connection with this cartoon dog. (Dec.)

The grimy streets of San Francisco prove to be no place for a lady in this impressive debut about a pair of illegal immigrant streetwalkers who get into trouble trying to better their station in life. Lulu is (as she's described on the Web site they finally persuade a geek customer to put up for them) “a Latina goddess of brickhouse stature,” while “little Asian hottie” Mitzy “is like a shot of sake: sharp, light, and leaves you very thirsty half an hour later.” What this boils down to is that Lulu is big, optimistic and able to pummel into submission any who stand in their way (including a trio of tattooed bikers in one particularly impressive throw-down), while Mitzy is a mouthy, temperamental font of complaints. Drawn with a goofy verve that owes quite a bit to Peter Bagge's toothy, overexcited style, Bell's surprisingly engaging and funny comic follows the women as they try to make an easier, safer buck. Finding that pimps and strip clubs aren't going to cut it, they flirt with going legit, with dramatically different results. The Bay Area–specific satire is on point, the humor easy but genuine, and the ending surprisingly emotional. A fun debut with definite series potential. (Nov.)

Based on the anime series by the same name, which is derived from the novel The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, Gankutsuou tells a similar tale of false imprisonment, vengeance and redemption. Set in the aristocracy of the future where intergalactic travel is common and human execution is entertainment for the masses, the mysterious count wheedles his way into the hearts and minds of high society with his charm, money and obscure background. But unlike Dumas, Maeda, who directed the anime and developed the manga, brings out an embittered and vengeful side of the count, who seems to derive joy from seeing others suffer. While the anime gained a strong following for visuals that combined Photoshop, digital and 3D animation as well as a strong classical soundtrack that includes Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky, the manga has none of those and feels like an accompaniment to the anime—or even the novel. (Nov.)

“Outrageously funny” is the best description of this incendiary collection of strips that began on the Internet, then moved to Rolling Stone. In this official time of crisis, a lot of comedians, like politicians, were timidly respectful of authority, but not Rees. Beginning shortly after 9/11, he chronicled the blunders of the current administration, including the war in Iraq, the protracted death of Terry Schiavo, Abu Ghraib, Hurricane Katrina, etc.—all the events that make readers cringe when they remember what our leaders said versus the truth. The immobile, clip-art people in Rees's strips respond to this gap between words and facts by blurting incredulous profanity or mumbling bland rationalizations: one opines, “You can't make a freedom omelet without breaking a few international law eggs!” These hilarious rants probably will have more impact if read a few at a time, and they won't change anyone's opinion. However, they do successfully communicate one artist's horror at the things his fellow citizens have let happen. Get Your War On demonstrates that genuine indignation and liberating humor aren't incompatible. (Nov.)

Two powerful novels explore the plight of isolated survivors of global disaster.

Australian author Birmingham (Axis of Time) explores an unusual and intriguing scenario: immediately before the 2003 invasion of Iraq, an unknown radiation engulfs the North American continent from Canada to Mexico, destroying all animal and human life. Suddenly the U.S. is reduced to Alaska, Hawaii and part of Washington State, along with several million citizens overseas. Birmingham concentrates on several small groups of survivors—a Seattle city engineer struggling against an army takeover, a yacht carrying survivors to Australia, a spy hunting a Muslim fanatic in the midst of a French civil war—and contemplates how various countries would react to the power vacuum. This well-thought-out alternate history will appeal to fans of hard SF and techno-thrillers. (Feb.)

In this gripping dystopian satire, ex-marine Sargent Whitmore has a plan to make millions while protecting children from the self-destructing modern world. He turns an old Mediterranean monastery into a combined impenetrable fortress and school, and enrolls 100 filthy-rich children, most of them already well-known for legal troubles, drug problems and paparazzi run-ins. Once there, everyone is cut off from the outside world, fed only canned news stories about wars and natural disasters. When things inevitably go horribly wrong, young hacker “Killer” Stade, physician assistant Cassie, drug and sex-crazed Sylvie and monastery-raised orphan Benny all attempt heroics, but remain deeply flawed. Reed (The Baby Merchant) displays unflinching willingness to explore all the facets of all of the characters, and her refusal to paint anyone as a simple villain makes this far more than a typical disaster novel. (Feb.)