Fiction Reviews

Nayeli, the Taqueria worker of Urrea's fine new novel (after The Hummingbird's Daughter), is a young woman in the poor but tight-knit coastal Mexican town of Tres Camarones who spends her days serving tacos and helping her feisty aunt Irma get elected as the town's first female mayor. Abandoned by her father who headed north for work years before, Nayeli is hit with the realization that her hometown is all but abandoned by men, leaving it at the mercy of drug gangsters. So Nayeli hatches an elaborate scheme inspired by The Magnificent Seven: with three friends, she heads north to find seven Mexican men and smuggle them back into Mexico to protect the town. What she discovers along the way, of course, surprises her. Urrea's poetic sensibility and journalistic eye for detail in painting the Mexican landscape and sociological complexities create vivid, memorable scenes. Though the Spanglish can be tough for the uninitiated to detangle, the colorful characters, strong narrative and humor carry this surprisingly uplifting and very human story. (May)

Van Booy's sentimental second collection deals heavily in the neuroses and personal traumas of his characters. The longish title story follows Brunno Bonnet, an emotionally debilitated cellist with a fondness for stones who encounters Hannah, a bird-obsessed shop owner with a fondness for acorns. In the beautiful “The Missing Statues,” Max, a young diplomat is reduced to tears at the edge of St. Peter's Square in Rome as memories of childhood in seedy Las Vegas overwhelm him. In the excellent “The Coming and Going of Strangers,” a multigenerational story of heroism, tragedy, love and family finds its roots with Walter, a Romany Irish gypsy who falls in love with a Canadian orphan girl. Though Van Booy's tendency to deliver a late-story surprise becomes predictable, each of these stories has moments of sheer loveliness. (May)

Originally self-published last summer and (more than likely falsely) rumored to be a roman à clef by a Katie Holmes insider, this primer on selling your soul chronicles the rise and abrupt fall of talented, fresh-faced actress Amy Spencer, star of a wholesome breakout TV hit. The Michigan co-ed lucks into the lead role of a Dawson's Creek–like series and then immediately gets tossed into the Hollywood sausage maker. Amy might have the soul of an indie chick, but she's been an “emotional robot” since her beloved dad died, and her grief is no match for the temptation of fame, money and a studio-selected, contractual boyfriend with a not-surprising secret life. But can the simple Michigan girl-next-door keep up the grueling Hollywood life? Amy finds her Tinseltown antidote, but the rescue for her sullied soul ends up being far more mundane. Glammy, dishy and disposable—a beach book shoo-in. (May)

Domestic advice columnist Delia is terminally ill, but she has a few loose ends she'd like to wrap up before cancer takes her from her husband and two daughters in Australian novelist Adelaide's ho-hum latest. Though Delia makes lists that encompass everything from the morning routine to planning her daughters' weddings, hoping to control what will come after she is gone, much of what is on her mind is her distant past in the small town of Amethyst, where she lived after she left home at 17 to raise her firstborn. Adelaide metes that portion out slowly, and readers will have figured out the twists long before she gets there. What Delia faces and remembers about her time in Amethyst leaves her better able to face gracefully her own imminent departure, which she chronicles in an advice book. That project leads to some off-kilter scenes (such as Delia observing an autopsy and casket shopping), and though the book ends sweetly, Delia's distant narrative tone and the erratic time line rob the tale of emotional impact. (Apr.)

Several Bible stories get a rewrite in this funny collection by This American Life contributing editor Goldstein (Lenny Bruce Is Dead). In this version, David kills Goliath not so much for his people as for laughs, and Jonah's lesser-known brother Vito fears that God's hand in Jonah's stint inside the whale has less to do with Jonah than Vito's own role in a youthful penis-touching incident. In “My Troubles (A Work in Progress, by Joseph of N—),” a worried father-to-be deals with the ambiguities of having one's wife knocked up by an angel. The voices of these stories sound like that of the semiobservant Jew in the book's preface, who describes one of God's failed universes as consisting “of just one person—a man named Morris who sat in a room by himself, trying to decide whether to cuff his pants or let them drag.” With refashioned language and reimagined motivations, Goldstein's biblical characters evoke the kind of touching truths only found at the bottom of deep barrel laughs. (Apr.)

Alternate history icon Turtledove probes the intrigues and battles surrounding Roman Emperor Augustus Caesar's attempts to control uprisings in Germanic lands circa A.D. 9. Caesar appoints Publius Quinctilius Varus, formerly a successful governor of Syria, to become the new governor of Germany, and Varus sets off bolstered by three legions from the overextended Roman army. Sure that he is headed for further glory, Varus is unaware that crafty Prince Armenius, who serves in the Roman army but secretly seethes in indignation at Rome's plans to make Germany another conquered territory, is planning a massive revolt. Turtledove rotates through many points-of-view, from Caesar to slaves and soldiers, to give a panoramic look at the epic battle of Teutoburg Forest, laced with telling details of ancient military life and strategy and lightened with humorous interludes. The fantastic action scenes and taut narrative make this a fine addition to the ancient Roman battles canon. (Apr.)

As several expatriate Moroccans learn in Jelloun's latest, it doesn't matter how difficult life may be in the home country, a whole new set of difficulties waits in the promised land. Most of the novel focuses on Azel, a young Tangier native and a self-described “Arab who doesn't like himself.” Desperate to escape, Azel agrees to become the object of affection for a wealthy Spaniard named Miguel, who takes him in after a brutal police beating. Leaving behind his family and girlfriend for the good life he's imagined in Spain, he soon learns that daydreams can be misleading—and that the life he's always wanted is causing him, despite his benefactor's best intentions, to self-destruct. Before long, Azel's sister Kenza, a nurse, weds Miguel to gain Spanish citizenship, then falls in love with an expatriate Turk who comes with his own set of problems. This harsh, unsentimental view of the risks and regrets of emigration—as well as the stunning realities of life under Islam law—is a stark, straightforward tale that readers can't help getting caught up. (Apr.)

The Meszaros sisters, Valerie and Susan, prove themselves to be skilled western authors in this action-packed hayburner (after Lone Survivor). Jim Wyatt is an ex-con, just released from prison for a crime he didn't commit. En route to his ranch in 1870s Wyoming, he stumbles into a stagecoach robbery, rescuing the sole survivor and the money from Lyle Bodine and his gang of murderous thieves. The survivor, Julie Carter, isn't sure if she is any safer with Wyatt, but she has no other choice, as the outlaws are after them. Meanwhile, back home, rancher March Newton, who framed Wyatt for murder, has stolen Wyatt's fiancée, is scheming to take Wyatt's land and has a posse tracking Wyatt. Wyatt and Julie are joined by some unlikely allies and together they whittle down the outlaws and the posse with some fancy Winchester and pistol work, blasting dozens of owlhoots into celestial pastures. Add greed, gunmen, gunsmoke and a surprise ending, and the result is fast-paced, bloody and exciting. (Apr.)

The last place Manny Rupert wants to go is prison. But when the opportunity arises to investigate an inmate's claim to be Nazi war criminal Dr. Josef Mengele, it's too much for the ex-cop-turned-PI—last seen in 2002's Plainclothes Dead—to pass up. Masquerading as a drug counselor—despite his own addictions—Manny meets the nonagenarian who calls himself Mengele and hears firsthand of the torturous experiments the “Angel of Death” conducted at Auschwitz. Add to the mix the reappearance of Manny's ex-wife, Tina, whom he sees cavorting in the conjugal trailer with the prison's resident Jewish skinhead. It turns out that Tina not only works for an Internet Christian escort service secretly run by one of the prisoners but is also in league with the same man who hired Manny to spy on Mengele. Lines soon blur between justified revenge and outright cruelty, and it's up to Manny to keep everything straight or die trying. Stahl is no stranger to smashing social taboos, and his trademark blend of ballsy, blacker-than-black humor and wry social commentary lets him find humor in the Third Reich. (Mar.)

An elusive heirloom cradle symbolizes childhood's pains and possibilities in Somerville's spare, elegant first novel (after a story collection, Trouble). Marissa, pregnant with her first child, becomes obsessed with tracking down the antique cradle her mother took when she abandoned the family a decade earlier. Marissa's husband, Matt, is sure he's been dispatched on a fool's errand, but his journey soon connects him to Marissa's family and his own history of abandonment, neglect and abuse amid a string of foster homes and orphanages. Matt's quest through four states is interwoven with another drama that takes place 11 years later, in 2008, in which poet and children's author Renee Owen is haunted by memories of war and a lost love as she prepares to send her son off to fight in Iraq. Again, long-buried secrets come to the surface, one of which poignantly links the two story lines. Though the connection will not shock, Somerville's themes of a broader sense of interconnectivity and the resultant miracles of everyday existence retain their strength and affirm the value of forming and keeping families. (Mar.)

Bestseller Wilson (By the Sword) displays an expert grasp of storytelling mechanics and an impressive breadth of themes and approaches in what he says in an afterword is his last collection. The title tale is a moving meditation on love and loss, built on the unlikely premise of lightning-strike survivors seeing the spirits of their dear departed at their near-death moment of electrocution. “Dreams” riffs on the Frankenstein theme with its speculation on how the monster might act were its brain to have retained aspects of its predeath personality. In “Interlude at Duane's,” urban mercenary hero Repairman Jack must foil a four-man holdup with found weapons fashioned from consumer goods on the shelves of the drugstore where it takes place. In all these efforts, Wilson establishes characters with a few deft strokes, quickly sets up a tricky plot, and then masterfully maneuvers the reader to a well-orchestrated (and sometimes surprising) ending. Fans will hope they haven't seen the last of Wilson's short fiction. (Mar.)

Mike Yeager, who starred in Lakeman's debut, The Shadow Catchers (2006), and appeared in his second, Chillwater Cove (2007), takes on a fiendishly tortuous assignment for the FBI as a rogue (“broken wing”) agent in the author's imaginative third novel. The 42-year-old Yeager must infiltrate the New Orleans organization run by crime boss Emelio Barca, with whose daughter he once had a relationship, and see that Barca's planned sale of a kidnap victim succeeds. The botched handling of the aftermath of hurricane Katrina provides a vivid setting for Lakeman's tale, which mingles organized crime, government contractors, prominent politicians and the FBI. All of Yeager's enemies and most of his allies have their own agendas, which reduce the chance of his survival. The complex Yeager carries a boatload of guilt and a raft of compensatory skills. Lakeman's strong writing make this thriller series one that should win an increasingly large audience. (Mar.)

This stunning stand-alone from bestseller Lippman (Baltimore Blues) examines the extraordinary power and fragility of memories. Writer Cassandra Fallows achieved critical and commercial success with an account of her Baltimore childhood growing up in the 1960s and a follow-up dealing with her adult marriages and affairs. The merely modest success of her debut novel leads her back to nonfiction and the possibility of a book about grade school classmate Calliope Jenkins. Accused of murdering her infant son, Jenkins spent seven years in prison steadfastly declining to answer any questions about the disappearance and presumed death of her son. Fallows (white) tries to reconnect with three former classmate friends (black) to compare memories of Jenkins and research her story. In the process, she discovers the gulf (partially racial) that separates her memories of events from theirs. Fallows's pursuit of Jenkins's story becomes a rich, complex journey from self-deception to self-discovery. 20-city author tour. (Mar.)

Screenwriter Depp's inspired if uneven debut, the first in a new crime series, introduces Hollywood PI David Spandau, a former stunt man too old and beat up to work for the movies any more. Spandau's latest job is to protect film star Bobby Dye from the blackmail attempts of Richie Stella, club owner, drug dealer and Mafia player. Like everyone else in Hollywood, Richie has written a movie script, and he makes it clear to Bobby that the actor will star in the project or else a certain dark secret involving a dead underage girl will hit the headlines. As things get nastier, we meet various characters straight out of central casting—the beautiful single mom who works in one of Stella's clubs and dreams of escape; the career criminal who meets the good woman who will help him go legit. Where Depp shines is his insider's look at the intricate machinations and sordid players who really run the Hollywood machine. (Mar.)

What appears to be an open-and-shut murder case turns out to be anything but in Rotenberg's overstuffed debut, a legal thriller. After celebrated radio host Kevin Brace (aka the “Voice of Canada”) confesses to killing his wife, Katherine, in their Toronto apartment, he refuses to utter another word, even to his attorney, Nancy Parish. The police, including homicide detective Ari Greene and ex-lawyer-turned-cop Daniel Kennicott, try to piece together a motive, while rookie prosecutor Albert Fernandez gears up for his first murder trial. As Greene and Kennicott dig deeper into Brace's life, they discover links not only to an ex-wife and son but also to Katherine's own checkered past. Rotenberg, a criminal lawyer, is at his best evoking the courtroom duel between Fernandez and Parish, but too many underdeveloped characters and unnecessary subplots may leave some readers feeling the eventual trial wasn't worth the wait. (Mar.)

At the start of Smith's overheated follow-up to her debut, The Timer Game, someone with a crossbow shoots an arrow into the chest of Professor Thaddeus Bartholomew, a gadfly protesting GM, or genetically modified, crops on the eve of an international agricultural convention in Palm Springs, Calif. The attacker then douses the professor with gasoline and lights a match. Alarmed by Bartholomew's murder, the FBI suspects Radical Damage, a violent protest group, has plans to disrupt the conference at its closing ceremony. Grace Descanso, who works for the San Diego police crime lab, finds various family members complicating the investigation, including her estranged Uncle Pete, an FBI special agent, and her pregnant cousin, Vonda, who's possibly involved with the radicals. In spite of the hectic pace, the precise nature of the radicals' threats is revealed too late to generate much suspense, and the wrapup is unsatisfyingly neat. Author tour. (Mar.)

Cutting-edge research, complex plotting and in-depth characterizations lift Aaron's debut, a terrorist thriller. Afghan Yousseff Said al-Sabbhan, who's built an enormous drug-smuggling enterprise, has worked out with his co-conspirator, “the Emir,” a plan to destroy an American city and bring the country to its knees. Opposing the plotters is the Terrorist Threat Integration Center, a secret agency staffed by men and women drawn from every sector of the U.S. intelligence community. Autistic mathematician Hamilton Turbee, a TTIC employee, is a standout in a vast cast of characters, surely one of the most interesting and endearing heroes ever to star in an action adventure novel. Despite the incredible amount of detail and the constant flashbacks, Aaron keeps the action moving swiftly forward. Some readers may be frustrated by the abrupt ending as well as patches of mundane prose, but all will eagerly await the two projected sequels. 6-city author tour. (Mar.)

An intelligent, fast-paced plot about radical groups orchestrating a race riot is only one highlight of Waites's superb third Joe Donovan thriller (after Bone Machine). In a thoughtful subplot, the British author suggests it's not shared beliefs that draw some to extremist organizations, but a sense of belonging and acceptance that these groups offer the lost, the displaced and the unloved. Newcastle PI Joe Donovan and his ragtag “information brokers” investigate who's behind threatening calls to a former '70s radical. The calls coincide with a Muslim student's savage murder that point to the far-right National Unity Party. But this thinly veiled white supremacist group appears to be innocent and is poised to win big during the upcoming election. Waites masterfully pulls together a cohesive story about fanatical politics filled with surprises and suspense. Fans of Mark Billingham, John Connolly and Ken Bruen will find much to like. (Mar.)

Shortly after Judson Two-Bears Hootier Jr. is released from Rikers Island, 19-year-old Hootie finds his desire to stay on the straight-and-narrow severely tested in this middling crime thriller set in New York City from Solomita (Monkey in the Middle). After accepting a toke from a large, forbidding white man in a Harlem subway station, Hootie is shocked to see his new “friend” fire a number of pistol rounds at a rat on the platform. Later, the ex-con is even more shaken to learn that the man's target practice coincided with the murder of drug dealer Flaco Almeda. Hootie's proximity to the slaying places him in the crosshairs of NYPD Det. Peter Chigorin (aka the Russian), who squeezes him for information on his recent acquaintance. The writing can be awkward at times (“Borne by events as unpredictable as they are malevolent, disaster comes to the black man as a random act”), and the odd-couple partnership of Hootie and the Russian is less than compelling. (Mar.)

In her 11th novel, Monroe (She Had It Coming; God Don't Play) takes on the music industry, walking in the Jimmy Choos of Teri Stewart, Eclectic Record's hardworking executive publicity director. Much to the chagrin of her best friend/assistant Nicole, Teri fills her empty social schedule with work, pounding away at projects through holidays, meals and whatever else might keep her from finishing the job. Secretly, though, Teri admits it's lonely at the top; enter handsome, influential DJ Harrison Starr. While staying on his good side is only smart business—ensuring plenty of airplay for Eclectic's artists—the chemistry between them suggests there's more than business in the couple's future. When they do get together, however, their professional roles, a cast of interesting characters (Carla, the psychic psychologist; Yvette, the social climber) and, naturally, a secret from the past may mean their happily-ever-after is more like a one-hit wonder. Swift, salty writing and steamy sex scenes will keep readers cheering for the couple, and a twisting plot will keep them turning pages. (Mar.)

Bestseller White's high-octane 16th thriller to feature Marion “Doc” Ford (after Black Widow) opens with a splash as Ford deep-sixes serial rapist Bern Heller into the ocean a mile off Sanibel Island, Fla. Killing Heller is a sidebar to Doc's primary mission: rescuing Will Chaser, a 14-year-old Indian boy from Oklahoma, from two Cuban psychopaths who in a bungled kidnapping attempt wound up with Will instead of their intended target, a U.S. senator. Will is the real star of the show—a tough, resourceful juvenile delinquent with rodeo skills and a propensity for rage that make him a pretty even match for the two demonic kidnappers, who are demanding valuable information found in the belongings of the now-deceased Fidel Castro. Despite some confusing backstory and an unnecessarily complicated plot—White drags in many of Doc's sidekicks from earlier books for not much apparent reason—the action roars along as Doc does what Doc does best: kick butt. Author tour. (Mar.)

Blighted souls and the bleak lives they lead overwhelm the plot of Hill's diffuse and meandering third thriller to feature Chief Insp. Simon Serrailler (after The Pure in Heart). The fast-paced opening chapters introduce the two main plot lines: a spate of child abductions that have been unnerving the residents of the British town of Lafferton is pinned on an emotionally disturbed young woman, and a man unhinged by grief over his wife's death goes on a psychotic rampage in pursuit of women who look like her. Though these events enmesh all the principal characters—Serrailler, the increasingly reluctant cop; his conscientious physician sister, who's struggling to juggle her home and work lives; and a conflicted female Anglican minister who catches the inspector's fancy—they never cohere or develop in any meaningful way. Instead, Hill expends her energies dwelling on Serrailler's emotional constipation and the behaviors of criminals who are so quirky they begin to parody themselves. (Mar.)

In her follow-up to The Queen's Lady, Canadian actress-novelist Kyle brings a theatrical flair to the 16th-century story of Isabel Thornleigh, a young English bride-to-be who gets caught up in Catholic Queen Mary's war against English heretics. When her father, merchant and courtier Thomas Thornleigh, is identified as a Protestant heretic, he pleads with Isabel to flee with her mother to Antwerp. Instead, Isabel abandons her plans for marriage and stays behind in England to save her father and country. As she spies for the forces plotting to overthrow the queen—including her husband-to-be, Martin St. Leger—Isabel also collaborates with a savage mercenary to free her father from jail. Isabel's quest culminates in the Wyatt rebellion of 1554, the rebel leaders' unsuccessful attempt to overthrow Queen Mary and prevent her marriage to King Philip of Spain. Kyle ably unfurls a complex and fast-paced plot, mixing history with vibrant characters for a brisk, entertaining read. (Mar.)

The inhabitants of Five Spice Street gossip, spy and seduce one another in this lovely surrealist romp. At the center of the drama is Madame X, a mysterious figure who has a strange hold on her neighbors' imaginations. She could be anywhere from 22 to 50 years old, according to her neighbors, and “her notions were deeply at odds with the traditions of Five Spice Street.” Much of the fascination comes from her affair with Mr. Q. Meanwhile, a figure known only as “the widow” spends her time protecting the neighborhood from Madame X and Mr. Q by reading their letters, investigating their rooms and making bold, if unsubstantiated, claims about their character. The translators do a marvelous job of preserving the prose's lyricism, which enhances the surreal scenes that seem to be the stuff of everyday life on Five Spice Street. Xue's stridently weird and vainglorious characters are quite a bizarre retinue, and the air of paranoia and mystery is perfectly captured. (Mar.)

The exciting third novel in Iggulden's Genghis Khan series tells the dramatic story of the Mongol invasion and conquest of Central Asia. Genghis has already defeated the Chinese and Koreans, and now marches his vast army west to punish and conquer the Muslim lands of central Asia ruled by Shah Mohammed. For eight years the Mongols ravage the shah's empire, crushing armies, destroying cities and slaughtering anyone who resists. Iggulden's vivid descriptions of bloody battles, masterful sieges and political intrigue are gripping, showcasing Genghis's brilliance as a strategist, tactician, administrator and leader. Side plots include the deadly rivalry between two of Genghis's sons, the rape and murder of Genghis's sister by a trusted adviser, the surprising rise of the shah's son as a capable enemy and the treachery of Genghis's son toward his father. This is epic historical fiction at its finest: exciting, suspenseful, colorful and well-grounded in fact. With this tale, it is easy to see why the name Genghis is synonymous with conquest and military genius. (Mar.)

Author and journalist Giorello, whose Christy award–winning debut novel, The Stones Cry Out, made a splash in the evangelical Christian literary community, offers another crisply written crime story featuring Raleigh Harmon, the female geologist turned FBI agent. Agent Harmon is transferred from Richmond to Seattle, disciplined for not following orders. She arrives in Seattle with no sure footing and must quickly adapt to the unfamiliar as she begins the search for a missing wealthy young woman, with no choice but to trust her instincts. But there are distractions: her mom's sanity is iffy, her aunt has clairvoyant friends, and a whole host of fellow officers Harmon can't quite trust yet. As the search intensifies, so does the pressure, and Harmon keenly feels the strain of remaining an unemotional agent while coming into intimate contact with evil personified. With great attention to detail, gritty descriptions and fast-paced action, Giorello's tale of suspense is a sure bet. (Mar.)

The popularity of Christian novels set in the Amish culture knows no bounds, so Ellis's tale should be a sure-fire hit for eager readers. Hannah Brown, childless and widowed after six years of marriage, seeks and needs a change. She sells her farm to her brother, puts her sheep on a truck and heads from Pennsylvania to Ohio to live with her beloved sister. Hannah's transition, however, is anything but smooth. Her brother-in-law, Simon, doesn't seem to like her, her sheep cause trouble, and her equilibrium is shattered thanks to handsome widower Seth Miller and his daughter, Phoebe. This is a gentle tale of renewed hope that puts readers in the middle of Amish life, and genre fans will certainly love it. Ellis offers a bit of originality in that Hannah owns a herd of sheep, but the book as a whole is more of the same in the huge, warm kitchen of Amish fiction. (Mar. 1)

Samson (Quaker Summer) mixes quirky with mysticism, seasons it with social justice, and the result is a page-turner with characters so fresh, funny and indelible the reader wants another 50 pages or so, please. Samson envisions a Jesus even an atheist would enjoy talking to, a Jesus whom the titular Mary-Margaret Fischer, a religious sister, talks to and gets direction from, as mystics quite naturally do. An even more compelling figure than Jesus, or at least someone with more lines and hence more characterization, is Mary-Margaret's childhood friend, Jude Keller, a ne'er-do-well with a soul needing saving encased in a body so good-looking it's hard for a body to resist. The required Christian progression to redemption is a natural in this story that slips between past and present—somewhat confusingly at first—and ranges from Maryland to Africa. The plot holds a few surprises that make some of the final, far-flung episodes more narratively and theologically satisfying. Quirk works; this is a deeply engaging book deserving of a broad audience. (Mar.)

Weinman's baggy third novel features Ethan Baum, a novelist who moves from Boston to Albuquerque to take a teaching post. Divorced and afflicted by writer's block, Ethan's a bit down on his luck and in one night manages to catch the eye of Lucy Evans, the 46-year-old star writer-in-residence; get drunk; and get fired by Dr. Will Dixon, his new boss and Lucy's husband. Ethan decides to stay in Albuquerque and pursue an affair with Lucy. Their tryst induces problems with Lucy's daughter and, naturally, Will, who also happens to be a fan of child pornography. While Weinman is adept at capturing the picturesque Southwest, the people living there never snap to life, and the narrative's lack of direction is exacerbated by its turgid prose. (Mar.)

This introspective second novel from California writer Janigian (Bloodvine) relates the tale of an agrarian Armenian-American family scrambling to survive in 1964 Fresno. Farmer Andy Demerjian, 33, is kicked off their land by his brother, Abe, after a loan scheme between them goes bad. Unable to support his wife and two young children, Andy hauls produce to L.A. until a fortuitous run-in with two entrepreneurs, one of whom Andy knows from school. They strike a deal with Andy to raise a crop of corn at a nearby farm, with their financial backing; meanwhile, Andy arranges a side venture on land rented from Mrs. Chamichian, an irascible, elderly Armenian widow with a disturbed daughter. When he isn't battling corn mites, hiring laborers or dickering with creditors, Andy has to ponder the secretive entrepreneurs' plans, which include an airstrip running along the cornfields. Vibrant Armenian culture is smartly stitched into the plot, including historical rancor toward domineering Turks. Janigian's prose provides rich detail (and then some) on agricultural life in an engrossing, satisfying tale of betrayal, feud and redemption. (Mar.)

Harrison (Legends of the Fall) has over decades won a durable following for verse and fiction about the wild places, solitudes and the exhilarations of the American West. This 12th book of verse gives familiar, quotable rural pleasures—solitude, ease, forests and big skies—along with a new focus on the poet's advancing years. “I keep waiting without knowing/ what I'm waiting for,” Harrison says in “Age Sixty-Nine”; in that waiting, he adds, “on local earth my heart/ is at rest as a groundling.” In low-pressure free verse, and in the prose poems that make up half the volume, Western American landscapes and beasts soar and roam off the page. (Mexican places and people, unfortunately, do not: they are leaden stereotypes.) People, for Harrison, are beasts as well, “marine organisms at the bottom of the ocean/ of air.” Paying homage to instinct, loyalty, memory and a companionable ferocity, Harrison finds his best subjects, often enough, in dogs. “I know dog language fairly well,” he explains, “but then dogs hold a little back from us because we don't know their secret names given them by the dog gods.” “Barking” brings the poet closer to the canine kingdom still: “I was a dog on a short chain,” he complains, “and now there's no chain.” (Apr.)

Wright's gifts for single long lines, simple description and lyrical sound effects are second to none; he is the recipient of almost every American poetry award, including the Pulitzer. Even so gifted a poet, though, risks repeating himself after 18 books; the longer poems had begun to look like collections of interchangeable lines, however beautiful. If Wright was in a rut, this 19th book has found a neat way out. The 69 poems here, not unlike most of his earlier work, show vistas from the Upper South and points of view derived from Taoism, but they share a self-limiting form that is fresh for Wright: each has only six lines, plus a (sometimes quite long) title. In these sestets great yearnings and brief descriptions collide, cancel or reinforce each other: “The heart of the world lies open, leached and ticking with sunlight/ For just a minute or so,” says one poem. In another, “The past is so dark, you need a flashlight to find your own shoes.” Mortality is omnipresent, but so is beauty, in and around Charlottesville (where Wright teaches), in our musical heritage, in the night sky. Wright's compression tries to see that every subject, every image, receives its due. (Apr.)

In their introductions, editors Swensen and St. John, both accomplished and forward-thinking poets, outline the contention that spurred this anthology: for a long time, poetry has been divided, or has divided itself, into two basic camps, traditional and experimental. In contemporary American poetry, the editors argue, and the poets collected here demonstrate, these distinctions no longer make sense, as poets now draw equally from both traditions, often in the same poem. Hence these generous selections from 73 poets who seek to blend, in varying degrees, the straightforward clarity and formal rigor of the long poetic tradition with the disjunction, self-consciousness and obscurity of experimental poetics. Some names will be familiar to the casual reader of American poetry (John Ashbery, Jorie Graham, Robert Hass); some are well known in poetry circles (Brenda Hillman, D.A. Powell, Donald Revell); and others are totally new to this kind of anthology, such as the amazing and subtle Martha Ronk (“When it is raining it is raining for all time then it isn't”) and Bin Ramke, a master of the commingling of old and new. For serious readers of poetry, novices looking for a way in to what's new, and, perhaps especially, for poetry professors, this is a must-have book. (Mar.)

Smith's debut shows imaginative ambition and rare internal variety, along with a tropism towards allegory. The title refers to the dazzling sequence—with prose poems, single-line stanzas, couplets and other unrhymed forms—in which an eternal circus represents all of humanity. One poem pursues “The Tightrope Walker's Childhood”; in another, “there's nothing magical/ About the magical.” Other poems are set in Neolithic villages, where the beginnings of civilization—the first fire, the first art, the first conquests—take place in lines of elegance and suppressed horror: “We temper copper on the back/ of toppled menhirs, stone// columns with small brunt/ for the harrying blow.” Still other lyric efforts pursue ecological consciousness, albeit in dreamlike fashion: “The hybrid wildlife of irises visible// in the foliage. Language, we are moving on again.” The New York City–based Smith does well with the language that signals his U.K. upbringing: “in the centre/ of the sheep-field lemurs somehow” appear “at the lilt of the road This Roman road.” Yet such scenes seem anything but antiquarian—they are fantastic and earthy, strange and inherited, classical and idiosyncratic, at once. Smith's sequences have themes and forms rather than gimmicks, relying on imagination rather than on any biographical facts. His powers ought to help this book, and its author, last. (Mar.)

This fourth collection from Powell (Cocktails) is simultaneously an accessible heartbreaker, a rare gem for connoisseurs, a genre-altering breakthrough and a long anticipated follow-up. The San Francisco–based poet has lived with, and written about, HIV for a decade, and his own illness remains a subject here; so does his celebration of gay eroticism, of love in the spirit and in the flesh. “Democrac” (Powell pointedly omits the “Y”) shows 21st-century queer anguish and outrage: “does god discriminate, slashing some flags,” it asks, while “farther above the chapels pale heaven expires.” Powell goes on to investigate many more sources of sadness and happiness, solidarity and discontent: “Cancer inside a little sea” takes on environmental degradation: “child to come, what will you make of this scratched paradise.” The unruly long lines of Powell's previous work here join more conventional-looking stanzaic lyrics; they join, too, two ultra-long poems, printed sideways, entitled “Cinemascope“ and “centerfold.” This book will be remembered for years, for its serious feelings, their swerves, their tears, its jokes. A poem to a crab louse abuts a scene from the biblical binding of Isaac, and a poem in which the Twin Towers fall segues from bedroom to public space and then back: “lips can say anything but first they say goodbye.” (Feb.)

Celebrated since the 1980s for his urbane command of traditional forms, McClatchy (Ten Commandments) has steadily expanded his tonal and topical range: this sixth collection is his most various, its many modes held together by worldly apprehension at his own middle age, and at the unsatisfactory lives of lovers and friends. The ambitious sequence “The Young Fate” strings together allegorical vignettes, each having to do with resignation and loss: “What envy does the sun have? What choice the moon?” An even more ambitious sequence, “Trees Walking,” takes its unrhymed meter from the Latin, its array of stories from the Gospel of Mark and the gossip of gay men at the opera, and its sensibility from the poet's awareness that his body will eventually fail. A sequence of narrative sonnets tells a fanciful story spun off from Madame Butterfly, set during the Japanese internment. Other sonnets speak for all of the “Seven Deadly Sins”; “Envy” gets a simple song with the chorus “Why him and not me?” McClatchy sounds more than ever like himself. The plainly styled “Er” (perhaps McClatchy's best poem) glides masterfully from the poet's love life to the Epic of Gilgamesh, and thence to celestial symbols of fate, “spangled ranks/ Of wheeling planetary orbits moving as they must,/ Each sounding a note in harmony with the rest.” (Feb.)

Chatty and whimsical, literary and (at its best) laugh-out-loud funny, Hamby's fourth outing begins with a tour-de-force: monorhyme. All the long lines in Hamby's two-page “Ode to Anglo Saxon, Film Noir, and the Hundred Thousand Anxieties that Plague Me Like Demons in a Medieval Christian Allegory” (yes, that's the title) rhyme, or at least half-rhyme, with one another: “Who are you? Not the hippie chick/ of your early twenties or the Sears and Roebuck/ Christian drudge your mother became, though Satan still stalks/ you....” Most of the volume pursues the same jittery, entertaining pace, with frequent reference to baby-boom–era popular culture, especially film: “Here's to the movie queens with their nose jobs, snow jobs, blow jobs.” Long-lined “Odes,” most in monorhyme or in loose couplets, give her extroverted, digressive imagination free play, reminiscent by turns of Albert Goldbarth and Ogden Nash: “I was a vegetarian,/ so I know food hang-ups like a Rastafarian/ knows ganja.” Hamby (Babel) also includes a few dozen 13-line sonnets, more restrained, less forceful, and less personal, but determined to juxtapose the ultra-contemporary and the famously literary: “Nietzsche Explains the Ubermensch to Lois Lane.” Hamby's autobiographical asides and festive attitudes may seem, to some, like nothing new: yet, often enough, their sheer verve should entertain. (Feb.)

Jesme's third collection is a sweeping book made up of serial poems—long sequences of short, tonally related lyrics—that meditate on pastoral, aesthetic and domestic themes. The two longest series, “The Little Hour,” and “I will not let thee go except thou bless me,” delve deep into the sensuality of brief, everyday occurrences with a radiant clarity. The speaker of “In June or July” (part of “The Little Hour”) could be talking about the poem's author: “She uses the smallest sensual experience— / her fingers pulling apart the tiny rootlets of peat moss / and then separating the plants.” Jesme focuses on and illuminates small experiences. Many of the poems are thick with aesthetic revelry, and while taken singly they can underwhelm, their cumulative effect can be mesmerizing. There's attention to the power of lyrical lacunae, as in the poems of Cole Swenson and Mei-mei Bersenbrugge, but there are also traces of narrative woven throughout, most notably in the opening prose poem series “Lives of the Saints”: “I was a boy like other boys, except that I had murdered my sister. There was a lot of atonement required.” It's tantalizing, and shows Jesme's gift for creating atmosphere, something she demonstrates throughout these luminous glimpses of various lives. (Jan.)

This scrupulously edited selection of poems, critical prose and translation represents more than 40 years of work from one of America's most committed, prolific and cosmopolitan poets. From inhabiting the imagination behind Paleolithic cave paintings to holding drunken congress with the spirit of Hart Crane, Eshleman is a visionary, divining in the world at hand the operation of the primordial energies that have animated human culture from its beginning. “All life is present every moment,” he writes, and by “extending... human consciousness” poetry can help us to experience it that way, letting us perceive beyond “the dualities in which the human world is cruelly and eternally... enmeshed.” Transgression is a matter of principle for Eshleman: he is intent on breaking through boundaries and habits—and not only those of perception, but those of good taste as well, even if it means that his representation of the primal sometimes veers into the puerile: “A liquid fart of swear words zigzagged forth.” But Eshleman's feistiness has always served to offset his grace, and to anneal his insight: “It is as if at a certain point in his history man left the thing at hand to quest for immortality, and when that pursuit was revealed to be empty, he was left with the thing at hand.” (Jan.)

In his long-awaited second full-length book, the playfully serious Ostashevsky (Iterature) draws on the Jewish philosopher Spinoza to create his alter ego, who wields logic like a weapon (“On a periodic table/ he lays out his definitions/ axioms/ propositions/ like a dentist's tools before drilling a cavity”). Adversaries such as the Begriffin (“Frightful is the Begriffin and sharp are his claws/ .../ He is full of effects but do they have a cause?”) counter the DJ with Ostashevsky's brand of wit, as well as the rhythms and rhymes of everything from fairy tales to hip-hop: “Let us dismiss words// in toto /as the unionized janitors of reality!” And characters such as Joseph Bédier, God, MC Squared and the Peepeesaurus offer whimsical and often dubious insight: “you're famous for your scores/ on Scholastic Aptitude Tests, but/ what good is a brain, if you're an idiot?” In meticulous de- and reconstructions of language that are at once mischievous (“The Origin of the Specious,” “Myopia Is Youropia”) and thought-provoking, Ostashevsky continues his slant exploration of the convergence of the poetic traditions of Eastern Europe and the U.S. (Jan.)

In her hilarious, deeply cynical second book, de la Torre (Talk Shows) interrogates language public and private, often directly inviting the reader to participate in parsing authenticity from bullshit: “read into a microphone making all p's pop” is the instruction at the top of one “p”-heavy text. Born in Mexico and reared equally on the high and pop-culture of Latin America and the U.S., de la Torre is especially indebted to the Language poets and the New York contemporary art scene (she is the senior editor of Bomb magazine). These six poems and sequences co-opt various kinds of discourse—the list (“Lists are what you write when you're feeling eager”), the sales presentation (“Our patented Emergency Restraint Chair... will restrain a combative or self-destructive person who needs to be interrogated or force fed...”), even e-mail (“believe it or not, my name is also Monica de la Torre”)—to show how these forms are misused or can be recontextualized to make new meaning in an age when language has been deeply debased. All the while, de la Torre's own mischievous voice, interspersed, reminds us that even when cynicism is the only logical response, there are still reasons to believe: “This piece might not seem transformed enough to you, but I intend it to be transformative for me.” (Jan.)

The author of the David Mapstone series set in Phoenix (Cactus Heart, etc.) puts an interesting twist on the detective solving a mystery while bed-ridden scenario in this tense, well-crafted whodunit. A brief glimpse of a horrific murder scene in Cincinnati Memorial Hospital is enough to tell Will Borders, an ex-homicide cop who's recovering from the removal of a spinal cord tumor, that the crime resembles those committed by the killer dubbed the Mount Adams Slasher. The man convicted of the slasher's crimes, however, was caught, tried and executed. Cheryl Beth Wilson, the pain nurse specialist who discovered the victim, Dr. Christine Lustig, becomes a suspect once the police learn she had an affair with Lustig's husband. Borders, one of Wilson's patients, isn't even ambulatory as the two start sharing information about the case. Talton's authentic depiction of hospital life lends heft, as do his searing descriptions of Borders's physical pain and mental anguish during recovery. (Apr.)

Gruley's outstanding debut effortlessly incorporates his inside knowledge of both the newspaper business and his hockey avocation into a tale of violence and betrayal that will remind many of Dennis Lehane. After crossing an ethical line while writing an investigative series for the Detroit Times, reporter Gus Carpenter has returned to his hometown of Starvation Lake, Mich., to work for the local paper, whose stories mostly reflect the pedestrian and placid nature of smalltown life. That changes when evidence surfaces that the town's legendary hockey coach, Jack Blackburn, who disappeared after an apparent snowmobile accident a decade earlier, was actually murdered. Carpenter's reopening of the case, which has personal resonance for him (he'd been the goalie for the amateur boys' team Blackburn coached), shakes all sorts of skeletons loose. Gruley, the Wall Street Journal's Chicago bureau chief, has a gift for making all his characters, from the leads to the bit players, realistic. (Mar.)

Callie Anson, curate of All Saints' Church in London, and her beau, Mark Lombardi, a family liaison officer, get caught up in a high-profile investigation in Charles's engrossing third ecclesiastical mystery (after 2007's Secret Sins). When the baby daughter of a celebrity couple from a reality TV show, Jodee and Chazz, dies in her cot, the subsequent autopsy raises enough questions to bring Det. Insp. Neville Stewart back from his honeymoon, much to his bride's fury. Since Jodee and Chazz live in Callie's parish, Callie becomes involved in arranging the funeral. Mark does his bit to help the bereaved family, but finds himself distracted by his own troubles after his brother-in-law dies of an apparent heart attack. A realistic conflict arises between Mark's devotion to his family and his love for Callie. A tabloid journalist's drive for status heightens the drama. Charles combines credible characters and a puzzling mystery with a tantalizing look at the world of reality TV. (Mar.)

Shuman (Burial Ground) works the familiar plot of an older man returning to his childhood community to resolve an old crime with limited success. True-crime author Colin Douglas is still haunted by his memories of a pale white form he and his teenage companions saw on a 1959 camping trip outside Baton Rouge, La. Douglas later learned that this ghostly apparition coincided with the brutal murder of Gloria Santana, the Spanish teacher at his high school. The father of one of Douglas's friends, the local doctor, who'd been having a fling with Santana, was arrested and released after the authorities concluded that one of two obvious suspects (with heavy-handed Dickensian names, Rufus Sikes and Darwin Drood) was responsible for the murder. Officially, the case was never solved. Douglas's return stirs up bad memories for those he left behind. The solution may shock some readers, but the surprise element comes at the expense of plausibility. (Mar.)

Sundstrand's absorbing second mystery to feature Bureau of Land Management agent Frank Flynn (after 2007's Shadow of the Raven) pays homage to Richard Connell's classic short story “The Most Dangerous Game.” The FBI suspects the shooting of two poachers who'd been killing wild burros in California's Mojave desert is the work of an extremist animal rights group whose aim, according to its leader, Seth Parker, is “justice for the innocent, an eye for an eye—or a lip for a beak.” The planned opening of an exclusive hunting club with imported exotic prey provides Parker with a tempting target—and the half-Irish, half-Paiute Flynn, who used to be a small arms instructor in the military, with a nearly impossible challenge. There's plenty of collateral damage as Flynn and Parker maneuver before the inevitable final confrontation. Sundstrand knows this rugged territory well and the kind of denizens it attracts, and he's adept at describing both. (Mar.)

Billed as the first-ever anthology of mystery short stories by Latino authors, this volume will disappoint readers looking for fiction examining distinctively Latino themes. Of the 17 selections, the best is Edgar-finalist Manuel Ramos's “The Skull of Pancho Villa,” a terse, twisty tale of theft purporting to tell the real story of the fate of that relic. A.E. Roman's smart-ass New York City PI, Chico Santana, gets a nice lead-in to his debut novel, Chinatown Angel (Reviews, Jan. 12), in a tale of revenge, “Under the Bridge.” While Lucha Corpi's “Hollow Point at the Synapses” may be the first story told from the perspective of a bullet traveling from a sniper's rifle to the target's head, that novelty comes across more gimmicky than clever. Other contributors include such established writers in the genre as Mario Acevedo, Carolina García-Aguilera and Steve Torres. (Mar.)

Bruns's laid-back fifth mystery to feature Mick Sever (after 2008's St. Bart's Breakdown) takes the music journalist to Nassau, to cover the resurgence of the legendary Highland Recording Studios, which burned down more than a year earlier and killed someone whose remains were never identified. Owners Jonah and Rita Britt have rebuilt, but the studio's now being targeted by a troublemaker. Rita blames a ghost, possibly that of the unidentified person who died in the fire, for destroying a guitar once owned by singer Sheryl Crow. Sever is also intrigued by the Cadillac a Bahamian matron is offering for sale that supposedly belonged to Elvis Presley. When the manager of Johnny Run, a once red-hot band recording its comeback attempt at Highland, is strangled while sitting in the Cadillac, Sever turns detective. Bruns's twisted, if at times hazy, tale of rock-and-roll revenge will keep readers guessing until the end. (Mar.)

At the start of this run-of-the-mill contemporary police procedural from British veteran James, best known for his Harpur and Iles series (Easy Streets, etc.), Det. Constable Sharon Mayfield spots the horribly disfigured corpse of Claude Huddart in a parked car. Suspecting that Huddart was a police informant, the ambitious young officer hopes to use this information to advance her career. Before long, Mayfield begins to wonder whether her superiors in the force may be involved in Huddart's death. James often renders his heroine's thoughts as numbered bullet points, a device that some will find more distracting than edifying. In addition, the lazy shorthand the characters sometimes speak (“Spying can be thought of as an odious trade, yet think of Alec Guinness in Smiley's People on DVD”) can be off-putting. The main plot, which centers on official corruption, is nothing new, and a lead who's more Bridget Jones than Insp. Jane Tennison doesn't bode well for any sequels. (Mar.)

Duncan's outstanding third Venetian fantasy mystery (after 2008's The Alchemist's Code) sends Alfeo Zeno, loyal apprentice to Nostradamus, in search of a killer who targets Venice's prostitutes. After three women are strangled, Donna Violetta Vitale, a courtesan and fond friend of Alfeo, begs Nostradamus to foresee and stop the next death. When the fourth victim is stabbed, Alfeo narrowly escapes the unseen murderer, thanks to the intervention of a magical cat. The prime suspect is lecherous nobleman Zorzi “Honeycat” Michiel, exiled years earlier for patricide, so his haughty mother, Donna Alina Orio Michiel, retains Alfeo to prove her son's innocence. Alfeo and Nostradamus must rely on more than clairvoyance to save Violetta and unmask the culprit. Duncan neatly blends a vision of magical Venice with an engrossing whodunit. (Mar.)

Steele's biting satire takes on megachurches and their murky brew of faith and business. Nagged by his wife into interviewing for the CEO spot of a 2,000-year-old religious corporation, Timothy Webb becomes Timmy Christ despite himself. He's shocked to learn that his primary responsibilities are to profits and image rather than his followers' genuine needs. After a slapstick start, a scheming Judas, a protective, repentant Satan and a murderous Anti-Christ show up to deepen the tale. Timmy soon discovers that battling supernatural evil is only slightly more difficult than challenging the legal labyrinths of the Christ Corporation Council. Those who endure the initial over-the-top chapters will enjoy the notion of a Christ CEO wanting to be Christ-like, presented in a mix of raucous fun and deep questions. (Mar.)

Concluding the fantasy trilogy begun in The Serpent and the Rose (2007) and The Golden Rose (2008), Averil, now queen of Lys, returns to claim her throne and heal the land. Though the king who sought to free the chaos-bringing Serpent is dead, the soulless armies he raised still roam. Averil must seek the sorcerer who commands them and assert her authority as even her most loyal defenders seek to keep her far from the action. Meanwhile, her soul mate and forbidden love, Squire Gereint, makes an unsettling discovery that explains his unusual magical talents. Bryan raises the stakes without descending into melodrama, highlighting the heroism of patience and making the Serpent more complicated than a standard Dark Lord. The effect is spoiled by a too-pat, shallow ending that rings false against the complex, nuanced story. (Mar.)

Williams (The Rift) weaves intriguing questions about games, gamers and their relationships with real life into this well-paced near-future thriller. Game designer Dagmar specializes in creating “alternate reality” games that muddle the line between fantasy and reality. Trapped in riot-torn Jakarta, she reaches out to the gamer community for help. Once back in Los Angeles, Dagmar is caught up in a web of murders and financial manipulation that she begins to blend into her latest game, using the community of players to solve clues and sift through large amounts of data. The line between real life and the game blurs as the action builds to a satisfying and thoughtful conclusion. Though the technology talk occasionally becomes intrusive, it's convincingly written; the characters are realistic and absorbing, and the story deeply compelling. (Mar.)

Bukowski meets Lovecraft in this collection of more than 100 short poems from Stoker-winner Graves (Blood of a Black Bird). She explores a diversity of themes, including love, the search for self and the ubiquity of death in all its forms, from a scorned woman contemplating murder to a flying dinosaur devouring all in its path. Graves's cynical wit and macabre imagination are showcased in “Ladies of the Night,” where female barflies are likened to melancholy vampires; the brilliantly allegorical “Unwanted Yellow Flowers,” where lawn mowers have “metallic teeth” and dandelions “lay in wait/ for the kiss of death”; and “Slick Eddie Dog One-Fifty-One,” where a killer describes his victims as matchbooks full of dormant fire. Though there's no real narrative thread or progression to the hodgepodge of dark imagery, horror aficionados will enjoy the wry, nihilistic verse. (Mar.)

A perfect, powerful deck of tarot cards weaves through this slightly haphazard assortment of eight fables from World Fantasy Award–winner Pollack (Unquenchable Fire). The underwhelming title story sets the stage for tales that run the gamut from charming to disturbing and alternate rhythmically between modern magical realism and surreal high fantasy. Pollack's fairy tales are the strongest pieces: “The Fool, the Stick, and the Princess” details the virtues of eschewing skepticism for happiness, while “Carolina in the Morning” is a grim but uplifting parable of domestic abuse and the persistence of children. The powerful final story, “Master Matyas,” reveals information that ties earlier pieces together. This collection is probably most meaningful to those with a strong background in fortune telling, but enough stories stand alone to entertain an amateur tarot enthusiast. (Mar.)

In this elaborate and character-laden sequel to 2008's The Stormcaller, Isak the White-Eyed, new ruler of the Farlan tribe, tries to save the city of Scree as a magical spell turns it into a cesspit of evil and death. With the aid of a dubious group of comrades, Isak investigates the blessing and curse of his white eyes, which grant him mostly unexplained magical powers and superior strength as well as a powerful rage he must learn to control. As he matures, the plot deepens, with several characters questioning their loyalties and pursuing unclear agendas. The result is a wonderfully dense and often gruesome story of martial might and raw magic. Fans who liked the first book but thought Lloyd could do better will be thrilled to be proven right. (Mar.)

Noted short story author Foster offers a dozen enchanting and sometimes chilling tales alive with elegantly sketched characters and sensibilities drawn from Asian folklore. Revenge and family loyalty drive the title story as well as “The Tears of My Mother, the Shell of My Father” and the historical fantasy “A Thread of Silk.” In “Shim Chung the Lotus Queen,” good deeds and sacrifice are rewarded, but “The Raven's Brocade” shows how easily those rewards can be lost. The most memorable stories follow shape-changers: the fox spirits of “Year of the Fox,” the lively rabbits-turned-human of “Daughter of Bótà” and a most unusual tea kettle in “The Tanuki-Kettle.” Readers who long for a break from European medieval fantasy will be charmed and entertained by Foster's tales. (Mar.)

In his first book from a major publisher, Fitzsimmons (Confessions of a Catholic Cop) takes an unblinking look at the psychological disposition of two South Bronx police officers whose entire world comprises criminals and other cops. After spending time with noncriminal civilians while playing a small role on the TV drama Law & Order, veteran cop Michael Beckett finds himself with an overwhelming desire to leave the department and lead a more normal life. Beckett's friend and partner, Vinnie D'Amato, knows Beckett is hiding something, and he doesn't like it one bit. Meanwhile, someone is setting up the duo to take the fall for a series of deadly fires. D'Amato and Beckett struggle to re-establish their bond of trust as they solve the crimes. Gritty realism and fascinating interactions more than make up for a paucity of plot. (Mar.)

Sex and violence power the satisfying second installment of Leigh's Elite Ops series (after 2008's Wild Card). Risa Clay's malicious father, Jansen, arranged for her to be kidnapped, drugged and raped. Eight years later, Elite Ops agent Micah Sloane triggers both her distrust of men and the lingering, arousing effects of the drugs. Legendary assassin Orion, who killed Micah's family, is targeting Risa, so Micah asks her to pose as his lover to lure Orion into the open. Micah struggles to shield emotionally fragile Risa from his sexual hunger; Risa fights her growing affection for Micah because she knows he will leave her when the mission is over. The passion and the danger move swiftly, and alpha male Micah makes an excellent foil for Risa's innocence and fierce determination to free herself from her emotional hell. (Mar.)

This memorable debut, first published by Prime Books in 2002, reads like a clumsy but endearing homage to Stephen King. Four engaging boys from Dunville, Ontario, dub their 1977 club “The Knights of the Round Room” after finding a bomb shelter on Johnny Page's farm. In 1955 Jacob Harrison killed his family and hanged himself on that same spot, and Johnny's tumble into a well awakens a creature who has possessed what's left of Harrison's corpse. It confronts the boys and tempts one of them into evil. By 1986, the boys are 19 and the creature is rampaging again, framing Johnny's friend Peter for the Ripper Killer's 12-victim crime spree. The sometimes cartoonishly gory descriptions and awkward prose find their foundation in Rollo's skillful borrowings from horror's top writers. (Mar.)

Cozy fans will savor this charming paranormal mystery series opener from romance author McCoy (Wanted: One Perfect Man). Recently divorced Ellie Engleman, ready for a fresh start, adopts a Yorkie and discovers she can telepathically communicate with dogs. Naturally, she launches a dog-walking business on Manhattan's posh Upper East Side. On the way to walk prize-winning Bichon Buddy, Ellie discovers the body of his owner, Professor Albright, murdered in his entryway. Buddy is missing and no one, save Ellie, is concerned. Sexy, annoying NYPD Det. Sam Ryder considers Ellie a prime suspect, but that doesn't stop her from searching for Buddy, hoping that finding the dog will lead her to the killer. Somehow managing to avoid every talking animal mystery cliché, McCoy fills this delightful story with humor, quirky characters and delicious hints of romance. (Mar.)

In this ninth and final volume of Smith's award-winning Bone series, Thorn and her loyal friends must defeat not only the evil Briar Rose but also free the land and its inhabitants from the Locust spirit. Beaten by tyrant Tarsil's soldiers, Thorn and faithful Fone Bone are locked in the dungeon, as Briar Rose and her army storm the castle. Spurred on by a recurring dream, Thorn is determined to break free and find the Crown of Horns, which will destroy the nightmare spirit known as the Locust but may also kill Thorn herself. The Locust was imprisoned within the legendary dragon queen Mim, whose body was encased in stone but who now threatens to break free. With the help of Gran'ma Ben and Fone Bone's cousins, Smiley and Phoney, Thorn is able to escape and make her way to Tanen Gard, the dragon burial ground, where she hopes to find the Crown of Horns. Smith expertly combines all the best elements of fantasy epics like Lord of the Rings—a plucky hero(ine), all manner of creatures and a kingdom rich in mythological history—with enough humor to appeal to readers young and old. (Feb.)

Award-winning artist and animator Morse (Plastic Man; Southpaw) muses on childhood, fatherhood and imagination in this charming autobiography. Replacing himself with a “paper tiger,” his tiger character from Southpaw, he shows readers how he sees the adult world: luminous, full of possibility, but dangerous, too, in its capacity to squelch artistic impulses. The introduction dwells in the world of Morse's imagination and is a little vague and overwritten, but—ironically—as soon as the little orange tiger takes off for jury duty, Morse's talent shines. On a break from the selection process, our tiger wanders downtown Oakland, sketching those he sees: a couple having lunch outside, the employee of an animal shelter, even an unfriendly woman. “There is no mundane, and no day is ordinary,” Morse tells us, and, indeed, his artist's eye finds the meaning in whatever is around him. At the end of the day, the reunited tiger and son make their way home through a world that is still sometimes unfriendly—but just by being there they lighten it and remind readers to take chances on themselves. A must-read for Morse fans, but also for anyone with a child, and anyone who still questions the status quo. (Jan.)

This manga—the fifth based on Hunter's immensely popular children's series—follows the adventures of the cat Sasha after she leaves the Tigerclan, horrified by Tigerstar's growing violence; it picks up where Warriors: Tigerstar and Sasha left off. Sasha wrestles with whether she should return to live among the “housefolk” or make a life for herself in the forest. Her travels take her to dangerous city streets, the suburbs and a boat, and allow her to make new friends. Along the way, she learns to value herself and trust her instincts. Hudson's artwork brings Sasha's emotional journey to life, showing each moment of fear, anxiety, contentment and joy. The cat's-eye perspective of many of the panels, in addition, add a dramatic, energizing element to the book. Jolley's story breaks no new ground, but he offers a nicely paced tale that should resonate with young adult readers struggling to find their own place in the world, as well as cat fanciers of any age. Girls may especially benefit from reading about Sasha's decision to walk away from the powerful Tigerstar. A twist at the end will leave fans eager for the next installment of Sasha's saga. (Jan.)

This first album from the ongoing comic series shows a gloomy future for superheroes. After Astonishman (a Superman stand in) was tricked into releasing a cloud of mutating radiation, many humans died while several gained superpowers. Most of the newly empowered survivors chose to make themselves masters of Earth under master villain Dead Lexington (read “Lex Luthor”); only a few joined a desperate little band fighting against the overwhelming forces of evil. In this story arc, the band tries to recover a magical talisman, the hammer of Thor, but discovers that Thor has been resurrected as a malevolent, incredible hulk who kills Astonishman. The apparently hopeless struggle continues from there. Though it feels closer to Warhammer's mood, the book explicitly demands to be compared with Watchmen, and some pages do look like Dave Gibbons's art while the script sometimes sounds like Alan Moore's writing. So far, however, a comparison shows how much more efficient Gibbons's art is and how much better Moore handles pacing, characterization and overall content. (Jan.)

Signature

Reviewed by Jennifer Michael Hecht

This is a very strange masterpiece. It is an ancient Greek tragedy, but also new, and not just because Carson is its brilliant and original translator. The work of only three ancient Greek playwrights who wrote tragedies survives: Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides. They were the voices of distinct generations. Sadly, only a few of even their plays have made it down to us. Worse, the plays were often written as sets of three, and only one full set survives: the “Orestia,” Aeschylus's story of the blood-drenched Atreus family.

The odd thing is that among the surviving plays of the other two, Sophocles and Euripides, there exist plays about this same family, at different points in the action. Putting them together—as Carson does here—gives us a whole new set. Creating an Orestia comprising a play from each of the tragedians, translated by the same person, was the idea of theater director Brian Kulick. Carson tells us in her introduction that she initially resisted. As she had already translated two of the plays in question, she happily gave in. Lucky for us. We get to witness the horror unfold while also watching the ancient style develop: ever more players, ever more of the inner life, ever more self-reflection and wit. The laws of the story go from mythic, to human, to pure chaos.

The drama is all blood: Dad kills daughter (for luck in war!); and mom kills dad in revenge (and because both have new lovers); the children kill mom in revenge for dad; and Orestes, who performed the matricide, has a howling, bedridden, breakdown. Elektra tells Orestes, in the second play, that no degradation could be worse than “to live in a house with killers.” In the third play they discover something worse: being killers. It all ends in an orgy of violence, madness, a sudden god and two marriages. Readers will find stunning expressions of the pain that grown children feel after bad parental separations and neglect. The various characters' impressions of events is psychologically enthralling, and the poetry is sublime.

Carson is one of the great poets writing today and is an equally compelling translator. Her language here is clear and comfortable and the volume can be read fast, like a novel, for a weird and thrilling ride. Read it slowly and you will find grace everywhere. When Helen of Troy explains how some widows of soldiers are angry with her and Elektra says, “No kidding.” The great Greek playwrights may still be ancient, but the play is triumphantly fresh—and bloodier than a vampire novel.

Jennifer Michael Hecht is a historian and poet, author of Doubt a History and Funny: Poems, among other books.