Fiction Book Reviews: Week of 5/04/2009

Casares expands the clean, tender prose of his debut collection, Brownsville, into a winning novel. In an American town just north of the Mexican border, the estranged Rosales brothers are equally ambivalent and inwardly volatile. Don Fidencio is snappish, sickly and endearing: he refuses to admit his own incontinence, smokes cigarettes against his nurses' wishes and identifies people, often cruelly, by their physical appearances (such as “The Gringo With The Ugly Finger”). Meanwhile, his widower brother, Celestino, a diabetic, feels “adrift toward the edge of a flat world.” He's slowly drawn out, thanks to his Mexican cleaning woman, Socorro, who travels from “the other side” every day, wishing that the geographical and social borders between them could be “gently... swept aside.” The mysterious reason for the brothers' estrangement forces the three characters to push back from one another outwardly while returning, internally, to their own weaknesses, and their distinct voices pick up the thread of narration so easily that, from even mundane details, it's plain to see how love, borders, death—and most of all, willful ignorance—are part of everyday reawakenings. With Casares's blessing, you can laugh at them all. (Aug.)

DeLeeuw's spellbinding debut is told from the point of view of a being who assumes the persona and desires of a boy's repressed self. The mysterious narrator encounters six-year-old Luke in Central Park, where Luke gives him a life and a name, Daniel. Daniel has no memory of consciousness before meeting Luke, but as the story moves forward into Luke's college years, it becomes clear that he has a history distinct from Luke's own. He quickly learns that he's stronger when Luke is troubled, and, luckily, there's much in Luke's life to distress him. Meanwhile, Claire, Luke's divorced mother, runs a publishing company founded by her mother, and when Luke comes across a novel about a doppelgänger the company published decades earlier, Daniel realizes it may offer clues to his own secrets and persuades Luke to destroy it, much to Claire's despair. DeLeeuw delivers a neat bundling of the classic story of a spirit possessing an innocent with the Jungian shadow self, but in the end readers will be somewhat disappointed that he neglects to answer some of the more intriguing questions he poses about Luke's family. (Aug.)

Wells (Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood) weaves more of the magic that made her a bestseller. At first, Calla Lily Ponder appears to be just like any other young woman growing up in the small town of La Luna, La., where life is simple and Calla Lily is supported by a loving, tightly knit family and a colorful cast of locals. But after a series of hometown heartbreaks, Calla Lily sets out for New Orleans to attend a prestigious beauty academy with dreams of one day opening her own salon. Calla Lily soon learns that while the Big Easy offers a fresh start, adventures and exhilarating new friends, it also presents its own set of tragedies and setbacks. The novel is chock-full of Southern charm and sassy wisdom, and despite its sugary sweetness, it benefits from a hearty dose of Wells's trademark charisma. Calla Lily's story may not be as involved or satisfying as that of the Ya-Yas, but she's sure to be a crowd-pleaser thanks to her humble aspirations, ever hopeful heart and perseverance no matter what fate throws at her. (July)

In the close-knit group of four successful Nantucket couples who call themselves the Castaways, Greg and Tess MacAvoy “had what everybody wanted.” Or so it seems to Delilah Drake, the voluptuous bon vivant Castaway married to staid farmer Jeffrey. But when Greg and Tess sail to Martha's Vineyard to celebrate their anniversary and mysteriously drown, their deaths stir up more secrets than there are tourists on the island's golden beaches. Hilderbrand (Barefoot) goes deep into each of the surviving Castaways' hearts, revealing old affairs and new entanglements. Was Greg involved with someone else? Was Tess going to leave Greg for Addison Wheeler, the rich Castaway married to the pill-popping Phoebe? Hilderbrand will reveal all, as well as plenty of other tidbits that aren't as interesting—including how long Delilah was in labor with her first son, the titles of songs that come on the radio at important moments and the lengths Addison went to get a stoned Phoebe to sleep with him. Readers of women's fiction who don't mind digressions should be satisfied with this tale of knotty relationships set against the lovely Nantucket backdrop. (July)

This satirical crime novel from Swarup (Q&A, the basis for Oscar-winner Slumdog Millionaire) opens promisingly, but suffers from the absence of a genuine investigator. Journalist Arun Advani sets the scene by describing the circumstances of the killing of industrialist Vicky Rai, shot to death at his farmhouse near Delhi, at a party celebrating his acquittal for a particularly callous murder. In the crime's immediate aftermath, the authorities find six guests with firearms among the more than 300 in attendance. They include a Bollywood megastar, a corrupt former politician who may be possessed by the spirit of Mahatma Gandhi, and Larry Page, an unbelievably stupid American constantly mistaken for his more famous namesake (the cocreator of Google). Alternating flashbacks among the six suspects build to multiple false endings. While there are some funny moments, this is likely to please neither traditional mystery fans nor readers interested in contemporary India. (July)

When Johannes Cabal, a haughty sorcerer, finds that the absence of a soul is an impediment to his occult studies, he strikes a bargain with Satan in British author Howard's darkly funny debut: in one year's time he'll deliver the bartered souls of 100 unfortunates so that he might repossess his own. Cabal and his vampire brother, Horst, mount a traveling carnival to scour the countryside for men and women desperate enough to consign their souls to an infernal eternity for whatever will relieve their misery of the moment. Cabal proves marginally competent but maximally amusing in his dealings with a competing necromancer, an asylum of escaped lunatics and a staff of slowly decomposing carnies conjured from the dead. Howard capably synthesizes two classic themes of macabre fiction—the pact with the devil and the dark carnival—but the book's episodic structure and unconvincing ending betray it as a freshman effort. Still, Howard's ear for witty banter and his skill at rendering black comedy bode well for the future. (July)

Keegan takes on death, religion, relationships and coming-of-age in her gorgeously stylized and irreverent debut about a rising Olympic swimming star. Not even a year after Philomena “Pip” Ash is born in 1960s Middle America, her parents put their rambunctious infant in a pool and watch the remarkable sight of a nine-month-old gliding through the water. With some help from “Olympic Supercoach” Ernest K. Mankovitz, Pip becomes a mercenary swimming machine who wins an unprecedented collection of gold medals in three Olympic games. Though Pip's connection with water is preternaturally intense, she can't relate to people, a dilemma heightened by early encounters with death and her innate awareness of loathsome pain and insecurities. After going through a premature career climax and the subsequent plummet, Pip is forced to deal with emotions she's spent her life ignoring; her sarcastic (and f-bomb laden) musings provide many amusing turns, while Keegan's linguistic playfulness moves the story at a fast clip, even if it sometimes muddles what's going on—particularly toward the end. This is worth reading for the prose alone. (July)

A for-sale ad for a never worn wedding dress sparks Minneapolis TV reporter Riley Spartz to chase an intriguing story in Kramer's slick sequel to 2008's Stalking Susan. Wealthy Madeleine Post's comedian fiancé, Mark Lefevre, didn't show up for their lavish White Bear Lake wedding and hasn't been seen since. Is Mark, who looks like Groucho Marx, a runaway groom or a crime victim? A few days after Riley interviews Mark's mother, Jean, the mother apparently shoots herself in the head, though the suicide note found at the scene is, oddly, in Mark's handwriting. Riley's discovery of Madeleine's rare disease—prosopagnosia (the inability to recognize faces), which also afflicts Madeleine's mother—adds a neat twist. Meanwhile, Riley is also under pressure to pursue a big story about the theft of Big Mouth Billy Bass, the Minnesota record largemouth bass, from a mall aquarium. Kramer makes the most of a clever, if far-fetched, idea in this fun mystery thriller. (July)

It's hard to like a self-appointed cultural critic, but teacher-by-day, blogger-by-night David Pinner makes it schadenfreude-fun when he turns his loathing scope on his closest friends and then himself in Laird's latest (after Utterly Monkey). David, an oafish 35-year-old Londoner, reunites with Ruth Marks, the gorgeous and famous 47-year-old American artist who briefly taught him (and promptly forgot him) in college. David falls for her while she's in town for an artist-in-residence program, but Ruth prefers David's bartending flatmate, Glover, a 23-year-old virgin grappling with faith and the father he's left behind. Though David succinctly lambastes the very idea of love (“Information killed it”), he plots to wedge himself between Glover and Ruth—sometimes with an epically intense dishonesty. Whether David is saving his sometimes overwhelmingly flawed friends from a tragic error or making one himself—or both—the book offers a bit of twisted redemption in its hilarious nod to selfishness of all stripes. (July)

Bestseller Vincenzi's diverting if charmless latest delves into the lives of a massive cast brought together by a multicar accident on a London highway. The brisk, journalistic style makes it hard to fall for any of the characters, whose lives are filled with high and low drama: a truck driver racked with guilt over the accident; his terrified passenger, who flees the scene; a successful doctor trying to break up with his mistress; a groom and best man already late for the wedding due to scandalous circumstances; and a widow headed to reunite with a past love. After the crisis, their lives intertwine tangentially as, among others, the best man starts a relationship with an ER doctor, the truck driver's wife becomes close with the widow, and the mistress falls for the farmer whose land overlooks the accident scene. The story brings them all back together at the inquest, the cause of the accident is revealed and apologies are made. Though everyone gets their predictably happy ending, the way the obvious resolutions drag out makes this something like a once-enjoyable guest who has long outstayed his welcome. (July)

The unexplained real-life phenomenon of the Marfa, Tex., lights in the sky provides the inspiration for this patchwork thriller from bestseller Morrell (First Blood), who plays with possible theories to account for the mysterious lights—the shimmer of the title—as well as the various reactions people have had to them since as far back as WWI. When Tori Page, wife of Santa Fe cop Dan Page, unexpectedly turns up in the small west Texas town of Rostov, the book's stand-in for Marfa, Dan flies to Rostov, where he winds up trying to understand the lights' powerful effects. Some can't see the lights, some feel they can produce miracles and some viewers turn homicidal. Still others hope to harness the power of the lights for military uses. A massacre, secret government installations and experiments and Page's investigative efforts fail to coalesce into the kind of riveting suspense that has been Morrell's hallmark. 10-city author tour. (July)

Dean delivers another pop artifact in her latest riff on the Gossip Girl generation, this time dressing up the goings-on with a very Devil Wears Prada vibe. Landing a job as second assistant to Iris Whitaker, a Metronome Studios hotshot, sounds like a dream come true for Ohio native Taylor Henning, who naturally wants to make it big in Hollywood. But this fish out of water needs to learn quickly how to swim with the sharks, as Iris's first assistant, Kylie Arthur, would prefer she drowns. Thankfully, a fairy godmother appears in the fierce form of Quinn, Iris's 16-year-old daughter, who suggests Taylor follow her surefire high school rules: fake it till you make it; speak up in class; make one cool friend; and realize lunch is a battleground. But there are unforeseen consequences for Taylor, who remembers some age-old advice just in time. It's a slick little novel: catty, glitzy and just mean enough. (July)

Biting, hilarious and improbably affectionate, comedy writer Hely's debut skewers the literary world with a sendup of the quest to write the Great American Novel. Words are Pete Tarslaw's thing, and after watching a bestselling novelist prattle on about the truth, his “calling” and other ridiculous ideas on TV, Pete concludes that the sole way to save face at his ex-girlfriend's upcoming wedding is to become a famous novelist himself. His quest to construct a by-the-numbers bestseller is guided by rules like “At dull points include descriptions of delicious meals” and where to live (“An easy way to get credibility as an author is to live someplace rugged”), though the real adventure starts once he bags $15,000 for The Tornado Ashes Club: his dance card is full of one-night stands, dizzying meet-and-greets with Hollywood big shots and appearances at grad schools. Meanwhile, Pete senses his moral barometer plummet as his Amazon ranking rises. Granted, Hely's shooting at some pretty easy targets that have been hit before, but it's hard not to love the way he does it with such merciless zeal. (July)

British author Cottam (Dark Echo) makes his U.S. debut with a riveting supernatural thriller. A decade earlier, while on a research trip to London's notoriously haunted Fischer House on the Isle of Wight, psychically sensitive journalist Paul Seaton barely escaped a demonic entity that occultist Aleister Crowley had summoned in the 1920s. Now, Paul investigates a new tragedy: four unfortunate philosophy students encountered something so foul at Fischer House that it killed one and threatens the sanity of the three survivors. The only way for Paul to help the students and redress the shambles that his life has become since his nightmare experience is to return to Fischer House and lay the evil that still stalks the grounds. Cottam evokes influences that range from Dennis Wheatley (who has a minor role) to Shirley Jackson, and conjures a mood of paranoia perfect for Paul's unsettling adventure. Rich in atmosphere, the book builds to a shattering finale. (July)

In “The Birthday Girl,” one of nine tales of ruined or decaying relationships in Canty's third collection, a divorced father reaches out to a woman in a bar “to help, if I can, for just one night, her loneliness.” This yearning for companionship resonates throughout, though the choices and consequences are far from uniform. “They Were Expendable” sees a man turning to the comforts of television following the death of his wife, to whom he wants to remain faithful; an unexpected romance gives him new clarity. In “No Place in the World for You,” the volume's most memorable entry, a real estate agent and his harried wife cope with a bite-happy child while the agent's clients deal with their own marital drama. “The Emperor of Ice Cream” tracks two adult children of separated parents, the younger of whom has just been released from the hospital after a drunken car crash involving his older brother; conflicts reignite and place them in a new and dangerous situation. Canty exposes the cracks and seams in ordinary marriages, skillfully examining infidelity and the range of directions life can take once the relationship has ended. (July)

Hough's eighth book (after The Last Summer) is a dramatic and tragic tale of Civil War–era brutality and suffering as seen by soldiers, slaves and civilians, culminating at the battle of Gettysburg. Hough writes about the Civil War with a novelist's insight and a historian's eye, creating a vivid story of two teenage Massachusetts brothers, Luke and Thomas Chandler, who naïvely enlist in the Union army and end up on the killing field of Gettysburg. As privates in the 20th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment, Luke and Thomas endure hunger, fatigue, illness and some hard soldiering, with the elder Luke looking after younger Thomas, though their relationship is strained due to a secret love affair that threatens the close bond they will need in battle. When they are thrown into the titanic fight at Gettysburg, they land in the middle of a firestorm of musket balls, exploding shells and the screams of the wounded and dying as Pickett's charge nearly carries away the Union center. Amid the blood and fury of battle, a tender and poignant story of idealism, love and brotherly devotion shines through. (July)

Compelling characters dissipate quickly in Klomparens's uneven second novel (after Jessica Z.). In a San Diego facing its second year of drought, weatherman Andy Dunne feels increasingly irrelevant: his satellite radio gig is no great shakes, he's out of shape, his wife left him and he's still hurting from the death of his twin brother. He's sustained mostly by a low-grade flirtation with Hillary Hsing, who urges Andy to audition for work on a children's television show. Soon, he's promoted to host, the show takes off, and Andy is losing weight, making money and finding new confidence. Unfortunately, as soon as Andy becomes a TV star, his problems vanish like morning fog, leaving Klomparens to toy with Andy and Hillary's relationship and to introduce a flurry of new characters—a brother-in-law with post-traumatic stress, a niece with growing pains of a very contemporary variety. In the final third, the action decamps to Hong Kong, where a raging typhoon briefly distracts from the lack of narrative tension. Klomparens is frequently a funny and stylish writer, but the low pressure conflicts and patchy plotting make the outlook hazy. (July)

In bestseller Adler's sparkling sequel to One of Those Malibu Nights, PI Mac Reilly, the star of TV's Mac Reilly's Malibu Mysteries, and his fiancée, Sunny Alvarez, are looking forward to spending June at Chez La Violette, a villa they've rented in St. Tropez. Sunny arrives first, only to discover that they've been scammed, along with a number of others who thought they were renting a fancy house on the French Riviera, among them Belinda Lord, the estranged wife of a Russian mobster, and widower Billy Bashford, a Texas rancher, and his eight-year-old daughter, Laureen. After Mac arrives, Sunny and Mac decamp to the nearby Hôtel des Rêves, where they help protect Belinda from her nasty husband and become entangled in some art thefts in St. Tropez. An enchanting subplot involving the cute but realistic Laureen, who befriends an abandoned 11-year-old boy staying at the hotel, lifts an escapist éclair into something more substantial. (July)

Anthony's compulsively readable debut novel stars Rovar Pfliegman, who sells meat out of a bus in Virginia. Rovar is a peculiar, troll-like man: he is short and hairy, has not spoken since childhood, keeps a pet beetle and lives in the same broken-down bus that houses his meat business. But perhaps the most remarkable thing about Rovar is his precarious singularity. He is the last of the Pfliegmans and, by his own account, he is falling apart. Although he halfheartedly seeks treatment for his various ailments, he seems far more bent on fulfilling the destiny of self-destruction all Pfliegmans (according to Rovar) are subject to. Rovar's explanation of his family sprawls deep into the past, probing beyond his chaotic childhood all the way back to the origins of the Pfliegman clan in premedieval Hungary. Along the way, the narrative nods to all sorts of greats—Kafka, Rushdie, Darwin and Grass, to name a few. But Anthony's style—funny, immediate and unapologetically cerebral—carves out a space all its own. (July)

Whitbread First Novel Award–winner Lebrecht (for The Song of Names) stiffly examines the psychological and moral dilemmas of living in a post-Holocaust world. When Paul Miller stumbles out of a work camp in an unnamed European country, he is saved by Alice, who hides him in the attic of her family inn. He eventually takes up residence in the town and marries Alice. Paul is continually torn between his love for his wife and son, and the guilt he feels living in a place where he endured so much torment. When he's elected mayor, Paul creates plans to modernize the idyllic mountain town and bury his past, but then the former prison commandant returns, and Paul is conflicted: take revenge or move on with his life? This novel's exploration of the shades of good and evil is hobbled, however, by characters who feel shaped by what they were created to represent as opposed to the humanity that might exist in them. The overly allegorical feel keeps the reader at too much of a distance and flattens what could be compelling imagery and characters into symbols. (July)

Thebo returns to the quirky small Midwestern everytown she introduced in Welcome to Eudora in this light and entertaining outing. Eudora is astir when local author Margaret Lupin publishes The Vortex, a novel with perhaps too many discomforting similarities to Eudora and its residents. Other thorny conflicts arise when Janey Lane and Mark Ramirez break off their engagement while Pattie and Phil Walker, the parents of three rowdy sons, confront marital troubles. More serious issues also face the modern prairie town: gay bashing, the toll of the war in Iraq and ethnic prejudices all find their way into the story, which is told breezily, though Thebo's thumbprint is sometimes very visible on the page. Readers who enjoy spending time in Lake Wobegon will likely find a trip to Eudora well worth the fare. (July)

Another slim Hubbard reissue—this one originally appeared in 1940—offers an example of his pulpy men's adventure fiction. Nazi Col. Erich Von Straub is dispatched to the United States to infiltrate the aviation industry as a saboteur under the guise of “a whiz on engines.” Two U.S. aerospace companies, Beryl-Cannard Airlines and Lee Aircraft, are competing to design planes for the French and British that can dominate the fierce Messerschmitt 118D. Little does Von Straub know he's walking into a budding romance between competing test pilots Bill and Kip, who accuse each other of Von Straub's handiwork as their relationship blossoms. Banged out fast, the unpolished prose relies on the fast plot and colorful aviation patois to carry it. It does the pulpy thing just fine. (July)

Lumby fanatics are sure to stick by Fraser for her fourth installment of the series featuring her beloved townsfolk and the enigmatic, personified plastic Pink Flamingo Hank in the two-street rural Rockies' town, but newcomers might head for the hills. Sloppy with repeated use of the same descriptive words, the tale centers around newcomer Tom Candor replacing the town's beloved veterinarian. He's frowned upon because he keeps to himself (so as to not spill his secret of accidentally killing Ming the panda), but he does catch the heart of carpenter Mackenzie McGuire. Inserts of the local paper's news lend a well-needed faint chuckle in this meandering chaos of conundrums. Then there's Pam and Mark Walker, suddenly swarming with new dinner customers at their inn after a hot magazine review has foodies from across the country venturing to Lumby while the monks who sold the inn to the Walkers begin getting daily deliveries of exotic animals. It's a whirlwind of implausible activity, the perfect happy ending to every story line making it all that more unbelievable. (July)

Christy Award–winning novelist and lawyer Singer (Directed Verdict) lets the action sprint out of the gate with a murder in the first few pages. With murderer and victim dead, the moral issue of gun control takes center stage in the book, with a number of side dilemmas. The opposing counsels in the gun control case are young, ambitious lawyers, and both have hidden sins that could sink their careers. A law firm that both worked for further complicates the action. Singer piles the moral and plot complexities a bit too high; the backstories of main characters Jason Noble and Kelly Starling are relevant, but the tangled relationship between Jason and his cop father bogs down the action. The legal-thriller genre lends itself to the pattern of conversion that evangelical Christian novels require, and Singer offers logical character developments that aren't heavy-handed. The only stock feature in this well-plotted novel is the generic, fakey-sounding names (Brad Carson, Kelly Starling). But that's a quibble about a book that will entertain readers and make them think—what more can one ask? (July)

Bestseller Connolly once again expertly melds a hard-boiled plot with the supernatural in his eighth Charlie Parker crime novel (after The Reapers). While previous books in the series explored the trauma at the heart of Parker's backstory, the murder of the PI's wife and daughter, this one examines an equally devastating family trauma—the suicide of his New York City policeman father, Will, after Will gunned down two unarmed teenagers decades earlier. As Parker, who was 15 at the time, seeks the truth about his ancestry, he comes to doubt that he was raised by his biological parents. When he learns a pair of undying beings have him at the top of their hit list, he decides to return to New York City after a stint tending bar in Maine. The underlying grim sadness and Connolly's unwillingness to pull his punches will appeal to noir fans, while his effective use of understatement and evocative prose makes his alternate universe plausible. (June)

This solid techno-thriller from bestseller Brown (Shadow Command) focuses on Scion Aviation International, a private security contractor providing mission support to the dwindling U.S. military presence in Iraq. Operated by a maverick former air force general and a former U.S. president, Scion has resources, expertise and connections that cause resentment among active-duty American troops in the region. When Kurdish terrorists attack Turkey using Iraqi territory as a haven, the Turkish military follows precedent set by the U.S. itself in attacking terrorist bases, which brings them into contact with U.S. forces. While the current president attempts to cool tensions, Scion takes action that not only strains relations between NATO allies but also reveals the company's possession of a technological superiority that poses a destabilizing threat to the region. While Brown delivers plenty of red meat action, he leaves questions of loyalty and accountability unresolved. (June)

Gleason and Podrug's uneven third entry (after Aztec Fire) in the late Gary Jennings's historical series focuses on the ancient Mayan prediction of an apocalypse in the year 2012. In A.D. 1001, Toltec warriors capture a 16-year-old Aztec, Coyotl, in a raid. After the Toltecs notice Coyotl's stomach bears a scar tattoo in the shape of a star constellation, they take the boy to the magnificent Toltec capital of Tula, where he becomes the resident astronomer's assistant. Meanwhile, in the present, U.S. president Edward Raab convenes “the newly created Presidential Scientific Advisory Board” to hear NASA scientist Monica Cardiff present her theory of an upcoming global disaster. The authors lovingly describe the world of their pre-Columbian characters, but skimp on the modern story, whose characters have little motivation or substance. Jennings's fans will find the discrepancies between the two periods easy to overlook in the wealth of sex and violence. (June)

Three down-on-their-luck Manhattan women form an unlikely fellowship in Page Six deputy editor Froelich's formulaic—though sometimes funny—debut. Anxious socialite Lena Lippencrass, smalltown transplant–cum–intrepid reporter Penelope Mercury and high-powered lawyer Dana Gluck end up in the same former SoHo tenement building at low points in their lives: Lena, cut off by her wealthy parents, is slumming it on Sullivan Street; Penelope is out of a job after accidentally damaging her office's property; and Dana lives on Weight Watchers while obsessing over her divorce. But once they band together, they right themselves while helping each other. After an initial barrage of New York names and places (and an abundance of parenthetical asides), the novel eventually finds a breezy groove as it traipses through TV newsrooms, high-stakes partnership meetings and a fashion gala at the Met, leading to comically fitting results—and new love interests—for each. Froelich takes a few light shots at socialite Web sites, politicians in prostitution scandals, fashion magazines and drug-addled young celebrities, and the book's message of rejecting gossip and hierarchy is sweetly unexpected, even if everything else is by the numbers. (June)

In this historical novel, Darwin (The Mathematics of Love) looks at the 15th century War of the Roses through the Woodville siblings, Anthony and Elizabeth (wife to Sir John Gray and later Edward IV). Trading off narrative duties, their stories alternate with that of a (fictional) present-day historian, Una Pryor, who is studying the two while visiting the U.K. to clear up some family business. Reuniting with the family estate's handyman, her unrequited love Mark Fisher, Una follows the path Anthony took trying to restore his nephew Ned, the rightful king of England. Historical sections, filled with allusion and mythology, make breathtaking drama for those in the know, but anyone without a background in the War of the Roses will be lost (and Darwin's quicksand pacing doesn't help). Court intrigue dominates the action, but Darwin's at her most powerful exploring Anthony's faith or Elizabeth's understanding of women, love and marriage in her time. Though the modern-day framing story isn't compelling enough to hold its own, a satisfying end ties the threads together nicely. (June)

When Lucie Montgomery stumbles across a skull in her vineyard—just after the tornado that almost kills her—little does she suspect the skeletons in the family closet to which the discovery will lead in Crosby's sprightly fourth Virginia wine country mystery (after 2008's The Bordeaux Betrayal). But who can blame the amateur detective for being a bit off her game, with the hurricane of headaches already buffeting Montgomery Estate Vineyard? Hot-tempered winemaker Quinn Santori and handsome new manager Chance Miller (Lucie is attracted to both) are at each other's throats—and hundreds of Civil War buffs are due in days to re-enact the 1861 Battle of Ball's Bluff. Expect plenty of fireworks as Lucie pursues her own investigation into the old, but no longer cold, homicide and a fast-paced sprint to what proves a rather slapdash finish. Until then, however, Crosby serves up a wine cooler that goes down easy even if it's hardly vintage. (Aug.)

The baffling return of David Drummond, who vanished as a child three decades earlier, is but one of several intriguing puzzles Gil Cunningham investigates in McIntosh's excellent sixth mystery to feature the 15th-century Scottish constable (after 2008's The Rough Collier). David was about 11 when he disappeared without a trace from Glen Buckie, but somehow he's aged only five or six years in the meantime. Cunningham must also ascertain the fates of four men, all choir members, who have recently gone missing. Some locals believe only the supernatural can explain these inexplicable events—one is sure the devil himself is behind them. Cunningham, who seeks a more mundane agency, doggedly interviews those who might be responsible for the abductions, including David's older brother, Andrew, whose singing voice has been damaged and who may resent those with uninjured voices. McIntosh does a solid job of blending plot and period detail. (July)

Cassidy Collins, a 16-year-old superstar who's one part Miley Cyrus and one part Britney Spears, fears for her life in Casey's enjoyable if uneven second mystery to feature Lt. Sarah Armstrong, one of only two female Texas Rangers (after 2008's Singularity). When Argus, a creepy cyberstalker, gets way too personal before Cassidy's upcoming Texas concert tour, Sarah investigates, along with her estranged FBI profiler sweetie, David Garrity. Meanwhile, 36-year-old Elizabeth Cox, a Houston oil heiress, appears to have committed suicide. Elizabeth's sister, Faith, becomes convinced someone shot Elizabeth to death after Faith receives “messages” from her dead sister. Back home on the ranch, Sarah's daughter, Maggie, worries about her ill horse, who delivers a fragile foal. While Casey successfully taps into celebrity-obsessed culture as Sarah uncovers Cassidy's tragic roots, the less than compelling murder case dilutes the book's overall impact. (July)

Set in 1932, Bowen's winning third Royal Spyness whodunit to feature Lady Georgiana, a great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria and 34th in line to the English throne (after 2008's A Royal Pain), will please fans of romantic, humorous historicals. Georgie makes an ill-advised attempt to start her own business, before discovering, to her embarrassment, that her definition of a female escort is not the same as that of her clientele. Fearing scandal, the authorities send her off to the family castle in Scotland, where a shooting party that includes the prince of Wales is in residence, with a brief from the Home Office to keep her eyes peeled for threats to the Crown. A series of serious accidents suggests that someone is targeting members of the royal family. The violence soon escalates to murder. The secret behind the attacks has been employed by such other mystery writers as David Dickinson and Robin Paige, but Bowen, who's won both Agatha and Anthony awards, puts a fresh slant on it. (July)

Wilmington, N.C., bar owner Jersey Barnes has supposedly retired from PI work, but she can't resist helping a friend's brother in Ocean's fun third mystery to feature the lingerie-loving sleuth (after 2008's Southern Poison). Morgan Garland has recently inherited his father's popular restaurant, Argo's, which caters to the rich, famous and, as it turns out, the blackmailed and prescription drug–addicted. Via a hidden bug Morgan's father had apparently installed, Morgan overhears troubling gossip at the restaurant's popular Green Table. Jersey soon meets sexy DEA agent Brad Logan, who's investigating Argo's role in an illegal drug scheme. They swap intel in a case connected to a long ago crime witnessed by medical students who stole a duffle bag full of ill-gotten gains to finance their future. While updating Jersey's frustrated love connection with her bar co-owner, Ox Oxendine, Ocean blends smart whodunit action with the humorous hijinks of Jersey's spunky 80-year-old dad. (July)

Genelin's darkly compelling second Jana Matinova mystery (after 2008's Siren of the Waters) mixes equal parts lust, betrayal and murder. When Jana's childhood friend Sofia, who campaigns for an anticorruption organization called Transparency in Government, is elected to the Slovakian parliament, neither is prepared for the long-ranging and deadly consequences. Sofia's subsequent entanglement with a male colleague and acceptance of a huge diamond taint Jana's career as a commander in the Bratislavan police force, where she finds herself under investigation for corruption. As bodies begin to pile up in Slovakia and neighboring countries, Jana races to figure out the motive for the murders and their connection to a multicontinent smuggling ring before assassins do away with her suspects. Genelin ratchets up the suspense with smooth prose, evocative locales and distinctive characters who leap from the page. (July)

At the behest of an insurance company, Sterling Glass investigates the aftermath of a museum robbery in Jenkins's intriguing second mystery to feature the antiques expert (after 2005's Stealing with Style). Located in the foothills of Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains, Wynderly, “a museum teetering on the edge of bankruptcy,” was once the baronial home of Mazie and Hoyt Wyndfield, a wealthy couple who died childless. At first awed by the vast number of antiques in every room, Sterling begins to doubt the authenticity of a collection of Tang horses and suspects other items are merely replicas. As she gets to know members of Wynderly's board of directors and discovers secret rooms and diaries, Sterling unravels long-hidden deceptions. Jenkins, an antiques appraiser, is also the author of a number of nonfiction titles, including The Book of American Traditions and From Storebought to Homemade. (July)

In this dandy little collection from Shamus-winner Haywood (Fear of the Dark), Los Angeles PI Aaron Gunner narrates some of the five tales and listens to others told by cronies from haunts such as Mickey's Trueblood Barber Shop, where Gunner has an office in back, or the funky Acey Deuce bar, where big Lilly Tennell holds sway. In “And Pray Nobody Sees You,” Gunner tells how he was hired to retrieve a rare '65 Ford Mustang. Gunner shadows an employee who shows signs of going postal in “It's Always the Quiet Ones” and tries to prevent an ex-con from killing the woman whose testimony sent him up in “The Lamb Was Sure to Go.” Lilly relates a story about a man who suddenly snaps in “The Minute She Walked Through the Door,” and in the longest and best entry, “In Name Only,” Gunner tells an unusual story about identity theft. Lawrence Block provides an introduction, Jeffery Deaver an afterword and artist Phil Parks 17 illustrations. (July)

The revelation of a damaging old secret threatens two Florida brothers in Vasquez's dull tale of corruption. Leo Varela ekes out a living as a mental health technician in a Miami hospital, sneaking out for a marijuana break whenever he can and writing poetry on the side. His older brother, Patrick, is a powerful county commissioner in the midst of a cutthroat mayoral campaign. When an old friend approaches Leo about letting a certain patient “disappear” from the psych ward, Leo doesn't want to get involved. But it soon becomes clear that he doesn't have a choice, since the men behind the request know the long-held secret Leo and Patrick have kept concerning the violent death of a prominent man in their native Belize. Now Leo's life is in danger, and he starts to wonder how far Patrick will go to protect his political career. Vasquez (In the Heat) starts off strong, but soon stumbles with stilted dialogue and a paper-thin plot. The ending is neither surprising nor satisfying. (June)

SF editor Mann (The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction) sets this leisurely mystery, published in the U.K. by Snowbooks in 2008, in an alternate 1901 London where steam-powered taxicabs fill the streets and brass automatons have begun to replace human labor. Sir Maurice Newbury, British Museum anthropologist and occult connoisseur, and his Watsonesque assistant, Miss Veronica Hobbes, are summoned to investigate the crash of a cyborg-piloted helium zeppelin. Meanwhile, a plague is spreading through London's poorer quarters, turning everyday citizens into bloodthirsty, zombielike “revenants” and threatening the stability of the Empire. Mann's stiff-upper-lipped Victorians chat at great length over cups of Earl Grey and occasionally whack zombies and robots in arduous action passages, and the unnecessary details and painfully stilted dialogue bring nothing fresh to the steampunk subgenre. (July)

In this complex tale, Kessler (the Hell on Earth series) and Kittredge (the Nocturne City novels) create a dark world where the narrow line between hero and vigilante is defined by corporate interests. When tragedy strikes during their third year at a young superheroes' academy, best friends Jet and Iridium begin to grow apart, seeing their heroic world in different, and irreconcilable, ways. Shadow-wielding Jet becomes the Hero of New Chicago, where light-powered Iridium is seen as a rabid vigilante, and they find themselves archenemies. Both characters are intriguingly flawed: Jet suffers from insecurity, while Iridium's arrogance repeatedly gets her into trouble. When an investigative reporter disappears, Jet suspects Iridium's involvement, but the truth is far more complicated, keeping readers guessing whether the finale will be a reconciliation or a spectacular showdown. Jet and Iridium's multifaceted relationship will appeal to all who have come to want more from their superheroes than good vs. evil and mindless battles. (July)

In this tangled follow-up to 2008's By Schism Rent Asunder, the corrupt Church of God Awaiting has ruthlessly suppressed technology on the planet Safehold for the past 800 years. Merlin Athrawes, a cybernetic avatar bodyguard serving the king of Charis, has introduced a sequence of innovations that allow the united island kingdoms to defeat the Church's agents, but the Church's rulers soon adopt the very technology they proscribe. Their greater resources, combined with a fanatical fifth column not averse to assassination, make the long-term prospects of the “heretical” empire appear bleak, especially as Charis must pause to pacify new territories while responding to recent massacres. The personalities and motivations of the numerous characters are particularly well drawn and credible, and Weber makes grand strategies and political machinations easily accessible to casual readers. (July)

The harsh realities of ancient war and a woman's struggle to break free of male dominance blend brilliantly in this dream-drenched sequel to Micklem's 2004 debut, Firethorn. Exquisite prose (“I had no edges between inside and out”) enhances this glowing tapestry narrated by Firethorn, a healer, precognitive dreamer and slave struck by lightning while on a voyage to join her master. Believing she has been branded by the god Ardor Wildfire, she suffers a painful recovery that leaves her with a lopsided face, strange garbled speech and the ability to see shades. Sire Galan still desires her, but her rebellious acts strain their relationship. Then Galan's adversary, King Arkhyios Corvus, takes Firethorn captive, and her further travails lead her to truly understand the gift of “inward fire.” Micklem has penned a rich and memorable tribute to endurance and self-enlightenment. (July)

Christofferson (Buffalo Medicine) expounds on the glories of Yellowstone National Park in this uneven mystery. A judge freshly escaped from a bad marriage in Seattle, Annie Peacock is fighting a painful withdrawal from anti-depressants and has a tendency to play by the book. Her clashes with park ranger Will McCarroll over protection of bison have turned initial hostility into active dislike and distrust, but they reluctantly combine forces against poachers who are shooting wolves in defiance of federal law. When Annie's elderly mother is kidnapped, ostensibly to intimidate Annie into backing away from tough sentencing of poachers, she turns to the weather-beaten ranger as the one person she can trust. Christofferson's love of the wild shines through, but the heartstring-tugging moments come at the expense of plot and pace. (July)

Duran (The Duke of Shadows) delivers a competently assembled and entertaining Regency romance. The daughter of Egyptologist Henry Boyce, Lydia Boyce is herself a learned scholar. When she discovers that some of the antiquities that her father has been shipping back from Egypt to sell are counterfeits, she investigates, determined to defend her father's reputation and chastise James Durham, Viscount Sanburne, an arrogant dilettante. Their mutual dislike predictably leads to romance, and soon Lydia and James are uneasy allies in the quest for the fabled Tears of Idihet and the counterfeiter. Though the period details seem intended less to enhance the setting than to convince the reader that the author knows her stuff, historical romance fans will enjoy the adventure and look forward to Written on Your Skin, due in August. (July)

Magic and passion run wild in this steamy paranormal series debut. Kara MacAllister has a normal life as a preschool teacher until Lyon, leader of a group of near-immortal shape-shifting Therian warriors, attempts to kidnap her. Like Lyon, Kara is a Therian, and the only one who can give the warriors the magical power they need to fight the energy-stealing draden. Though drawn to Lyon's sensuous body, Kara is horrified when he insists she undergo a ritual to choose a lifelong mate. Palmer (The Dark Gate) piles on the searing kisses and passionate interludes as she sets up an intriguing world, but the characters never develop and the violence verges on excessive. The fast-paced action keeps readers guessing about the villains behind the scenes—but not about whether true love will win out in the end. (July)

Secret affairs, marriage problems, difficult children and shattered dreams are not typical polite dinner party conversation topics, but in British author King's delicious new page-turner, no subject is too taboo or intimate for discussion among old friends gathered for a monthly dinner. King (Second Time Lucky) introduces four female characters as different as the recipes they choose. Lucy Summers is recently widowed; Patsy Jones stole a married man; Jenny Macdonald wants to find someone; and Chrissie Richards's marriage is falling apart. Their secrets unfold as the meals progress from August's “Lamb baked with apricot and prunes” to February's “Prawns in lime and ginger” (recipes not included). At times the suspense is marred by predictability and unresolved plot elements, but the characters are sympathetic, and readers will cheer them to the last course. (July)

Malki's nationally syndicated Wondermark comic strips are a form of resuscitated art in which 19th-century woodcuts and engravings get repurposed into 21st-century humor with snarky dialogue. Popularized most by their appearances in the Onion, whose high- and lowbrow satirical mixture is a perfect fit for Malki's sensibility, this is the second mordant but must-have Wondermark collection from Dark Horse. A typical Malki gag rises out of the World of Tomorrow–esque frisson of his staid premodern images of stiff men (frequently mustached and wearing waistcoats while lounging in drawing rooms) or women (parasols and cherubic expressions being their norm) exchanging dialogue more appropriate for a MySpace chatroom than Dickensian fiction. Malki's humor often has a surrealistic bent reminiscent of Terry Gilliam, given some extra steel by a near-constant obsession with death and disease, with particular attention in a hilarious end-of-book “Malady Matrix.” A little of Malki goes a long way, but it's a rare page that doesn't merit at least a chuckle. (May)

The first work by the Swedish cartoonist Asker to hit the American scene tells the story of Jess and John, two strangers whose paths cross at an airport when they are both at a crucial moment in their romantic relationships. They never meet again, but their stories parallel and diverge as they decide whether or not to leave their respective girlfriends—Chloe and Sofia. Unfortunately, Chloe and Sofia are both musicians and look incredibly similar—whether by design or Asker's occasional character-design stumble—so the reader may be left wondering for pages on end if they're actually the same troubled girlfriend two-timing the protagonists under different names. At heart, this is a fairly simple tale of love lost, reconsidered or recaptured. Asker's art is unquestionably the star of the show, with his stark black and white line work carrying the emotional weight of the story, although a little clearer storytelling might have given the story more impact. (May)

It's hard to say if Sfar and Trondheim's long-running Dungeon epic is a dead-on parody of sword-and-sorcery clichés or if it's just a first-rate fantasy series that happens to star anthropomorphic animals and involve lots of comedy. This volume teams the writers up with artist Boulet, whose loony character drawings and elaborately designed scenery use the look of Trondheim's artwork as a springboard. Like every volume of Dungeon's various series so far, it also expands the scope of the overall project—this time moving Herbert the sword-wielding duck and Marvin the vegetarian dragon out of the dungeon itself and establishing some of the culture of the world around it. In the first of two stories, the bankrupt dungeon Keeper is attempting to avoid having the dungeon repossessed by a creditor and his hilariously unstoppable lawyer; in the second, Herbert revisits the city from which he was exiled and finds himself embroiled in a very odd coup attempt. Boulet handles the action set pieces and slapstick farce with equal aplomb, and Trondheim and Sfar shake up the tone of the story every few pages: there's romance next to brutal violence, and tender whimsy punctuated by cruelly bleak humor. (Apr.)

The late Donald Westlake's final crime caper features his bungling crook, John Dortmunder.

A reality-show company aptly titled Get Real recruits the delightfully understated John Dortmunder and his merry men for a heist in this clever Dortmunder novel (after What's So Funny?), a worthy final word from Westlake (1933–2008). The producer of the prospective series, Doug Fairkeep, reveals himself to be both cynical and naïve, a combination that makes him an excellent foil for the guys. Naturally, the gang has to make this gig pay more than what's offered, as much for the fun of it as for the extra cash. While Get Real helps them map out a “real” robbery, the boys are mapping out a real robbery—of some of the company's “hidden assets.” The thinking is that Get Real can hardly come after them to retrieve cash that it can't admit that it has. The game plan changes nearly hourly, and the outcome is anything but certain. The assorted idiosyncrasies of the group's members and the interactions among them will rouse chuckles from even jaded readers. (July)