Fiction Book Reviews: Week of 5/11/2009

Hyland's clever prose is first-rate, but wit makes a weak substitute for insight in this novel about a deeply troubled young Englishman who seeks a fresh start, only to end up facing serious criminal charges. As a child, the unreliable 23-year-old narrator, Patrick Oxtoby, was an excellent student, but after a breakdown at age 14 he became fascinated with mechanics. Now, shortly after his fiancée leaves him, he lands in a small seaside town, takes a job at an auto repair shop and moves into a boarding house he can't afford. It seems as if Hyland misses every opportunity to delve into the roots of Patrick's awkwardness: his landlady and a local waitress provide him fantasy material, and it's clear, even from Patrick's problematic perspective, that he comes across as creepy. Nonetheless, both women inexplicably trust him, just as his parents and older brother appear to love and encourage him—until his arrest, at which point, and without explanation, they abandon him. Hyland (Carry Me Down) sails across Patrick's dark exterior with humor and empathy, but as with everyone Patrick encounters, she hesitates to dive below the surface. (Aug.)

In the hallowed pantheon of Irish coming-of-age novels, Murphy's strongly written debut splits the difference between the sensitivity of Portrait of an Artist and the freakishness of Butcher Boy. John Devine lives a marginal life with his single mother in the small Irish town of Kilcody. He has a love for the lore of creepy-crawly things (thanks to his favorite book, Harper's Compendium of Bizarre Nature Facts). His mother, a maid for the rich folks in the area, is versed in Irish myth, which gives him an enchanted, slightly sinister sense of the world. As a teenager, John befriends the posh James Corboy, who fancies himself quite the young Rimbaud. Two events define John's coming into manhood: one involves James, a video camera and a drunken rampage; the other, John's mother, who is dying and whose weakness necessitates the frequent assistance of nosy neighbor Mrs. Nagle. Murphy understands the gracelessness of teenage boys and that peculiar delinquent wisdom shared by all the great coming-of-age novelists. With this novel, he doesn't have to bow to any of them. (Aug.)

Bestseller Carter, who expertly blended social commentary and devious plots in his previous novels (The Emperor of Ocean Park; New England White; Palace Council), delivers a modest spy thriller, his first work of fiction not to focus on characters from what he has termed “the darker nation.” The sententious opening sentence (“On the Sunday before the terror began, Rebecca DeForde pointed the rental car into the sullen darkness of her distant past”) sets the tone for this minor effort. Rebecca has traveled to the Colorado Rockies to visit former CIA director Jericho Ainsley, who's dying of cancer. Jericho's decades of power and influence came to an end when he began an affair with her 15 years earlier. On arrival, Rebecca learns that shadowy forces fear that Jericho will reveal damaging Company secrets, and that his life is threatened by more than illness. Fans will miss the fully realized characters and mysterious puzzles of Carter's more complex, less predictable earlier work. Author tour. (July)

A brisk pace, sharp dialogue and believable characters propel bestseller Lescroart's 13th thriller to feature San Francisco defense attorney Dismas Hardy (after Betrayal). When someone shoots Dylan Volger in an alley near the coffee shop he managed, Bay Beans West, the cops discover a load of marijuana in the victim's backpack, a crop of weed growing in his attic and a customer list that includes a judge and several local officials. Suspicion centers on Hardy's client and Bay Beans West's owner, Maya Townshend, who's the sister of a city supervisor and the mayor's niece. That Maya was paying Volger an unusually high salary of $90,000 suggests he was blackmailing her. An arrogant U.S. attorney decides to turn the trial into a “career-making moment,” invoking a little-known law to prosecute Maya. Lescroart skillfully juggles myriad plot threads, including one involving homicide detective Abe Glitsky, a series regular, whose young son is in a coma after a car accident. (July)

In Lawson's excellent fourth Washington thriller to feature Joe DeMarco (after House Rules), the government investigator looks into the drowning death of a Washington Post reporter working a story involving Paul Morelli, a charismatic U.S. senator from New York. Morelli, “the man most likely to be the Democratic candidate for president in the next election,” stands for all that is liberal and good, but, unfortunately, after a couple of drinks, he morphs into a sexual predator bent on molestation and rape. To cover up this behavior, Morelli turns to a mysterious benefactor who persuades the women involved to deny the incidents; anyone who doesn't go along gets killed. After DeMarco's boss, Speaker of the House John Mahoney, tells him to get the goods on Morelli, DeMarco sets up an elaborate sting. The sting succeeds, but those who helped with the operation begin to turn up dead. The action builds to a stunning final twist. (July)

Frank (Sullivan's Island) creates a world in which aspiring writer Beth Hayes, whose chirpy internal monologues and quiet uncertainties make her easily endearing, is as much a character as the house she lives in. After graduating from college in Boston, Beth returns to the South to spend a year house-sitting her family's home, Island Gamble, while her mother, Susan, visits Paris. Frank's portrayal of a large and complicated family is humorous and precise: there's Susan, adoring and kind; Aunt Maggie, a stickler for manners; twin aunts Sophie and Allison, who run an exercise-and-vitamin empire; and uncles Timmy and Henry, the latter of whom has ties to Beth's trust fund. Frank's lovable characters occasionally stymie her pace; there's almost no room left for Beth's friends or her love affairs with sleazy Max Mitchell and cherubic Woody Morrison, though these become important later on. Frank is frequently funny, and she weaves in a dark undercurrent that incites some surprising late-book developments. Tight storytelling, winsomely oddball characters and touches of Southern magic make this a winner. (July)

McFadden overreaches in her follow-up to The Richest Season, a too-busy family drama overflowing with common conundrums. Claire Noble, at 45, believes she's on the cusp of a new, liberated life—she's one year away from early retirement; her daughter, Amy, is grown and out of the house; and she and her fiancé, Rick, are planning to move from New Jersey to Arizona, where they can pursue their passions (photography for her, golf for him). The plans soon turn into pipe dreams when a massively pregnant Amy returns home, Claire's father's Parkinson's disease rapidly advances, and Rick has trouble coping with it all. In the midst of chaos, Claire drags her family to Provincetown, Mass., where she'll take part in a prestigious photography workshop while the town's romantic charms work their magic on Claire's clan. But with so many complications constantly disrupting the lives of major and minor characters, it's difficult to connect much less keep up with who's suffering from what. McFadden's prose has its moments of clarity and emotion, but the narrative leans too heavily on phoned-in sentiment to make an impact. (July)

In this unrelentingly bleak tale, Dean (This Human Season) explores the lives of two couples and how precarious sanity can be. Richard, an English pharmaceutical representative selling psychotropic drugs in Africa, and his wife, Valérie, an unapologetic French hedonist, live in Provence next to Jeff, a brash American, and his English wife, Rachel, who is determined to save the world one child at a time. That hope is soundly defeated after trips to an African orphanage send Jeff into Valérie's arms, and Rachel's religious outbursts impede her cause. Rachel, though, isn't the only person affected by the betrayal: Richard slowly descends into a nervous breakdown and wonders if his wife ever loved him. Meanwhile, Richard and Valérie's teenage son appears to be slipping into madness. The puzzle pieces rearrange throughout the novel, sometimes falling into unexpected patterns the reader may not see coming. Dean's gift for descriptive prose is evident, and her edgy story will shake up traditional ideas about what exactly love is. It may also send depressed readers straight for a mood stabilizer. (July)

Soon after Mitch and Patsy Boatwright, two down-home one-step-above-poor-white Georgians, win the $318 million Max-a-Million jackpot in this stellar thriller from bestseller Green (The Juror), they receive two unwelcome visitors—Shaw McBride and Romeo Zderko, who are fleeing nowhere techie jobs in Ohio for a never-never Florida dream. Shaw, the brains, and Romeo, his half-unwilling brawny pawn, threaten to kill the Boatwrights' loved ones unless the couple agree to hand over half their winnings. Through rapidly shifting points of view, especially the clear eyes of daughter Tara Boatwright, a community college student, Green frighteningly and unequivocally shows how victims can come to adore their tormentors, amid a mix of madness, fear, isolation, greed and delusions of power and glory. This exquisite novel of psychological suspense builds to a devastating resolution that will leave readers with the cold shudders for a long time afterward. (July)

Andrews's latest Southern charmer begins with junior lobbyist Dempsey Jo Killebrew in the crosshairs of a political bribery investigation. Suddenly unemployed and the victim of a sleazy smear campaign by her former boss, Dempsey decides to take up her father's offer of flipping a recently inherited family home in Guthrie, Ga. As it turns out, the house needs much more than a fresh coat of paint, and Dempsey's ornery cousin and her dog are squatting there. So it is that the formerly glamorous Dempsey steps into her dead uncle's overalls and chips her manicured nails as she scrubs and sands her way through fixing up the house, quickly finding a renovation groove, fitting in with the locals and embarking on a romance. Meanwhile, the FBI and a pesky reporter come asking questions about the bribery accusations. This authentic tale of cleaning up life's messes and self-discovery is bright, engaging and thoughtful, enlivened by Andrews's quirky characters and lovely backwoods setting. (July)

Insight into the world of biblical excavation in Israel raises Rabbi Klein's debut novel from a Jewish Da Vinci Code to an emotionally rich story of personal and historical discovery. After a dozen years digging in Megiddo, American archeologist Page Brookstone longs for something new. When an Arab couple propose that Page investigate the haunted ruins under their home, she ignores colleagues' misgivings and heads to Anatot, just outside Jerusalem. There, the couple, along with Page and her team, uncover murals, artifacts and remains suggesting they have come upon the grave of the prophet Jeremiah, buried with the woman he loved, Anatiya, who also has left a manuscript that parallels the Book of Jeremiah. The discovery ignites an international uproar and violent attacks while Page, affected by the ancient spirits, is attracted to Orthodox Israeli Mortichai Master, despite his connections to an organization opposing her efforts. Rabbi Klein's most vivid passages depict the meditative tedium of digging, the exultation of discovery and the intricate processes of authentication and preservation, while love stories past and present—and a balanced, compassionate view of both Israeli and Arab traditions—add to the book's pleasures. (July)

Hayman's clichéd debut introduces Det. Sgt. Michael McCabe of the Portland, Maine, PD. A former NYPD detective, McCabe relocated to raise his 13-year-old daughter in a supposedly safer place and to escape a nasty divorce. When a young woman disappears soon after the body of a 16-year-old girl turns up in a scrap yard with her heart neatly cut out, McCabe fears a serial killer is on the loose. McCabe's investigation leads him and his partner, Det. Maggie Savage, to a prominent cardiac surgeon specializing in transplants. Racing against the clock even as he uncovers more victims, McCabe is determined to find the killer and rescue the missing woman before time runs out. Hayman treads the well-worn path of troubled cop vs. serial killer without injecting new life into either the hero or the villain. Even thriller fans unfamiliar with the predecessors from whom Hayman borrows will figure out the mystery long before McCabe. (July)

Ford's third Charlie Noble suspense novel shares the same shortcomings as its predecessors, Red Herring and Precious Cargo. Noble, a former Coast Guardsman who now works as a maritime PI in Washington State, looks into the disappearance of Bill and Becky Kinsley, who sailed their 40-foot ketch into a live-fire naval exercise area called Whiskey Gulf. After some initial investigating, Noble gets a tip from a friend in intelligence—that the Kinsleys' boat was destroyed as a cover to shield them from a terrorist, Ali Sharik, whose brother happens to be the bad guy Noble shot after the brother tried to blow up a U.S. ship near Bahrain. Action fans may roll their eyes at the relationship discussions between Noble and his Coast Guard girlfriend, Lt. Kate Sullivan. Ungainly prose may put off others (“my coffee took on the color of Ali Sharik's angry eyes when I'd stood facing him with the news that I'd killed his brother”). Author tour. (July)

In this plodding, reflective novel, bestselling Korean author Jo's first to be translated into English, a young cook spurned in love works her way out of a depressed stupor and up to an implausible, violent act of revenge. Talented cook Jeong Ji-won and her longtime boyfriend, Han Seok-Ju, run a cooking school together, but after he leaves her for an ex-model, Ji-won falls into a funk and returns to the kitchen at Nove, an Italian restaurant where she had previously worked. There, she gradually restores her confidence in life and with a knife. But circumstances surrounding the death of Seok-Ju's dog lead Ji-won to commit a puzzling and violent act of revenge. The narrative's heavy reliance on reminiscing and ruminations about food shortchanges character development; particularly troubling is how little is revealed about Seok-Ju (we do know, however, that he likes steak), so Ji-won's reasons for wanting him back feel hollow and make her grotesque revenge plan tough to swallow. There's more fat than meat on this one. (July)

In Mann's ambitious if uneven latest (after Men Who Love Men), a spiritually unfulfilled man still haunted by his sister's disappearance decades ago gets a shot at a fresh start. Former West Hollywood go-go boy Danny Fortunato has settled into a comfortable life with his husband in Palm Springs. But when Danny turns 41, he feels the thrill's faded from his relationship and he still grieves over what happened when he was 14: one morning, Danny spied his sister, Becky, cavorting with her boyfriend. Later that day, she vanished, but Danny never told the police or his parents what he'd seen. In the aftermath, his family fractures. Now, after Danny meets Kelly, a gorgeous young bartender, he begins to believe Kelly might hold clues to Becky's disappearance, but digging into that history means facing his family and his tortured past. Mann's vivid style is a treat, and though the contemporary story line flirts with romantic overkill, the flashbacks dealing with Becky's disappearance are particularly well done and could almost stand on their own. (July)

This complex, layered story of a family's journey toward justice and forgiveness comes together through spellbinding storytelling. Deputy sheriff Nate Stanley calls home one day and announces he's accepted a deputy post in Oregon. His wife, Irene, resents having to uproot herself and their children, Shep and Bliss, from their small Illinois town, but Nate insists it's for the best. Once they've moved into their new home, Shep sets off to explore Oregon's outdoors, and things seem to be settling in nicely until one afternoon when Nate returns home to find his 15-year-old son beaten and shot in their kitchen. After Shep dies in Nate's arms, the family seeks vengeance against the young man, Daniel Joseph Robbin, accused of Shep's murder. In the 19 years between Shep's death and Daniel's legal execution, Bliss becomes all but a caretaker for her damaged parents, and a crisis pushes Irene toward the truth about what happened to Shep. Most of the big secret is fairly apparent early on, so it's a testament to Rakha's ability to create wonderfully realized characters that the narrative retains its tension to the end. (July)

Near the start of this uneven supernatural thriller from Mack (Kabuki: The Alchemy), Tom Nash, who can hear long-distance prayers that oblige him to respond, leaves his near-term pregnant wife and his handyman job in Sawyer, Pa., after receiving a telepathic plea for help from a kidnapped 11-year-old girl somewhere in New York City. Luckily, Nash soon comes across a poster depicting the missing girl, Phaedra Doyle, and manages to talk his way into the Brooklyn townhouse of her wealthy widowed mother, Anna. While the kidnappers have warned Anna not to go to the FBI or police, Anna trusts Nash enough to authorize him to do what he can to recover her daughter. While Erin Sanchez, a supportive local who shares his gift, tells Nash its source, Mack never adequately explains such issues as why Nash isn't overwhelmed by prayers or why he should hear ones far away but not closer by. (July)

Near the start of Balmaseda's suspense-lite debut, gun-toting DEA agents burst into the house of Dulce Maria “Mary” Guevara, a divorced Miami, Fla., realtor, and arrest her, having mistaken Mary for cocaine queen bee Maria Guevara Portilla. The charges are eventually dropped, but the stigma remains. After Mary's boss puts her on mandatory leave and her ex-husband persuades a judge to give him full custody of their young son, Mary embarks on an improbable journey to do what the DEA can't: track down “Bad Mary” to clear her own name for good. While the author has twice won the Pulitzer Prize for journalism, Balmaseda can't resist chick lit–worthy twists and turns, including a breathless encounter with a high school sweetheart and a come-to-Jesus moment when Sweet Mary meets Bad Mary's young daughter. Screenplay-style scene intros and uninspired character development don't help. (July)

In this sequel to Healy's debut (The Canterbury Papers), set in 13th-century France, King Phillippe's sister, Princess Alaïs, is surprised by his request for advice regarding a mysterious note warning him to stay out of the affairs of Toulouse, where his cousin Raymond rules. When the pope's envoy arrives, begging Philippe to help fight a proto-Protestant religious sect called the Cathars in Raymond's territory, Philippe refuses—besides the warning, Philippe carries a grudge against Pope Innocent. When Alaïs's aunt Constance, along with a palace treasure, disappears, Alaïs defies the wishes of her betrothed, William, a Knight Templar, and rides southward with a few trusted knights to find answers and, maybe, a resolution to the conflict. Uncovering the plot against Toulouse, Alaïs is commanding but not stubborn, and Healey uses sumptuous detail to explore the courtly lives of spiritually frustrated medieval women; unfortunately, tedium sets in as it becomes clear that the princess's every hunch will turn out to be right. (July)

Set in 1863, Wilson's melodramatic sequel to President Lincoln's Spy finds Col. Thomas Fitzgerald Dunaway and his outspoken new bride, Asia, embarking on a spy mission for President Lincoln after a suspicious explosion at the DuPont Works, a gunpowder factory, in Wilmington, Del. Royal January, an actor who's literally crossed swords with a drunken John Wilkes Booth, and Royal's actress sister, Victoria, are Confederate sympathizers involved in a devious plot against the Union army. Asia's half-brother, Robert Owen, has fallen in love with the beautiful but amoral Victoria and joined the rebel cause. The disappearance of the Januarys' associate, Professor Phillip Abbott, who knows the secrets of the Union's ironclads, sends the Dunaways on a Canadian sleigh chase, one of the highlights of this over-the-top romantic thriller, which might have benefited from more Lincoln cameos. (July)

A novel as grim as it is extraordinary, MacKenzie's debut tells the story of two estranged brothers at odds on how to view their Nazi-sympathizer father. Paul Metzger has troubles: a struggling writer with a dying father and an intense longing for his recently ex-wife, he's also estranged from his much older brother. In what ends up being more than a random act of violence, Paul is pummeled while trying to stop two men from assaulting a boy outside his Brooklyn apartment. Shortly after, Paul's father, Frank—an early Nazi sympathizer who retains some notoriety decades later—dies, and Paul receives a lucrative offer to write a book about his father. Meanwhile, Paul's hedge fund brother, Ben, under investigation for insider trading, faces prison time, and one of the goons who beat Paul pursues him across the city. All of this leads to unexpected turns that shed light on the major characters. MacKenzie sets up a New York rampant with alienation and misunderstanding, and his visceral narrative, powered by taut prose and braced with sturdy philosophical and psychological underpinnings, is a winner. (July)

Paul Madriani's chance encounter with 26-year-old Katia Solaz, a Costa Rican beauty, leads to a desperate race to avoid not only personal disaster but also a national one in Martini's sprawling 10th thriller to feature the Southern California defense attorney (after Shadow of Power). Katia, who's living with creepy Emerson Pike, a man old enough to be her grandfather, in a dilapidated estate surrounded by an expensive security fence, decides to return home to Costa Rica. In her flight, she just misses running into the legendary assassin known as the Mexecutioner, who sneaks into Pike's house. The naïve Katia and well-meaning Madriani, who meet in a grocery store, provide a welcome human element amid the busy action involving escaped Guantánamo prisoners, a Colombian rebel base, a Mexican drug cartel and a plot to bring the war home to the Great Satan via a nuclear device. Tidbits like how the FBI can use cellphones as remote bugging devices add to the fun. (July)

In this second novel from Wu (February Flowers), the story of two estranged sisters who have emigrated to the United States from China sings in places, but is otherwise wooden and unsurprising. In the turn-of-the-millennium Bay Area, Mary Chang is struggling to overcome a restlessness generated by the growing distance in her marriage; her bitter feelings toward her younger sister, Ingrid; and the impending six-month visit of her widowed mother which Mary hopes will become permanent. Having witnessed Tiananmen Square as a college student in China, Ingrid is now piecing together a living in New York as a tour guide and translator, traveling often, changing boyfriends just as frequently and hanging with artsy, bohemian friends. When her mother arrives in the U.S., Ingrid moves to San Francisco to be close by. Predictably, secrets from the past are revealed. A surprise plot twist in the climax is oddly devoid of tension. Shifting points of view among chapters don't clarify the characters, who remain half-formed and fuzzy. Though strong in the sections set in China, the book feels unfinished and derivative of Amy Tan and other Asian-American writers. (July)

When WWII breaks out, many Americans find their lives turned upside down, few more so than the Heller family. Seeking refuge from Hitler-controlled Germany, the Hellers had moved to smalltown Victory, Ill., only to find themselves, 10 years later, suspected by their neighbors of being Nazis. Feeling the threat to her family grow, headstrong 20-year-old Sophie Heller also feels powerless to stop it; soon, however, she meets a handsome, similarly frustrated schoolteacher named Cole Ambrose, whose bad leg prevents him from enlisting. Their instant attraction is, naturally defied by racist townsfolk bent on keeping them apart by whatever means necessary. Garlock (Leaving Whiskey Bend) exhibits a too-comfortable mastery of the romance genre; Ambrose is a true gentleman and Sophie is a charming heroine, but both are painfully bland. The villainous characters prove more interesting, but stray often into caricature. The central conceit, racism against German immigrants during WWII, is compelling but not really explored except as a vehicle for star-crossed romance. (July)

Jules Fuller, the unsinkable protagonist of Page's pleasant if heavy-handed novel, thought she'd left her North Carolina childhood far behind when she moved to California and found work in the movie business. But when her mother falls ill, she's pulled east, pregnant at age 39 by an ex-boyfriend. Soon, her mother dies, and Jules stays at home, speaking to the high school drama class and trying to figure out what kind of mother she might make. But then Vick, a troubled teenage boy, accuses her of molesting him, and Jules's meditative seclusion becomes a quest to clear her name. As Jules faces the charges against her and tries to unravel Vick's troubled past, she finds her own path to motherhood more tangled than ever. Though the plot has a few unlikely turns, Page's knack for characterization brings it back down to earth and helps nudge things toward an appropriately affirmative ending. (July)

In this soap opera rendition of 16th-century power and politics, the ruthless and manipulative wife of France's King Henry II, reviled for her role in the civil and religious wars that roiled France, is conned into a deal with the devil. After her arranged marriage to the future French king, Catherine de Medici dedicates her life to protecting her husband and his reign, bartering away her soul to ensure that she provides heirs. Seasoned historic novelist Kalogridis (The Borgia Bride) nails the palace intrigue and lush pageantry of the Renaissance, but can't get a grip on her heroine's slippery, troubled heart. Catherine confesses to a core of evil, and history certainly supports that view, but Kalogridis suggests that the real trade-off of Catherine's Faustian bargain was to become a royal doormat, swallowing her courage and pride to become a dutiful and ignored wife and mother. For all her passion and attention to detail, however, Kalogridis doesn't quite bring the powerful, tortured figure back from her historical purgatory. (July)

Appel (High Holiday Sutra) offers up another of his humorous takes on religion and spirituality, this one set in 1963 Los Angeles. Norman Plummer, the 17-year-old scholarly son of a chronically out-of-pocket compulsive gambler, is hired to tutor spoiled, wealthy 16-year-old Bayla Adler for her belated bat mitzvah. Bayla is determined to refuse to be bat mitzvahed; she is also gorgeous and seductive. A rocky alliance that has little to do with Hebrew ensues, one that doesn't escape the attention of Bayla's parents. When Norman isn't scared away by his pupil's surly refusal to learn anything, he is rewarded with exorbitant cash tips, and Bayla's father promises her $20,000 if she goes through with the ceremony. But Bayla has other plans for both Norman and the money. Appel renders the relationships between Norman and each of his parents with heartbreaking intimacy, but the Adlers, including Bayla, are so superficial that their actions are unconvincing. In the end this bittersweet exploration of love from Norman's 17-year-old perspective—love for Bayla, for his parents, for knowledge and for God—leaves too much unresolved. (July)

Christian novelist Connealy (Petticoat Ranch) writes to tickle the funny bone and tease heartstrings with the first in her newest series, Montana Marriages. In the Montana Territory of 1875, sweet and naïve Cassie Griffin's abusive husband dies, leaving Cassie no choice but to choose a new husband the same day she buries her first. With women scarce and lawlessness abounding, Cassie reluctantly agrees to marry Red Dawson, also reluctant, who offers to marry her only to save her from an immoral scoundrel who's been stalking her for months. Immediately traveling to Red's ranch, Cassie realizes how little she knows about life, love and faith. In turn, Red quickly realizes how brutalized his new wife was by her first husband. Slowly, sometimes painstakingly so, Cassie learns to trust her instincts and begins to blossom. No doubt, Connealy's characters are cute. Yet there is a systematic heavy-handedness on the subject of submission that gets in the way of what could have been a delightful story of unfolding marital love. (July)

In Douglas's glitzy 21st Midnight Louie mystery (after 2008's Cat in a Sapphire Slipper), Temple Barr, Las Vegas PR whiz, goes undercover at a charity dance contest featuring celebrities like Temple's radio star fiancé, Matt Devine, while tomcat sleuth Louie provides backup. The Barbie Doll stalker has been targeting local teen talent, and soon contestants in the dance competition start to suffer “accidents.” Mariah, the teenage daughter of LVPD's Lt. Carmen Molina, goes AWOL to help a friend who's won a place in the contest's junior division. Meanwhile, magician Max Kinsella, Temple's ex-boyfriend, is still recovering from amnesia in Europe while romancing a mysterious blonde. Dance lovers will especially enjoy this installment, which includes an opening summary of Louie's previous outings that even series fans will find useful. (Aug.)

Set in 1893, a few weeks after the events of 2008's The Black Dove, Hockensmith's excellent fourth mystery to feature Otto “Big Red” Amlingmeyer and his older brother, Gustav (aka “Old Red”), takes them to San Marcos, Tex. The laconic Old Red, whose life took an unexpected turn after his brother introduced him to the deductive methods of Sherlock Holmes, reveals that the love of his life, hooker Gertrude Eichelberger, was murdered in San Marcos five years earlier. The pair's efforts to investigate put them at odds with the local pimps as well as the law. The brothers discover that Gertrude was but the first victim of a serial killer, who modeled his crimes after Jack the Ripper. The personal stake Old Red has in catching the murderer adds an emotional dimension to the puzzle, which Edgar-finalist Hockensmith nicely leavens with witty prose and cliffhanging chapter endings. Author tour. (July)

Set in London and rural England in 1944, Airth's fine third mystery to feature ex–Scotland Yard inspector John Madden (after The Blood-Dimmed Tide) shows how five years of war and an overstretched police force have brought “a new dimension to lawbreaking,” with a serious rise in murders, thefts and extortion. Even decent citizens aren't above black-market dealings. The murder of Rosa Nowak, a young Polish woman, on a deserted London street during a blackout appears to be another act of random violence. Since Nowak worked on Madden's farm, his reputation ensures that his former colleagues thoroughly investigate the case, which leads to continental Europe, stolen diamonds and a string of murders, including that of a Jewish furrier. Airth takes a perceptive look at the frayed emotions of his fully realized characters as he carefully lays the groundwork for the next book in this rewarding series. (July)

Everyone calls the drowning of young Melbourne antiques dealer Augustine Manifold a suicide—except for his distraught mother and Phyrne Fisher, the heroine of Greenwood's long-running series set in 1920s Australia (Murder in the Dark, etc.). Brainy, beautiful, blue-blooded and rich to boot, the enviably stylish PI somehow manages to juggle the demands of two adopted daughters, an exotic lover and a full social calendar with multiple cases, including a hunt for the illegitimate heir to a fortune—all while rarely missing a morsel of her cook's inspired creations. Greenwood keeps the action moving as swiftly as milady's Hispano-Suiza, save for the initially confusing flashbacks at the end of many chapters that eventually become pieces in the solution of the Manifold puzzle. But there's no quibbling with the author's ability to create a sybaritic piece of period escapism. As Phryne's mates would say approvingly: Bonzer! (July)

Nadel's intriguing third procedural to feature Insp. Çetin Ikmen (after 2005's The Ottoman Cage) finds Ikmen suffering from ulcers and on a restricted diet. While he is sidelined, his newly promoted subordinate, Mehmet Suleyman, takes charge of a hot-button murder inquiry. Someone has used cyanide to poison Ruya Urfa, the previously secret wife of the country's Arabesk music star, Erol Urfa. Suspicion centers on the mentally impaired son of the dead woman's neighbors, whose prints are found throughout the crime scene. News that Erol was married comes as a surprise to the public and has a curious effect on his lover, an aging movie star who's resorted to cosmetic surgery to preserve her looks. While some readers will anticipate whodunit, all will appreciate the skill with which Nadel depicts the tensions underlying contemporary Turkish society as well as her ability to make each of her characters fully human. (July)

First published in 1987, this clever mystery in Baantjer's series featuring Inspector DeKok of the Amsterdam police's Warmoes Street station (DeKok and the Murder in Bronze, etc.) should help gain him new readers in the U.S. A distraught young man, Richard Netherwood, tells DeKok and DeKok's impetuous sidekick, Dick Vledder, that he took his girlfriend, Rosalind Evertsoord, to Slotervaart Hospital on a neurology referral from her doctor and she simply disappeared. Other young women have also gone missing at the respected hospital, which denies all knowledge of the women. DeKok must deal with a fatherly pimp, a skilled forger, angry boyfriends and devious hospital officials to unravel the case. DeKok's wide network of contacts and his contemplative approach contrast nicely with the more aggressive approach of his protégé, Vledder; the two men make a formidable and appealing detective team. (July)

At the outset of Howell's sprightly sequel to 2008's Handbags and Homicide, handbag-obsessed 24-year-old Haley Randolph is working part-time at L.A.'s Holt's Department Store, owned by her quasi-boyfriend, Ty Cameron, to pay back the debt she's accumulated—buying designer handbags and clothes, of course. When fashion model Claudia Gray, Ty's former girlfriend, turns up dead in a women's restroom at Holt's, the police soon determine that Claudia ate poisoned fruit from a fruit bouquet from Edible Elegance, Haley's mom's company, sent to the victim. To eliminate her mom as a murder suspect as well as herself, Haley launches her own investigation while dealing with her relationship with Ty and another new boyfriend. While some readers may decide the author ends too many chapters with the exclamation “Oh, crap,” Howell has concocted a solid mystery sure to appeal to younger, fashion-conscious mystery fans. (July)

While John Connolly (The Reapers) rightly notes in his introduction that this all-original anthology isn't for the fainthearted, noir lovers will find plenty to savor among the 22 stories from both familiar and unfamiliar names. Steven Torres offers the most moving selection, “The Biography of Stoop, the Thief,” in which a 14-year-old boy tries to save the mother who abandoned him for a life on the streets as a substance abuser. Tim Maleeny's “Prisoner of Love” not only features twists and betrayals but manages to make an ambiguous resolution satisfying rather than frustrating. There are some duds, like Maxim Jakubowski's shocker “We Mate in the Dark,” with its pointless savagery, but on the whole the contributors demonstrate the ability to create believable and memorable characters as well as settings in a few pages. (July)

In this vivid but inflated second installment of Fallon's Tide Lords fantasy-romance series (after 2008's The Immortal Prince), new characters and increasingly ghoulish torments propel a thin narrative centered on doughty heroine Arkady Desean, nominal wife of Stellan, the Kingdom of Glaeba's heir. Arkady is bent on destroying the immortal and frequently petulant Tide Lords, who want to take over the world. Declan Hawkes, Glaeba's spymaster and Arkady's longtime admirer, engineers one anti–Tide Lord plot after another, while powerful Tide Lord Cayal romances Arkady and contemplates suicide. More appealing are the human-beast servants called Crasii, some of whom secretly defy their Tide Lord creators. With abrupt cuts between intricate story lines and excursions into harem intrigue, Fallon strives to maintain momentum, but slogging through her interminable backstories often feels like battling a tidal wave of verbiage. (July)

The tense eighth installment of Knight's Vampire Earth series (a welcome improvement over 2008's Fall with Honor) continues David Valentine's adventures in 2076 as the invading Kurian Order decides to exterminate rebellious Earthlings. The Southern Command authorizes Valentine to wage a guerrilla war with the goal of creating a Kentucky freehold. His ragtag battalion (including some controversial Quisling and alien Grog recruits) must deal first with a power plant outage that blacks out Evansville and Owensboro and then a blizzard and the Kurians' plot to unleash a “ravies” epidemic on the human herd. Knight keeps the conflict interesting but says too little about the inscrutable Kurians, who are “like magicians, always diverting attention from the operating hand.” Even readers familiar with the series would welcome a glossary and more background on the various alien races. (July)

The seventh installment in Carey's bestselling Kushiel series (after 2008's Kushiel's Mercy) follows its youthful protagonist, Moirim, from bed to bed as she worships sexuality goddess Naamah. Following a tragic affair, Moirim travels to Terre d'Ange, this world's France. There she takes a variety of lovers, from the aristocratic occultist Raphael de Mereliot to Queen Jehanne herself. The elderly but wise Lo Feng befriends Moirim and leads her to the distant land of Ch'in and the true love of her life, the gruff but affectionate ex-bandit Bao. Moirim and her friends endeavor to save the Ch'in emperor's daughter Snow Tiger from a curse, but their efforts come at terrible costs, not least of which is the certainty of multiple sequels. Carey's triumph as a writer lies in her ability to turn these stock—nearly stereotyped—components into an engaging, fascinating novel. (July)

In this heartbreaking epistolary novella, pseudonymous military fantasist Parker (The Company) keeps the letters, humor and tension moving at a quick clip. Nicephorus becomes the reluctant emperor of the Vesani after all his imperial relatives kill one other off. Knowing that 72 of the past century's 77 emperors have been murdered by the military, he appoints his trusted friend Phormio to command on a frontier filled with almost preternaturally effective insurgents. Each man sends two letters at a time to the other: one in official purple ink, the other a black-inked personal missive ranging from hilarious to despairing. As enemies become stalwart allies, sorrow lurks within victory and a forgotten moment of youth threatens everything, Parker sends the brief (but never terse) story flying to a wrenching and all too realistic conclusion. (July)

Bestseller Graham's new paranormal series, linked to her Alliance books (most recently 2007's Blood Red), gets off to an uneven start. What seems like a chance encounter in a Los Angeles alley is a life-changing moment for Scott Bryant when an old man reveals he is one of 12 incarnated astrological signs who will be called upon as our saviors on doomsday. Further information emerges slowly, and Scott's floundering as he tries to figure out what's going on may frustrate both new and returning readers. Scott and romantic interest Melanie Ryan primarily engage with each other and their foes and allies, leaving the world they're committed to saving as more of an abstract concept, but Graham's compelling nightmare and battle scenes and descriptive romantic encounters are mostly enough to keep the pages turning. (July)

Covert military operations combined with psychic abilities save this otherwise predictable romantic suspense novel, the first of a series from romance author Hinze (Her Perfect Life). Dr. Morgan Cabot, Jazie Craig and Taylor Lee form the Special Abilities Team (SAT), a super secret branch of the Secret Assignment Security Specialists (SASS). Their target is Thomas Kunz, the head of a thinly disguised terrorist organization called Group Resources for Individual Development (GRID) and one of the most dangerous operatives ever known. GRID has been using doubles to infiltrate positions of power in the government and steal sensitive information, and SAT is determined to stop the thefts. The paranormal Charlie's Angels concept will get readers interested, but flat characters and predictable intrigue and romance do little to keep them around. (July)

The enchanting first Lost Lords novel confirms bestseller Putney (The Marriage Spell) as a major force in historical romance. In early 19th-century northern England, Mariah Clarke inherits beautiful Hartley Manor. George Burke, Hartley's former owner, claims that Mariah's father won the estate by cheating at cards and attempts to regain it by courting Mariah, who recklessly claims she's already married. When she rescues an amnesiac man from the sea, she sees her chance to make the lie true, naming him Adam and convincing him she's his wife. Sensual romance heats up between the couple until Mariah reluctantly reveals the truth. When she learns of Adam's real history, Mariah must make a terrible choice. Entrancing characters and a superb plot line catapult this tale into stand-alone status. (July)

Freethy (Silent Run) launches the Angel's Bay paranormal romance series with this atmospheric but slow-moving and formulaic tale. Angel's Bay, Calif., swirls with secrets, hidden identities, regrets and belief in angels. Reporter Reid Tanner arrives to discredit a video of angel sightings, but gets distracted by newcomer Jenna Davies's determination to avoid publicity after she rescues a suicidal pregnant girl. Meanwhile, mysterious symbols appearing on a cliff, invisible assisting hands and flashbacks to previous lives suggest that the town's legendary guardian angels are real. Numerous secondary characters (perhaps aimed at future books) crowd Jenna and Reid, and Freethy's nicely descriptive prose wraps them in a pleasant quilt of intrigue, despite their lack of chemistry. (July)

Written by acclaimed mystery novelist Phillips (High Hand; Bangers), this crime story hits with the impact of a gun butt to the teeth. L.A. gangsta CQ is an accomplished enforcer for coked-up drug kingpin Tre Loc, but CQ's blind loyalty to his boss is shaken when he's assigned to shake down Tre Loc's crackhead attorney by kidnapping the woman's little girl, thus gaining leverage should the attorney ever decide to spill her guts to the Feds. As CQ wrestles with the logistics of snatching the kid, his estranged sister begs him to make her gambling-addicted husband's exorbitant debt to the local Chicano “go away,” a situation opening the door to a violent and bloody gang war that also affords CQ a chance at improving his own station. To say more would be criminal, as this taut yarn of crooks, corruption and carnage adds up to a stirring series intro, its excellent script bolstered by wholly appropriate photo-realistic art. There are several crime comics out there, but this one is the clear standout and should be given more than a casual look. (June)

First serialized in the New York Times Magazine, this exquisite extended version of the life of fictional Canadian TV personality George Sprott only adds to Seth's place as one of the form's masters. In the hours and moments before Sprott's death in 1975, the omniscient—and nameless—narrator flashes both backward to key moments in the TV man's life and forward to interviews conducted after Sprott's passing. After spending four years in seminary school, Sprott sets out to be, as he dubs himself, a “gentleman adventurer,” taking numerous trips to the Canadian Arctic and filming his exploits. After he lands his own television program, Northern Hi-Lights, in the '50s, Sprott spends the next 20-plus years (1,132 episodes) telling and retelling stories of his adventures with the Inuits. Along the way, we meet his long-suffering wife, Helen; employees of the Radio Hotel (where Sprott lived for the last 10 years of his life); and members of the Coronet Club (where he delivered regular and increasingly boring lectures). Musings by the man himself—on everything from modern life to food to loneliness—help to round out this portrait of a man who never seemed truly satisfied but somehow made do. Seth (Palookaville) manages to make what is essentially the story of one man's slow death into an often humorous rumination on the power of media, memory and loss. (May)

Nine-year-old Noboru Yamada is a responsible boy; he does the right thing and recycles his plastic orange juice bottle. What he doesn't plan on is the bottle coming back to him as Pet, a super-robot programmed to help Noboru as thanks for recycling him. While having a robot to help you out may be every little boy's dream, life with Pet is anything but easy. Determined to help Noboru, Pet means well but frequently causes harmless confusion even when doing the simplest of tasks. Pet is determined to repay Noboru sooner or later, and with an army of super-robot friends, such as his sister Alu and assistant Plaz, they can save the day whenever Noboru calls. Part of the Viz Kids line, Leave It to Pet is fun; the stories are short and punchy and the art is young and cool. Interwoven also are elements of responsibility: Noboru cleans his room, recycles and is polite to his mother, balancing action and humor with teaching kids a lesson. (May)