Fiction Book Reviews: 11/30/2009

In his zinger of a debut, Rachman deftly applies his experience as foreign correspondent and editor to chart the goings-on at a scrappy English-language newspaper in Rome. Chapters read like exquisite short stories, turning out the intersecting lives of the men and women who produce the paper—and one woman who reads it religiously, if belatedly. In the opening chapter, aging, dissolute Paris correspondent Lloyd Burko pressures his estranged son to leak information from the French Foreign Ministry, and in the process unearths startling family fare that won't sell a single edition. Obit writer Arthur Gopal, whose “overarching goal at the paper is indolence,” encounters personal tragedy and, with it, unexpected career ambition. Late in the book, as the paper buckles, recently laid-off copyeditor Dave Belling seduces the CFO who fired him. Throughout, the founding publisher's progeny stagger under a heritage they don't understand. As the ragtag staff faces down the implications of the paper's tilt into oblivion, there are more than enough sublime moments, unexpected turns and sheer inky wretchedness to warrant putting this on the shelf next to other great newspaper novels. (Apr.)

Following the travails of aging libertine Raphael Haffner in a spa town somewhere in Bohemia, this unfortunate picaresque by Thirlwell (The Delighted States) quickly becomes a case study in which history (“that arrogant personification”), mythical references, and Haffner's own life don't inform one another so much as farcically cohabitate. Narrated by a younger, faceless acquaintance, the story of our “epic hero” drifts between Haffner's efforts to secure his dead wife's estate and his “Sophoclean” love for sexy young yoga instructor Zinka, or, more generally, “the familiar, peristaltic illness of the women,” as Haffner's “ageing body is still a pincushion for the multicoloured plastic arrows of the victorious kid-god: Cupid.” Within this landscape of “tremulous picturesque mountains” where anti-Semitic bureaucrats conspire to deprive Haffner of his inheritance, the arthritic Casanova offers many self-aggrandizing reflections punctuated by exclamation points. Unfortunately, Haffner's considerable shortcomings, while promising, never consolidate into a solid character, much less a mythical letch. His insights and motivations are stale and cartoonish, his vulnerabilities bland, and his slapstick strivings are those of a stick figure on Viagra. (Apr.)

When Irene Shen's husband of 30 years walks out on her, she says, “Good riddance,” only to learn hours later that he's been killed in a car accident. Stunned by the chain of events and dreading her imminent empty-nester status, Irene concocts a plan to strengthen blood ties through a family tour of China. But Irene's 80-year-old mother, Lin Yulan, in her youth a feminist revolutionary during the Chinese civil war, balks at returning to China, and Irene's three daughters—Nora, a successful bond trader; Kay, a social activist; and Sophie, a talented artist—are distracted by their own troubles. The characters are sympathetic and draw the reader easily into their tangled lives, but despite Fei's obvious talent, this debut has the feel of M.F.A. fiction. The hoary dictum “write what you know” hovers above every page of this novel. The story unfurls smoothly, yet never really touches the heart. (Apr.)

A risk taker with a protean imagination, Shriver (The Post-Birthday World) has produced another dazzling, provocative novel, a witty and timely exploration of the failure of our health-care system. Shep Knacker's long-cherished plan to use the million dollars from the sale of his handyman business to retire to a tropical island receives a gut-wrenching blow when his wife, Glynis, is diagnosed with a rare cancer. Transformed into a full-time caregiver, the good-natured Shep is buoyed during the illness of self-centered, vindictive, and obnoxiously demanding Glynis by his working mate and best friend, Jackson Burdina, whose teenage daughter, Flicka, also has a terminal disease. Ironically, Glynis tenaciously clings to life, while Flicka, with whom she bonds, wants to end hers. Jackson, meanwhile, acutely conscious that he's going broke, rails pungently against government regulations and the insurance industry. A mouthpiece for the plight of middle-class workers, Jackson's diatribes about contemporary society—the medical, educational and banking systems, exorbitant taxation, political chicanery—ring painfully true. As Shep's Merrill-Lynch account dwindles and further medical calamities arise, Shriver twists the plot to raise suspense until the heart-lifting denouement. (Mar.)

Hedges's first novel in more than a decade reads a lot like Tom Perrotta minus the satire or Jonathan Tropper with less humor, but Hedges's excellent characterization and writing render it a worthy outing. Tim Welch and Kate Oliver are happily married, living the urban dream in Brooklyn Heights, until the wealthy and beautiful Anna Brody moves in nearby, forcing them to question if happiness is enough. Anna's arrival coincides with the forced retirement of Tim's father, a celebrated women's basketball coach, due to a sexual scandal; a lucrative job for Kate; and the reappearance of Kate's former love, now a television star. And while the entire neighborhood is fascinated with Anna, it's Tim and Kate she pulls into her orbit—intent on taking Tim as a lover—causing the seams of their marriage to fray and forcing them into situations they never would have predicted for themselves, even if the reader isn't exactly surprised at how things play out. The plot tends toward busy, but Hedges (What's Eating Gilbert Grape) keeps it under control, his sympathetically real characters holding down the novel's solid center. (Mar.)

In 1997, Juzo Itami, one of Japan's most successful film directors, jumped to his death in Tokyo. Nobel laureate Oe (Hiroshima Notes) was Itami's brother-in-law, and he transposes Itami's suicide, under a fictional disguise, into a dazzling and elaborate maze of memories and meditations centering on the suicide of film director Goro Hanawa. Goro has made a series of tapes for Kogito, his world-famous writer brother-in-law, as groundwork for a possible film, which Kogito listens to obsessively after Goro's suicide. To rid himself of Goro's ghost, Kogito travels to Berlin, but even there he runs into pieces of Goro's past. Eventually, the reader is led back to the two men's youthful involvement with a right-wing paramilitary group founded by Kogito's late father. What begins as a weekend spent at the group's camp turns into something sinister from which Goro emerges fundamentally changed. Oe's deft mix of high intellectual reflection and absurd slapstick scenarios is polished to a high gloss, giving this book a tone that may remind American readers of Saul Bellow's Humboldt's Gift. (Mar.)

The largely unknown story of female Renaissance painter Sofonisba Anguissola (c. 1532–1625) is beautifully imagined here in YA novelist Cullen's sparkling adult debut. In a page-turning tale that brings to life the undercurrent of political, romantic, and interfamily rivalries in the court of Spanish King Felipe II, the author shines a light on Sofonisba, who is brought under the tutelage of Michelangelo and later appointed as a lady-in-waiting for the king's 14-year-old wife, Elisabeth, to whom she becomes a close confidante. The author offers an intriguing vision of what life was like for women of different economic and political stations at that time, and she also takes care to not short-shrift the specifics of Sofonisba's art and methods. Cullen has found a winning subject in Sofonisba, whose broken heart as a young woman colors her perceptions and judgment about the queen and her imperious husband, as well as the young Elizabeth's attraction to the king's brother, and Elizabeth's odd relationship with the king's son from his first marriage. Ongoing references to the Spanish Inquisition and the life of the controversial Michelangelo add depth to this rich story. (Mar.)

Allen's latest (after The Sugar Queen) takes the familiar setup of a young protagonist returning to the small town where her elusive mother was raised, and subverts it by sprinkling just enough magic into the narrative to keep things lively but short of saccharine. Seventeen-year-old Emily Benedict, intent on learning more about her mother, Dulcie, moves in with her grandfather, but is disappointed to find that her grandfather doesn't want to talk much about Dulcie. She soon discovers, though, that many still hold a grudge against Dulcie for the way she treated an old sweetheart before dumping him and disappearing. Luckily, Dulcie's high school adversary, Julia Winterson, back in town to pay down her deceased father's debt, takes a shine to Emily. She's working another quest as well: baking cakes every day with the hope that they'll somehow attract the daughter she gave up for adoption years ago. There are love interests, big family secrets, and magical happenings (color-changing wallpaper, mysterious lights) aplenty as Allen charts the spiraling inter-generational stories, bringing everything together in an unexpected way. (Mar.)

Celebrated Turkish novelist Shafak (The Bastard of Istanbul) serves up a curious blend of mediocre hen lit and epic historical to underwhelming results. In present-day Boston, dull suburban mother and cheated-on wife Ella Rubinstein takes a job as a reader for a literary agent and becomes entranced by Aziz Zahara, the author of a manuscript about the relationship between 13th-century poet Rumi and Sufi mystic Shams that, for better or for worse, becomes a story-within-a-story. Aziz and Ella strike up an e-mail relationship, largely made up of Ella's midlife crisis and Aziz's philosophical replies. Meanwhile, Aziz's novel, Sweet Blasphemy, is occasionally interesting but mostly dull, weighed down by Rufi's and Shams's theological musings. Its better moments concern tangential characters; Rumi's son, Aladdin, who is resentful of his father's closeness to the mystic, and Rumi's adopted daughter, Kimya, whose doomed marriage to Shams is touching in a way Ella's failed relationship with her husband never manages. The rumblings against Shams reach a peak, and Ella and Aziz finally meet, tying the story lines together into a readable, if not enthralling, tale. (Feb.)

At the start of this stellar thriller from South African author Smith (Mixed Blood), Cape Town meth heads Godwynn MacIntosh and Disco De Lilly hijack wheeler-dealer Joe Palmer's Mercedes. When the two black men shoot Joe in the leg, the reaction of Joe's gold-digging American wife, a former model, is to say the least, unexpected. While honest cop Ernie Maggott tracks the carjackers, and sociopathic killer Piper pursues Disco, once his jailhouse “wife,” half-white Billy Afrika, a former police detective and now a mercenary to whom Joe owed a ton of cash, is bent on revenge for Piper's savage two decades-old murder of Billy's mentor. Bad choices, not bad luck, drive human depravity in this brutal fable, where the human ideals of beauty and goodness and truth can't save their possessors and even fatally attract the soulless. One fundamental irony unforgettably lingers: that these characters, trapped in poverty, ignorance, and prejudice, have really had no choice at all. (Feb.)

Bestseller White, Cosmo's editor-in-chief, takes a break from her Bailey Weggins series (Lethally Blond, etc.) with this stand-alone thriller that generates a real sense of jeopardy while avoiding clichés. Newly divorced 44-year-old marketing consultant Lake Warren finds her latest job devising a marketing plan for a Manhattan fertility clinic rewarding until her ex-husband, Jack, sues for full custody of their two young children. While her lawyer warns her not even to date so Jack won't have leverage against her, Lake gives in to a one-night stand with the clinic's flirtatious Dr. Keaton. After falling asleep on his penthouse terrace, Lake wakes to find Keaton murdered. Worried that the police will accuse her of the murder, Lake begins her own investigation until she learns that someone is stalking her. A subplot about the clinic's questionable practices adds to the tension, but doesn't detract from the main plot with its myriad twists. (Feb.)

Ugresic's postmodern take on myth, femininity, and aging provides a beautifully written window into Slavic literature, but eventually becomes bogged down in competing narrative threads. The tangentially related sections of the narrative triptych, while uneven as a whole, provide lovely moments in each. In the first, more melancholy section, the narrator recounts her mother's encroaching Alzheimer's while fulfilling her last wishes and remembering the tenets she lived by (old age is a terrible calamity; beans are best in salad). In the second, most humorous, and oblique section, three old friends let their hair down at a high-end resort, replete with a charming, young faux-Turkish masseur; and in the third, a scholar provides background on Baba Yaga myths (Baba Yaga is the witch of Slavic fairy tales). Ugresic's meditations on the attempts of aging women to avoid becoming either short-haired desexualized hags or dotty creatures surrounded by cats are worth the overly esoteric tone that keeps the characters from becoming entirely engrossing. (Feb.)

Carie, author of five romances for the Christian market, now offers fans a contrived story set in the early 1800s, the time period noted for exploration of the American West by Lewis and Clark. Carie's female protagonist, Emma Daring, daughter of a well-to-do St. Louis couple, believes she is about to enter into a real-life fairy tale by marrying “the most handsome man.” Eric Montclaire, though devilishly beguiling in outward appearance, swiftly reveals his dark inner side as Emma's new husband. Terrified and emotionally defeated, Emma secretly looks forward to Eric's upcoming travel expedition when she will find freedom from him. Too bad for Emma that Eric decides to take her along. En route, Emma discovers hidden strength and finds support from cartographer Luke Bowen, who sees through Eric's guise and vows to protect Emma no matter the personal cost. Though Carie's previous fiction titles have won accolades, this one fails to deliver the goods in either character or story. (Feb.)

Veteran romance writer Gist (A Bride Most Begrudging) teams with tyro crime writer Bertrand to create a mix of their specialties. Their hybrid is a crime mystery with an irresistibly attractive and oh-so-naïve dog walker named Rylee Monroe. A young adult resident of Charleston whose parents are dead, Rylee is accused of robbing her wealthy dog-owning clients. Aghast at being accused of theft, she pleads her case to her newspaper reporter beau, Logan Woods. Certain that sweet Rylee is innocent, Logan tries to protect her reputation until even he grows suspicious of the mounting evidence against her. Enter in old family ties and unanswered questions regarding Rylee's parents' deaths, and even Rylee is confused as to who's telling the truth. Fans of Gist will appreciate her characteristic genteel manner of presenting the male/female courtship dance. Bertrand's deftness at adding in the crime dimension lends depth to this likable yet predictable story. (Feb.)

In Scottish author Rankin's intricately plotted heist thriller, software millionaire Mike Mackenzie, high-end banker Allan Cruikshank, and college art professor Robert Gissing devise a plan to “liberate” forgotten works of art from a warehouse storing the overflow from Edinburgh's museum collections. The trio commissions an art student nursing an antiestablishment grudge to paint fakes to swap for the originals, and Mackenzie's chance meeting with schoolmate Charlie “Chib” Calloway, now one of the city's most notorious gangsters, allows the group access to muscle and weapons. But cracks soon appear in the plan, with an inquisitive detective inspector, who's been on Calloway's trail for months, getting too close for comfort. Using the smalltown feel of Edinburgh to advantage, Rankin (Exit Music) gives his caper novel a claustrophobic edge while injecting enough twists, turns, and triple crosses that even the most astute reader will be surprised at the outcome. (Jan.)

Bestseller Rollins (Subterranean) explores the genetic engineering theme popularized by Jurassic Park, if less imaginatively than, say, Warren Fahy did in his 2009 debut, Fragment, in this solid stand-alone thriller. During the looting of the Baghdad zoo in the early days of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003, 12-year-old Makeen and his younger brother observe two men, one dressed in a khaki military uniform and the other in a dark suit, remove a large metal briefcase containing embryos from a secret facility at the zoo. About five years later, a U.S. Border Patrol helicopter lands at the New Orleans Audubon Center for Research of Endangered Species to take Dr. Lorna Polk, a postgraduate resident, out over the Mississippi Delta to an abandoned trawler. In the boat Polk sees cages filled with bizarre creatures like Siamese twin capuchin monkeys and oversized vampire bats. The science mostly takes a backseat to generic suspense scenes of animal attacks, gunfights, and abduction. (Jan.)

The real-life 1990 theft of paintings currently valued at half a billion dollars from Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and never recovered provides the backdrop for Hosp's overly ambitious art world thriller. In the present day, lawyer Scott Finn thinks he's just helping an old friend, Devon Malley, out of a jam by representing Malley after Malley is arrested for knocking off a high-end clothing store. But when prominent members of Boston's criminal underworld, all of whom have connections to Malley, start turning up dead and show hallmarks of IRA-style torture, Finn realizes he has a much bigger case on his hands. Twenty years earlier, Devon helped rob the Gardner museum along with ex-IRA operative Liam Kilbranish, who has returned to exact revenge on the people he believes hid the paintings. Despite the promising premise, Hosp (Innocence) quickly gets mired in myriad needless side plots, all of which distract from the allure of the famous heist. (Jan.)

Delinsky proves once again why she's a perennial bestseller with this thought-provoking tale of three smart, popular teenage girls who make a pact to become pregnant and raise their babies together. Lily, Mary Kate, and Jess also happen to be the daughters of best friends Susan, Kate, and Sunny, and the mothers are thrown into a tailspin by this unexpected news. Susan, the principal of the town's high school, has the most to lose, when the schools superintendent and editor of the local newspaper question her abilities as a leader and mother, and other parents prove quick to blame her—a single mother herself who got pregnant as a teenager—as a poor role model. But all three women must come to grips with where they failed as mothers, how the dreams they had for their daughters are disappearing, and scathing smalltown judgment. Timely, fresh, and true-to-life, this novel explores multiple layers of motherhood and tackles tough questions. (Jan.)

Taylor (An Irish Country Doctor; etc.) continues his charm streak with this latest dip into Ballybucklebo, Ireland, spinning out the story of Kinky Kincaid. Known to series readers as the housekeeper for the town's two doctors (the protagonists of earlier books), Kinky takes her turn at center stage beginning on Christmas Day as she recounts the story of the St. Stephen's Day ghost to the village children. The story is set in her own childhood in County Cork, where Kinky, then Maureen O'Hanlon, develops the ability to see the future. As the older Kinky unspools a tale of dark fairies, a young Maureen navigates the complicated road from girlhood to adulthood, culminating with a tough decision whether to follow her heart or her career aspirations. Taylor, like Kinky, is a bangup storyteller who captivates and entertains from the first word. With its melodic language, compelling characters, and folklore-rich plot, this installment can stand on its own, though it's best enjoyed in the company of its predecessors. (Jan.)

In what could be a modern classic, poet and fiction writer Taylor takes an unblinking look at abortion in America many decades before Roe v. Wade. Introducing Verna Crone as she's arrested in her home in 1954, Taylor then transports readers to her poor Pennsylvania beginnings, yanked out of school as a teenager to help support her family. Raped by her first employer, Verna soon undergoes an abortion, illegally administered by a country midwife. After another pregnancy leaves her with a son, Verna enlists her mom's help and returns to the city to become a nurse; before long, Verna begins working for Dr. Crampton, a well-to-do African-American doctor who performs illegal abortions. Conflicted at first, Verna quickly grows accustomed to the money and finds herself less upset with every procedure; it's only after Crampton runs afoul of some state politicos that the two are arrested. In this powerful, vivid debut novel, Taylor parses issues of race, power, and religion in unflinching terms while believably inhabiting the mind of a conflicted woman. (Jan.)

Prolific western and mystery writer Estleman (The Branch and the Scaffold) combines the best of both in his 43rd novel, an exciting western loaded with intrigue, suspense, and clever plot twists. Deputy U.S. Marshal Page Murdock is sent to Texas in 1884 to capture a gang of armed robbers. The wrinkle is that Murdock must go disguised as a traveling preacher, toting a Bible in one hand and a pistol in the other. Murdock gets a less than pious crash course of instruction from a defrocked priest and a wily evangelist, then assumes the role of Brother Bernard Sebastian of the Church of Evangelical Truth. Whiskey-drinking Murdock isn't exactly suited for the clergy, and his cover begins to unravel when he meets a former lady friend, a sheep rancher with a touchy history, and a stone-cold Texas Ranger. A series of ambushes and deaths build to a churchly gun battle where everybody is throwing lead and dropping dead. This is one of Estleman's best, a smart, tightly wrapped story about an honest lawman who drinks Old Forester and knows the difference between a Presbyterian and a Unitarian. (Jan.)

British journalist Seeber begins her debut, an overlong thriller, with a reasonable scenario—an abducted baby, a distraught mother, and a husband under a slight cloud of suspicion. Add a sexy French nanny, a beautiful but cold ex-wife, a kid brother with a serious drug problem, and you've got a raft of possible kidnappers. As the plot develops, every possible suspect has a moment in the spotlight, if without much increase in suspense. Throughout the investigation, a policewoman known only as Deb watches over the mother, Jessica Finnegan, day and night. Some readers may find it hard to believe that the London police would assign one of its members to be a full-time bodyguard, who, presumably at taxpayer's expense, makes Jessica tea and runs errands with her as well. On the other hand, smooth prose, well-rendered London settings, and a satisfying resolution will leave many eager to see more from Seeber. (Jan.)

Actor and playwright Shepard strikes a world-weary note in his latest (after Great Dream of Heaven). Though billed as a short story collection, there are poems and narratives built solely on snippets of dialogue sprinkled throughout. It's all loosely connected by setting: most take place in forgotten western towns or along lonely stretches of highway. There is also a unifying tone of swagger that is satisfyingly reminiscent of Shepard's film characters and crackles with the dramatic tension one would expect from the celebrated playwright. Many of these pieces clock in at a page or less, and come across less as stories than as moments soliloquized by growly, first-person narrators. The brevity and intensity result in macabre overload, which, while initially disturbing, settles into the mundane as the bleakness becomes commonplace. It's best read in small doses, as, say, a disillusioned alternative to daily devotions. (Jan.)

Ah, the arranged marriage. Can even the bestselling Balogh (Seducing an Angel) find anything fresh in this staple of historical romance? The answer, as demonstrated in this breezy tale, is yes. Reginald Mason is a dashing young rake whose spendthrift habits so outrage his wealthy coal-merchant father that Reggie is given an ultimatum: he must marry whomever his parents choose or lose his inheritance. He's soon matched with Annabelle Ashton, daughter of an earl whose property adjoins the Masons' land. Annabelle has not only ruined a proposed marriage to a loathsome marquis but put herself outside polite society by attempting to run off with a coachman. It's the perfect match: the earl needs his daughter to marry into money, and Reggie's father longs for acceptance in high society. The young couple, naturally, resent both one another and their fathers, but the author has a surprise in store for both the reader and the scheming parents. Balogh's in fine form, stripping the story to its core to give readers a fast-moving and winning romance. (Jan.)

In this searingly honest novel from Australian author Duigan (Days Like These), Greer Gordon, who abandoned her husband for celebrated Czech painter Mischa Svoboda after meeting Mischa at a Melbourne art gallery, must re-examine that choice 25 years later, prompted by the arrival of Tony Corbino, a young L.A. art critic who's working on Mischa's biography, at the Tuscan art colony where Mischa and Greer (aka Gigi Svoboda) now reside. Since Tony has unearthed an explosive secret about Greer, his dogged interviews leave her terrified. Rereading the diary she kept during her whirlwind romance with Mischa, Greer worries that Tony will confront her. But when the truth comes out, Greer encounters insights she doesn't anticipate, brilliantly expressed in lyrical prose. The wife of film director Bruce Beresford, Duigan explores the boundaries that should and shouldn't be crossed in biography as Greer realizes she can't rewrite or delete the past. (Jan.)

Grant's scorching debut follows the pursuit of love and happiness for Dallas girls Jewellen Capwell and Renee Nightingale and their possibly very significant others, Roman Montgomery and Gregory Samson. Marriage appears to be the golden goal, but, of course, the path to their respective altars is strewn with obstacles. For Jewell, a North Dallas girl of some privilege, it's her ex-boyfriend and Roman's preference to live in Big D's South Oak Cliff “hood” close to his clingy ex-wife and his son. Renee and Greg's Achilles heels are their roving eyes, leading to big trouble when each finds someone else to pique their amorous interest. Grant depicts their dilemmas with a pitch-perfect voice, delivering funny yet believable stories embellished with a gusto that readers who enjoy Carl Weber and Mary Monroe will relish. (Jan.)

Prolific editor Ashley (The Mammoth Book of Fantasy) does his usual fine job in selecting and introducing the 11 entries in a reprint anthology sure to appeal to fans of both Victorian fiction and ghost stories. Well-known mainstream writers of the day include Elizabeth Gaskell, George Eliot, and Emily Brontë (represented by a brief allegorical tale, “The Palace of Death”). Children's author Edith Nesbit shows a deft hand for horror in the science-fictional “The Third Drug,” in which a man flees thugs in Paris only to end up in the clutches of a mad scientist. One of the best stories and the longest is Charlotte Ridell's “Nut Bush Farm,” in which a new farm tenant tries to uncover the truth about his vanished predecessor. Also notable is Mary Wilkins Freeman's “Luella Miller,” in which a woman's unreasonable demands on her servants appear to have fatal consequences. (Jan.)

Kelly (What She Wants), whose novels routinely hit #1 on bestseller lists in Ireland, sets her seventh heartbreaker in Kenny's Department Store in the small Irish town of Ardagh. Kenny's provides the captivating center for a sprawling saga that reads like three books slowly tied together in which a collection of women discover their inner strength through adversity. Star Bluestone is a psychically gifted artist pondering her lost love for David Kenny, a poet who left her to run the family business. He married Ingrid Fitzgerald instead, who becomes a famous TV journalist. Ingrid is shattered when David suddenly dies of a heart attack and then shocked to learn about his romantic past with Star and his all too recent affair with the much younger Steffi. Into the mix, Kelly weaves other stories, including those of Ingrid's best friend, image guru Marcella Schmidt, and Kenny employee Charlie Fallon. The magical Star is the treasure of the book, heads above the rest of the conventional cast. She only appears a few times, yet becomes the lodestone for this poignant reminder of how “once-in-a-lifetime-love” transforms lives. (Jan.)

David L. Robbins's “Homework,” a moving account of a brief encounter between a burglar and a teacher, stands head and shoulders above the 14 other tales in Akashic's solid noir anthology devoted to Richmond, Va. Pir Rothenberg's “The Rose Red Vial,” among the better of the many recent Poe-inspired stories, features nicely nasty betrayals and counterbetrayals among those who covet Poe memorabilia on loan to the Virginia Historical Society. Set in 1807, Dean King's concise “The Fall Lines” supplies an intriguing backstory to Aaron Burr's treason trial. In Howard Owen's “The Thirteenth Floor,” a well-done contemporary fair play whodunit, a political reporter reassigned to the night police beat ends up investigating a murder-by-gunshot in his own apartment building. The three editors have done a better job offering variety than some other volumes in this acclaimed series. (Mar.)

Near the start of Parshall's excellent third Rachel Goddard mystery (after 2007's Disturbing the Dead), the Mason County, Va., veterinarian witnesses an argument between newspaper publisher Cam Taylor, who's desperate for money to save his paper, and popular cartoonist Ben Hern (aka Cuban-American artist Benicio Hernandez), who won't give him any, at Ben's mansion. On the drive home, Rachel spots Cam's abandoned car in the road, pulls over, hears gunshots, and finds Cam dead in the woods. Later, Cam's house burns down with a woman's bullet-ridden body inside, initially identified as Cam's wife. Another shooting victim; the arrival of the clingy ex-girlfriend of Rachel's love interest, deputy sheriff Tom Bridger; and the disappearance of Ben's mother raise the stakes. Rachel and her vet assistant, Holly Turner, must take care not to become a frantic killer's next victims in a suspenseful tale distinguished by its sharp prose. (Feb.)

Dean's promising debut, the first in a new historical series, introduces Dido Kent, a single lady of a certain age who's not too old to regret she “gave up the business of falling in love some years ago.” In September 1805, Dido journeys to Bellfield Hall, the country seat of the Montague family, at the request of her niece, Catherine, who's upset that her fiancé, Richard Montague, has suddenly broken their engagement and taken flight. Soon after arriving at Bellfield Hall, Dido learns of an even more distressing event—the discovery of the body of an unknown young woman in the shrubbery. In the Miss Marple tradition, Dido observes the residents of Bellfield Hall closely, questions the servants, and interviews local shopkeepers. Excerpts from letters the likable Dido writes to her sister further illuminate her sleuthing methods. Several red herrings keep the reader and Dido guessing. Regency fans will look forward to the next installment. (Feb.)

Those who prefer getting inside characters' heads to figuring out whodunit will enjoy this mystery in Montalbán's series featuring food-loving PI Pepe Carvalho (Buenos Aires Quintet, etc.), first published in Spain in 1976. When the corpse of an unknown man with the words “Born to Raise Hell in Hell” tattooed on his shoulder surfaces off the Barcelona coast, Ramón Freixas, a hair salon owner, asks Carvalho to investigate. For reasons he doesn't share with the gumshoe, Freixas wants the victim identified. The tattoo's trail takes the detective to Amsterdam, where he figures out the murder was related to the drug trade. Carvalho's cynicism (he divides the world into “those who go to jail and those who might go to jail”) will make him a familiar figure to hard-boiled devotees. The final twist will appeal to readers comfortable with some ambiguity. (Feb.)

Too many characters and points of view throw off the rhythm of this sprawling homage to caper-master Elmore Leonard from Canadian author McFetridge (Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere). Venard “Get” McGetty, a vet who served in Afghanistan, crosses the border from Detroit to Toronto looking to exchange guns for coke. As Get takes in the scope of the action of the Saints of Hell gang, he meets Sunitha Suraiya, a whore with big plans. Big Pete Zichello, a rival holdout targeted for elimination, tries to fight back, while Richard Tremblay, the head of the Saints of Hell who brought all the other gangs into line, tries to buy time for his last move. Meanwhile, Get and Sunitha hatch a daring plan to steal a jackpot of gold. Amid the busy plot, McFetridge does a good job depicting a crime-ridden Toronto (aka the Big Smoke) that resembles the wide-open Chicago of Prohibition days with corrupt cops, gang warfare, and flourishing prostitution. (Feb.)

Sprightly humor and eccentric characters invigorate this chick lit cozy from romance writer Carmichael (Hot Flash). Amy Crosby, a struggling true confessions author, is about to have her husband, Dan, who disappeared from Independence, Kans., seven years earlier, declared legally dead when she receives a blackmail note. The blackmailer, who claims Dan is alive, wants $2,000 or else. Amy's refusal to comply leads to further threats, break-ins, and vandalism, including the destruction of her deceased grandmother's teacup collection. Amy accepts help from, among others, Det. Brad Tyler, a cop who worked on Dan's missing persons case, and Jerome Keller, a friend of Dan's she's been “kinda sorta dating.” When Jerome's found floating in the local river, dead from blunt force trauma, Amy becomes the prime suspect in his murder. The action builds to a shocking finale, though the killer's identity strains credulity. (Feb.)

Smalltown small-mindedness drives Gorman's entertaining eighth mystery to feature lawyer Sam McCain (after 2007's Fools Rush In). As the Vietnam war escalates during the summer of 1965, Lou Bennett, the socially prominent father of a slain soldier, interrupts a protest demonstration in Sam's hometown of Black River Falls, Iowa. When Bennett's murdered that night, the stupid and prejudiced local police chief arrests an obnoxiously mouthy protester. Sam soon learns that the crime may actually be related to Bennett's shady business dealings and his involvement in the murder of a lower-class young woman he considered unworthy of his son. Besides getting the pop culture of the period right, Gorman captures the baffled frustration of provincial folk who don't want to believe that things are more complicated than they look, that it's sometimes a mistake to trust people in authority. Readers will be left wondering whether it's time for Sam to grow up and leave home. (Jan.)

At the start of Agatha-winner Malliet's witty third cozy to feature Det. Chief Insp. Arthur St. Just (after 2009's Death and the Lit Chick), potential benefactors to St. Michael's College at the University of Cambridge gather at St. Mike's for an alumni Open Weekend. When someone strangles Alexandra “Lexy” Laurant, the glamorous socialite ex-wife of another attendee, pompous writer Sir James Bassett, St. Just investigates. The Cambridgeshire policeman soon uncovers a host of suspects, including Geraldo Valentiano, Lexy's playboy honey; Gwennap Pengelly, a TV reporter desperate for a scoop; Augie Cramb, a dot-com millionaire; and American financier Karl Dunning and his complaining wife, Constance. Crime novelist Portia De'Ath, St. Just's girlfriend, who longs for crusty Arthur to be more romantic, provides invaluable help in sussing out the killer. (Jan.)

Armstrong (No Humans Involved) skimps on character development and plot in this novella, but makes up for it with accessible prose and a spunky protagonist. Deceased half-demon witch Eve Levine, now an angel, successfully managed to avoid employment during her entire mortal life, so she's not keen to spend her afterlife hunting demons at the command of the three Fates. Summoned from her vacation to settle a djinn uprising, Eve decides it's time to break some rules and get herself fired, but she quickly discovers that some red tape may exist for legitimate reasons. Readers hoping for more than a splash of romance or action should look elsewhere (one battle is summarized as “I pounced. We fought”), but the breezy, light dialogue has its moments, and Eve's reliably entertaining swagger will keep the pages turning. (Jan.)

The workmanlike sequel to 2008's Marsbound continues the adventures of red planet colonist Carmen “The Mars Girl” Dula and her pilot husband, Paul Collins, as they set out on a deep space mission to save humankind from possible annihilation. After barely surviving the first encounter with an alien Other, Earth's leaders decide to send a ship with seven envoys after the Other's craft in a possibly suicidal attempt to reach the Other's home world and forge some kind of understanding. During the 6½-year voyage, the crew comes to some startling realizations concerning humankind and its place in the stars. Reminiscent of Asimov's early work and Heinlein's juvenile novels, the naïve tone, two-dimensional characters, and simplistic story line make for a fast-paced but unremarkable read. (Jan.)

Modesitt's 16th Recluce novel (after 2008's Mage-Guard of Hamor) continues the story of Westwind, an all-female enclave in a feudalistic world. Westwind's chauvinistic, abusive neighbors were soundly defeated 10 years earlier (as detailed in 1997's The Chaos Balance), but the community attracts so many refugees that the nearby men invade again. The women's fighting ability and talent for psi-magic lead to the quick annihilation of the men's army, after which the Marshal of Westwind sends her Arms-Commander, Saryn, into a nearby country to prevent civil war. Saryn soon becomes bolder, developing new skills with political maneuvering as she ponders the social roles of men and women. The novel moves slowly but develops considerable momentum as Saryn works through her dilemmas in conversations and on the battlefield. Despite many protestations of emotion, there's little personal passion, but the complex plot will keep readers engaged. (Jan.)

The creative imagination of Hugo, Nebula, and Locus–winner Robinson (The Years of Rice and Salt) is on display in this offbeat novel of scientific discovery. In 1609, a stranger tells Galileo Galilei about a recent Dutch device that magnifies distant objects. The Italian scientist develops his own version, and the success of his telescope brings him recognition and acclaim. Forty pages in, the book changes genres abruptly as the stranger brings Galileo to Europa, the second moon of Jupiter, in a far future where various factions quarrel over plans to colonize the distant sphere. During the course of several trips through time and space, Galileo becomes something of a pawn in the political conflicts while gaining treasured glimpses of the future of science. Readers will eagerly share Galileo's curiosity and astonishment at the wonders of both the past and the future. (Jan.)

Ragged armies and gods old and new collide in the dizzyingly complex penultimate tale of the Malazan Book of the Fallen (following 2008's Toll the Hounds). After a traumatic reading of the tiles, Adjunct Tagore of the Malazan decides to quit the Letherii capital. To placate neighboring territories, Brys Beddict and a contingent of Letherii escort Tagore and her army through the Wastelands on their way to the port of Kolanse. The Barghast find their own reasons to head for the Wastelands, as do the T'lan Imass, a group of bloodthirsty Jaghut, and the army of the K'Chain Che'Malle. Gods tweak the players on this continent-sized chess board even as they themselves are manipulated. Erickson begins to reel in the long lines of his huge plot, giving enough hints to leave readers impatient for the 10th volume. (Jan.)

Four engaging novellas bring romance to the legend of the Holy Grail. In Beverley's “The Raven and the Rose,” set in 1153, cloistered novitiate Gledys must find the literal man of her dreams so they can summon the Grail and ensure peace for the country. Putney's WWII-themed “The White Rose of Scotland” sets a Canadian RAF pilot and a British intelligence officer to track a Nazi spy who steals the chalice. In Harbaugh's “Miss Templar and the Holy Grail,” Regency society's expectations lead to a comedic misunderstanding of the protagonists' roles in the quest. Samuel's atmospheric but uneven “Eternal Rose” finds a modern woman seeking to free her lover from the fairy queen. The authors tie the Grail to pagan roots as well as Christian myth and deftly highlight romance rather than religion, making all four stories broadly accessible. (Jan.)

A serial killer calling himself the Sculptor, who reshapes his victims into replicas of works by Michelangelo, sends creepy messages to art historian Cathy Hildebrant. When it becomes clear that her book on Michelangelo's work is an inspiration for the murders, FBI special agent Sam Markham asks her help in figuring out when and where the killer will strike next, but the Sculptor easily evades their efforts and, with clumsy inevitability, traps Cathy and promises to make her his next victim. The book reads like a poor man's Red Dragon, sharing some of the structures but, unfortunately, not the grace of its prose. Detailed but sometimes tedious analyses of Michelangelo's art bog down the dialogue and plot. (Jan.)

Love and magic collide in the thrilling sequel to 2009's New Blood. Orphaned sorceress Pearl Parkin lives on the rough streets of Victorian London, disguised as a boy for her safety and because women are rarely allowed into the elite ranks of magicians. Opportunity finally knocks in the form of Grey Carteret, the most powerful conjurer in England, whom she finds unconscious in the gutters near a man murdered by magic. Grey is summarily charged with the crime, so Pearl offers to help him in exchange for an apprenticeship. The two join forces to find the killer while slowly realizing their desire for one another. Fans of the first book will be delighted to get a more in-depth look at the rules governing the different magics and magical society, and clever plotting keeps things moving quickly toward the splashy final battle. (Jan.)

Clinical psychologist and young adult author Kennedy (Secrets of a South Beach Princess) ventures into the amateur sleuth world with this slight mystery. Licensed psychologist Dr. Maggie Walsh, recently relocated to Cypress Grove, Fla., hosts On the Couch with Maggie Walsh on radio station WYME. When charismatic, dishonest New Age prophet Sanjay Gingii appears on the show and then dies in a suspicious manner a few hours later, Maggie's roommate is named the prime suspect, but Maggie soon learns that plenty of other people had means and motives to do Gingii in. Maggie's occasional professional observations and budding romance with Det. Rafe Martino give the series room to continue, but Kennedy will have to develop Maggie's sometimes shallow personality and give more weight to the supporting characters—other than Maggie's spectacular actress mother, Lola, who outshines them all—to keep readers coming back. (Jan.)

Snyder combines the best of Jim Butcher and T.A. Pratt in this wildly imaginative and intensely gripping urban fantasy trilogy launch. When an innocent spell somehow opens a portal to Hell, young mage Jessie Shimmer manages to kill the demon about to stomp on downtown Columbus, Ohio, but she loses an eye, a hand, and her lover and mentor, Cooper. Benedict Jordan, ruling mage for the area, forbids any attempts to find Cooper, who may still be alive in Hell, and strips Jessie of her resources. With little more than her ferret familiar, her magic, and the help of Cooper's smart-ass half-brother, Jessie must rescue Cooper and uncover Benedict's motives. Threads of romance, horror, action, and humor weave throughout, serving as the perfect backdrop against which memorable characters and a unique system of magic can shine. (Jan.)

From the creators of the excellent Street Angel comes this thoroughly entertaining and utterly nutso pastiche of several eras of late-20th century comics genres and the superbad blaxploitation heroic archetype. The titular hero is a '70s-era bad brutha-man archetype writ hilariously large and depicted in adventures that cross multiple perfectly evoked comics styles (the art's a knockout). Afrodisiac's all-over-the-place exploits provide a frantic cornucopia overflowing with legions of foxy white ladies driven to states of unabashed lubricity by our hero's melanin-rich manliness; space aliens and flying saucers; dinosaurs; funny animals; Richard Nixon; kung fu; Hercules; giant monsters; Dracula; and damn near everything else that made '70s schlock entertainment among the most fun stuff ever concocted by the mind of man. Loads of fun from start to finish, this book's one flaw is that its satirical points may be lost on those not well versed in blaxploitation in particular and '70s trash culture in general, but the disorientation born from such unfamiliarity may end up working in its favor, allowing the novice to perceive it as some malt liquor-fueled, somewhat underground-flavored throwback. (Jan.)

To give readers a broader understanding of classic writers, books in this ongoing series include adaptations of several varied stories. In this case, a highly abridged version of Alcott's most famous work, Little Women, shares the volume with her lesser known tales of bizarre passion and revenge. The March sisters in Little Women enjoy play-acting melodramas, and the stories Jo March begins writing are over-the-top gothics; however, generations of readers have loved the novel for its picture of a warm, supportive family, and that's largely lost in this rushed condensation. Other stories focus on the consequences of frustrated isolation. A lonely girl gushes love for her pet fly. An aging operatic diva takes ghastly revenge on the rival who's supplanted her while also stealing her lover. And in what the atmospheric art by Arnold Arre makes the most impressive of all, in “Whisper in the Dark” a young heiress is locked away in an insane asylum so that her dastardly guardian can steal her fortune after she is driven mad. Despite uneven quality in scripts and art—contributors include Trina Robbins, Anne Timmons, Molly Crabapple, and Shary Flenniken—the collection succeeds in giving a wider view of Alcott's output. (Nov.)

Best known in the U.S. as G. Willow Wilson's collaborator on Air and Cairo, Perker first serialized this book in Turkey, although it's got a distinct New York City setting and flavor. It's a patchwork mutt of a tale—partly a farcical adventure about a chronically tardy rare-book expert named Peter Kolinsky who's caught up in shady doings, partly a Borgesian fantasia involving an archive of not-yet-written books that disappear as soon as someone outside the building writes them. The book's tone keeps shifting, and the gruesome, metafictional final act doesn't quite fit with the whimsical mood of the rest of the story. Perker's finely detailed black-and-white linework holds it all together, however. His characters' features and bodies are exaggerated in the manner of editorial cartoons, with arrowhead noses or elongated skulls, but he imagines them so precisely and consistently that the overall effect is of a groggily misperceived city, where everything seems to be a little smeary. Perker suggests that a lifetime immersed in books can distort a reader's view of the world, and in fact the characters' names (Oblomov, Carlos Muñoz) often allude to his literary or artistic influences. The book's playfulness, referentiality, and stylishness don't quite make up for its wobbly plot. (Nov.)

[Signature]

Reviewed by Katharine Weber

Elizabeth Kostova made a dramatic debut in 2005 with her megabestselling The Historian. The first debut novel to hit the New York Times bestseller list at #1, The Historian has been published in 44 languages, has more than 1.5 million copies in print, and there's a Sony film in the works. A hefty, quirky, historical vampire thriller that took 10 years to write and for which a reported $2 million advance was paid, The Historian has managed through sheer bulk and majestic grandeur to confer upon itself the literary weight of Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose, even as it offers up some of the easy delights and generic writing skimps that put it on the Da Vinci Code shelf.

The Swan Thieves revisits certain themes and strategies of The Historian, chief among them an academic hero who is drawn into a quest for knowledge about the central mystery, only to develop an obsession that becomes the driving force of the plot. Each chapter marks a point of view shift from the previous one, with the narrative shared among a variety of characters telling the story in a variety of ways. The events range from the present moment back to the 19th century of the painters Beatrice de Clerval and her uncle Olivier Vignot, whose intertwined lives, letters, and paintings are at the heart of the story.

This time out, Kostova's central character, Andrew Marlow, has a license to ask prying questions as he unravels the secrets and pursues the truth, because he is a psychiatrist. (Before Freud, genre quest novels depended on sleuths like Sherlock Holmes to play this role.) Even though Marlow comes across as a sensible, trained therapist, after only the briefest of encounters with his newly hospitalized patient, the renowned painter Robert Oliver, Marlow develops an obsessive desire to solve the mystery of why Oliver attempted to slash a painting in the National Gallery. Marlow is himself a painter, and the Oliver case has been given to him because of his knowledge of art. But Oliver is uncooperative and mute, though he conveniently gives Marlow permission to talk to anyone in his life before falling silent. Oliver's inexplicable behavior, which includes poring over a stolen cache of old letters written in French, triggers what I can only call a rampant countertransference response in Marlow, whose overwhelming obsession becomes a strange and frequently far-fetched journey of discovery as he persists to the point of trespass and invasion. Is this the crossing of the “ultimate border” promised by the ARC's jacket copy, the enactment of the fantasy of one's therapist developing an obsessive fascination that blots out all other reality?

Less urgent in its events than The Historian, The Swan Thieves makes clear that Kostova's abiding subject is obsession. Legions of fans of the first book have been waiting impatiently, or perhaps even obsessively, for this novel. The Swan Thieves succeeds both in its echoes of The Historian and as it maps new territory for this canny and successful writer.

Katharine Weber's fifth novel, True Confections, will be published by Shaye Areheart Books in January.