Fiction Reviews

In Lowry’s wildly imaginative debut, Irish-born art historian Thomas Lynch is a “disappointed pilgrim scholar” with a brutish obsession for the “perversely vital” aesthetic of religious art. The book begins as Lynch, withering away at an idyllic Vermont college amid the provincial minds of fellow faculty and his own alcoholism, is sent packing after a case of sexual misconduct with a student. Crazed and inspired by his brush with bottoming out, Lynch begins a quest to find a vanished painting only he believes exists. Most of the novel takes place inside a decrepit English estate, where Lynch is a guest of the Ropers, who he suspects possess the painting. Lynch’s psyche becomes increasingly entangled in the Ropers’ esoteric personalities and with a family diary that he believes contains the answer to his “exquisite craving” for discovery. Lowry’s gift for poetic precision allows her to keep her cast fresh by providing constantly new insight into their oddities, and though the novel’s second half suffers from an undernourished and canned plot, the bold character work and beautiful prose are reason enough to keep reading. (May)

Rosenberg, a poet and children’s book author, makes a clean break into adult fiction with the story of a middle-aged woman whose journey to independence begins at a garage sale. Forty-six-year-old Eve’s garage sale takes an unexpected turn when her husband, Chuck, goes on an errand and never comes back, leaving Eve to raise teenage son Marcus and nine-year-old daughter Noni. Drawing support from her sometimes helpful mother, old friends at the university where she works and new friends—such as the man she meets in the park and a Korean graduate student and his non–English-speaking wife—Eve discovers the locals offer all she needs in her life. Rosenberg achieves remarkable emotional range—comic to tragic, dysfunction to triumph, irony to wisdom—for an engaging, often touching story of survival on a heartbreak diet. (May)

Troyanov recounts with gusto the three big adventures in Sir Richard Francis Burton’s oversized life: his career as officer and spy—which ended when he delivered a report on British soldiers frequenting a male brothel; his famous journey to Mecca in the guise of a doctor from India; and his exploration, with John Speke, of the great African lakes that feed the Nile. The most alluring adventure is the Indian one, which largely concerns itself with Burton’s affair with the luscious Kundalini, who ignites Burton’s interest in Eastern wisdom stories by commingling storytelling with sex. Burton’s haj to Mecca is fascinating for the details, and that Burton pulls it off. But the book’s most satisfying adventure is the African explorations; Troyanov captures the psychology of the two very different (and by the end of the trip, mutually hostile) explorers as well as he does the histories of the African peoples whose lands they pass through. Troyanov (Mumbai to Mecca) is intimately acquainted with the Indian Ocean world, and this book has the cool virtuosity of one explorer saluting another. (Apr.)

Letterman writer Scheft skewers physical and emotional pain with a mercilessly comic touch and a bit of poignancy. Phil Camp is an accidental guru who wrote a farcical self-help book under the name Marty Fleck as a joke—he swears—to pay off his divorce settlement. But years have passed, and people still read Fleck’s advice as if it’s the real thing. Phil, meanwhile, is limping into middle age with an excruciating, undiagnosable leg pain that his own self-help guru tells him is all in his head. Even while trying to lose the limp, woo his guru’s daughter, pour out his troubles in absurd therapy sessions and confront the antagonism he has with his right-wing radio talk-show host half-brother, Phil maintains his ability to quip and deliver one-liners. But more important, his journey to avoid bodily discomfort leads him to some less corporeal truths about his life—and a reassessment of Marty Fleck. Despite the book’s sometimes overly involved asides and flashbacks, Phil is a wonderful protagonist, and Scheft’s biting wit coexists nicely with the undercurrent of uplift. (Apr.)

The leading lady of these 12 interconnected old money/new money tales by the author of Beautiful Wasps Having Sex is the tiny California town of Rancho Esperanza, home to a clutch of archetypes. From the grand old 1940s to the near-present, readers observe the “too good to be true” town filled with beautiful old-money Republicans as it changes over the decades ending with the Clinton years, when so many “New People” move in with their fancy German cars that a Democratic congresswoman is elected by a landslide. While the writing is rich and often funny, Carter doesn’t deliver any revelations—old money looks down on new money, everyone sleeps around, people are dishonest and self-centered, and neighbors traffic in shame and secrets. There are moments of slick character work, particularly with Jerry and Renee Green, who end up in a tricky relationship with town “relic” Delilah Porter, but the critique of the vapid and insular wealthy feels too safe. (Apr.)

Yvonne Fountain Copeland, the heroine of Bowen’s lamentable faithy novel, finds strength in the Lord when her husband leaves her. Back in hometown Durham, N.C., she lands a teaching job and meets Curtis Parker, who is everything she could want in a man—except he isn’t saved. Curtis has his own problems, many of which are linked to his job as a college basketball coach, but with Yvonne by his side, they learn nothing’s insurmountable if they have Jesus on their side. Unfortunately, the intense faith theme overwhelms every other aspect of the narrative. The characters are poorly drawn, their troubles lack urgency, and there’s never a doubt about how things will turn out. (Apr.)

In Indiana’s ambitious but flawed latest (after Do Everything in the Dark), unconvincing characters adventure to save the world from an ill-defined threat. Two narrators, Dr. Obregon Petrie and another who remains nameless through most of the book, tell the parallel stories of a Scottish seaside town, Land’s End—whose residents are suffering an epidemic of somnolent days and insomniac nights—and the hunt for criminal mastermind Fu Manchu. Petrie, a heroin addict who lost his medical license, accompanies a rogue Scotland Yard inspector in a push to capture Fu Manchu. The anonymous narrator, meanwhile, watches the situation in Land’s End deteriorate, as prostitutes turn up murdered and genetically modified insects invade with nefarious intent. Indiana’s stylized, elevated dialogue does no favor to this pseudo-pulp adventure, as Petrie and the other narrator sound virtually identical. While the author’s take on Fu Manchu has some clever quirks, much of the book’s humor appears forced and affected (the introduction, for instance, of a club-footed ex-STASI agent plays as camp). The book seems to aim for gonzo social satire, but it lacks the genuine human experience that makes such commentary effective. (Apr.)

An unexpected win in a comic-book competition sends half-Japanese Lisa Falloya to Tokyo for a yearlong manga publishing internship in Yardley’s chipper new novel. Lisa lands in Tokyo, where she stays with a dysfunctional host family and gets smacked with culture shock. The story picks up when, despite her lowly status, Lisa decides to champion a comic-book idea proposed by a fellow editor. When she also gives a boost to a talented young artist, she incurs the wrath of tyrannical manga star Nobuko. Lisa’s discovery of her own inner fire as an editor and her attempts to navigate a rigid hierarchy give a bit of fire to the story, with further complications arising when her controlling fiancé pressures her to return home early. Yardley doesn’t take the obvious ways out, and Lisa’s trip to confidence and assertiveness has plenty of girl power verve. (Apr.)

Western veteran Champlin’s well-plotted, rousing yarn features Gil Ross, a government mine inspector who faces some stiff, deadly interference. Tasked with preparing a mineral report as Nevada seeks statehood, Gil travels to Virginia City, Nev., and befriends newspaper editor Martin Scrivener, who has written editorials excoriating Virginia City’s gang of greedy swindlers led by Ben Holladay, the wealthy owner of the Blue Hole Mine. The violence and intrigue escalate with the newspaper offices firebombed, the stage line robbed and Gil’s friend challenged to a duel. Ross also strikes up a romance with the wily, attractive card dealer, Angeline Champeaux. As the action heats up, Ross uses his knowledge of geology to wiggle out of a couple of tight spots and offers gunslinging advice to a green reporter. Plenty of frontier action keeps the plot clipping along while the geology and mining themes lend Champlin’s tale flavor. (Apr.)

Mosley leaves behind the Los Angeles setting of his Easy Rawlins and Fearless Jones series (Devil in a Blue Dress, etc.) to introduce Leonid McGill, a New York City private detective, who promises to be as complex and rewarding a character as Mosley’s ever produced. McGill, a 53-year-old former boxer who’s still a fighter, finds out that putting his past life behind him isn’t easy when someone like Tony “The Suit” Towers expects you to do a job; when an Albany PI hires you to track down four men known only by their youthful street names; and when your 16-year-old son, Twill, is getting in over his head with a suicidal girl. McGill shares Easy’s knack for earning powerful friends by performing favors and has some of the toughness of Fearless, but he’s got his own dark secrets and hard-won philosophy. New York’s racial stew is different than Los Angeles’s, and Mosley stirs the pot and concocts a perfect milieu for an engaging new hero and an entertaining new series. (Mar.)

Set in 1176, Franklin’s excellent third Mistress of the Art of Death novel (after The Serpent’s Tale) finds Adelia Aguilar, a “qualified doctor from the School of Medicine in Salerno,” in the holy town of Glastonbury, where Henry II has sent her to inspect two sets of bones rumored to be those of Arthur and Guinevere. Henry is hoping that an unequivocally dead Arthur will discourage the rebellious Welsh. The bones have been uncovered by the few monks, under the saintly Abbot Sigward, who remain after a terrible and mysterious fire devastated the town and abbey. Adelia’s party includes her loyal Arabian attendant, Mansur, whose willingness to play the role of doctor allows Adelia to be his “translator” and practice the profession she loves; and Gyltha, Mansur’s lover and the caretaker of Adelia’s small daughter, Allie. Eloquently sketched characters, including a ragtag group of Glastonbury men down on their luck, and bits of medieval lore flavor the constantly unfolding plot. (Mar.)

Set in 1998, Cain’s solid sequel to his debut, The Accident Man (2008), finds assassin Samuel Carver recovering in a private Swiss hospital from being brutally tortured. Unable to remember who he is or what he’s done in the past, he’s being cared for by his girlfriend, Alix Petrova, a former Russian spy. Meanwhile, oilman Waylon McCabe, who’s dying of cancer, decides he must bring on nuclear Armageddon so he can ascend to heaven in the Rapture. Lt. Gen. Kurt Vermulen has been trying to alert the U.S. government to the dangers of a small terrorist group known as al Qaeda, but no one will listen except the evil McCabe, who soon has the gullible Vermulen attempting to snag one of about a hundred suitcase nukes the Russians have secreted around the world. Eventually, Carver comes to his senses and sets out to find Alix, who’s left his bedside on her old bosses’ orders to seduce Vermulen. Most thriller fans will enjoy this roller-coaster action adventure ride. (Mar.)

Winner of Australia’s Ned Kelly Award for Best Novel, Robotham’s compelling fourth thriller (after The Night Ferry) finds clinical psychologist Joe O’Loughlin and his family in Somerset, where he teaches part-time at the University of Bath. When Joe fails to persuade a suicidal woman not to leap from a bridge to her death, he becomes obsessed with understanding the woman’s motives. The woman’s grief-stricken teenage daughter tracks down Joe, but the police don’t take notice until another woman ends up dead under suspicious circumstances. Joe calls on an old friend, retired London detective inspector Vincent Ruiz, and together they race to catch a killer who uses psychological techniques Joe recognizes from his own practice to destroy people. Robotham smoothly mixes Joe’s investigation and personal struggles with glimpses into the killer’s mind. Even the sharpest readers may not anticipate all of the plot’s agile switchbacks or foresee the chilling climax. (Mar.)

British author Taylor (An Unpardonable Crime) springs a number of well-timed and well-planned surprises in this briskly paced thriller set in November 1934. Fed up with the slights and slaps of her husband, well-to-do Lydia Langstone decides to room temporarily with her father, whom she hasn’t seen since she was a toddler, in his seedy boarding house in London’s Bleeding Heart Square. Lydia soon finds out that papa is in the pocket of landlord Joseph Serridge, a darkly charismatic man skilled at manipulating others. Serridge is being investigated by another tenant, journalist Rory Wentwood, for his involvement in the disappearance of Philippa Penhow, the house’s former owner. As Lydia helps Rory in his delvings, she uncovers a tangled skein of scandal and deadly intrigues stretching back decades and involving many of those near and dear to her. A hasty finale is the only misstep in this otherwise satisfying period piece. (Mar.)

Amick’s solid follow-up to The Lake, the River & the Other Lake gives the reader a remarkable portrait of postwar America. When Wink Dutton is discharged from the army in 1944, he has little to his name besides his Purple Heart. His prospects change unexpectedly, however, when he meets Sal Chesterton, who has been running her family’s camera shop while her husband serves in the Pacific. With business struggling, Sal comes up with a plan: she shoots sexy self-portraits and sells them to girlie magazines. As Sal and Wink’s friendship develops, she lets him in on the venture, and the pinup business keeps them afloat and provides an easy segue to a complex romance after Sal’s husband is killed in combat. The backdrop is captivating in its detail, and bold in scope: Sal and Wink’s story plays out against wartime struggles, the Chicago underworld of the ’40s and ’50s, HUAC and the Red Scare and the postwar migration of Americans from the cities to the suburbs. This divine love story is as much about Sal and Wink as it is about America in that era—a great story, well told. (Mar.)

A real-life mountaineering mystery serves as the springboard for bestseller Archer’s abysmal latest. The plot begins promisingly with the body of mountaineer George Mallory discovered on the slopes of Mt. Everest in 1999, possibly having been the first man to have reached the summit. But hopes of an adventurous yarn are soon dashed as the novel becomes a long flashback, offering stock vignettes of Mallory’s childhood, Cambridge days and mountaineering adventures. These passages are hampered by phoned-in writing, clumsy attempts at verisimilitude and a notable lack of psychological depth. Along the way, Mallory marries, becomes a father, serves in WWI and finds himself pitted against Australian mountaineer George Finch as a potential leader of Britain’s push to conquer Everest. Archer does eventually offer his opinion as to whether Mallory summited Everest, but by that point all but his most devoted fans will have fled the icy crags of this lifeless novel. (Mar.)

Middle East expert MacKinnon (Morning Spy, Evening Spy) puts a fresh twist on the stolen suitcase-nuke plot in this smart thriller. Rick Behringer runs Global Reach Technologies, a company that designs communications systems, but his real job is as a contractor to the CIA. Rick specializes in what is known as “foreign matériel acquisition,” which means he buys weapons illegally from other countries and passes them along to the CIA. The money is good, and Rick has a strong sense of patriotism, but mostly he likes the adrenaline high that comes with this outsourced spy work. When Rick comes across a Pakistani, Ahmed Sajid (aka “the Engineer”), who’s attempting to acquire nuclear material from a Russian gangster to build an atomic weapon for terrorist purposes, Rick’s CIA handlers push him to investigate. Soon Rick finds himself in serious trouble. This fine espionage procedural should please spy and adventure fans alike. (Mar.)

At the start of Kerr’s stellar fifth Bernie Gunther novel (after The One from the Other), the former Berlin homicide detective seeks exile in Argentina in 1950, along with others connected to the Nazi past (one of his fellow ship passengers is Adolf Eichmann). A few weeks after Gunther arrives in Buenos Aires, a local policeman, Colonel Montalbán, asks his help in solving the savage murder of 15-year-old Grete Wohlauf. Montalbán has noticed similarities between this crime and two unsolved murders Gunther investigated in 1932 Germany. Another teenage girl’s disappearance heightens the urgency of the inquiry. In exchange for free medical treatment for his just diagnosed thyroid cancer, Gunther agrees to subtly grill members of the large German community. A secret he stumbles on soon places his life in jeopardy. Kerr, who’s demonstrated his versatility with high-quality entries in other genres, cleverly and plausibly grafts history onto a fast-paced thriller plot. (Mar.)

In this clunky romantic thriller from RITA-finalist Kauffman (The Great Scot), Tate Winslow, a former operative for a covert U.S. government agency, goes into a witness protection program and becomes, somewhat improbably, Tara Wingate, a successful novelist living in Virginia’s Hebron Valley. Then one night her former boss, rogue agent Derek Cole, knocks on her door and announces that Tate’s former agency partner, CJ, whom Tate saw shot before her eyes three years earlier, is alive and needs their help in being extracted from an undercover operation gone bad. Before Tate and Derek can rescue CJ, they have to wonder—could CJ be a double agent? And given their growing mutual attraction, can they keep their hands off each other long enough to effectively deal with the villains? Romance pro Kauffman has much to learn about creating suspense, as shown by the slow, dialogue-driven plot, which begs for more action and more believable “agency” backstory. (Mar.)

Dunn charts several New Yorkers’ lives in this snappy novel. The spotlight most often falls on Holly Frick, a 35-year-old divorcée whose egg walls “are taking on the consistency of tissue paper as we speak.” A writer whose cheeky first novel bombed, Holly now resides low enough on the TV totem pole to be cranking out after-school dreck with her gay pal Leonard. Meanwhile, her best friend, Amanda, is cheating on her husband, and Holly adopts Chester, a cute little dog with cancer whose hopeful approach to life mirrors Holly’s. While Holly’s love life follows a formula-familiar trajectory, Amanda’s romantic flailing ensnares Holly, and Chester’s destiny takes an unexpected turn that means big changes for both of them. Although clichés pop up (the supergay friend, a $1,200 purse splurge), the energetic and witty prose speeds along the narrative. It’s smarter than the usual single-in-the-city fare, and funnier, too. (Mar.)

The violent duel between idealistic journalist John Hutchinson and insane, megalomaniacal military industrialist Brendan Page continues in Liparulo’s formulaic sequel to 2007’s Deadfall. During their previous clash, Hutch killed Brendan’s son Declan, who had used a laser cannon to terrorize a small town in Saskatchewan. Unable to convince the authorities in the U.S. and Canada that Brendan was behind the attack, Hutch has recommitted himself to getting the goods on his mortal enemy. When Brendan’s forces abduct Hutch’s young son, Logan, from Hutch’s Colorado home, the reporter must battle hordes of foes in an attempt to rescue Logan. Fans of James Bond movies may appreciate the bad guy’s grandiose schemes and the hero’s many hairbreadth escapes, but readers who want more than clichés in their action fiction will have to look elsewhere. (Mar.)

When two people in North Korean police uniform gun down Gen. Ho Chang Li, an important Chinese intelligence official, in Pyongyang, the prospect of nuclear war between China and North Korea becomes all too real in this routine political thriller from Hagberg (Soldier of God). North Korean intelligence officer Pak Hae, who must prove that his country’s leader, Kim Jong Il, didn’t order the hit on Ho, turns for help to former CIA director Kirk McGarvey, whose previous successes include killing Osama bin Laden. Pak has captured one of the two assassins, who under interrogation has revealed that he worked for a Russian paymaster. As McGarvey gets on the trail of those behind Ho’s murder, the search follows predictable lines, including a hunt for a high-ranking traitor within the CIA. Readers looking for the insight into North Korean society offered by James Church’s Inspector O novels (Bamboo and Blood, etc.) will be disappointed. (Mar.)

Charles Bukowski’s ghost hovers over deWitt’s grim first novel about a bartender at a Hollywood watering hole and its down-and-out regulars. The unnamed bartender’s observations on his co-workers and customers comprise a good chunk of the novel. There’s Simon, the manager, a coke-addled failed actor; Merlin, a freelance life coach in his 70s; the unemployed Curtis, who distributes as tips used electronics from his apartment; Terese and Teri, known as The Teachers, who have slept with all the doormen at the bar; and the former child star for whom oblivion can’t come soon enough. The bartender himself is also a lush, and after losing his wife he embarks on a halfhearted cleanup. When this fails to take, he returns to the bar and plans one last ploy to break free of his increasingly onerous existence. The downward spiral is a hellish descent that seems bottomless, and while the character sketches are fascinating in detail, the plotless ramble can make this relatively short novel feel overlong. Fans of Bukowski and the Fantes, however, won’t mind. (Feb.)

In Agatha-winner Hart’s winning 19th Death on Demand mystery set in Broward’s Rock, S.C. (after 2008’s Death Walked In), Annie Darling and her PI husband, Max, invite Iris Tilford, a troubled young woman who used to live in the island community and has recently returned, to a party they’re giving at the Broward’s Rock pavilion. The party ends in tragedy with Annie and Max’s discovery of Iris’s strangled body on a path in the surrounding pine woods. Annie promises police chief Billy Cameron she won’t meddle in the investigation, but when the killer targets her and Max, she breaks her vow. The plot neatly builds to an exciting climax in the Agatha Christie tradition, with all the suspects gathered near the scene of the crime, each with a strong motive for murder. Hart assembles her usual distinctive supporting cast, including wacky celebrity mystery writer Emma Clyde. Readers will enjoy the many allusions to actual mystery authors and their books, from the classic to the contemporary. (Apr.)

Officially, Morty Martinez cleans out the houses of dead people in this highly amusing mystery from Lefty Award–winner Wiprud (Pipsqueak). Actually, as Morty explains in his charming if egotistical voice, he’s a “feeler” who searches for the money that senior citizens tend to stash around their homes. Morty’s overjoyed to find $800,000 on one job in Brooklyn, until the discovery attracts the covetous attention of other feelers and a greedy ex-cop who believes the cash is part of the hidden loot from an armored car heist. Meanwhile, one of the armored car robbers comes looking for the money after being released from prison, where he became a hair-trigger killer with an ice pick. Challenged to stay alive while hanging onto his prize, Morty prepares for a luxurious retirement in Mexico, where he looks forward to a new career as a Latin lover. That readers know Morty survives his various travails doesn’t lessen the suspense as he faces one catastrophe after another. (Mar.)

Policing in Chief Bruno Courrèges’s sun-dappled patch of Périgord involves protecting local fromages from E.U. hygiene inspectors, orchestrating village parades and enjoying the obligatory leisurely lunch—that is, until the brutal murder of an elderly Algerian immigrant instantly jolts Walker’s second novel (after The Caves of Périgord) from provincial cozy to timely whodunit. As a high-powered team of investigators, including a criminally attractive female inspector, invade sleepy St. Denis to forestall any anti-Arab violence, the amiable Bruno must begin regarding his neighbors—or should we say potential suspects—in a rather different light. Without sacrificing a soupçon of the novel’s smalltown charm or its characters’ endearing quirkiness, Walker deftly drives his plot toward a dark place where old sins breed fresh heartbreak. Walker, a foreign affairs journalist, is also the author of such nonfiction titles as The Iraq War and America Reborn. (Mar.)

Australian author Greenwood’s fine Phryne Fisher mystery combines suspense and humor with a taut race to unmask a master assassin before he can strike again. The irrepressible and defiantly unflappable Phryne Fisher decides to attend a lavish four-day celebration in Melbourne, “the Last Best Party of 1928,” despite anonymous and deadly warnings to keep away, which include a coral snake. One of the party’s hosts, Gerald Templar, becomes worried after Tarquin, the orphan boy he’s adopted, disappears. The connection between Tarquin’s vanishing and the escalating acts of violence from the killer who calls himself the Joker is far from obvious, and Fisher has no shortage of suspects to consider among the eccentric guests, including a man who’s modeled himself on Oscar Wilde. The Joker’s identity will surprise many readers, but as usual for this long-running series (Cocaine Blues, etc.), the major pleasures come from Greenwood’s wry voice and the larger-than-life Fisher. (Mar.)

Wollie Shelley—reluctant dating expert, graphic artist and fledgling spy—goes undercover for the FBI to investigate MediasRex, a California media training company, in Kozak’s wild fourth caper (after 2007’s Dead Ex). The company’s owner, Yuri Milos, hires Wollie to be a social coach and dating surrogate for such clients as clownish Zbiggo Shpek, a Moldovan heavyweight boxer. Wollie’s FBI agent boyfriend, Simon Alexander, is alarmed, even if her three-month gig will pay $50,000, since Yuri has dangerous Eastern European political connections. Inside MediasRex’s Calabasas compound, Wollie learns that the previous dating coach, Chai, a former America’s Next Top Model contender, was killed in a car accident, though Chai’s boyfriend insists she was murdered. Kozak keeps the laughs and chills in bewitching balance as Wollie uncovers the secrets of Yuri’s extended family—and suffers a first-time dating consequence in the surprising denouement. (Mar.)

Near the start of Anthony-winner Bowen’s delightful eighth Molly Murphy mystery (after 2008’s Tell Me, Pretty Maiden), two Vasser alum friends persuade the Irish-born detective to march for women’s rights with the VWVW (“Vassar Wants Votes for Women”) in New York City’s annual Easter parade. On Fifth Avenue that Sunday morning, Molly meets Emily Boswell and other West Side socialites, all of whom wind up getting arrested for disturbing the peace. Molly’s intended, police captain Daniel Sullivan, rescues the women from jail, but is wholly unsympathetic to their mission. The down-on-her-luck Emily, who works in a drugstore, hires Molly to find out the truth about her missionary parents’ deaths and her loss of inheritance. Another Vasser grad has a philandering husband to track. As ever, Bowen does a splendid job of capturing the flavor of early 20th-century New York and bringing to life its warm and human inhabitants. (Mar.)

Solana’s sparkling debut pokes sharp fun at Catalan politics, society and pretensions. Despite different names and personalities, Eduard Martínez and Borja Masdéu are not only twins but partners in Frau Consultants, an extralegal outfit that provides discreet services to Barcelona’s well-to-do. Lluís Font, a powerful MP with presidential ambitions, hires the brothers to determine if his wife, Lídia, is having an affair with the painter of her portrait. That assignment is right up their alley, but when Lídia is poisoned via a gift box of marrons glacés, the brothers are out of their depth. Borja, who’s remade himself as a member of the upper class, is a confident and amusing operator, while brother Eduard is a family man with scruples and misgivings. From their false front of an office and the secretary who exists only as a lingering scent and a bottle of nail varnish, the brothers bumble and stumble to the truth and hopefully to further adventures. (Mar.)

The fourth in Templeton’s series to feature Scottish Det. Insp. Marjory Fleming (Cold in the Earth, etc.) finds Fleming’s quiet community of Kirkluce divided by a plan to open a superstore that threatens local trade. Soon after Col. Andrew Carmichael, the owner of property essential to the developer’s proposal, receives a fatal shotgun blast to the chest, someone shoots young rowdy Barney Kyle in the back as he’s riding his bike. While the motive for killing Kyle appears different, Fleming and her team find some suggestive links between the two victims. Templeton does a nice job of conveying the details of smalltown life, though her characters and their motivations are less well developed than those of such better-known writers as Ruth Rendell and Minette Walters. Toward the end, the author throws in enough twists to distinguish this from many similar contemporary British police procedurals. (Mar.)

Four fantasy heavyweights contribute original tales featuring intriguing female protagonists to this enthralling anthology. Kelley Armstrong expands her Women of the Otherworld series to include spunky Toronto vampire Zoe Takano, who proves herself a master of “Zen and the Art of Vampirism” as she fends off dimwitted trespassers. Centuries after the events of The Crown of Stars, Quman hunter Kereka struggles against her tribe’s misogyny in Kate Elliott’s strong but staccato “Riding the Shore of the River of Death.” Baba Yaga’s daughter, the beautiful and quixotic narrator of C.E. Murphy’s tightly crafted “From Russia, with Love,” turns the tables on Janx and Eliseo Daisani (familiar from Hands of Flame). Only the setting ties Robin Hobb’s “Words Like Coins” to her Farseer trilogy, but its multilayered discussion of the power of words easily stands alone. Fans and new readers alike will find plenty to love. (Mar.)

This satisfying sequel to 2007’s Griffin’s Daughter, the coming-of-mage saga of half-elf Cinderella-esque heroine Jelena Sakehera, avoids most mid-trilogy sagginess with nonstop action and sympathetic characterizations. Opening with a shocker—Jelena’s father is Keizo Onjara, elf king of Alasiri, currently besieged by a ruthlessly expansionist human empire—Moore piles on threats to Jelena and her pregnancy; sends her adoring new husband, Ashinji, off into faraway slavery as a gladiator; brews two convincing Cain and Abel conflicts; tosses in a sinister sorceress who helps the requisite Nameless One to plot world domination; and spikes the mix with newlywed lovemaking and ritual rape. Though many of the tropes are familiar, Moore’s narrative drive and suspenseful plot twists will leave readers eager for the conclusion to this intricate and appealing tale. (Mar.)

As 18-year-old orphaned actor Will Hawthorne explains early on in this clever page-turner, “I don’t want you thinking you’re going to get a tale about some blue-eyed tyke with a heart of gold in a world where good triumphs over evil. You’re not, I’m not, and in my experience it never does.” Charged as a rebel after escaping the authorities in a world not unlike Elizabethan England, obnoxious, charming Will joins a small mercenary group and proves himself the least honorable of them all. When the group comes under attack from crimson-armored raiders, Will reluctantly fails to betray the companions he is even more reluctantly growing to like. In small, swift “scenes,” Hartley (On the Fifth Day) deftly proves that people you shouldn’t trust at your back can be the best ones to have at your side. (Mar.)

Modesitt (The Lord Protector’s Daughter) launches a trilogy set in a brand new world with this straightforward, exposition-heavy story. Apprentice portraitist Rhennthyl finds out the hard way that he has the magical ability called Imaging: an explosion kills his master right after Rhenn wishes for just such an event. Rhenn’s ability, which allows him to form objects from thin air and slay with a glance, appears to be quite strong, and he begins training as a covert operative. Just when he starts to relax into his new career, an unknown assassin tries to kill him. This uncomplicated narrative feels like a prequel, with plenty of setup but not much action. Readers will look to future installments for the derring-do promised by Rhenn’s martial studies and frequent mentions of stormy international politics. (Mar.)

Hugo-winner Bear’s sequel to 2007’s New Amsterdam will please fans of the earlier book, a series of alternate history novellas. Lady Abigail Irene Garrett and wampyr Don Sebastien de Ulloa resurface in a 1938 London that has been under German rule for over a decade. With the British king in exile in the Americas and the German Chancellor gathering a force of werewolves, the amateur detective duo plan to use magic to defeat the occupation. While other writers might have used the concept for a lengthy novel, Bear’s decision to keep the story short lets her easily maintain suspense, and her superior prose will engage the interest of both new readers and fans of Abby and Sebastien’s earlier exploits. (Mar.)

Felix Gomez, vampire PI, tackles his gritty fourth adventure (after 2008’s The Undead Kama Sutra), a blend of hard-boiled noir and contemporary horror. This time around, Felix is sent by his bosses at the Araneum, a “worldwide network of vampires,” to destroy a nest of zombies outside of Denver and put their creator out of business. On the zombies’ trail, Felix meets Phaedra Nardoni, the 16-year-old responsible for his hallucinatory flashbacks to his days as a soldier in Iraq. Phaedra, who is dying of Huntington’s chorea, threatens Felix with more hallucinations unless he turns her into a vampire. Felix’s moral dilemma is cut short when the zombie reanimator captures him and explains his plans for world domination and “zombies in space.” Fans of splattery Hollywood-style horror will have fun with this tale of violence and mayhem. (Mar.)

Horror old-timer Blatty (The Exorcist) takes a new route down an old road in this disorienting tale. Realtor Joan Freeboard, trying to dispel the title mansion’s creepy reputation, arranges for a psychic, a parapsychologist and a noted author to move into Elsewhere with her and declare it ghost-free. Isolated by a storm from civilization, they become absorbed by the house and its growing sense of strangeness; exploring its secrets exposes their own. Ultimately, Elsewhere forces them to accept the individual realities that they have created for themselves. Blatty neatly entwines the twin branches of psychological and supernatural horror, and save for a late scene of violence, the work is more life-affirming than shocking. Includes otherworldly b&w illus by Alex McVey. (Mar.)

Two fashionista zombies on the lam leave a trail of carnage from Seattle to Rapid City, S.D., in this unabashedly raunchy sequel to 2008’s Happy Hour of the Damned. Narrator Amanda Feral, who sneers at the poor fashion sense of her victims before eating their brains, coaxes fellow zombie Wendy Miller to accompany her on a visit to Amanda’s dying, abusive mother. They pick up the pace when their vampire friend, Gil, offends a strip club owner, who chases them with a pack of werewolves. Someone also keeps beheading members of Amanda’s pickup entourage, but it’s hard to credit her outrage given her own homicidal proclivities. Casual browsers drawn in by sarcastic, hip comments may be taken aback by deliberately filthy incidents involving genitalia and excrement; this is not a tale for the weak of stomach. (Mar.)

Galloway, Scotland’s smashing Det. Insp. Marjory Fleming returns in the terrific second installment (after 2005’s Cold in the Earth) of a fascinating mystery series. Someone has deliberately wrecked a lifeboat, killing the three-person rescue team at the Knockhaven fishing port. The victims include Rob Anderson, the popular Anchor Inn pub owner; Dr. Ashley Randall, a sexy physician having a mutually adulterous affair with real estate developer Ritchie Elder; and Luke Smith, a suicidal teacher whose 13-year-old student Kylie MacEwan is dating Rob’s 16-year-old troublemaking stepson, Nathan Rettie. Puzzling through all the possible suspects and motives, Marjory (“Big Marge” to her constables) juggles believable wife and mother challenges with her detecting duties as further murders add extra heat. Templeton’s bravura plotting carries strongly through to the big reveal of a very surprising killer. (Mar.)

Romance queen Balogh (Simply Perfect) delivers a savory and passionate Regency to launch a series featuring three smalltown sisters. Handsome Elliot Wallace, Viscount Lyngate, discovers that he has become guardian to the newly titled Stephen, earl of Merton, who believes his sisters are committed to making his life miserable. Elliot determines to propose to Meg, the eldest sister, but widowed middle sister Vanessa catches him and proposes to him first. Elliot agrees to the match, sensing chemistry waiting to ignite between the two. Romantic encounters between the couple are indeed fiery hot, but their mutual expectations from marriage are a far cry from what soon transpires, and both husband and wife are surprised by what they learn about appearances and love. After a slow start, their tale heats up quickly and satisfies thoroughly. (Mar.)

Olsen (A Cold Dark Place) deftly juggles multiple plot lines as Cherrystone, Wash., sheriff Emily Kenyon investigates the murder of a local woman while crazed serial murderer Michael Barton, on a cross-country killing spree, terrorizes comely young sorority girls. The dead woman’s husband is an arrogant philanderer, but Kenyon lacks solid evidence that he was the one who disposed of his inconveniently pregnant wife in a particularly grisly manner. Meanwhile, Kenyon’s ex-partner in the Seattle PD, Chris Collier, is pressuring her to make a decision concerning their ongoing romantic relationship. After one failed marriage and singlehandedly raising her daughter, Jenna, Emily is gun-shy about any kind of commitment. When Barton targets Jenna, tension builds but is diffused by Barton’s overly extensive backstory, which humanizes him at the cost of the reader’s attention. (Mar.)

The handsome earl of Storrington gambles to win Lord Candover’s nubile niece, Jacobin, in Neville’s spicy Regency romance debut. Jacobin de Chastelux dresses up as Jacob Leon and runs away to escape Storrington’s suit, winding up as a cook. When she is set upon by thugs, it is Storrington who rescues what he thinks is a strangely attractive boy and hires “him” as his personal pastry chef. Then someone attempts to poison Candover, setting up Jacobin to take the fall. Lust swiftly turns to trust as Jacobin tries to find the poisoner while Storrington struggles with his dying father’s hatred of Candover. Neville throws disguises, secrets and vows of vengeance in the way of true love. Though she relies heavily on coincidence, the byplay between the hero and heroine is genuine, lusty and fun. (Mar.)

Following Potential, Awkward and Definition, Schrag presents the final chapter of her High School Comic Chronicles. Now entering her senior year, Schrag faces a whole new set of challenges. She has to get over a breakup with last year’s girlfriend, Sally, who has left for college (and maybe for boys). She has to apply to college herself. She has to write and draw her latest comic (the ultimately well-received Potential). And for good measure, she decides to read James Joyce’s Ulysses in her spare time. By turns funny, raw and self-indulgent, Schrag perfectly captures the growing pains of a precocious high school senior. Events come and go, punctuated by her obsession with Sally, her anxieties about college and her constant wondering about how she’ll recount everything in her comic. Schrag’s figures are simple but expressive, which allows her to dig into some of the more complicated emotions her cartoon counterpart experiences. This memoir will assure the talented kid who didn’t quite fit in at high school that she’s not alone. (Apr.)

It seems like a simple enough premise: short comics based on the missed-connections ads from newspapers and Craigslist, drawn by a host of cartoonists. Despite thematically arranged chapters (coffee shops, travel), this anthology doesn’t quite hang together—in part because the contributors have interpreted the assignment in so many different ways. Some draw literal or metaphorical interpretations of actual ads; some make up their own; some mock the entire concept; a few simply address the idea of “missed connections” but don’t deal with personal ads. The book’s real value is as a snapshot of the current state of the mini-comics scene, in which editor Wertz is something of a star. Nearly every significant mini-comics artist of the moment is represented here, including Lucy Knisley, Kazimir Strzepek, Sarah Glidden, Alec Longstreth, and, best of all, Laura Park, who contributes a few splendid, cruelly funny pieces. There are a few bigger names in the collection (like Peter Bagge and Jeffrey Brown), but the roster will probably look a lot more impressive in a few years. (Feb.)

The second installment in a planned six-novel cycle from Providence, R.I.–based artist Chris Forgues (aka C.F., who records music as Kites and self-publishes the comic “Low Tide”) comes with a map and illustrative list of all major characters; readers will need the help. There are great beasts and disturbed individuals (with names like Buell Kazee and Mosfet Warlock), all navigating narratives of madness and violence in a woozily concocted world that centers around something called the Plex Knowe Crypt. C.F.’s style is that of the vaguely disturbed outsider artist, replete with spurting fluids and grievous bodily harm, shot through with the occasional blast of Yellow Submarine–era psychedelia. The stories don’t make much impact on their own but appear to be tiny glimpses of an epic fantasy brewing in the artist’s mind. Unfortunately, until the entire work is unveiled, Powr Mastrs will most intrigue readers who crave new frontiers in graphic novel expression. (Dec.)

Although its protagonists are an anthropomorphic dog and cat with foul mouths and balding human heads, this graphic novel by magazine illustrator Kerschbaum somehow offers a rather realistic and very funny look at New York City residents. Petey (the dog) roams the streets when not popping through the pet door to visit his bespectacled buddy Pussy, who lives with an ancient crone who puts various objects and food items found around her apartment to questionable uses. Also sharing the apartment is a bird named Bernie who longs for nothing so much as the tender release of death, a state of non-being denied him by Pussy, who keeps him alive because he enjoys messing with him. Though they’re animals, the cast could easily be just another trio of schlubs on the street; their world brings to mind the human/animal interaction found in animated cartoons, only with actual gore and recognizable profanity (no “razzin-frazzin” here). Filled with content that would send Walt Disney and other purveyors of funny animal cutesiness into a state of apoplexy, think of this as what your pets would be getting up to if they could talk and enjoyed hanging out in dive bars. (Dec.) 

These reprints of ’60s b&w horror comics magazines Creepy #6–10 are aimed at the connoisseur. They’re faithful reproductions, to the extent of including each issue’s cover, seven or eight short stories, table of contents, letter column and ads (updated with Web site addresses). Since the glossy stock is much finer than the authentic newsprint, visually, these pages are better than the originals, with moody, dark blacks that punctuate the shock endings. Even if they don’t make sense, the villains get what they deserve, regardless of historical period—Roman, Victorian or contemporary. Some Archives projects run into trouble with color, since it’s cheaper to print without it, but here, there’s no loss to the gorgeous art. Various shading and cross-hatching techniques provide depth to the illustrations of outstanding talents: Gray Morrow, Reed Crandall, Al Williamson, Joe Orlando, Alex Toth, John Severin, Angelo Torres, Gene Colan and Steve Ditko. Combine them with writer/editor Archie Goodwin, one of the best ever in the business, and the result is pulp at its highest level of craft and entertainment. (Dec.)