Fiction Reviews

National Book Award–winner Johnson (Tree of Smoke) goes lean and mean in this slick noir, originally serialized in Playboy last summer. Jimmy Luntz, a chain-smoking, fast-talking addictive gambler, is in the hole several grand to underworld bad dude Juarez, and he knows his kneecaps have a date with a tire iron when enforcer Gambol nabs him in Bakersfield, Calif. But perennial loser Jimmy gets a lucky break when he escapes, having shot Gambol in the leg and taken off with Gambol's cash-fat wallet. Soon enough, he meets alcoholic vixen Anita Desilvera. She's barreling toward oblivion, having been set up by her prosecutor husband and a corrupt judge in a $2.3 million swindle. As Jimmy and Anita hide out and plan a caper to get the millions, Gambol and Juarez track down Jimmy and learn of the big money at stake. Fates collide in the brutal last act, and, naturally, not everyone makes it out alive. With its crackling dialogue and mercilessly bleak worldview, this stark and darkly funny chronicle of a four-way race to the bottom is a testament to Johnson's sublime sympathy for lowlifes. (May)

Debut author Keane offers an extended meditation on leaving, finding and making home in a novel focused on the new Irish immigrant experience. Awkward, dreamy Greta Cahill was always in the shadow of her vivacious older sister, Johanna, as the two grew up on the far west coast of Ireland. Surrounded by houses left vacant by neighbors who emigrated, adventurous Johanna dreams of America, especially when, in the aftermath of a family tragedy, she befriends Michael Ward, the son of itinerant tinkers who wants nothing more than to stay in one place. When teenaged Johanna's dream comes true, Michael and Greta are dragged along to America in Johanna's impetuous wake. In New York City, however, Greta and Michael create their own home, happiness and success. The narrative, which extends from 1956 to the present, has the dusty feel of 19th-century literature, though Greta is an appealing character lacking in nostalgia. Her romance is also authentic and unsentimental, and despite the stodgy storytelling, her coming-of-age reflects a fresh take on the lives recent immigrants can create. (May)

Sappy melodrama reigns in Milne's second novel (after The Paper Bag Christmas). Haunted by childhood memories of his golf-obsessed father, August Witte balks when he learns that he is going to be a father himself. August goes to his widower father, London, to confront him about his failures as a parent and reach some measure of inner peace. London instead offers him a deal: meet every month for a golf lesson and in exchange, London will give August his journal of memories of August's mother, written on golf scorecards. August agrees and as the lessons pass, he realizes that his father knows about more than golf after all. It's aggressively soft-focused, and though the conflicts between London and August are believable enough, the overarching theme is heavy-handed, while the preachiness can reach gag-worthy levels. This hits just in time for Father's Day, and the low hardcover price may incite more than a few impulse buys for the golfing man already stocked with single malt. (May)

Fast, fun and full of surprises, Dietrich's rollicking third Ethan Gage escapade (after The Rosetta Key) takes the expatriate American diplomat and soldier-of-fortune home to investigate the Louisiana territory, preceding Lewis and Clark, for Napoleon, who claims it was secretly sold back to France. Accompanying Ethan is Magnus Bloodhammer, a Norwegian berserker who hopes to find Thor's Hammer, a magic talisman of his people supposedly brought to America by Knights Templar hundreds of years before Columbus sailed. With the blessing of President Thomas Jefferson (who asks him to keep an eye out for woolly mammoths), Ethan and Magnus light out for the northwest, where their steps are dogged by vindictive British loyalists, hostile Indians and unlikely disciples of an Egyptian snake cult. The tale twists and turns like a spitted serpent, but Dietrich shows his sure hand as a storyteller, leavening a tale rich in intrigue and impressive historic detail with abundant wit and humor. (Apr.)

Roche's explicit and provocative debut about an 18-year-old girl with a very active sex life was a bona fide sensation in Germany upon its publication earlier this year. Helen Memel, hospitalized for the treatment of an infected anal lesion, spends much of the novel in the hospital scheming on how to reunite her divorced parents. Between visits by hospital staff and her family, Helen shares her vast sexual experience, details how she rebels against her mother's uptightness by reveling in excretions, and maintains a high level of curiosity about her own body (and, of course, others'). Among the graphic sex scenes and tidbits on her avocado tree–growing hobby, Helen dishes gnarly stories about leaving a used tampon in an elevator, dribbling a trail of urine from the bathroom to her bed and eating scabs. Through Helen's mix of eroticism and profanity, Memel attacks conventional views on women's hygiene, sexuality and the definition of femininity. Though there isn't much plot—it feels largely like a buffet of filth and screwing—Helen's take on life is enough to keep the pages turning. (Apr.)

North (The Long Walk Home) exploits the 2004 flood of Boscastle, England, in this saggy romantic novel of two damaged people who find each other amid tragedy. Andrew Stratton and Nicola Rhys-Jones are both divorced Americans who end up in the U.K. for different reasons. Andrew, a professor of architecture, is drawn by a longstanding idea he has about livable places that takes on new importance after his wife leaves him. In Cornwall, Andrew falls in love with the place, and with Nicola, an artist who has left an abusive marriage to a wealthy Englishman and is skittish around men. The two engage in a wary flirtation, both thinking it'll go nowhere, but then the freak storm hits, and the people Andrew has come to care about are imperiled. As Andrew works to save the village, he learns about the nature and longing of his own heart. Unfortunately, the narrative moves at a glacial pace, and the author's sentimental leanings can be hard to take. The love story has some great moments, but these aren't enough to overpower the flood of treacle and lethargic storytelling. (Apr.)

This dark debut is a wrenching account of a mother and son moving together and apart in an increasingly tragic family drama. In alternating memoirs, Del and Mark deal with heroin addiction and mental illness (his) and fears (hers) of a fate marked by junkies, pushers, halfway houses and recovery programs. But it's the persistent ghosts of a father and another son, and the guilt over their deaths that hold Del and Mark in a vise grip. Between grief and addiction, there's no easy forgiveness for these sad survivors. Through one bitter, lonely year, Mark and Del lose and find one another repeatedly, and they come to realize that loving someone means letting them love themselves. Howard is a graceful, spare and fluid writer, and her somber and bleak novel has the power to lift and inspire. (Apr.)

Few streets have been more hungrily plumbed for romance than those of Paris, and Marsot's debut is no exception. Fluent in English and French, Anna leaves Los Angeles for Paris after breaking up with her boyfriend. She devotes her time to translating an erotic French novel into English and, at times, Anna's voice mirrors the tedium she ascribes to the task. Her frequent expositions on the nature of translation become miniature lessons on idiom, nuance and linguistics, ironically delivered with greater passion than the erotic scenes themselves, which fall flat. Though the plot generates a series of questions—will Anna end up with actor Olivier? will she keep her job despite her disgruntled editor? whose work is she translating?—Marsot is more interested in Anna's inner tumult. Despite Anna and Olivier's somewhat textbook love affair, the increasingly complex relationship between Anna and elderly bachelor Bunny helps shore up the novel. The stunning descriptions of Parisian food and social life will certainly satisfy Francophiles. (Apr.)

Boyne, former director of the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum, delivers the final installment in his historical aerospace trilogy, after Roaring Thunder and Supersonic Thunder. Spanning from 1973 to 2007, the novel follows three generations of the fictional Shannon family, powerful players in the aerospace industry. Patriarch Vance, a WWI fighter pilot, established Aerospace Consultants, later run by his twin sons, Tom and Harry. Bob Rodriguez, ace pilot from the Korean War and “electronics genius,” runs the research and development arm. Conflicts quickly arise in the Shannons' personal and professional lives: Tom's wife, Nancy, takes the company's reins during his six years as a Hanoi POW; Harry is distracted from the business in caring for his alcoholic wife, Anna; and Bob faces divorce when his wife, Mae, grows tired of his workaholic habits. An even more colorful drama plays out in the background, with astonishing technological advances like GPS and space shuttles, and the machinations of real-life titans like Howard Hughes and Steve Fossett. Boyne's well-paced saga, with its technical slant, will surely appeal to aviation buffs. (Apr.)

A dreamlike haze shimmers over Ryan's debut, the tale of a real-life immigrants' enclave in early 20th-century California. In the mining town of Locke outside Sacramento, Richard Fong's Lucky Fortune casino and Poppy See's brothel provide the only entertainment for Chinese workers sending their wages back to the families they can't bring into the country. For Chloe, a white prostitute who is Richard's favorite, it's also a place to hide from her family just a few towns over. Mired in the past, the town's residents are jolted into the present when three strange Chinese women, including Richard's long-lost wife, arrive during the Dragon Boat Festival looking for their husbands. After years of her absence, Richard struggles to adapt his bachelor lifestyle to accommodate a woman who has become a stranger to him, and Chloe dreams of starting over somewhere new when Richard abandons her bed. Ryan's fluid flashbacks allow the past to sweep over the collective population of Locke, and her elegant female protagonists manage to exercise their own agency even when they're hemmed in by life in Locke. (Apr.)

San Francisco PI Isabel “Izzy” Spellman endures court-ordered therapy sessions as well as blackmail in Lutz's wacky crime novel, the third entry (after Curse of the Spellmans) in a series that keeps getting better and better. Albert and Olivia Spellman, Izzy's parents, want her to return to work for the family PI firm; otherwise, they may have to sell it. While Izzy contemplates their offer, she secretly moves into her brother's guest apartment; helps her elderly lawyer friend, Mort Schilling, accept his upcoming move to Florida; and mourns the loss of her bartending job. Will she rediscover her yen for snooping when she takes on “the Case of Ernie Black's Not Terribly Suspicious Wife Who Probably Wasn't Cheating on Him”? Or say sayonara to snooping? Hyper spy girl Rae, Izzy's teenage sister (who may have cheated on her PSAT), provides dizzy distractions. Punctuating the rapid-fire plot are amusing therapy session transcripts and footnotes. (Mar.)

Bestseller Pearl (The Poe Shadow) delivers a period thriller that has the misfortune to fall short of the high standard set by Dan Simmons's Drood (Reviews, Nov. 24), which also centers on Charles Dickens's final, unfinished novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood. After the author dies in 1870, a series of suspicious deaths leads Dickens's U.S. publisher, James Osgood, to suspect they may be connected with the solution to the novel's puzzle. Accompanied by attractive bookkeeper Rebecca Sand, the sister of one of the victims, Osgood travels from Boston to England to seek clues to Drood's missing conclusion. The action shifts to India, where Charles's son Francis is a superintendent of the Bengal Mounted Police, and back in time, to the novelist's last American tour in 1867. Some awkward prose distracts (“There were several other grim faces at dinner that, like some imperceptible force, spread a dark cloud over the levity”), while the ending may strike some readers as a cop-out. (Mar.)

South Boston PI Mark Genevich struggles to lead a seminormal life despite his narcolepsy, whose symptoms include falling asleep mid-conversation and hallucinations, in this uninspired noir from Stoker-finalist Tremblay (City Pier). When Jennifer Times, the daughter of prominent DA William “Billy” Times, comes to Mark's office with racy photographs of herself she received anonymously, Mark agrees to take her case. But after trying to contact both Jennifer—who's a contestant on an American Idol–like TV show—and her father, Mark realizes that Jennifer's visit was a hallucination. The photographs are his only tether to reality, one that becomes even more tenuous when he discovers not only that the subject isn't Jennifer, but that her father and his goons will do anything to get the mysterious photos back. Despite a promisingly quirky hero, Tremblay's plot is so full of holes that readers may wonder if they've suffered from one of Mark's frequent blackouts. (Mar.)

This disturbing novel, written in 24 days by a German writer who died in 1947, is inspired by the true story of Otto and Elise Hampel, who scattered postcards advocating civil disobedience throughout war-time Nazi-controlled Berlin. Their fictional counterparts, Otto and Anna Quangel, distribute cards during the war bearing antifascist exhortations and daydream that their work is being passed from person to person, stirring rebellion, but, in fact, almost every card is immediately turned over to authorities. Fallada aptly depicts the paralyzing fear that dominated Hitler's Germany, when decisions that previously would have seemed insignificant—whether to utter a complaint or mourn one's deceased child publicly—can lead to torture and death at the hands of the Gestapo. From the Quangels to a postal worker who quits the Nazi party when she learns that her son committed atrocities and a prison chaplain who smuggles messages to inmates, resistance is measured in subtle but dangerous individual stands. This isn't a novel about bold cells of defiant guerrillas but about a world in which heroism is defined as personal refusal to be corrupted. (Mar.)

Set in 1907 Wisconsin, Goolrick's fiction debut (after a memoir, The End of the World as We Know It) gets off to a slow, stylized start, but eventually generates some real suspense. When Catherine Land, who's survived a traumatic early life by using her wits and sexuality as weapons, happens on a newspaper ad from a well-to-do businessman in need of a “reliable wife,” she invents a plan to benefit from his riches and his need. Her new husband, Ralph Truitt, discovers she's deceived him the moment she arrives in his remote hometown. Driven by a complex mix of emotions and simple animal attraction, he marries her anyway. After the wedding, Catherine helps Ralph search for his estranged son and, despite growing misgivings, begins to poison him with small doses of arsenic. Ralph sickens but doesn't die, and their story unfolds in ways neither they nor the reader expect. This darkly nuanced psychological tale builds to a strong and satisfying close. (Mar.)

Korzenko's polished debut, a romantic ecothriller, introduces Dr. Cassidy Lowell, a zoologist working for ZEBRA (Zoological Ecological Biological Research Agency). When the president of New World Petroleum targets Cassidy for refusing to report to OPEC that his company's oil spills haven't devastated West Africa's Niger Delta, Jake Anderson, of ZEBRA's covert Black Stripe team, rescues her from her research camp in the Delta. Back in the U.S., Cassidy investigates the mysterious deaths of wolves in Yellowstone Park, while Jake, posing as a biologist, acts as her bodyguard. The stricken wolves turn out to be infected with a genetic mutation of a virus, CPV-19, created by scientist Edward Fiske, who's horrified to learn his sponsor wants to sell it without an antidote. As the deadly virus jumps from wolf to man, Cassidy and Jake find comfort in their growing mutual attraction. Fans of Alex Kava, Shannon McKenna and Suzanne Brockmann will hope to see more of Cassidy and Jake. (Mar.)

Set in 1864, bestseller Perry's outstanding 16th novel to feature William Monk (after Dark Assassin) finds Monk suffering from a series of hard knocks, including memory loss. Now superintendent of the Thames River Police Force, Monk is on the verge of closing the books on Jericho Phillips, a particularly nasty villain who specializes in child pornography. Monk and his team catch Phillips, but what appears to be an airtight murder case springs leaks and ends with the accused's acquittal. Many in authority view the judgment as a rebuke to the river police, whose existence as a separate force is threatened. Convinced that he got the right man, despite the jury's verdict, Monk devotes himself to setting the record straight. Monk's wife, Hester, who works with London's downtrodden, provides support. Rich in plot development, believable characters and period detail, this entry will only add to the already sizable ranks of Perry's admirers. (Mar.)

Concentration camp survivor Appelfeld delivers a beautifully written, deeply disturbing tale of pilgrims en route to Jerusalem in pre-WWII Eastern Europe. Narrator Laish is a 15-year-old orphan employed by Fingerhut, a sickly and unpleasant “man of means.” But when Fingerhut dies, Laish is forced to fend for himself among the pilgrims, finding work with the pious “old men” who teach him the Torah; Ploosh, a driver who kills one of the other members of the convoy; and Sruel, a former inmate who has a special connection with animals. As the journey wears on and the elements and sickness take their toll, the pilgrims reveal themselves to be a gallery of grotesques: they steal from each other, keep a mentally ill woman in a cage (and drive her out when she becomes too much trouble), sell one another out and are brutes in general. Appelfeld's gorgeous writing creates a stirring atmosphere, while Laish's observations and experiences illustrate some harsh truths about survival. (Mar.)

In this exciting sequel to 2007's Kill Zone from former marine sniper Coughlin, Gunnery Sgt. Kyle Swanson is supposedly dead and buried at Arlington Cemetery, allowing him to operate independently under direct Pentagon command. When Juba, an al-Qaeda sniper as skilled as Swanson, assassinates an informant in the heart of Baghdad's Green Zone, Swanson and his team are sent to track down the possible WMD cache the informant was killed to protect, no matter where it may be. The cache's reality is verified by a horrific terrorist attack in London that may just be a prelude to further jihadi attacks. Coughlin delves into the psyches of both of his protagonists: one a veteran almost as dead emotionally as he is supposed to be physically, who finds new hope in a surprising place; the other a British Muslim ordered at age 16 by Osama bin Laden himself to become a mole “ready to strike when needed.” Military thriller fans will find the duel between two well-matched adversaries compelling. (Mar.)

In this entertaining apocalyptic thriller from Forstchen (We Look Like Men of War), a high-altitude nuclear bomb of uncertain origin explodes, unleashing a deadly electromagnetic pulse that instantly disables almost every electrical device in the U.S. and elsewhere in the world. Airplanes, most cars, cellphones, refrigerators—all are fried as the country plunges into literal and metaphoric darkness. History professor John Matherson, who lives with his two daughters in a small North Carolina town, soon figures out what has happened. Aided by local officials, Matherson begins to deal with such long-term effects of the disaster as starvation, disease and roving gangs of barbarians. While the material sometimes threatens to veer into jingoism, and heartstrings are tugged a little too vigorously, fans of such classics as Alas, Babylon and On the Beachwill have a good time as Forstchen tackles the obvious and some not-so-obvious questions the apocalypse tends to raise. Newt Gingrich provides a foreword. (Mar.)

At the start of Jones's explosive sequel to C.R.E.A.M. (2007), just as a Philadelphia judge is about to rule that Karima “Cream” Thomas must stand trial for the murder of her boyfriend, Duane Faision, who died defending her in the previous book, a scream is heard outside the courtroom. Practically everyone in the court, including Karima, rushes into the hallway, where Karima's mother, Sharon Thomas, lies dying with a puncture wound in her neck. Karima vows vengeance on the ice pick murderer, who turns out to be fiendishly clever Troy Williams, a former FBI profiler with a long grudge list. In the next 24 hours, as Troy starts bumping off all those he believes have wronged him, it becomes clear only Karima can stop his rampage. Jones's African-American female avenger breathes fresh air into a stale stereotype. (Mar.)

Former trial lawyer and Christy Award–winner Bell (Presumed Guilty) hits his stride in this twist-filled suspense thriller with punchy dialogue and a resurrection ending to keep readers awake at night. When Liz Towne and her husband, Arty, find diamonds and a corpse along a trail in Pack Canyon, something takes over Liz that one doctor calls “sin dissociation.” She stops at nothing to get rich and take a gift to her role model, who taught her to kill. When her sister-in-law Roxanne “Rocky” Towne suspects foul play, Rocky calls on a tortured but praying and faithful Gulf War veteran to help her track down Liz, who is on the run. Dialogue carries the book with rich characters and flashbacks, but time stamps and a confusing wraparound narrative device feel tacked on and unnecessary in this fast-paced thriller with its Los Angeles music scene, creepy canyons and a slew of cons. Bell, who also writes nonfiction books on writing, is a master of the cliffhanger, creating scene after scene of mounting suspense and revelation in this heart-whamming read. (Mar.)

Knight (The Things We Do for Love) weaves a somewhat implausible story line that delves into the past of four African-American teen girls who attended a mostly white Christian high school in Dayton, Ohio. Lurking in the minds of these now accomplished adult women is the memory of an attempted sexual assault from 20 years earlier, when the intended victim turned the tables on her white fellow student assailant. Julia Turner, a skilled educator, returns to Christian Light School (where the crime was committed) and tries to make a difference in the community at large. Turner soon realizes she cannot run from the past and its consequences when she is pressured by unlikely sources to face the truth. Close friends, a former romantic interest and the Holy Spirit's nudging convince Turner to bravely set a different course for herself. Fans of Knight's previous works will appreciate the author's underlying message of righting societal wrongs. But so much of the novel's dialogue is unnaturally stilted that it detracts from the impact the author intended. (Mar.)

Amish specialist Brunstetter kicks off a new series set in Indiana Amish country. Loraine Miller's fiancé, Wayne Lambright, is crippled in the car accident that opens the novel. That initiates a tale of complications in their relationship. Wayne wants Loraine to be happy and doesn't believe a disabled man can meet her needs; Loraine doesn't understand the psychological complexities of Wayne's recovery. Into the tension between the two lovers comes Loraine's old boyfriend Jake, sorry for what he's lost and hoping to pick up the pieces. There's cooking, visiting and lots of neighborly support that fans of Brunstetter will appreciate as staples of Amish fiction. Since Loraine Miller also has a number of cousins introduced who face difficulties in the novel, the series setup is clear. Brunstetter could develop a better ear for dialogue, but she has a good ear for the distinctive Dietsch language of the Amish, sprinkling phrases of it into her characters' speech. Fans might enjoy reading this while the friendship bread is baking in the oven. (Mar.)

Playwright, screenwriter and novelist McCarten elevates a deceptively simple premise to impressive dramatic heights in his second novel (after Spinners). The hook: a failing car dealer hopes to revive his business by sponsoring a contest in which contestants must keep their hands on a new Land Rover; the last person still in contact with the truck takes it home. Hopefuls include Tom Shrift, who is driven by a deep belief in his intellectual superiority and whose emotional detachment nears sociopathic levels, and Jess Podorowski, a mourning widow who endures daily verbal abuse as a parking warden and enters the contest to win a car big enough to fit a car seat for her handicapped daughter. Meanwhile, dealership owner Terry “Hatch” Back is going through an existential crisis and watches helplessly as his contest spins out of control. The endurance test becomes one of biblical proportions, with phases of violence, extreme weather, grief, absurdity and corruption. McCarten squeezes every bit of dramatic potential from the setup, giving readers a deeply satisfying narrative about dedication, connection and possibility. (Feb.)

Those with an appetite for the bizarre will best appreciate the pseudonymous Davys's offbeat debut, set entirely in a town inhabited by living, breathing stuffed animals. Everyone in Mollisan Town fears the Death List, the legendary roster of residents designated for pickup by the Chauffeurs, from whose red pickup truck no one returns. When word that mob boss Nicholas Dove (yes, a stuffed bird) has been placed on the list, he coerces Eric Bear into helping him escape his fate. Bear, who's put his shady past behind him and turned to a career in advertising, goes in search of answers. The backbiting and betrayal would certainly be at home in a conventional hard-boiled crime novel, but some readers may feel the premise's novelty wears thin after a while. Passages of clunky translation don't help (“From being a suspect rat who through her mere presence transformed the individuals around the conference table to normalcy, here she was in her right element”). (Feb. 24)

Following in the footsteps of such crime writers as Ellery Queen and Michael Dibdin, Faye pits Sherlock Holmes against Jack the Ripper in her impressive if flawed debut. In the autumn of 1888, the savage slaughter of two prostitutes in London's East End piques Holmes's curiosity. Inspector Lestrade, no fool in Faye's rendering, calls on the unconventional sleuth for help. As the killer continues to claim more victims, the Baker Street duo spare no effort to bring the Ripper to justice. Meanwhile, a disreputable journalist accuses Holmes of being the Ripper. The author uses a convincing Watsonian voice to present versions of Holmes and his chronicler faithful to the originals. While the paucity of suspects makes guessing the killer's identity too easy and the motive for the crimes is less than convincing, Sherlockians will hope to see further pastiches of this quality from Faye. (Apr.)

St. Florian's Military Academy outside Vienna serves as the forbidding backdrop for Tallis's stellar third historical to feature Insp. Oskar Rheinhardt and Dr. Max Liebermann (after 2008's Vienna Blood). Harshly ruled by headmaster Julius Eichmann, St. Florian's is the scene of bizarre initiation rites—some involving torture, and murder. The body of the most recent victim, a 15-year-old Czech boy, has numerous cuts and lacerations across his arms and torso. During their meticulous inquiries at St. Florian's, Rheinhardt and Liebermann learn of illicit liaisons among female staff and sex-starved students and also between an elusive math teacher and the murdered boy. The thinkers and writers of early 20th-century Vienna play their parts, including Liebermann's idol, Sigmund Freud, and philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, whose “übermensch” theory inspires one student's brutalities. Several late twists lead to a startling resolution of this compelling tale. (Mar.)

A plausible, fast-moving plot propels Roman's refreshing debut, set in present-day New York City. Chico Santana, an engaging, wisecracking PI, who's just beginning to pull himself together after his wife, Ramona, threw him out, takes on a routine case to track down a teenage girl that turns out to be anything but. Suspicious of the men who retain him, childhood friend Albert Garcia and B-movie actor-producer Kirk Atlas, Santana hooks up with their attractive servant, Pilar Menendez, only to see her pushed off the roof of her Astoria apartment building shortly after he leaves her. Santana's report of this crime leads to his abduction by Atlas's creepy father, a wealthy pervert reminiscent of Chinatown's Noah Cross. Roman has a nice satirical touch (e.g., Ramona once dragged Santana to “a mixed media thing based on the music in the movie The Taking of Pelham One Two Three”). Fans of Reed Farrel Coleman's Moe Prager will find a lot to like. (Mar.)

Liesche's engaging second Pucci Lewis mystery (after 2007's Lipstick and Lies) takes the WWII WASP (Women Air Force Service pilot) to Hollywood, where one of her sister pilots, Frankie Beall, has crashed under suspicious circumstances while shooting an important training film. As the injured Beall's replacement, Lewis must complete the film and quietly investigate the crash. Trained by the OSS, Lewis is no stranger to undercover work and relishes the opportunity to rub shoulders with Hollywood's rich and famous. On her arrival at the Beverly Hills mansion of friends of her WASP commander, she meets legendary scare-meister Bela Lugosi, a young starlet-wannabe and a number of other folks who could be friend or foe. The murder of a celebrated director raises the stakes. Liesche provides plenty of interesting WASP lore while deftly mixing the real and imagined. Though the plot can be hard to follow at times, it moves along at a good clip. (Mar.)

Set in Cornwall “somewhere in the 1960s and '70s” (per an author note), this lively first in a new cozy series from British veteran Dunn (Death at Wentwater Court) introduces Eleanor Trewynn, a plucky widow who runs a charity shop in the village of Port Mabyn. Eleanor gets entangled in a murder investigation after she and her curious dog, Teazle, happen on a dead body of what first appears to be a tramp in the shop storeroom. Eleanor exasperates Detective Inspector Scumble as her less than perfect memory trickles out details of her discovery. Scumble, whose partner is on sick leave, doesn't relish pursuing the case with Eleanor's determined niece, Det. Sgt. Megan Pencarrow, who has to continually prove herself to the gruff, old-school inspector. Adept at showing character through witty dialogue, Dunn paints an amusing picture of a small town that readers will want to visit again soon. (Mar.)

While Viel's second contemporary crime novel (after 2003's The Absolute Perfection of Crime) offers a familiar plot, even jaded mystery readers should be delighted by his elegant prose and minimal story structure. When French appraisers and auctioneers Édouard and Henri Delamare wander into a high-class brothel, both end up smitten with one of its employees, Lise. Henri proposes marriage to Lise, unaware that her “brother,” Sam, is actually her lover. Sam and Lise, who continue their relationship even after the wedding, end up plotting to rip off Henri with a phony kidnapping scheme. The conventions of noir make the outcome of the conspiracy foreseeable, but the beauty of the writing (“the light was streaking and glimmering through the forest, that green and black strength of the trees in serried ranks forming behind him the scenery of his slow progress”) serves as a compelling contrast to the rough-hewn language usually found in bleak tales of despair, betrayal and death. (Mar.)

In Canadian author Blair's atmospheric third mystery to feature commercial photographer Tom McCall (after 2006's Overexposed), McCall and his three co-workers are juggling assignments while preparing to move to a new location in the trendy Granville Island section of Vancouver. Business partner Bobbi Brooks switches with McCall to shoot photos of the Wonderlust, a boat in the Broker's Bay Marina that owner Anna Waverley wants to sell. A brutal attack at the boat leaves Bobbi comatose and McCall with a mystery: his original customer wasn't the real Anna Waverley and the Waverleys didn't own the boat. A con artist, a gallery owner, a mysterious enforcer and a gigantic homeless man are all pieces of the jigsaw puzzle McCall needs to put together before the casualty list grows much longer. McCall is no challenger to professional sleuths, but he's an entertaining and intrepid amateur with a penchant for landing himself and his friends in murderous situations. (Mar.)

Blatte's inartful debut presents a murder investigation through the eyes of three characters: a traditional NYPD detective, Sal Messina (aka Black Sallie Blue Eyes); a young thug called Scholar, who manages Proof Positive, a hip-hop group; and Spahiu Congoli (aka Vooko), a refugee from Kosovo. When Vooko's cousin Pashko is gunned down in a Manhattan parking lot, Vooko vows revenge on those responsible. Black Sallie, who's developed an uncanny shit detector, pursues leads ranging from players in the music industry to Sheldon Kessler, an influential real estate mogul. What little insight Blatte, a Clio Award–winning songwriter and producer, offers into the music business doesn't compensate for mundane prose (“Four dudes emerged from the heat and flames and came to a swift halt once they saw several officers with drawn guns”) and a routine plot. (Mar.)

Browne's black comedy debut brilliantly reinvents zombie culture for the 21st century. Andy Warner reanimates after the car accident that kills his wife, but is too mangled from his injuries to talk. He lives in his parents' wine cellar, occasionally attending a zombie support group and struggling to rejoin a society that offers the undead no rights, bans them from working and doesn't even punish those who destroy them. When Andy and his fellow zombies—notably Rita, a sexy suicide victim with a lipstick fetish, and Jerry, a Playboy-obsessed stoner—learn why they're so driven to consume human flesh, the repercussions are both tragic and hilarious. Browne neatly mixes humor and extreme violence with a surprisingly tender love story, some witty social satire and an extremely strong narrative voice. (Mar.)

Bestseller Flint (1635: The Dreeson Incident), best known for his alternate history novels, assembles a highly enjoyable collection of tales based on his longer-form work and that of his fellow writers and collaborators. Fans of Flint's 1632 series will enjoy a connected series of tales describing a nurse, her portraits by various masters and a most peculiar siege. “Carthago Delenda Est” recapitulates unionizing as a legion of Roman soldiers, forced into slavery on low-tech planets, use their discipline and guile to organize, agitate and overcome their alien abductors. Particularly powerful and moving are “Islands,” in which a Roman patrician blinded in battle earns himself a place in history and transforms his marriage, and “From the Highlands,” set in the world of David Weber's Honor Harrington stories, which neatly inverts preconceptions about heroes and villains. (Mar.)

Prolific Canadian fantasist de Lint, recently focused on YA (Dingo), returns to adult fiction with a supernatural love story set in the American Southwest and an odd afterlife. Following her death, auto restorer Altagracia “Grace” Quintero awakens in a timeless realm inhabited by her recently deceased neighbors. Briefly returned to our world during Halloween night, Grace falls in love with John, a young artist, and he returns the feeling even when he discovers her condition. As the obvious pun in the title indicates, this tale of attachments formed and relinquished is also about belief and hope. De Lint doesn't endorse any particular religious system, but he writes passionately about the individual's ability to discover an effective personal magic. The story develops through comforting, warm compassion to reach the inevitable, mostly satisfying solution. (Mar.)

The shelf-bending and vastly satisfying sequel to 2008's The Dreaming Void continues the epic narrative chronicling humankind's potentially self-destructive search for existential and spiritual fulfillment inside an ever-expanding black hole at the galactic core. Hamilton seamlessly weaves together numerous unwieldy plot lines: as the millions of followers of the Living Dream plan a mass pilgrimage into the Void, others plot to stop their exodus, which they believe will only increase the Void's expansion and hasten the end of the galaxy. To complicate matters, the alien Ocisen Empire has allied with an old nemesis of humanity, the Primes, and their combined military might stands poised as a tremendous threat. Fusing elements of hard SF with adventure fantasy tropes, Hamilton has singlehandedly raised the bar for grand-scale speculative storytelling. (Mar.)

Brett's debut builds slowly and grimly on a classic high fantasy framework of black-and-white morality and bloodshed. Young Arlen battles demons to save his mother while his father watches in terror; when his mother dies, Arlen runs away. Leesha leaves her village to work in the city hospital of Angiers after her betrothed claims to have taken her virginity. Jongleur Arrick Sweetsong saved himself from demons at the expense of a female friend, but he honors her last request and raises her son, Rojer, as his apprentice. Only near the end do the three strands of the story begin to intertwine. With its nameless enemies that exist only to kill, Brett's gritty tale will appeal to those who tire of sympathetic villains and long for old-school orc massacres. (Mar.)

Bishop's capable seventh Black Jewels fantasy soap opera installment (after 2008's Tangled Webs) surges with spellcraft and engaging romance. The former queen of Bhak is now just plain Lady Cassidy from Dharo, since her entire court resigned to go serve prettier, better-connected Lady Kermilla. Warlord Prince Theran Grayhaven seeks a partner to help him restore his family's land after a violent uprising. With the help of the High Prince of Hell, he finds Cassidy, whose friends encourage her to accept his proposal and return to being a queen. All seems well until the pair run into compatibility problems, and Cassidy meets a mysterious gardener who calls to her heart. Bishop's epic has a complex history and will best be appreciated by readers familiar with earlier books. (Mar.)

Vampire fans who like their blood and gore leavened with humor should enjoy the campy sequel to 2008's Staked. Eric Courtney, strip club owner and operator in Void City, is coming to terms with existence as a ghost vampire after dying in an explosion that totaled his place of business. His former fiancée, Marilyn, tells Eric that his best friend betrayed him, but the demon J'iliol'lth collects her soul before she can explain further. Worse yet, Eric's beloved Mustang somehow gets turned into a vampire. Eric accepts a commission from J'iliol'lth to find the Stone of Aeternem, which enables its holder to raise the dead, in exchange for immortality and the return of Marilyn's soul. The jokes are far from subtle, but Lewis's creativity elevates this above similar outings. (Mar.)

Confusion reigns for characters and readers in the complicated seventh urban fantasy outing (after 2008's The Outlaw Demon Wails) for witch detective Rachel Morgan. Rachel's reputation is in tatters—to save humanity, she used powers that are considered evil—and she's still devastated by the mysterious death of her boyfriend six months earlier. Her attempts to solve his murder bleed into a case involving an emotion-sucking banshee, and soon Rachel has to bring in her PI partners—Ivy, a bisexual vampire, and Jenks, a pixie in existential crisis—along with empathic psychiatrist Ford and the banshee victim's father, Federal Inderland Bureau captain Edden. Harrison's unique vampire mythology unduly complicates world-building, and newcomers will be desperate for a glossary, but the nearly nonstop action nicely plays off the poignancy of Rachel's difficult life. (Mar.)

A British detective faces down the combined forces of the Mafia and the Vatican in Becker's jaw-dropping thriller. Tunbridge Wells Det. Sgt. Chris Bronson is helping his best friend, Mark Hampton, deal with the sudden death of Mark's wife, Jackie. Her supposedly accidental fatal fall at their house in Ponticelli, Italy, was caused by intruders seeking an ancient Latin inscription revealed during remodeling, the first clue to locating a scroll and diptychs that describe the crucifixion and beheading of two unnamed Jews in A.D. 67. Mafioso Gregori Mandino wants to find and destroy the relics, and he pressures Joseph Cardinal Vertutti to help. After Mafia hit men target Mark, Chris seeks vengeance and answers with the help of his ex-wife, a British Museum conservator. Fast-paced action propels the imaginative and controversial plot. (Mar.)

Brilliantly developed characters and intense suspense power this riveting tale of international espionage. Former CIA agent Jerry Piat, now an antiques dealer and a wanted criminal, would rather be fishing. Instead he gets recruited by the DIA to search for a Saudi prince with a penchant for falconry and terrorism. Piat and his favorite fellow ex-agent, falconer Eddie Hackbutt, travel from the wilds of Scotland to the casinos of Monaco and the hunting grounds of Mombasa, their efforts complicated by illegal dealings within American government agencies. Kent (Night Trap) embellishes the exciting covert operations with detailed descriptions of various settings and the falcons' beautiful strength, building a richly nuanced world of half-truths and power struggles. Unlike most espionage page-turners, this tale repays careful reading. (Mar.)

Helin brings together an international cast of terrorists, from white supremacists to the Quebec Liberation Front, in this disorganized and casually misogynistic debut thriller. Retired Col. Sam Thorpe infiltrates the training camp of the Patriots, a well-armed militia group led by disgruntled ex-marine Quentin Oliver. Their goal is to steal nuclear material and construct a dirty bomb. Aided by sexy undercover FBI agent Alex Prescott (whose professional skills get far fewer mentions than her breasts) and CIA agent Bob O'Brien, Thorpe plays a dangerous game, training the militia members while secretly feeding intelligence to his government contacts. Despite a timely and topical threat and Helin's knowledgeable descriptions of military training and antiterrorism procedure, the uneven plotting and superficial characterizations fail to generate suspense. (Mar.)

Dayton (The Eternal Rose) never quite makes good on the engrossing buildup of this lengthy tale set in an alternate 19th-century Europe. The Imperial Council of Magicians forbids women to practice magic, so hapless servant Jax has spent 200 years searching for an heir to the last blood sorceress; at last he finds her in hedge witch Amanusa Whitcomb. Reluctant and afraid, Amanusa lets Jax teach her about blood magic. When she finally uses her powers, she and Jax flee from the Inquisitors, encountering disturbing “dead zones” devoid of life and magic. The burgeoning love between Amanusa and Jax is well-crafted and honest, but Dayton allows it to overwhelm the complex plot and world-building, leaving hundreds of pages of foundation crumbling without a suitable capstone. (Mar.)

Well researched and earnest, this book might work best as a superficial Cliffs Notes on the beats, but in no way does it inspire or open the mind as the works of the authors covered do. Much of this volume feels like leftovers from coauthor Pekar's American Splendor, and one wonders if that magazine's “drab and normal” style of illustration is appropriate for the more adventurous/experimental/flamboyant beats. Nor does it help that the art used on the best-known authors (Kerouac, Ginsberg and Burroughs) feels rushed, with little detail and little variation. Because Joyce Brabner's script about “Beatnik Chicks” takes a genuinely critical eye to an aspect of the beats others prefer to ignore—their rampant sexism— it's probably the best and most passionate writing in the collection, with Jerome Neukirch's art for the bio of proto-beat Slim Brundage being the artistic standout illustrations. Lance Tooks, Peter Kuper and Nick Thorkelson also make strong contributions, while Jeffrey Lewis's story on poet/musician Tuli Kupferberg is a wonderful puzzle piece to work through; it's the most ambitious entry and may be the truest to the artistic vision of the beats themselves. (Mar.)

Fans of Takaya's hit shojo series Fruits Basket will gladly welcome this. Brooding beneath his girlish good looks and crushing sense of duty, Tamaki Otoya is the last in a line of ancient summoners who (of course) battle the evil forces threatening mankind. He draws strength from his bond with childhood friend Asahi—the pair is of course deeply in love and awkward with their emotions, as is often the case with the childhood friend figure. Soon enough they find themselves immersed in a struggle against demons when Asahi is revealed to be a descendant of the Gekka Family—a group that Tamaki is destined to destroy. Touted as a tale of love, loss and redemption, it offers a fast-moving, action-driven plot punctuated with moments of tender romance. Characters struggle to come to terms with who they are, as well as the definitions of their relationships. The character designs are delicate and romantic; the men are slightly effeminate and androgynous, typical of Takaya's style, which made Fruits Basket so popular. There isn't much depth and the story is generally predictable, but Phantom Dream is sure to please existing fans of Takaya's work. (Jan.)

This first on-paper collection of a comic that's won several Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards reads like a British boarding school version of Lost, in which each semiexplanation of one mystery leads to a new, larger one. The titular school looks more like a vast modern factory, while across the adjacent, forbidding Annan Waters is Gillitie Wood, home of fairies, gods, ghosts and sentient shadows. In her first school year, Antinomy Carver discovers that the two realms aren't absolutely separate; her little stuffed doggie, for example, soon houses a grouchy but rather protective demon, while the robot she builds out of spare parts lying around the school crosses the Water and comes back with a living wooden arm. Grownups are of little help to the young protagonists, but Antinomy faces difficulties with courage and self-possessed good manners. She and her friend Kat respond appropriately to each fresh bit of weirdness, sometimes taking part in sci-fi space adventures, sometimes coping with the loss of a friend who's changing into a bird. Siddell's stylized manga-like art suggests energy struggling against determined restraint. The result is uncanny, perplexing and oddly compelling. (Dec.)