Fiction Book Reviews: Week of 4/27/2009

Walter Allbones, a breeder of ferrets, has his life changed forever by a late night encounter with two eccentrics in Farrell's charming debut. Allbones uses his ferrets to poach rabbits on the grounds of a nearby manor owned by Mr. Pitford, a scientist. Almost caught in his crime one evening, Allbones agrees to supply Pitford with ferrets to be relocated to New Zealand to combat a rabbit infestation. Allbones, drawn in by the promise of money and his infatuation with Eugenia, Pitford's granddaughter, soon embarks on a journey across the world with his ferrets in tow and a budding relationship with Eugenia. The narrative lavishes much care on the ferrets, and the lovely and trivia-packed descriptions enliven the dreary English countryside. The love story, interestingly, touches on Darwin and takes into account the stench of ferret musk on romantic encounters, providing heft to a deceptively simple tale. Though the ending twist involving a paternal surprise feels out of place, this is, overall, a fun and lighthearted romance—with lots of ferrets. (Aug.)

Bestseller Rollins's labyrinthine sixth Sigma Force thriller (after The Last Oracle) offers plenty of intriguing science and history lessons. Sigma Force director Painter Crowe gathers the usual crew—Cmdr. Grayson Pierce; Pierce's best friend, Monk Kokkalis; lumbering Joe Kowalski—to discover why an experimental agriculture site in Africa has been attacked and razed, killing everyone, including a U.S. senator's son. “The future of mankind” may depend, they learn, on the “Doomsday key,” a strange substance brought to England long ago by ancient Egyptians that holds the promise of a new and powerful medicine. A few of the book's many highlights include genetic manipulation, traitorous beautiful women, illuminated manuscripts, saints, prophecies, curses and miracles. Rollins deftly juggles all this and more as the Sigma team races from the depths of the Vatican to the outer reaches of Norway toward an explosive confrontation with the shadowy forces of evil known as the Guild. (June)

Last seen in 2001's Captains Outrageous, Lansdale's East Texas twosome of Hap Collins and Leonard Pine, who specialize in daring jobs for hire, are in fine fettle—slightly older and wiser, still prone to down-home philosophical rants and as eager as ever to lead violence by the nose. In their seventh raucous outing, the unlikely partners—Hap's a white, horny heterosexual good ol' boy, and Leonard's a black homosexual Vietnam vet—rescue a friend's daughter from the clutches of drug dealers. Unbeknownst to our heroes, the dealers are part of the Dixie Mafia, which proceeds to send waves of assassins in retaliation, each worse than the last. Joking as they go, Hap and Leonard dispose of each with their usual brand of brutality. Then, the mafia sends its weapon of last resort, Vanilla Ride, a beautiful hit woman. Edgar-winner Lansdale's storytelling skills are as sharp as ever—bursts of action, moments of reflection and lots of shooting the breeze before trouble comes calling again. (July)

Edgar-winner Abbott (Queenpin) explores gender inequality and its sometimes tragic results in her well-crafted fourth crime novel, inspired by the true story of Winnie Ruth Judd (aka the “Trunk Murderess”). In 1931, Marion Seeley, a young woman whose husband has gone abroad on undisclosed business, secures a clerical job at the Werden Clinic in the capital of an unnamed Midwest state. From a veteran nurse, Louise Mercer, Marion learns that doctors have been misbehaving with the clinic's nursing staff. Marion becomes involved with Joe Lanigan, a close friend of the doctors and a reliable source of entertainment and money for the often cash-strapped nurses. When Louise and Ginny Hoyt, Louise's roommate, confront Marion about her relationship to Joe, the women get into a heated argument that leads to murder and a startling predicament for Marion. Readers should be prepared for a lot of backstory before the pace picks up and hurtles to a shocking ending. (July)

Cole's long-winded London gangland saga charts the rise to felonious fame and fortune of Danny Boy Cadogan, from the late '60s to the present. As an oversized 13-year-old, Danny beats up his father, a “useless waster” saddled with gambling debts, and becomes his family's primary breadwinner. Louie Stein, a crook impressed by Danny's spirit, mentors Danny as Danny and his best friend, Michael Miles, become “the new rude boys.” At age 15, Danny beats a young prostitute to death after raping her, and he kills again to shut up a squealer, cementing his reputation as a super thug. Later, Danny marries Michael's sister, Mary, who hopes for happiness, but soon finds she's just another person the unfaithful Danny wants to control. Danny's reign of terror becomes a thing of legend, but like all legends, there's always someone ready to knock the kingpin down. Cole (Close) skillfully shows just how the mighty can fall in this sordid, often depressing, crime novel. (July)

Famed Italian fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli (1890–1973) stirs up sanguinary trouble as the “Dracula of Dressmaking” in McCormack's phantasmagorical novella, the latest entry in Dennis Cooper's Little House on the Bowery series. The action takes place inside a mirror maze at a carnival, where vampiric Elsa crows about her new perfume, Shocking! (the base note is blood), goads a desperate woman into selling her soul and commits dreadful wordplays (“ 'Haute couture?' Schiaparelli says. 'Haute horreur!' ”). Thank goodness for Coco Chanel, godmother of the little black dress and the cardigan jacket, not to mention part-time vampire-hunter, whose eponymous perfume works better than garlic on nasty old Elsa. But can the Vogue vampire really be vanquished? Throw the Carter family into the mix (Schiaparelli accuses them of “carter-wauling”), an undead Lon Chaney (The Man of a Thousand Faces) and preparations for two Satanic gay marriages, and you've got a recipe for a book that'll have you shaking your head in an odd but energizing combination of admiration and annoyance. This is a one-of-a-kind glimpse into a clever and devious mind. (July)

Bestseller Coulter's riveting 13th FBI thriller (after TailSpin) opens with a bang as psychic FBI agent Dillon Savich thwarts a gang of gun-totting robbers attempting to hold up the First Union Bank of Washington, D.C. Three days later, seven-year-old Autumn Backman, who sees Dillon on TV, sends him a telepathic message that she's in danger. Though eager to help Autumn, Dillon is busy tracking a bank robber who escaped, a teenage girl now leaving a trail of bodies in her wake. Meanwhile, in Titusville, Va., Autumn's mother reports her daughter missing to sheriff Ethan Merriweather. After finding Autumn, Ethan discovers her sinister uncle, Blessed, has evil designs on his psychic niece. Before Dillon and his fellow FBI agent and wife, Lacey Sherlock, can get to Titusville, Autumn and her mother flee. Well-developed characters and an expertly paced plot that builds to a breathtaking conclusion make this one of the best in this paranormal suspense series. (June)

New York County DA Roger “Butch” Karp, his wife, Marlene Ciampi, and daughter, Lucy, go up against a cartoonish crop of new and old villains in the over-the-top 21st thriller from bestseller Tanenbaum (after Escape). Their antagonists include Karp's chief nemesis, sociopath Andrew Kane, whose face transplant has failed and left him, well, without a face; David Grale, who may or may not be a foe, but who commands from his lair deep in the city's subway tunnels an army of stinking, filthy homeless men and women; the nefarious Sons of Man, a group that's been plotting against America for hundreds of years; and terrorists bent on striking a blow that will topple the U.S. government. While battling these madmen, Butch is also prosecuting a famous perverted Broadway producer who's killed a beautiful young actress in his apartment. Despite or because of the overkill, Tanenbaum's many fans are sure to be satisfied. (June)

Driven by the most sidesplitting dialogue this side of Catch-22, Everett's latest tells the story of a young man named Not Sidney Poitier who bears an uncanny resemblance to the famed actor and is adept at deploying a hypnotic technique called Fesmerism. When Not Sidney is young, his mother dies, but not before becoming an early investor in Ted Turner's enterprises. The boy then moves to Atlanta, into the home of Ted Turner. Despite his vast wealth and celebrity looks, when Not Sidney ventures out into the world as a young adult, he faces bizarre, stinging and potentially deadly forms of racism. While Not Sidney comes across as a likable and thoughtful soul, he's the perfect foil for the fictionalized Turner's stream-of-consciousness non sequiturs (“I've never been struck by lightning. You?”) as well as the logical absurdities that pepper the speech of his university professor who happens to be named Percival Everett. Not only is the novel smart and without a trace of pretentiousness, it shows Everett as a novelist at the height of his narrative and satirical powers. (June)

Griner's second novel (after Collectors) is a gritty, unsentimental story of love and loyalty played out across Europe during the two World Wars. It begins with Kate Zweig, a nurse, working at a crumbling field hospital in Prussia with her doctor husband. Shortly, their hospital is destroyed by Russian soldiers during WWI, and after the pair are captured and tortured, a sympathetic Russian officer arranges for their covert escape into Germany. Jump to WWII London, where Claus, aka “Charles Murphy,” an American filmmaker of Irish and German lineage, serves as a neighborhood warden while ostensibly working for the British Ministry of Information. In truth, he has been recruited as a spy for Britain. Or has he? Claus meets Kate in Hyde Park, and thereafter Griner knits together a multifarious plot that calls into question collaboration versus loyalty: to homeland, to humanity, to family and to lovers. Griner is unflinching in his depictions of battlefield atrocity (a conscious soldier with an exposed-brain injury appears on the first page), offering a sober grounding for the cerebral exploration of collaboration and betrayal. Fans of Graham Greene or Alan Furst will want to take a look. (June)

Patterson illustrates how deceiving initial impressions can be in her dark debut, a collection of 13 interconnected stories. At first glance, the characters seem to be blessed, living in tony Newport Beach, Calif., but Patterson quickly scrapes off the glitter, examining the complicated lives of Rosie, a confused teenage girl; John Wayne, a brain-damaged, homeless stoner; Anne, a lesbian psychologist in love with Rosie's mother; Melody, a trophy wife cheating on her husband, Henry Wilson, who has a secret of his own; and Joe/Christina, a transvestite. The majority of the stories feature Rosie, a nerdy teenager whose attempts to make sense of her life lead her down increasingly self-destructive paths, though she remains touchingly aware of others' suffering. In “Winter Formal: A Night of Magic,” Rosie and a seemingly perfect blonde princess have a nightmare evening; in “The First and Second Time,” Rosie violently loses her virginity. Later, in “Joe/Christina,” Rosie, now an alcoholic community college student, finds an unlikely savior in the local transvestite. Patterson's unflinching account of the seedy side of a real-life Xanadu is frightening, immersive and wonderfully realized. (June)

Bestseller Pearson makes the most of the theme of the lawman with a bunch of personal problems in his engaging third crime thriller to feature Walt Fleming, the likable sheriff of Sun Valley, Idaho (after Killer View). Walt's ex-wife is living with one of his deputies; Walt's teenage nephew, Kevin, is grappling with his father's suicide; and Walt's trying to raise twin daughters on his own. Meanwhile, a big wine convention has come to Sun Valley, and three bottles owned by Thomas Jefferson and given to John Adams are sure to bring big bucks at auction, unless a gang of super thieves, which has hit town with an elaborate scheme in which Kevin becomes unwittingly involved, steals the bottles first. But nothing is as it seems, and even the savviest readers will be fooled as Pearson drags poor Walt and friends through a series of clever twists and turns in this fast-paced nail-biter. Author tour. (June)

Set in L.A., Lange's visceral, hard-hitting first novel puts him squarely in the ring with the best young neo-noir writers. Jimmy Boone, a former Marine and ex-con lying low and waiting out his probation by tending bar on Hollywood Boulevard, gets drawn back onto dangerous ground after he agrees to help his bouncer buddy, Robo, look into the death of a young Guatemalan immigrant found covered in infected dog bites on an MTA bus. Boone and Robo get on a trail that leads from a ghetto dope pad, where they rescue an abused and toothless fighting dog, to a secluded desert compound near Twentynine Palms, where a psychotic crime boss, Taggert, hosts bloody dog-fighting contests. Boone soon finds himself in way over his head as he comes up against Taggert's crew of degenerates. While the book contains some familiar set pieces, Lange, the author of the story collection Dead Boys, shows he has the potential to put his own distinctive mark on the mythology of Los Angeles. (June)

A prank gone wrong drives this outstanding novel from bestseller McMahon (Island of Lost Girls). The summer after graduation, four friends, who formed an art group called the Compassionate Dismantlers at Vermont's Sexton College, live together in a remote cabin and commit increasingly brash acts of sabotage. When they go too far and their leader, Suz Pierce, dies, the group disbands, vowing never to speak about what happened. Ten years later, two of the group, Henry DeForge and Tess Kahle, are unhappily married with a nine-year-old daughter, Emma. When the suicide of a Sexton friend sends a PI digging into the past, Henry and Tess fear that the dead may not be truly buried. By alternating the present-day lives of Henry, Tess and Emma with the origins of the Dismantlers, McMahon allows the inexorable sense of dread to build incrementally. Perhaps most memorable are not the young artists but Emma, a child whose intense imagination only adds fuel to the slow-burning fire. (June)

Stitched into the heartwarming second installment of Bostwick's contemporary New England quilters series (after 2008's A Single Thread) is an unbreakable thread of friendship and faith. Following a pattern similar to her first (in which shop owner Evelyn Dixon fought breast cancer), Bostwick centers the action around a serious struggle: on the run from an abusive husband, Ivy Peterman and her children, Bethany and Bobby, find refuge in the New Bern, Conn., women's shelter. There, Ivy meets philanthropist Abigail Burgess Wynne and through her lands a job at Evelyn's shop, Cobbled Court Quilts. After 18 months of peace, Ivy's appearance in a Quilt Pink Day promotion, draws out her violent husband. When he appears at Evelyn's shop to confront Ivy, newfound friends and perspective give Ivy the strength to stand up to him, begin divorce proceedings and learn that hiding from fears won't resolve them. Bostwick switches effortlessly from Ivy's poignant story to quilting circle updates, keeping fans in the loop and on their toes with a surprising bit of marriage news. (June)

A handsome rancher-tycoon and his shy, sheltered stepsister fall in love in Palmer's latest romantic melodrama (after Fearless) that's long on humid heat but hampered by cornpone theatrics. Gracie and Jason Pendleton share no bloodlines, but they've been close ever since Gracie came to live with her now-deceased mother, Beverly, who married Jason's cruel (and also now dead) father, Myron. Jason is a good ol' boy who prefers his Rocking Spur ranch to the family mansion old-fashioned Gracie tends to. Gracie, meanwhile, harbors a dark secret that has made her frightened of romance even though she's desired Jason for years. The feeling's mutual, and, eventually, their hearts collide despite the interference of Kittie Sartain, a bitchy redhead supermodel who tries to lasso Jason. Palmer, a romance veteran, knows how to concoct a savory chicken-fried love plot, but sometimes the gravy's laid on a little too thick. (June)

Gifford's final installment in the Sailor and Lula saga (which began with Wild at Heart, made into a film by David Lynch) finds high hilarity in a road trip back to New Orleans by the aged Southern best-bosom buddies Lula Pace Fortune and Beany Thorn. It's been 18 years since Lula's lifelong beau, Sailor, was killed in a car accident, and Lula, now 80, having left her home in New Orleans, has been living in a small North Carolina town with her mother's dear friend, until the friend's recent death. Along comes Beany for a visit, and the two, still bubbling with life, make a trip to New Orleans, where Lula's son lives, though Lula's not sure she can face the pain of returning to her beloved city transfigured by Hurricane Katrina. Some of the roadside adventures and off-screen plot happenings feel dashed off, but the real draw is Gifford's unfettered delight in the biblically gracious parlance of Southern dames, rendered in dialogue you might overhear at Commander's Palace. (June)

George Gates, who once toured the world as a travel writer, churns out fluff pieces for his local paper and spends his nights alone, imagining what he'd do to the person who murdered his eight-year-old son seven years before and is still at large in Cook's eerily poignant novel. When Arlo McBride, a retired missing persons detective, tells Gates about the unsolved disappearance of reclusive poet Katherine Carr 20 years earlier, Gates is intrigued. Cook (Master of the Delta) seamlessly intertwines the short story Carr left behind—about a woman also named Katherine Carr—with Gates's growing obsession with Carr's fate. When his editor suggests that Gates write a profile of Alice Barrows, an orphan girl dying of progeria (premature aging), he discovers that Alice is an avid detective fan, and together they form an unlikely partnership. Adept at merging past and present plot lines, Cook eloquently examines the often cathartic act of storytelling. Author tour. (June)

In her skillful third collection, Treat offers short, sharp glimpses into her characters' yawning existential anxiety. A wife vanishes from her home in the first tale, “Beached,” narrated by her husband who recalls her “fatal flaw” in seeking out crowded, noisy places in order to fill up the quiet inside her. Similarly, in “Hans and His Daughter,” a wife and mother abandons her home inexplicably, forcing her husband to care for their two-year-old and manage, sorrowfully but rather ingeniously. In the space of two pages, Treat can convey a powerful epiphany, such as the sad state of middle-aged love in “A Visit,” in which an emotionally stunted man prepares his home for a rendezvous with his married love interest, who already recognizes that they will never connect sexually. Moreover, Treat moves among different POVs with marvelous fluidity, as in the vivid and ferocious “More Than Winter or Spring,” about two girls who love and hate each other in equal, cunning measure. Treat has a keen eye for the floor-falling moment. (June)

Fashion, art, philosophy and anthropology converge in Jouet's (Mountain R) slim, semibiographical novella based on the life of postimpressionist artist Paul Gauguin, grafting the facts of the famed painter's life onto a new Paul Gauguin, a clothing designer. Paul, a young man “still in a formative state,” recounts his trials and failures at several careers before stumbling into experimental fashion design after a happenstance meeting with a curious old woman named Madame Taillefeu-Ponçard, who sparks his creativity and trains his artist's eye. After being abandoned by his wife and inspired by his lover, Ananwana, Paul travels to a series of French colonies to explore the limits of fashion, art and the human experience. While the novella offers a series of interesting points of discussion, the book's sparse, dutiful re-creation of an increasingly mentally ill narrator prevents the reader from fully engaging with the story. This novella feels mostly like an unfinished literary experiment. (June)

The first of a new adventure series for this three-time Christy Award winner brings together an odd couple for an international trail of clues and near-death experiences. Grieving Storm Syrell, an antiques dealer and art historian, must fathom the circumstances behind her grandfather's death. She and ex-con treasure hunter Harry Bennett team up to uncover a conspiracy that led to the demise of the old treasure trader. For readers interested in politics in the Middle East, travel in the Mediterranean and the biblical and historical ruminations in the story, this Oxford University writer-in-residence has plenty to offer in a smooth blend of romance, biblical historical archeology and murder mystery. Christian fiction readers will enjoy a more evangelically orthodox story than Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code; they will get a similarly long string of clues and a command of this genre mix as well. With this adventure, Bunn should win another crown. (June)

In her accomplished debut, Gappah, a Zimbabwean writer and international trade lawyer, casts her compassionate eye on a diverse array of characters living, grieving, loving—and fighting to survive—under Robert Mugabe's regime. “In the Heart of the Golden Triangle,” the second-person narrative of a wealthy woman's tormented marriage, turns a mirror upon the reader: “You worry because you have not found condoms in his pockets,” the narrator muses of her husband's behavior, “but in the cushioned comfort of your four-by-four, you don't feel a thing.” Meanwhile, in “The Cracked, Pink Lips of Rosie's Bridegroom,” a village ponders a doomed marriage in which the groom, who has a history of “buried... girlfriends,” is clearly marked as being afflicted by “the big disease with the little name.” In “The Mupandawana Dancing Champion,” Gappah sets her sights on political absurdities with a cutting story about a coffin maker with some great dance moves and an unfortunate nickname. Gappah's deep well of empathy and saber-sharp command of satire give her collection a surplus of heart and verve. (June)

Montefiore's well-crafted, evocative novel is instantly sensual and welcoming. When Miranda Claybourne's seven-year-old is expelled from school, the stylish Londoner, magazine writer and mother of two, ditches her posh Notting Hill digs for the idylls of a country estate. But her simple-life fantasies soon fail. Her husband's preoccupied with his job and his mistress; the kids lash out at each other while Gus, the elder, terrorizes both farm animals and his new classmates. Enter Jean-Paul, a handsome, mysterious Frenchman with an offer to tend her woefully neglected gardens. Cleaning out the estate's rundown cottage for Jean-Paul, she discovers the secret journals of the previous lady of the house—a brilliant gardener, Ava Lightly, and her love affair. As if by magic, Miranda's garden begins to thrive and she owes it all to Jean-Paul, with whom she thinks she's falling in love. The drama of the journals distract from her own failing marriage, and Miranda delights in the idea that her life is running parallel to Ava's—it's a lovely coincidence, until she stops to consider exactly what may have drawn Jean-Paul into her garden. (June)

After the dissolution of her marriage, beautiful English artist Leonora Manin is hired as an apprentice glassblower in the Venetian suburb of Murano, in Fiorato's strong U.S. debut. Leonora's ancestor was master glassmaker Corradino Manin, and her new boss plans to exploit that connection. But centuries-old jealousies and treachery surface and the public relations campaign is suddenly canceled. A modern-day relative of Corradino's mentor resents Leonora, while a journalist who was once involved with Alessandro Bardolino, Leonora's new love, decides she wants him back. Complex connections, but nothing compared to those in Corradino's time, when draconian Venetian laws enslaved glassmakers on Murano to insure techniques would remain exclusive to Venice. The author's descriptive prose brings the beauty and danger of 17th-century Venice vividly to life, when Corradino became a traitor seeking freedom for himself and his secret daughter. Leonora's determined to investigate Corradino, but throughout, Alessandro's allegiance is suspect. Those who enjoy intrigue and European history will be easily drawn into this romantic story. (June)

In his first novel published in English, a troubling tale set in an unnamed European city, Dutch poet and editor Pfeijffer skirts a fine line between the literary and the prurient. In a first-person “confession” to a jury over the course of three “hearings,” the suave, dissembling narrator Rupert (calling himself alternately Rupert the Rightly, Rub-Off Rupert and Rupert the Unrescuable) delivers a long-winded buildup to what is a sexual crime he may or may not have committed. A habitué of the Sexyland peep show parlor, Rupert falls in love there with a lovely, green-eyed femme fatale named Mira. His worship affects his ability to sustain an erection, and Mira leaves him for a mutual acquaintance, with whom, she assures him, she has a vigorous sexual relationship. Devastated, he takes up his favorite activity, which is observing other people (e.g., stalking), and the street scene he comes upon, whether a figment of his warped imagination or the truth, decides his fate. The author insinuates crisp, titillating description and delights in relaying voyeurism, presenting a deliberate provocation to readers. (June)

Near the start of Edgar-finalist Gardiner's solid follow-up to The Dirty Secrets Club, San Francisco forensic psychiatrist Jo Beckett examines Ian Kanan, a distressed airline passenger who turns out to be suffering from anterograde amnesia, which makes it impossible for him to form new memories. Kanan, who's sure that his family has been kidnapped and he's been poisoned, disappears from the hospital before Beckett can learn more. When she starts digging into his background, Beckett discovers not only that Kanan was a security consultant for Chira-Sayf, a nanotechnology company, but that he may have been exposed to Slick, an experimental bioweapon. Along with her SFPD contact, Lt. Amy Tang, and para-jumper boyfriend, Gabe Quintana, Beckett races to find Kanan before the people he's pursuing unleash Slick on San Francisco. Gardiner more than compensates for the sometimes implausible plot with her effective use of Kanan's amnesia and her heroine's resourcefulness. (June)

George's all-original anthology showcases 18 stories by established women mystery writers and five by relative unknowns. While not every entry is a winner, the wide variety of styles and settings will please most mystery fans. Especially strong are Linda Barnes's “Catch Your Death,” a classic tale of love gone wrong told by an appealing narrator, and Stephanie Bond's satisfyingly twisty “Bump in the Night.” In “Gold Fever,” Dana Stabenow fits quick characterizations, an exotic locale (Alaska) and a tidy plot into a few pages. Marcia Talley's tightly written “Can You Hear Me Now” is modest in ambition—but who doesn't like to see a rude cellphone user get his comeuppance? Among the newcomers, Z. Kelley's “Anything Helps” is particularly notable for its charm. Other contributors include Carolyn Hart, Laura Lippman and S.J. Rozan. (Aug.)

Det. Max “Crusher” McNash, a fearless bull terrier in the slaughter unit of the San Bernardo police dog force, must overcome his distrust of special agent Cassius Lap, a very Zen Siamese of the FBI (Feline Bureau of Investigation), in their pursuit of a serial killer cat targeting dogs in this off-the-leash hard-boiled satire from the pseudonymous Kane. The fur begins flying when two rottweilers are torn apart. Later victims include a retriever attending a museum shindig, movie star Jack Russell Crowe and a newshound. Crusher and Cassius deal with gangsta hounds as well as visit Kathattan, an island where dogs are unwelcome, and Cattica Correctional Facility, where convicted murderer Quentin Riossiti, a debonair psycho cat, offers his help for a price. Billed as “a well-known Australian author,” Kane offers plenty of tongue-in-muzzle insights into bestial behavior, political chicanery and assorted foxy topics. (July)

At the outset of Evans's engaging if somewhat thinly plotted fourth mystery to feature archeologist Faye Longchamp (after 2008's Findings), Faye and her team are excavating a plantation site outside New Orleans, next to the battlefield where Andrew Jackson's army defeated the British in 1815. When students doing post-Katrina cleanup find the remains of what appears to be a drowning victim from the hurricane, a dumbbell resting atop the pelvis suggests foul play to Faye. The police ask Faye and her fiancé, Joe Wolf Mantooth, to assist in what becomes a murder investigation, the victim having been identified as a fellow archeologist, Shelly Broussard, who worked with rescue teams after the storm. Passages from a book about the Katrina disaster by a local author and extracts from the memoirs of a 19th-century military engineer provide insights and historical perspective. Faye's landlady, a part-time voodoo-mambo or priestess, adds spice. (July)

In Haines's bone-rattling ninth puzzler (after 2008's Wishbones), Sarah Booth Delaney returns to Zinnia, Miss., and her ancestral home, Dahlia House, after the eruption there of a mysterious illness so scary agents from Atlanta's Centers for Disease Control must be called in. Tinkie Richmond, Sarah's best friend and PI partner, fears her husband, Oscar, is dying after a visit to the nearby “cursed” Carlisle cotton plantation infected with mutant boll weevils and a strange mold. Sounds like a horror movie, but it's no laughing matter as Sarah Booth sets aside her Hollywood honey, Graf Milieu, to help her former love interest, Sheriff Coleman Peters, solve a perplexing case that will eventually claim victims by such causes as shooting and hanging. Lending spectral advice is Jitty, Dahlia House's wonderfully wise “haint,” one of the best features of this light paranormal mystery series infused with Southern charm. (July)

Thompson's 11th gaslight mystery to feature midwife Sarah Brandt (after 2008's Murder on Bank Street) fails to bring to life late 19th-century New York City as well as, say, Caleb Carr does in his period fiction, but series fans should be satisfied. Sarah's mother, Elizabeth Decker, who's feeling guilt-ridden over the death of her pregnant oldest daughter, decides to seek supernatural help from a local medium, Madame Serafina. At a séance, someone uses the cloak of darkness to stab to death Mrs. Gittings, a woman also hoping to contact a deceased family member. Since the séance participants were all holding each others' hands throughout the ritual, suspicion focuses on the medium's accomplice. Sarah helps her policeman friend, Det. Sgt. Frank Malloy, investigate. Solid prose in part compensates for a mundane solution to the crime. (June)

In Daheim's appealing 21st mystery to feature newspaper editor-publisher Emma Lord (after 2008's The Alpine Traitor), an altercation between car mechanic Alvin De Muth and trucker Clive Berentsen at the Icicle Creek Tavern in Alpine, Wash., leaves De Muth dead and Berentsen in jail. Emma, however, thinks that the witnesses' statements don't quite add up, especially when they're followed by a traffic accident that kills the nephew of the local grocery store owners. Emma learns that the nephew was high on cocaine and other drugs at the time, suggesting that a dealer is active in the area—perhaps someone she knows. Complicating the case is Emma's uneasy relationship with Sheriff Milo Dodge and her catfight with an area floozy that may result in a lawsuit. Though it can be a bit challenging to keep track of the many town personalities, Daheim's premise—that random occurrences are connected—keeps the reader turning the pages. (June)

Colorless characters and a recycled plot line undercut Hunt's third procedural to feature Lt. George Hastings of the St. Louis police (after 2008's Goodbye Sister Disco). Assigned to look into the strangulation of a prostitute, Hastings doesn't get far on the case before a second hooker turns up dead. Those expecting a whodunit may be dismayed to learn about a quarter of the way into the story that the killer is a local surgeon, Raymond Sheffield. Eager to be recognized for his crimes, if only under the moniker “Springheel Jim,” Sheffield calls journalist Cliff Llewellyn to tip Llewellyn off that the two slayings are linked, that there's now a third victim—and that a public library book on Jack the Ripper contains a vital clue. Hastings is a competent enough investigator, but the reader has little basis to believe that without Sheffield's revealing phone call Hastings would ever catch the killer. (June)

Barclay's sixth Gregory Crowne mystery (after 2008's To Die For) puts a fresh spin on the classic theft, revenge and murder theme. Gregory, the former crown prince of Hirtenstein, can't say no to his grandmother, that country's ex-queen mother (who's presently working as a decorator for a well-known but unpopular Italian politician), when she asks him to leave Geneva for Rome to investigate the loss of some valuable diamonds. Viewing the trip as a chance also for a romantic getaway, Gregory invites his girlfriend, Liz Blair, to join him, in spite of his grandmother's dislike of Liz and her commoner status. When a female cousin living in the politician's villa is found dead, the police conclude death by accidental poisoning, but as Gregory and Liz delve into the lives of family, guests and staff, it becomes clear the cousin was a victim of foul play. Whodunit fans will enjoy trying to figure out the puzzle before the dramatic conclusion. (June)

At the start of Wells's workmanlike third police procedural (after 2008's A Darker Side), two boys stumble on a body, its neck slashed and wrapped in a white sheet, in a quarry. Five years earlier, forensic psychologist Jill Kennedy and Lancashire Det. Chief Insp. Max Trentham brought an end to the rampage of the serial killer known as the Undertaker, who slashed the throats of his four victims, all childless married career women. The prime suspect, Eddie Marshall, died after a police car chase, but his corpse was never recovered. The discovery of this new victim wrapped in shrouds, the Undertaker's trademark, prompts Kennedy and Trentham to question their original conclusions about Marshall's guilt, as well as explore who might have known enough about the details of the original murders to commit copycat crimes. Neither the interplay between the main characters nor the solution is particularly inspired or innovative. (May)

This near-future page-turner debut amalgamates apocalyptic science fiction, police procedural and thematic dashes of alien invasion and vampire mythos. Fighting wars in Syria, Iraq and the Balkans, the U.S. is on the precipice of anarchy. Manhattan is a radioactive wasteland, sprawling plague quarantine zones are commonplace and lawlessness is rampant. When Tom Wilner, a detective with Florida's underfunded Unified Police Force, witnesses a bloody shootout at a roadhouse, he becomes entangled in a vast conspiracy involving his estranged wife and her crime lord lover, a terrorist plot to detonate a dirty bomb in Florida and speculation about a race of godlike hominids and a looming alien invasion. O'Neal provides the postapocalyptic genre with few innovations, but his self-assured, hard-edged writing style, solid characters and wildly entertaining thriller plot will keep readers enthralled. (June)

Readers new to the work of Grand Master Moorcock may be a bit put off by this wandering collection of short stories, grouped neither chronologically nor by style and acknowledged in the introduction as an “almost random” selection. Those seeking links to the renowned fantasy saga of Elric will find only the enigmatic eight-page “A Portrait in Ivory,” which, while evocative and well-written, will have much less impact for those who have not previously encountered the mercenary antihero. Similarly, only three of Moorcock's four Reminiscences of the Third World War stories are included, and the other selections range from hard science fiction to the brief and “wholly non-fantastical” tale “A Winter Admiral.” Moorcock's writing is top-notch, but only completists will be able to fully appreciate its exemplars here. (June)

Somewhat distanced from the first volume's attempts to be a science fiction companion to feminist fantasy series Sword and Sorceress, this collection offers up 15 stories of varying strength and appeal. Standouts include Ian Whate's “Shop Talk,” in which a young woman deals with xenophobia; Lee Martindale's “Lady Blaze,” which puts a new spin on pirates and prostitutes in space; and Jennifer R. Povey's “Working the High Steel,” an adventure involving high-atmosphere construction. Less successful are Jennifer Brisset's death penalty allegory “The Executioner” and DJ Cockburn's “Rainfire by Night,” a postapocalyptic fantasy about a tribe of car worshippers. This series is still finding its voice, but James has done a good job of assembling a lineup that satisfies more than it disappoints and is a properly varied representation of feminist science fiction. (June)

Hugo-winner Wilson (Axis) perpetrates a kind of skewed steampunk novel set in a postcollapse, imperial United States returned to 19th-century technology and mores. Julian Comstock, the disgraced nephew of the tyrannical American president, grows up in a small town in what was formerly northern Canada. Adam Hazzard, Julian's working-class friend, and Sam Godwin, a bluff old retainer and secret Jew, struggle to keep Julian alive despite his uncle's hatred and Julian's proclivity for annoying the repressive Dominion Church. When Julian is drafted to fight the invading Dutch in Labrador, exaggerated tales of his heroism, written by would-be novelist Adam, catapult the young aristocrat to unwanted fame. Written with the eloquence and elegance of a Victorian novel, this thoughtful tale combines complex characters, rousing military adventure and a beautifully realized, unnerving future. (June)

Alexa's impressive debut collection covers a wide variety of subgenres, among which she switches with ease. The highlight is the slightly absurdist “Shades of White and Road,” which develops the whimsy of a magic kingdom and talking objects into something touching and beautiful. Other standouts include the melancholy, postapocalyptic “A Taste of Snow,” the fun space frontier tale “The Clone Wrangler's Bride” and the clockwork-and-alchemy fantasy “The Butterfly Assassins,” which deftly mixes a murder mystery, court intrigue and a stutterer's plight in a world where magic requires verbal incantations. “Paperheart,” focusing on the last dragon, and “They Shall Be as They Know,” an eschatological zombie story, nicely revisit familiar themes. The poems are not as strong as the fiction but they show decent range. Alexa's voice is a welcome new addition to genre fiction. (June)

Thoughtful and leisurely, this fresh urban fantasy from Canadian author Huff (Valor's Trial) features an ensemble cast of nuanced characters in Calgary, Alberta. Headstrong young museum research assistant Allie Gale takes over her missing grandmother's titular junk-shop, which is supposedly crucial to the local community. When Allie arrives to find a leprechaun, a monkey's paw and a magic mirror, she realizes her grandmother didn't mean the human community. After spotting low-flying dragons and other UnderRealm creatures in the neighborhood, Allie calls on the help of her powerful family of modern, benevolent Toronto witches, who attempt to visit via a spacetime-spanning Wood until something shadowy begins pushing them out in inconvenient locales like Haiti. Fantasy buffs will find plenty of humor, thrills and original mythology to chew on, along with refreshingly three-dimensional women in an original, fully realized world. (June)

Lake (Escapement) makes a shift from steampunk to lush fantasy filled with exotic locales and exquisite descriptions. Sold as a child, raised and educated as a courtesan and secretly trained as an assassin, strong-willed Green retains her unyielding sense of independence, leading her to make drastic, unwise choices. Often used as a pawn and occasionally betrayed, she perseveres in trying to gain a measure of control over her life and a place to call home. Her goals become harder to reach when she's caught up in the machinations of immortals and power games of meddling gods. Despite an occasionally episodic feel and some rocky pacing that suggests it might have worked better split over several installments, the story is nicely powered by strong mythic undertones and a fresh take on the relationship between gods and mortals. (June)

Fans will gladly follow Howell (Highland Sinner) from the Scottish Highlands to London for her new 18th-century fantasy romance trilogy. After rescuing cuckolded Julian Kenwood from a would-be murderer, his cousins Chloe and Leo Wherlocke reveal that his wife and uncle have it in for him. They also unveil his son, Anthony, long thought to be dead. Aware that he is out of his element, Julian accepts Leo's help and protection. Like the rest of their prolific family, Chloe and Leo have special gifts such as seeing the future and detecting lies. Julian's inevitable affair with Chloe is hard to believe and the wait for his uncle's next attack is tedious, but the Wherlockes' affectionate teasing and lively banter will have readers picking up the next books just to get to know them better. (June)

Wells's lighthearted contemporary romance sometimes strains for humor, but eventually hits the mark. Sammi Matthews thinks her lack of confidence is what leads her to clumsily injure her dates, sabotaging any chance of a relationship. She hires life coach Luke Jones to talk up her self-esteem over the phone, but it's not Luke on the other line. His brother, Chase, an FBI special agent, is covering for Luke (who's hiding from the mob in a witness protection program) and thinks what Sammi needs is less coaching and more basic training. After a series of sometimes humorous shenanigans involving dogs, coffee and collisions with antique hubcaps, the supposedly logical Chase finds himself head over heels for Sammi. Secondary characters like an accordion-playing wannabe rapper help this implausible tale win over fans of romantic comedies. (June)

The first in the Black London series, this dark tale takes Kittredge's supernatural shadows to the next level. At 16, Pete Caldecott witnessed the apparent death of punk rocker Jack Winter after he raised an ancient spirit. Twelve years later, Det. Insp. Caldecott has followed in her dead father's footsteps at Scotland Yard. She follows a tip about a missing child and finds Jack, now a heroin junkie claiming intimate knowledge of a parallel realm called the Black. As Jack detoxes and more children disappear, he joins Pete's quest to find them, teaching her to use hexes and spells as well as her physical abilities in the fight against a rising dark power. Kittredge (the Nocturne City series) knows how to create a believable world, and her fans will enjoy the mix of magic and city grit. (June)

Alers (Secret Agenda) kicks off the Best Men contemporary romance series with successful attorney Kyle Chatham, who gave up working at a Park Avenue law firm to start his own practice in Harlem. When social worker Ava Warrick accidentally rear-ends Kyle's treasured Jaguar, their lives undergo drastic changes. He visits her in the hospital, where she is being monitored for a mild concussion, and their instant attraction soon becomes too strong to ignore. Kyle and Ava have both had their share of dysfunctional romances in the past, but their wariness only delays the inevitable romance. Subplots add substance as the two work tirelessly to help the powerless and distraught. Engaging characters and even pacing make this a pleasing read with broad appeal. (June)

Tail of the Moon, the original medieval/romance/comedy series, probably wasn't crying out for a prequel, but fans of the long-running manga will probably find it gratifying. However, it exists at such a specific intersection of historical fiction, shonen action and over-the-top shojo melodrama that unless a reader demands all three, individual parts may fail to impress. During the warring states period in Japan, an amnesiac girl named Kaguya is taken in by a brothel and assumes the role of housekeeper in exchange for room and board. The only clue to her past is the wicked moon-shaped scar on her back, which also makes her unfit for the bordello bedroom. One day a rakish swordsman named Hanzou appears, and to everyone's surprise but the reader's, spurns the advances of the other girls for Kaguya's attention. It comes as no shock either that these two share a past or that against her better judgment Kaguya finds herself uncontrollably smitten. The manga sometimes struggles to strike a comedic tone, but most of the humorous elements seem unintentional. Ueda's art occasionally makes up for this, and her fight choreography shows significant virtuosity. (June)

Released simultaneously, these two books demonstrate the difficulty of converting prose novels into graphic fiction, especially when a complicated backstory is involved. Bestselling Christian writer Dekker wrote the YA Lost Books series to fill a gap in the chronology of his adult Circle trilogy, which chronicles a long struggle between the forces of darkness and light in our Earth and a fantastic parallel world. At the beginning of the series, four young people are given the mission of finding the seven missing Books of History to secure the continuity of reality. In Renegade, the hotheaded Bilios uses a forbidden book to transport himself to a small Colorado town, where a dark stranger convinces him that the people aren't real so that it's okay to kill them. In Chaos, young Johnis and Silvie are transported to Las Vegas, into the middle of a scheme by a monstrous Shataiki bat to unite the books and bring his mate into this world so they can spawn. The dynamic but uncredited artwork is good, but these adaptations are too plot dense to be satisfying. Readers may turn to Dekker's novels if they're intrigued by this combination of C.S. Lewis and Stephen King. (June)

In this intense but humorous follow-up to Escape from “Special” Lasko-Gross's semi–alter ego must navigate the perils of high school life. Fifteen-year-old Melissa doesn't have a lot of friends and those she does have issues of their own: rebel Kylie is on the brink of another expulsion; Penny has a stutter and penchant for shoplifting; and Terry is a closet anorexic. The problems Melissa faces are common ones—rebel or not; get high... or higher; tell a boy how she feels—but Lasko-Gross handles each with care so that even readers who've gone through similar situations will be convinced that Melissa's woes are unique. As her grades plummet and her parents uncover her drug stash, Melissa becomes increasingly persuaded that life will never get better. It seems that her comic book, which she sells on consignment to local record stores, is the only thing keeping her going. With full-color art whose dour color palette mirrors the sometimes painful subject matter, Lasko-Gross seamlessly shifts between real conversations and the ones that exist only in Melissa's head, painting a complete portrait of her raw, emotional and bitingly sarcastic heroine, and leaving readers eager for the last installment of this planned trilogy. (May)

This documentary graphic novel brings together starkly beautiful black and white photographs taken by Lefèvre, intimate drawings by Guibert, skillful design by Lemercier and a vibrant translation and thorough introduction by Siegel. In 1986, photographer Lefèvre was hired by Médecins sans Frontières (MSF; Doctors Without Borders), to document a mission into northern Afghanistan. Along the way, he and the doctors, guides and interpreters with whom he traveled endured physical hardship and the fracas of war. In one memorable scene, the group must cross an open plateau where Russian planes fired on the previous MSF caravan. Photographs acting as panels emphasize the vast openness of the plateau, while drawings allow a glimpse of the small human gestures of the travelers. Arriving on the other side of the plateau, they reach a wooded area “where, two years ago, they buried the man who didn't make it.” This revelation is punctuated by a large photograph of the burial mound under the trees, the mix of drawings and photographs heightening the emotional impact. Originally published in three volumes in France, the book has sold more than 250,000 copies there, and the reach of this magnificent work promises to extend far beyond the graphic novel community. (May)

Signature

Reviewed by Patricia Volk

Arestaurant kitchen is a functional substitute for hell. Flames leap, plates fly—knives and fingers, too. They're also the default place immigrants, legal and otherwise, find work. At London's Imperial Hotel, the setting for Monica Ali's In the Kitchen, nobody speaks the same language and everybody is underpaid. Ali, acclaimed author of Brick Lane, nails the killer heat, killer fights and lethal grease buildup, all of it supervised by a “simmering culinary Heathcliff,” Gabriel Lightfoot, executive chef.

Lightfoot dropped out of school at 16 to begin paying his kitchen dues, working crazy hours with crazy people while studying food chemistry and Brillat-Savarin. Along the way, he picked up scarred hands and a ravaged psyche. At 24, given his own restaurant, it went straight up his nose. Now, almost 20 years later, two wealthy Londoners have agreed to back Gabriel in a new restaurant, Lightfoot's, where he'll serve “Classic French, precisely executed. Rognons de veau dijonnaise, poussin en cocotte Bonne Femme, tripes à la mode de Caen.” In postmodern balsamic-drenched London, Gabriel is confident traditional French is poised for a comeback.

Then the naked corpse of a Ukrainian night porter is discovered in the Imperial's basement, his head in a pool of blood. There is no one to claim the body. The ripple-free effect of a human death unhinges Gabriel. He develops a voluptuous need to self-sabotage. Visual manifestations include a Dr. Strangelove arm tic, shaking limbs and violent bald-spot scratching. Gabriel cheats on his fiancée and lies to his lover. The story is told in the third person, but through Gabriel's point of view. Intimacy juggles distance: “After a certain point, he could not stop himself. His desire was a foul creature that climbed on his back and wrapped its long arms around his neck.”

Ali is brilliant at showing loss and adaptation in a polyglot culture. Her descriptions of the changing peoplescape are fresh. But inside Gabriel's head is not the most compelling place to be. A tragic nonhero, he thinks with his “one-eyed implacable foe.” It does not help that a recurring dream crumbles him, and since Gabriel doesn't understand the dream, neither does the reader. It assumes an unsustainable importance. You can play Freud or you can turn the page.

Ali is not plot-averse: she provides a mysterious death, a hotel sex-trade scam, a slave-labor scheme, missing money and a dying parent. Yet Lightfoot is a character in search of a motive. It's a tribute to Ali that we care. Here is a true bastard, ravaged and out of control. In the Kitchen has the thud and knock of life—inexplicable, impenetrable, not sewn up at all. As Gabriel's lover is fond of saying: “Tchh.” (June)

Patricia Volk is the author, most recently, of the memoir Stuffed and the novel To My Dearest Friends(both from Knopf).

Two mass market series openers explore the bloody side of tattooing.

This intriguing series from urban fantasist Devoti (Dark Crusade) marks Juno's first outing as a Pocket imprint. A group of Amazon women in present-day America closely guard their extraordinary powers and only interact with men for breeding. Melanippe, who left the Amazons 10 years ago to raise her daughter, runs a Madison, Wis., tattoo parlor and nurses a grudge against the priestess she believes killed her infant son. When two Amazon women are slain and dumped on Mel's doorstep, their tribe immediately suspect her of the killing. Mel soon wonders who poses the greatest threat to her adolescent daughter: the unknown murderer, the rigidly controlling Amazons or disturbingly attractive and magically skilled tattoo artist Peter Arpada. Mel can be a frustrating sleuth, jumping to conclusions and ignoring obvious clues, but Devoti's fascinating mix of myth and reality will keep readers engaged. (June)

The Painted Lady, a tattoo shop in contemporary Las Vegas, and its owner, artist turned tattooist Brett Kavanaugh, are central to this pleasantly jargon-free themed mystery from Olson (the Annie Seymour mysteries). When a woman requests a devotion tattoo from Brett and then vanishes, her disappearance is quickly linked to a series of murders involving tattooing equipment and rival shop Murder Ink. Brett's police detective brother, Tim, requests her expertise, and a murder at an engagingly excessive fictional hotel leads to Brett meeting its mysteriously handsome manager, Simon Chase, providing a solid base for further sleuthing and romance. Readers need not be conversant with “street flash” or other industry terms to enjoy the setting and follow Brett down a trail of needles and gloves to the dramatic finale. (July)