Fiction Book Reviews: 2/8/2010
Reviews of New Fiction, Mystery, Science Fiction and Comics

Feb 08, 2010

Holy Water James P. Othmer. Doubleday, $25.95 (304p) ISBN 978-0-385-52513-8

The latest from Othmer (The Futurist) reads like a very contemporary Heart of Darkness run through the satire blender. Longtime company man Henry Tuhoe has a self-absorbed wife who is learning witchcraft and pressuring him to have a vasectomy; he’s increasingly alienated from his friends, and is forced to decide between getting fired or accepting a new position opening a call center in an obscure Third World country called Galado. So he takes the job. That the call center doesn’t have working telephones or employees who can speak English are just a couple of Henry’s concerns in a plot that bounces between everyday realism and the absurd. His new workplace is as morally and spiritually corrupt as the corporate culture back home, and Henry makes it his personal humanitarian mission to help provide clean water to Galado’s poorest citizens. Othmer wrings humor from nearly every facet of contemporary culture, with many of the most comical moments taking place in brief anecdotes (as with a Gulf War I re-enactor). It’s well-done satire—dark, but not too—in the vein of Gary Shteyngart and early Colson Whitehead. (June)

Peep Show Joshua Braff. Algonquin, $13.95 paper (272p) ISBN 978-1-56512-508-7

Braff’s second novel (after The Unthinkable Thoughts of Jacob Green) is a straightforward family drama set amidst an extreme clash of cultures. In the mid 1970s, 16-year-old David Arbus is caught between his mother, whose Hasidic faith is becoming more and more central to her life, and his father, who runs a Times Square porn theatre. A seemingly modest act of rebellion makes David’s choice for him, and he quickly finds himself enmeshed in the business of adult entertainment. While his increasingly ill father resists innovations like peep booths and in-house blue movies, David takes photography gigs and tends to his dad. His attempts to maintain a relationship with his sister bring David into sporadic contact with his mother, but rather than reconciling, mother and son only grow further apart. Braff brings together two very different cultures with sympathy for both, but the slim novel leaves little room to adequately develop each member of the family, and, as a result, the story doesn’t quite sing. Nevertheless, David and his parents present an intriguing contrast in the struggle to uphold a set of values and the painful necessity of compromise. (June)

The Dead Republic Roddy Doyle. Viking, $26.95 (336p) ISBN 978-0-670-02177-2

Doyle digs into the modern history of Ireland in the concluding volume to the life story of Henry Smart, a teenage Sinn Fein triggerman first encountered in A Star Called Henry. Here, an aging Henry must preserve his own legend, which is taken away from him first for a film, and then by the IRA. In the mid-1940s, film director John Ford plans to make a movie based on Henry’s life, but Henry eventually realizes the film that Ford has planned will reduce his story to sentimental pap. Upon returning to Ireland with Ford, Henry plans on killing the director, but his callousness has faded, and he drifts into the Dublin suburbs, where he meets a respectable widow who may be his long-disappeared wife. Henry ages in obscurity until the ’70s, when the IRA uses a distorted version of Henry’s story as a PR ploy; as the IRA man who runs Henry explains, “we hold the copyright” to the Irish story. Doyle is a stellar storyteller, though not a faultless one—characters tend to editorialize at the drop of a hat; yet Doyle exhibits a peerless ear for cynicism as he grapples with the violence and farce of Irish history. (May)

The Go-Between Frederick Turner. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $25 (336p) ISBN 978-0-15-101509-2

The sordid and fabled history of the American Camelot comes to life in this highly stylized, faux-journalistic reconstruction of the life and wild times of Judith Campbell Exner, reputed mistress to Frank Sinatra, JFK, and mob boss Sam Giancana. Our unnamed guide is an old-school Chicago journalist who talks in a hard-bitten voice about crooked prosecutors and pot-smoking car-dealers. But these marginal characters offer him his first glimpses into Exner’s strange life and all the secret deals, trysts, and high-stakes maneuvers involved. Soon, he becomes obsessed and convinced that Exner was no high-class hooker, but an innocent believer attracted to romance and the high life, though ultimately in over her head as she goes from a party girl who catches Sinatra’s eye to a paramour of the president and later a somewhat-unwitting go-between between the Kennedys and the mob. Turner paints her as a dark-haired counterpart to Marilyn Monroe, a quintessentially American tragic figure who enjoyed a charmed ascent and fell out of grace thanks to her flaws. Beneath the book’s gossipy veneer, Turner (Redemption) cunningly probes notions of power, glamour, and notoriety. (May)

The Hand That First Held Mine Maggie O’Farrell. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $25 (400p) ISBN 978-0-547-33079-2

O’Farrell (TheVanishing Act of Esme Lennox) interweaves two seemingly unconnected stories—that of Lexie Sinclair, living in post-WWII London, and Elina Vilkuna, a denizen of present-day London. Lexie is a rebellious 21-year-old, and when she meets handsome and sophisticated Innes Kent, she realizes he’s the one who can help her find the adventure and excitement she craves. Their affair coincides with her moving up in the ranks at the magazine he edits, but a tragedy changes Lexie’s life forever. Fifty-odd years later, Elina, a painter, faces her own struggles: she recently had a son with her boyfriend, Ted, and, after a rough child-birth, Ted and Elina struggle to recalibrate their relationship as it evolves into parenthood. While O’Farrell brings Lexie to life, she does not achieve the same with Elina and Ted, who come across as just another bland couple facing the challenges of having a child. The two plots are, naturally, connected, but the contemporary plot doesn’t really get moving until too late in the book. If the contemporary storyline was developed half as well as the historical plot, this would be a wonderful book. As it is, it feels lighter than it should. (Apr.)

The Double Comfort Safari Club Alexander McCall Smith. Pantheon, $23.95 (256p) ISBN 978-0-375-42450-2

As in 2009’s Tea Time for the Traditionally Built, the previous entry in this beguiling, bestselling series, a personal crisis for one of the leads, rather than a mystery, drives the plot of Smith’s superb 12th novel set in Botswana featuring his infinitely understanding sleuth, Precious Ramotswe. When a delivery truck backs into Phuti Radiphuti, the fiancé of Mma Ramotswe’s prickly and insecure assistant, Grace Makutsi, and crushes his leg against a wall, Phuti’s rude aunt won’t allow Grace to visit her beloved in the hospital. Meanwhile, the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency tries to help the executor of an American woman, who wished to leave some money to a kind tour guide, but couldn’t recall the guide’s name. The resolution to the problem of another client, who was cheated out of his home by a gold-digger, might strike some as unduly fortuitous, but it makes sense within the framework of these books, which are more about humanity than logic. (Apr.)

212 Alafair Burke. Harper, $24.99 (368p) ISBN 978-0-06-156122-1

Burke’s third white-knuckle thriller finds NYPD Det. Ellie Hatcher (after Angel’s Tip) and her partner, J.J. Rogan, investigating the murder of NYU student Megan Gunther, who’s the target of threatening posts on a college gossip Web site. The death of bodyguard Robert “Robo” Mancini, whose bullet-ridden corpse turns up in a swanky new building, the 212, built by Sam Sparks, the high-powered Manhattan real-estate developer Robo worked for, ups the ante. When Sam makes it clear that the police won’t have access to any company records, Ellie’s interest is piqued. As she and J.J. try to piece together Megan’s life, they discover a link between the student and a recently murdered real estate agent. With her usual tenacity, Ellie pursues leads that put both her career and her life at risk. Burke expertly weaves real-life headlines into her plot—particularly the Craig’s List Killer and the slew of recent political scandals—without ever sacrificing originality. (Apr.)

Deception: An Alex Delaware Novel Jonathan Kellerman. Ballantine, $28 (352p) ISBN 978-0-345-50567-5

Deputy Chief Weinberg assigns LAPD Lt. Milo Sturgis a particularly sensitive murder case at the outset of bestseller Kellerman’s smooth if routine 25th Alex Delaware novel (after Evidence). Elise Freeman, a teacher and tutor at exclusive Windsor Preparatory Academy in Brentwood, is found dead in her Studio City apartment in a bathtub full of dry ice. Despite Elise’s having left a DVD accusing three fellow teachers at the academy of repeated sexual harassment, Weinberg wants (for personal reasons) the investigation to involve the school as little as possible. As usual, psychologist Alex Delaware takes an active role in the investigation, which finds the victim had lots to hide. A boyfriend, students, teachers, and administrators are all anxious to keep those secrets hidden—and at least one of them is willing to kill again. Milo and Alex form an odd but effective duo as they trade banter and insights while sorting out the lies and deceptions. (Apr.)

Lies of the Heart Michelle Boyajian. Viking, $25.95 (352p) ISBN 978-0-670-02131-4

Boyajian’s seductive and riveting debut uses the murder trial of a mentally retarded man to explore the crumbling marriage of the victim, Nick; the stilted dreams of his filmmaker widow, Katie; and the touching, tortured relationship that entangles all three. From the idyllic romantic beginnings for Nick and Kate, to their inspiring friendship with the mentally and emotionally damaged Jerry, to the gradual resentment, bitterness, and alienation of all their loves and lives, Boyajian glides effortlessly between the dreamy terrain of love and the gritty detail of a slaying, its investigation, and prosecution. “Do not wait for this life to come to you, to see it all from behind a camera,” Katie is advised by a pair of death camp survivors she’s filming for a documentary. Except for a few places where Kate can’t quite carry all the narrative weight placed on her shoulders, we couldn’t have gotten to see this heartbreaking story from a more perfect perspective. (Apr.)

The Sandbox David Zimmerman. Soho, $25 (368p) ISBN 978-1-56947-628-4

Zimmerman’s remarkable debut succeeds both as a realistic portrayal of the current Iraq war from the American perspective and as an energetic thriller. Stationed at a remote and poorly equipped U.S. army base in the Iraqi desert, Pvt. Toby Durrant worries about his pregnant fiancée back home. After a remotely detonated bomb kills two soldiers, Toby’s commander, Lieutenant Blankenship, recruits him to monitor the accuracy of a translator, and then to interrogate two Iraqi prisoners suspected of being involved in the attack. Well aware of his lack of qualifications, Toby, who made a number of bad choices as a civilian, can’t help thinking something else is going on, especially after the prisoners turn up dead. His difficulties escalate with the arrival of a military intelligence officer, who asks him for information about Blankenship. Readers will empathize with the author’s everyman narrator as Toby tries to survive while maintaining his humanity. Zimmerman is a talent to watch. (Apr.)

Hotel Iris Yoko Ogawa, trans. from the Japanese by Stephen Snyder. Picador, $14 paper (176p) ISBN 978-0-312-42524-1

Ogawa (The Housekeeper and the Professor) explores the power of words to allure and destroy in this haiku-like fable of love contorted into obsession. One rainy evening, Mari, a downtrodden 17-year-old who helps her demanding mother run a seedy seaside hotel, overhears a middle-aged male guest ordering an offended prostitute to be silent. In the days that follow, every word—both spoken and conveyed in surreptitious letters—from this man, a hack translator who may have killed his wife, gradually and inexorably leads Mari to submit to his every sadistic desire. Ogawa’s relentlessly spare prose captures both Mari’s yearning for her lost father and the translator’s bipolar oscillation between insecure tenderness and meticulously modulated rage. As this savage novel drives to its inevitable conclusion, Mari’s world collapses around her in both a terrifying bang and a pitiful whimper. (Apr.)

The Botticelli Secret Marina Fiorato. St. Martin’s Griffin, $14.99 paper (528p) ISBN 978-0-312-60636-7

The city-states of Renaissance Italy serve as the vibrant backdrop for this less than successful homage to The Da Vinci Code from Fiorato (TheGlassblower of Murano). In 1482 Florence, while prostitute Luciana Vetra is posing for Botticelli’s Primavera, she makes a casual comment that terrifies the artist. Sent away unpaid, Luciana steals a miniature of the painting in revenge. When she discovers that an assassin is on her trail, she flees Florence with the most trustworthy companion she can find, handsome and cultured monk Brother Guido della Torre. As the two decode the secrets hidden in the painting (and fall in love), its meanings send them on a quest through Italy to save their own lives and avert a conspiracy involving the greatest powers of the day. Luciana’s energetic narrative voice keeps the pages turning, but lengthy passages deconstructing La Primavera yield secrets, unlike those in Dan Brown’s bestseller, with little resonance for modern readers. (Apr.)

Lean on Pete Willy Vlautin. Harper Perennial, $13.99 paper (304p) ISBN 978-0-06-145653-4

A blend of road novel and not-quite hard luck story, the latest from Vlautin (The Motel Life) begins when 15-year-old Charley Thompson and his father move from Spokane, Wash. to Portland, Ore., to give starting over yet another try. When Charley’s dad takes up with a married secretary and stops coming home, Charley takes a job with Del Montgomery, a crank based out of the nearby racetrack who, among other things, shoots up a horse with vodka. After Charley’s father dies from wounds suffered during a fight with his lover’s husband, Charley, whom Vlautin has conveniently given the pastime of running, runs away with Pete, a horse and his only friend. This is where the narrative sours; Charley’s trek across the West, occasionally on horseback, is dominated by an unbelievable stretch of luck: men appear to dispense food and money, miraculously uninhabited trailers contain washers and dryers, and his hitchhiking is eerie, but not dangerous. Still, Vlautin’s characters, despite their unrealistic arcs, shine with his sparse style. It might be difficult to believe Charley’s bottomless cache of silver linings, but it’s remarkably easy to root for the kid. (Apr.)

Joe Speedboat Tommy Wieringa, trans. from the Dutch by Sam Garrett. Grove/Black Cat, $14.95 paper (328p) ISBN 978-0-8021-7072-9

The first novel by prize-winning Dutch author Wieringa to be translated into English is a brilliant coming-of-age story with an outlandish twist: Frankie, the narrator, is paralyzed but for his right arm and unable to speak after a farming accident. But when wild child Joe Speedboat shows up in Frankie’s sleepy town, he gives Frankie a new lease on life. Together the boys navigate young adulthood, with crippled Frankie chronicling Joe’s adventures. Joe blows up a toilet at their school. He builds an airplane and takes Frankie along for the ride. Joe trains Frankie to become an arm wrestler with his one good arm, and Frankie makes a name for himself as a fierce competitor. It comes as no surprise that Frankie and Joe love the same girl, and while Joe is away on a quest to find his mother’s missing boyfriend, she shows Frankie that, in her own way, she loves them both. There are more coming-of-age novels than dikes in Holland, but this wonderfully weird novel is not one to miss. (Apr.)

The Burying Place Brian Freeman. Minotaur, $24.99 (352p) ISBN 978-0-312-56274-8

Though Jonathan Stride is still recovering from injuries he suffered in a high fall at the start of Freeman’s intriguing if overly plotted fourth thriller featuring the Duluth, Minn., police detective (after In the Dark), he’s soon looking into the kidnapping of the 11-month-old daughter of a Grand Rapids, Minn., surgeon, Dr. Marcus Glenn, who happens to be a local cop’s brother-in-law. Jonathan thinks the kidnapping is an inside job, especially after unsavory secrets about the arrogant surgeon come to light. Meanwhile, Jonathan’s partner, Det. Maggie Bei, aided by rookie Kasey Kennedy, scrambles to catch a serial killer who’s murdered several women in Duluth. When Kasey is witness to the fiend abducting a victim, the killer becomes fixated on Kasey. An appropriately creepy atmosphere and well-rounded, flawed characters compensate only in part for the forced connection between the two cases, either of which could have easily carried the novel. (Apr.)

The Moonlit Earth Christopher Rice. Scribner, $25 (352p) ISBN 978-0-7432-9407-2

At the start of this compelling cat-and-mouse thriller from bestseller Rice (Blind Fall), 30-year-old Megan Reynolds has returned to her mother’s house in posh Cathedral Beach near San Diego after being fired as head of a Northern California nonprofit organization for homeless kids that she tried to save using unorthodox methods. Megan soon faces a far greater challenge. Her beloved gay brother, Cameron, a handsome flight attendant for Peninsula Airlines, disappears with Majed, a suspicious Middle Easterner, in the wake of a terrorist bombing in Hong Kong that killed 60 people. When the FBI investigators point to Cameron as a suspect in the attack, Megan embarks on a dangerous mission to find her brother and help clear his name. Megan’s journey will test her endurance and her faith in family in unexpected ways. Rice sensitively charts the relationship of two close-knit siblings. (Apr.)

Drake’s Bay T.A. Roberts. Permanent, $28 (240p) ISBN 978-1-57962-197-1

Roberts (Beyond Sara) ventures into religious thriller territory with mixed results. On a whim professor Ethan Storey, an expert on California history, and his younger girlfriend, Kay O’Toole, visit the Williams Institute, located in “a 1920s folly of a manor house” in the Berkeley Hills. Ethan ends up with an unusual job offer—to catalogue a book collection of mostly 15th- through 17th-century first editions that the institute plans to sell off. The assignment becomes even more intriguing after a fellow academic tells Ethan that the library may include Sir Francis Drake’s personal logbooks from his time commanding the Golden Hinde. Soon, Ethan loses the slip for the wooden schooner he and Kay live on in a San Francisco Bay marina, his superiors at the university threaten his job, and the forces out to thwart his research at the institute resort to violence. History buffs who don’t mind coincidences and contrived resolutions will be satisfied. (Apr.)

The Other Family Joanna Trollope. Touchstone, $15 paper (336p) ISBN 978-1-4391-2983-8

An unexpected line in a will leads to complications and new beginnings in Trollope’s eminently readable latest (after Friday Nights). The novel opens outside London with the sudden death of Richie Rossiter, a once-popular pianist whose star has been on the wane for some time. Chrissie, Richie’s partner for the past 23 years, is shocked to learn that Richie has left his piano and his early musical estate to his “other family”—Margaret, the wife he never divorced, and their son, Scott, now an aimless bachelor. Soon after, Chrissie’s youngest daughter, Amy, becomes fascinated with her father’s original family and his humble roots, leading to a tentative friendship with her half-brother that may result in new opportunities for both of Richie’s families. At times, the grieving characters—particularly Chrissie—seem excessively distraught about trivial matters, but Trollope’s keen ear for dialogue and her pointed development of secondary characters keep the novel on the safe side of overwrought, while the hopeful if too tidy conclusion highlights the sometimes surprising possibilities that can emerge in the wake of grief. (Apr.)

Nothing Happened and Then It Did Jake Silverstein. Norton, $23.95 (256p) ISBN 978-0-393-07646-2

Silverstein dips between fact and fiction in his debut, ostensibly to shed light on the distinction between the two, and while some of the individual pieces—predominantly the nonfiction—are accomplished, the overarching mission remains unaccomplished. This collection starts on a solid non-fiction note as Silverstein arrives in a small west Texas town and stumbles upon clues to the unsolved 1914 disappearance of writer Ambrose Pierce. His search leads him on a wild goose chase, and the descriptions of a laughing devil inhabiting the Texas desert are among the most evocative in the book. Other highlights include his involvement in a too-good-to-be-true poetry contest, and the colorful characters he meets along the way. A piece on covering a legendary Mexican car race, meanwhile, bogs down in the details. The fiction doesn’t really go anywhere, with the exception of a story involving the search for lost treasure along the Gulf of Mexico. Silverstein writes with admirable economy, and some of the nonfiction demonstrates great potential, but this uneven effort’s blend of fact and fiction is more indecisive than incisive. (Apr.)

Let the Dead Lie Malla Nunn. Washington Square, $15 paper (384p) ISBN 978-1-4165-8622-7

With this gripping sequel set in South Africa in 1953, Nunn, who is also a screenwriter, proves that her impressive debut novel, A Beautiful Place to Die, was no fluke. A former police detective sergeant, Emmanuel Cooper is now working undercover on the docks of Durban Harbor to document police corruption for his old boss, Major van Niekerk. When Emmanuel comes across the body of a white slum kid, who ran errands in the port area, with his throat slit, he observes that the notebook the 11-year-old boy used to record orders is missing. The authorities regard Emmanuel as the prime suspect in this crime as well as in the subsequent murders of a landlady and her black maid, whose throats are also cut. Van Niekerk manages to get Emmanuel out of jail, but with a strict two-day deadline to find the real killer. Nunn deftly balances suspense and deduction as she offers a revealing glimpse into South African society under the segregation laws promulgated by the ruling National Party. (Apr.)

Instinct: A Chess Team Adventure Jeremy Robinson. St. Martin’s/Dunne, $24.99 (336p) ISBN 978-0-312-54029-6

Robinson’s slam-bang second Chess Team thriller (after Pulse) opens in 1995 in Vietnam’s Annamite Mountains, where Dr. Anthony Weston, a cryptozoologist, is studying a strange tribe of protohumans. When a pack of the creatures attacks Weston, one of them decides he’d make a tasty snack (“he could taste the decaying flesh of some previous meal that clung to its two-inch-long canines”). Fourteen years later, Jack Sigler, head of the elite Chess Team, is searching for the source of a deadly plague known as the Brugada syndrome, which has stricken the new U.S. president. Jack (call sign “King”) and his team members—Queen, Rook, Bishop, Knight, Pawn—are soon in Vietnam on the trail of a cure. There they find a vast mountain hideout with a city built of bones. Robinson, who’s been criticized for writing stories that are too much like video games, has come up with a wildly inventive yarn that reads as well on the page as it would play on a computer screen. (Apr.)

An Unfinished Score Elise Blackwell. Unbridled, $24.95 (272p) ISBN 978-1-936071-66-1

Blackwell’s melodramatic fourth novel dwells on the odd circumstances that befall an unhappily married concert violist. Suzanne learns of the death of Alex Elling, an orchestral conductor and her lover, as she fixes a meal for her stoic husband, Ben, manipulative best friend, Petra, and her young deaf daughter, Adele. Struggling to remain composed, Suzanne later finds solace in her memories and music, though it’s difficult to sympathize with her suffering; with so many musicians crowding the narrative, the story sags under the weight of passages filled with musical history and discussions between musicians in Suzanne’s quartet. Suzanne continues to keep her love affair a secret, but when Alex’s widow, Olivia, begins to call her home with cryptic messages, she fears she could be exposed. Unable to resist the tie to her lover, Suzanne visits Olivia and discovers he had been composing a score for her. In the stilted confrontation that follows, Olivia blackmails Suzanne into completing the score. Though Blackwell (The Unnatural History of Cypress Parish) manages a few twists, the frequently overwrought writing is a big turn-off. (Apr.)

2 in the Hat Raffi Yessayan. Ballantine, $25 (304p) ISBN 978-0-345-50263-6

Yessayan, the former chief prosecutor for the gang unit of the Suffolk County (Mass.) district attorney’s office, doesn’t make the most of his professional expertise in this improbable serial killer yarn, the sequel to 8 in the Box. In Franklin Park, where off-duty Boston police detective Angel Alves is coaching a kids’ football team, one of his players stumbles on a dead woman dressed in a fancy gown. Angel finds the body of a man in a tuxedo nearby. Both are posed in a manner identical to the victims of the Prom Night Killer, who’d been dormant for so long that the authorities assumed he was dead, in prison, or retired. Angel’s old sergeant, Wayne Mooney, the lead investigator in the Prom Night Killer case, shares closely held information that enables the pair to rule out a copycat. The main mystery’s unsurprising resolution goes hand in hand with the plot’s less than plausible major shock twist. This is for those who prefer sensationalism to realism in their suspense fiction. (Apr.)

Second Time Around Beth Kendrick. Bantam, $15 paper (336p) ISBN 978-0-385-34224-7

Kendrick (The Pre-Nup) revisits the notion of doing it all over again in her buoyant if uneven sixth novel. Best friends since college, Jamie, Arden, Brooke, Caitlin, and Anna get together for their 10th annual Fourth of July girls’ weekend at Arden’s vacation home to discuss what they should have done differently—except Arden, who is a successful lawyer. Two months later, Arden dies and leaves $1 million for her friends to divide amongst themselves, with the stipulation that they use the money to pursue their dreams. Brooke buys the ramshackle ex-dormitory they shared as college students, intent on turning it into a bed-and-breakfast, and the ladies move in to assist with the renovation and assess their own desires. As the women embark on their new enterprises, each discovers that Arden’s gift has led them into situations they hadn’t expected. Although some situations feel tacked-on or phoned-in, Kendrick is an undeniably practiced hand at depicting female bonds, and her insight eases this tale of wish-fulfillment to a gratifying and not entirely predictable conclusion. (Apr.)

Miss Julia Renews Her Vows Ann B. Ross. Viking, $24.95 (352p) ISBN 978-0-670-02155-0

Southern flower Miss Julia re-materializes in her droll 11th adventure, and this time out, the busybody is as busy as ever: she wraps up some business from Miss Julia Delivers the Goods by making sure thrice married rogue Mr. Pickens settles down with Hazel Marie, who is pregnant with their twins. She also contends with the return of rival doyenne Francie Pitts and puts on her detective hat to clear the name of her friend and hired help, Etta Mae Wiggins, who’s accused of burglary and assaulting Francie. Meanwhile, Sam, Julia’s long-suffering husband, has the audacity to suggest marriage counseling. Worse, the shrink is a man from her past—Dr. Fred Fowler, a “Christian psychologist with thirty years of experience in rekindling the flame of Christ-like love in limping marriages.” Can feigning the flu save her from a confrontation and, gasp, rekindle their passion? And does Francie have designs on Sam? Ross answers these questions in trademark tart fashion. Series fans will have a ball, but those unfamiliar should definitely start with an earlier volume. (Apr.)

The Heretic’s Wife Brenda Rickman Vantrease. St. Martin’s, $25.99 (416p) ISBN 978-0-312-38699-3

Tudor England is a dangerous place to harbor Lutheran sympathies, yet brave souls like John Gough and his sister Kate smuggle protestant bibles into the country and translate them into English for the common man. When Gough is arrested, he recants, but Kate continues on with the mission, falling in love with translator John Frith, who takes her with him into exile in Antwerp. Meanwhile in England, Henry VIII is drifting slowly away from the Catholic faith under the influence of his mistress Anne Boleyn, while Thomas More becomes more and more obsessed with burning heretics and keeping England in the bosom of the church. No one with protestant beliefs is safe, including Kate and her husband, who may pay the ultimate price for their heresy. This is a strong historical, showing another side of the tempestuous Tudor times. Boleyn and Henry VIII, often the focus of these stories, are sideline figures, and the common folk who truly suffered under the intolerance of the regime take center stage while the saintly More is given shockingly brutal treatment. Tudor fans will be pleased and excited by this fresh approach. (Apr.)

Case Closed Patrik Ouredník, trans. from the Czech by Alex Zucker. Dalkey Archive, $13.95 paper (152p) ISBN 978-1-56478-577-0

Some suspicious goings-on among a group of sprightly elders in a Prague retirement home prove fairly inconsequential to the enjoyment of this charming post-Communist mash-up of a detective novel, social satire, and chess game. Two arson attempts and a suspicious suicide have prompted chief inspector Vilém Lebeda of the Linden Street police station to interrogate the retirement complex’s residents, including widowed misanthrope Viktor Dyk. After a little gumshoeing, Vilém discovers that Viktor has a half-witted son, Dyk Jr., who harbors obscure memories of childhood violence, and that Dyk senior has ties to another murder that took place 40 years before at a cabin in the Ore Mountains that holds some interest to two of the retirees who come to ill-fated ends. Ouredník (Europeana) offers tantalizing clues in brief chapters and alternating points of view that are endlessly, and humorously, non-intersecting; but the chain of perhaps unrelated events amounts to a gleeful skewering of the Czech national character and a character-rich, dialogue-sassy send-up colored by a lingering Communist legacy. (Apr.)

Alexandra, Gone Anna McPartlin. Pocket/Downtown, $15 paper (352p) ISBN 978-1-4391-2333-1

McPartlin (Pack up the Moon) builds a thin novel around a missing person and the music she adored. After 36-year-old Alexandra Kavanagh disappears while running an errand in Dublin, her bereft husband, Tom, begins a small but determined effort to find her until a chance encounter with Jane Moore, Alexandra’s childhood friend, helps Tom to galvanize his search efforts. With assistance from Jane’s artist sister, Elle, and Web designer Leslie, Tom and Jane mount a national campaign, but as the search turns up dead end after dead end, the quartet finds that life continues apace: Jane and Elle resolve traumas and grievances, Leslie reaches out to new friends, and Tom learns to let go of his grief. Although McPartlin’s sense of humor helps these unlikely bonds of friendship to come to life, the plot is light on the suspense and pathos one might expect from a missing-person story, and since Alexandra is often conveyed in such a roundabout way—often by use of her favorite song lyrics—her disappearance, while central, is at odds with her incidental presence. (Apr.)

Soap Bubbles Denise Dietz. Five Star, $25.95 (452p) ISBN 978-1-59414-875-0

A fictional soap opera brings three friends joy and headaches in a nostalgic and convoluted melodrama that can’t decide if it wants to be a glitzy trash-a-thon, a thriller, or a heartstring-tugger. Aspiring actresses Delly Diamond, Anissa Cartier, and Maryl Bradley must break free from childhood ghosts and confront adult challenges on the set of Morning Star, a Guiding Light-esque soap, but their friendship and livelihoods are tested after a suspicious and deadly studio fire shuts down production and a recently fired Delly emerges as the prime suspect. Dietz (Fifty Cents for Your Soul) has trouble keeping the busy plot on track, while clumsy mood shifts and a too-heavy reliance on the friends’ requisite backstories of childhood trauma distract from what’s good about the book—namely, the period details and occasional soap opera histrionics. (Apr.)

Wildflowers of Terezin Robert Elmer. Abingdon, $13.99 paper (352p) ISBN 978-1-4267-0192-4

With combined sales exceeding a half a million books, inspirational author Elmer has transitioned nicely from his previous vocations as a pastor, reporter, and an ad copywriter. Elmer’s (The Duet) newest subject focuses on the Danish perspective of the Nazi takeover and extradition of the Jews. Written in quick-step style, Elmer does a fine job mixing a bit of joviality to help balance out the weighty and disturbing subject matter of this particular period of Danish history. The text centers on a burgeoning romantic relationship between Jewish nurse Hanne Abrahamsen and Danish Lutheran pastor Steffen Peterson. With a casual, impersonal faith, Pastor Steffen is challenged by his younger brother Henning’s commitment to the Resistance. Similarly, Steffen finds himself drawn to nurse Hanne and her courageous zeal to help the afflicted. Circumstances throw the two together and each begins a deeper, more introspective search for truth amidst life, death, and rampant suffering. Elmer’s work is so unaffected and genuinely heartfelt that readers find they are willingly reawakened to the horrors of genocide. (Apr.)

Fragile Beasts Tawni O’Dell. Crown/Shaye Areheart, $25 (384p) ISBN 978-0-307-35168-5

In her fourth outing, novelist O’Dell returns to Pennsylvania coal country for more dysfunctional family drama. When teenage brothers Klint and Kyle, having already been abandoned by their mother, are left orphaned by the death of their father, they’re unexpectedly taken in by an elderly, “filthy rich” recluse named Candace Jack, known for her family’s mining company, J&P Coal. Taking in the two working-class kids, Candace is reminded of her own emotional wounds (a heart long-broken by the violent death of her bullfighter fiancé), and the damaged trio grope their way toward healing amid heated cultural and generational clashes. Under Candace’s roof, likable and inquisitive Kyle begins to develop artistic skills, while sullen baseball prodigy Klint immerses himself even further in sports. When Kyle and Klint’s cold-hearted mom appears, looking to get at Candace’s money, a series of near-tragic events and terrible revelations ensue. O’Dell can overdo the sentiment, but she’s a pro at capturing dialogue, and some characters’ wisecracks are laugh-out-loud funny. Though predictable, this gritty novel is a memorable read. (Mar.)

Mystery

Children in the Morning Anne Emery. ECW (IPG, dist.), $24.95 (306p) ISBN 978-1-55022-927-1

Monty Collins’s appealing preteen daughter, Normie, applies her eerie “second sight” to crime solving in Emery’s engrossing fifth mystery to feature the Halifax, Nova Scotia, defense attorney (after 2009’s Cecilian Vespers). Monty’s latest client, celebrated lawyer Beau Delaney, stands accused of killing his wife of nearly 20 years, Peggy, by pushing her down their basement stairs one night and clobbering her with a stone. Peggy’s last reported words referred to Hell’s Angels, a possible clue to Beau’s troubled past. Normie’s unsettling dreams supply more leads. Meanwhile, Monty’s rocky relationship with Normie’s mother, who’s terrified she may lose custody of her baby to her angry Italian ex-boyfriend, adds more drama. The whole city of Halifax follows Beau’s trial, worried what will happen to his 10 children if he’s convicted, while Monty wonders if some cases are ever closed. Despite the book’s somewhat slow start, fans of traditional whodunits will be well satisfied. (May)

Eight for Eternity: A John the Lord Chamberlain Mystery Mary Reed and Eric Mayer. Poisoned Pen, $24.95 (308p) ISBN 978-1-59058-702-7; $14.95 paper ISBN 978-1-59058-718-8

Reed and Mayer’s excellent eighth John the Chamberlain mystery (after 2008’s Seven for a Secret) centers on the real-life Nika riots, which nearly destroyed Constantinople in A.D. 532. When two prisoners escape police custody, each a member of “the two main factions who supported the opposing chariot teams at the races in the Hippodrome,” Emperor Justinian sends John, his trusted chamberlain, to investigate. John soon finds the young men’s bodies in the chilly waters of a cistern. Meanwhile, two nephews of a former ruler may provide a rallying point for General Belisarius should he opt to stage a coup as rival political factions wreak havoc throughout the city. Subtle, well-drawn characters, from the ascetic John to the capricious and enigmatic Justinian; deft descriptive detail revealing life in the late Roman Empire; and sharp dialogue make this another winner in this outstanding historical series. (Apr.)

Silent Auction: A Josie Prescott Antiques Mystery Jane K. Cleland. Minotaur, $24.99 (304p) ISBN 978-0-312-58655-3

Cleland once again smoothly blends antique lore and a plausible whodunit in her delightful fifth mystery featuring antiques dealer Josie Prescott (after 2009’s Killer Keepsakes). When Josie shows up for an appraisal at the Rocky Point, N.H., lighthouse, she stumbles on the body of someone she knows on the kitchen floor. Frankie, the lighthouse caretaker and her good friend Zoë’s nephew, has “a ghastly dent in his skull.” The theft of a valuable scrimshaw tooth from the lighthouse owner’s vast collection may be connected to the murder, she concludes, as she lends her antiquing expertise in the subsequent police investigation. Series fans will enjoy getting reacquainted with familiar characters and meeting new ones. Everyone will learn a lot about the arcane art of scrimshaw. (Apr.)

Los Angeles Noir 2: The Classics Edited by Denise Hamilton. Akashic, $15.95 paper (328p) ISBN 978-1-936070-02-2

Like Manhattan Noir 2 and other previous “classics” entries in Akashic’s noir series, this entry, with its high-quality stories from such genre masters as Raymond Chandler and James M. Cain, outshines the typical all-original anthology in the series. Hamilton has been wise to select lesser-known works by legendary writers, guaranteeing that the volume will appeal both to fans unfamiliar with the stories and readers new to their hard-edged prose. The two best come from the pens of husband and wife Ross Macdonald and Margaret Millar. Macdonald’s Lew Archer looks into an actress’s disappearance in his taut “Find the Woman,” while Millar’s “The People Across the Canyon,” about a young girl who forms an unhealthy attachment to some new neighbors, offers an unconventional look at the darkness in the human soul. With the exception of Walter Mosley’s “Crimson Shadow,” the tales in the final “modern” section fall short by comparison. (Apr.)

Dead Head: A Dirty Business Mystery Rosemary Harris. Minotaur, $24.95 (256p) ISBN 978-0-312-56994-5

In Harris’s enjoyable third Dirty Business mystery (after 2009’s The Big Dirt Nap), Paula Holliday, amateur sleuth and gardening professional of Springfield, Conn., learns that one of her best clients, Caroline Sturgis, is actually Monica Jane Weithorn, the “Fugitive Mom” who escaped prison—where she was serving time for drug dealing—25 years earlier. Paula, whose landscaping business is suffering in the current bad economy, had been considering going into partnership with Caroline. Caroline’s distraught husband hires Paula to discover who turned his wife in to the authorities. Sgt. Mike O’Malley, a Springfield cop and Paula’s friend, wants to know more, too, ditto Paula’s journalist friend, Lucy Cavanaugh, who plans to do a story on Monica/Caroline. First-person flashbacks from Monica/Caroline add a depth missing from Paula’s previous outing. (Apr.)

Random Violence Jassy Mackenzie. Soho Crime, $25 (304p) ISBN 978-1-56947-629-1

Set in contemporary South Africa, Mackenzie’s triumphant debut introduces PI Jade de Jong. After roaming the world for a decade, Jade returns home to Johannesburg to take her revenge on the convicted murderer, about to be released from prison, who she believes killed her “highly respected police commissioner” father. Meanwhile, David Patel, her father’s former assistant, asks Jade for help in investigating the murder of Annette Botha, gunned down one night after getting out of her car to unlock a malfunctioning automatic gate outside her home. David and Jade later learn that robbers killed Botha’s brother a few years earlier, and that the dead woman recently retained a detective, who has since disappeared. The plot has more than its fair share of nice twists, and Mackenzie does a superb job of making the reader care for her gutsy lead while offering a glimpse at life in South Africa after apartheid. Readers will wish Jade a long fictional career. (Apr.)

From the Grounds Up Sandra Balzo. Severn, $27.95 (192p) ISBN 978-0-7278-6830-5

Maggy Thorsen, the proprietor of Uncommon Grounds, finds that rebuilding her coffee shop in the “Old Brookhills” section of Brookhills, Wis., can be murder in Balzo’s witty, smoothly plotted fifth caffeine cozy (after 2009’s Brewed, Crude and Tattoed). When Maggy’s real estate agent friend, Sarah Kingston, inherits the Old Brookhills depot, Sarah proposes to make the charming depot the shop’s new home—and become Maggy’s partner. Kornell Eisvogel, the obnoxious husband of the depot’s previous owner, threatens trouble until he stalls his car on the tracks just in time to meet the 8:15 commuter train. Kornell’s son, a remodeling contractor, soon pitches in as third partner. But someone doesn’t want the coffee shop to be reborn. Inexplicable accidents, Sarah’s arrest, and yet another death hamper the process. Despite warnings from Jake Pavlik, her county sheriff honey, Maggy is determined to track down the culprit. Fans of sassy, lighthearted whodunits will be satisfied. (Apr.)

Going, Gone: A Gail McCarthy Mystery Laura Crum. Perseverrance (SCB, dist.), $14.95 paper (192p) ISBN 978-1-880284-98-8

Former vet Gail McCarthy, now a stay-at-home wife and mom, encounters trouble while she and her husband and their six-year-old son are vacationing in California’s Sierra Nevada foothills in Crum’s less than suspenseful 11th equine puzzler (after 2008’s Chasing Cans). Soon after Gail and her family arrive at their friend Lonny Peterson’s ranch, Martindale County deputy sheriff Bret Boncantini, a childhood friend of Gail’s, arrests their host for the shooting murders of Lonny’s girlfriend, Lorene Richardson, and Lorene’s brother, Cole, who together ran the local livestock auction. Though Lonny’s fingerprints are all over the murder weapon, Gail’s positive he’s innocent and sets out to prove it. Crum’s easygoing approach to crime solving sometimes defies believability, but her solid knowledge of horses and the ranching life will appeal to horse-loving mystery fans who aren’t expecting a plot worthy of Dick Francis. (Apr.)

SF/Fantasy/Horror

Wicked Delights John Llewellyn Probert. Atomic Fez (www.atomicfez.com), $39.99 (352p) ISBN 978-0-9811597-2-0

Prolific horror writer Probert (The Faculty of Terror) offers up 18 gruesome, unsettling, and often unnervingly funny tales in his wide-ranging fifth short story collection. In “At Midnight, I Will Steal Your Soul,” a terrifying choir rehearsal in a haunted asylum leads an anxiety-plagued woman to a profound realization. “Two for Dinner” is a heart-pounding tribute to revenge horror films with a gleefully disturbing punch line. “The Mirror of Tears” is a haunting family drama about childhood terror and the sometimes damaging power of love. Vividly creepy images—the pages of a cookbook sucking on a child like leeches, an entire company being reduced to a sculpture of body parts as part of a corporate takeover—are all the more compelling when rendered in Probert’s breezy style. An illuminating and frequently hilarious afterword ends the collection on a gentle note. (Apr.)

Ares Express Ian McDonald. Pyr, $16 paper (388p) ISBN 978-1-61614-197-4

Hugo-winner McDonald’s virtues have long been underappreciated by major North American publishers, which may be why it took nine years for this sequel to 1988’s Desolation Road to make it from the U.K. to the U.S. Dissatisfaction over an arranged marriage and an ill-considered act of charity sends Sweetness Octave Glorious Honey-Bun Asiim Engineer 12th away from the train that was her home and into an epic journey across a terraformed far-future Mars. Sweetness’s efforts to recover her twin sister’s ghost from glib religious con man Devastation Harx entangle her in a conflict that spans time and multiple realities. McDonald’s fantastic Mars is vividly detailed and owes much to Bradbury’s Martian stories. Despite a bit of hand waving around technology that is glibly indistinguishable from magic, this sequel is entirely worthy of its rightly lauded predecessor. (Apr.)

The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, Vol. 4 Edited by Jonathan Strahan. Night Shade Books (www.nightshadebooks.com), $19.95 paper (528p) ISBN 978-1-59780-171-3

Strahan’s introduction calls 2008 “a good but not exceptional year for short fiction,” and in accurate reflection, all 29 stories collected here are good, but few are great. The standouts are memorable in a variety of ways: for sheer power of narrative voice, Pat Cadigan’s “Truth and Bone”; for human connections to inscrutable aliens, Damien Broderick’s “This Wind Blowing, and This Tide”; for humor amid life-and-death peril, Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear’s “Mongoose.” Hard SF fans should seek out the imperiled far future Earth of Stephen Baxter’s “Formidable Caress,” while a sense of wonder and menace permeates Peter Watts’s “The Island.” A few stories don’t feel as strong as they might have been, but there are no real wrong turns. (Apr.)

The Desert Spear Peter V. Brett. Del Rey, $26 (608p) ISBN 978-0-345-50381-7

In keeping with the recent trend of starting in the thick of the action, this sequel to 2009’s The Warded Man picks up in the heat of Jardir’s conquest of the greenlands. This choice may pull in new readers but risks alienating returning ones, since series hero Arlen Bales doesn’t even appear until midbook. Jardir, who seemed to mostly be a villain in the first book, is made more sympathetic through a flashback to his childhood warrior training and the machinations of his psychically gifted chief wife, Inevera, who seems part Bene Gesserit and part Lady Macbeth as she plots his rise to power. Romantic entanglements occupy much of the book and lead to an abrupt conclusion that would benefit from a gentler epilogue, but is sure to leave fans on tenterhooks waiting for the last installment. (Apr.)

Return of the Crimson Guard Ian C. Esslemont. Tor, $27 (720p) ISBN 978-0-7653-2370-5; $17.99 paper ISBN 978-0-7653-2372-9

Nearly 100 years ago, the Crimson Guard vowed they would not die until they destroyed the Malazan Empire. In this riveting sequel to 2009’s Night of Knives, the time has come for that vow to be fulfilled. The empire has been stretched too far, too thin. Empress Laseen is boxed up in Unta, the imperial capital, while the conquered and the conquerors clash on the Seti Plains. At last the call comes for the Crimson Guard to re-form and add their undying forces to the melee. In a long, bloody, explosive-filled battle to end all battles, Esslemont handily outdoes series cocreator Steven Erikson, evoking the gore and grit of the battlefield while cannily expanding the labyrinthine Malazan world and untangling the wickedly intertwined stories just enough to keep readers from feeling lost. (Apr.)

Dragonfly Falling Adrian Tchaikovsky. Pyr, $16 paper (468p) ISBN 978-1-61614-195-0

Tchaikovsky returns to the caste-haunted insect-themed world of 2010’s Empire in Black and Gold, as the inapt kinden realize that their natural gifts and old knowledge are no longer sufficient to allow them to dominate their apt cousins, who can use technology. The Wasp kinden have been slowly conquering the land for three generations, and the people of the Lowlands are finally waking to the danger that confronts them. As Wasps threaten Collegium, a city of innovators and a rallying point for Lowland resistance, the diverse protagonists struggle to salvage what they can, unleashing forces beyond their control. The story will be recognizable to anyone familiar with modern fantasy (or even the Persian invasion of Greece), but Tchaikovsky’s setting is innovative, the characters are engaging, and the battles are epic. Several further volumes are planned. (Apr.)

Mass Market

Heated Rivalry Patricia Sargeant. Dafina, $6.99 (352p) ISBN 978-0-7582-3144-4

Charismatic former NBA star Steven Crennell joins a Miami ad agency and finds himself facing off against the owner’s determined daughter in this sexy contemporary romance. Valerie Parker resents having to compete with newcomer Steve for accounts, especially when her father, Garry, gives Steve a client that Valerie brought in. The rivalry heats up as Garry continues to value Steve’s household name status over Valerie’s hard work. Valerie can’t deny her attraction to Steve, but how can she trust him when he won’t take tough stands against predatory women (including his gold-digging ex-fiancée) or Garry’s unfairness? As Valerie and Steve slowly discover their own moral and emotional strengths, Sargeant (You Belong to Me) turns this slightly Freudian tangle into an absorbing if lightweight emotional journey with broad appeal. (Apr.)

Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake Sarah MacLean. Avon, $7.99 (432p) ISBN 978-0-06-185205-3

Combine a few tried and true romance tropes, like the wallflower spinster and the jaded rake, with some improbable but amusing misadventures, and you have the makings of an entertaining Regency debut. Lady Calpurnia Hartwell, a plain but wealthy 28-year-old who refuses to marry a man who only desires her fortune, acts on a long-held crush and flings herself at Gabriel St. John, marquess of Ralston. Gabriel finds her antics more amusing than enticing, but his half-wild half-sister needs an impeccable chaperone and he chooses Callie for the role. Their proximity creates an infinite series of opportunities for the rake to practice his wiles on the more than willing wallflower. The 19th-century clothes are luscious, the 21st-century sensibility is raunchy, and it’s all implausible, escapist fun. (Apr.)

A Certain Wolfish Charm Lydia Dare. Sourcebooks Casablanca, $6.99 (352p) ISBN 978-1-4022-3694-5

Tough, resourceful, charming women battle roguish, secretive, aristocratic men under the watchful eye of society in Dare’s delightful Victorian paranormal romance debut. When Lily Rutledge’s 12-year-old ward, Oliver, displays sudden changes in size and appetite, she demands that his guardian, Simon Westfield, duke of Blackmoor, pay attention to the boy. Simon wants to take Oliver away and teach him about the Westfield werewolf heritage; Lily refuses to abandon her beloved near-son to the man who has ignored him for years. Simon and Lily are drawn to each other, but Simon’s secret and society gossip threaten their happiness. The scenes of passion and transformation are surprisingly gentle after an intense emotional buildup, and a lack of gory detail helps the novel retain a period feel and keeps it mild enough for mainstream romance fans. (Apr.)

The Chief Monica McCarty. Ballantine, $7.99 (464p) ISBN 978-0-345-51822-4

McCarty (Highland Scoundrel) begins a new Highland romance trilogy, this one set in the early 14th century. While Robert the Bruce attempts to consolidate the clans against the king, clan chief Tormod MacLeod hopes to remain above suspicion as he begins a special ops force, but his allegiance looks questionable after he’s tricked into marrying Christina Fraser, the daughter of a nobleman once imprisoned for supporting William Wallace. Tor faces internal conflict as his growing feelings for his wife battle his warrior code. McCarty devotes too much time to the special ops story line, and romance fans will find little to engage with as Tor remains cold in the face of Christina’s efforts to breach his emotional walls, but readers who deplore “wallpaper historicals” will appreciate not only the romance but McCarty’s efforts to go beyond the superficialities of historical Scotland. (Apr.)