Fiction

Mar 15, 2010

Red Rain Bruce Murkoff. Knopf, $26.95 (352p) ISBN 978-0-307-27207-2

Murkoff's distinctive second novel (after the much acclaimed Waterborne) spans five months in 1864 as Dr. William Harp returns to his Hudson Valley hometown after 10 years on a California expedition. With the nation at war and many locals in various states of decline, the doctor doesn't have much idle time. Among the lives that will intersect are mischievous, hard-drinking 13-year-old Coley Hinds, who is eternally torn between right and wrong; retired shipping captain Mickey Blessing; and Mickey's sister, Jane, who pines for her MIA soldier husband, Frank. A narrative lynchpin comes in the discovery of a mastodon skeleton, leading Will to purchase the land where it's found and to scavenge for other remains. Meanwhile, the hushed death of a local woman, violence involving Mickey and a local troublemaker, and jealousy of Will's notoriety for the skeleton he's begun reconstructing on his land all make for a heady denouement. The townsfolks' elaborately described machinations have a tendency to move the narrative in stops and starts, but that's about the only flaw in this dense, deliberate, and lush saga that will surely appeal to readers who appreciate brawny historicals. (July)

Banana Republican Eric Rauchway. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $25 (256p) ISBN 978-0-374-29894-4

In his unfortunate fiction debut, historian Rauchway (Blessed Among Nations: How the World Made America) imagines that Tom Buchanan, Daisy's loutish, unpleasant husband from The Great Gatsby, has written a memoir. For 30 pages, this is inspired: the famous lantern at the end of the dock dangles “like a broken wine bottle in a drunk's loose grip,” Daisy has grown pudgy, and the passage of time has tempered Tom's inherent unpleasantness with rueful humor. But then, in a bewildering shift, Tom decamps to Central America and becomes a key player in the United States' official and unofficial interventions in Nicaragua's turbulent politics circa 1925—1927. Tom goes everywhere and meets everyone (in the span of 20 pages, he runs guns for the rebels and goes on missions for the State Department's Bureau of Secret Intelligence) with an increasing sense of tedium and implausibility. As he seeks to protect family business interests, his conservative stances and racist attitudes become a one-note joke that quickly sours. Given the cleverness of the first two chapters, the unrelenting dreadfulness of the remainder of the book is bewildering. (July)

Walks with Men Ann Beattie. Scribner, $15 (112p) ISBN 978-1-4391-7576-7; $10 paper ISBN 978-1-4391-6869-1

Beattie (Follies) turns a clinical eye on young love in this moody period piece about Jane Jay Costner, who, just out of college in 1980, is given the opportunity to learn the ways of the world and of love from an older man. The affair is proposed as an intellectual experiment, and the reader cringes as young Jane becomes deeply involved with Neil, an older writer who is, predictably, married and no great catch besides. He offers a stream of pretentious aphorisms (“When you travel to Europe, never wear a fragrance from the country you're in”) that Jane initially admires but eventually distrusts. But even as her dislike for her lover grows, she becomes ever more entrenched. Beattie's talent as a prose stylist is evident: the sentences are gorgeous and there isn't a word out of place, but emotion is subdued to the point of aloofness, leaving the reader with little more than idle concern for Jane. Beattie effortlessly conjures 1980s New York, but the human terrain could be less muted. (June)

Cum Laude Cecily von Ziegesar. Hyperion, $23.99 (272p) ISBN 978-1-4013-2347-9

Gossip Girl goes to college in this tart satire of the class of 2014, centering on four mixed-up Dexter College freshmen who stumble through their first semester trying on life, love, and drugs. There's pretty rich girl Shipley, rebel-without-a-cause Eliza, repressed-artist Tom, and hippie-spawn Nick. “With a total population of only nineteen hundred, Dexter was a small college in a small town, but it still felt overwhelming compared to high school,” the kids discover, but the really scary bit is the newfound freedom—from families, histories, and their adolescent identities. In real life, this might be where the adults come in handy, but at Dexter, teachers (other than lesbian Professor Rosen) are nearly nonexistent, and the folks at home are distracted, disillusioned, or dolts. Plenty of Animal House antics and wiseacre banter keep this light and breezy, but von Ziegesar, whose Gossip Girl novels spawned the megahit TV series, adds a crisp and surprisingly steely edge that keeps the precocious teens from devolving entirely into smug knuckleheads. (June)

Girl in Translation Jean Kwok. Riverhead, $25.95 (304p) ISBN 978-1-59448-756-9

A resolute yet naïve Chinese girl confronts poverty and culture shock with equal zeal when she and her mother immigrate to Brooklyn in Kwok's affecting coming-of-age debut. Ah-Kim Chang, or Kimberly as she is known in the U.S., had been a promising student in Hong Kong when her father died. Now she and her mother are indebted to Kimberly's Aunt Paula, who funded their trip from Hong Kong, so they dutifully work for her in a Chinatown clothing factory where they earn barely enough to keep them alive. Despite this, and living in a condemned apartment that is without heat and full of roaches, Kimberly excels at school, perfects her English, and is eventually admitted to an elite, private high school. An obvious outsider, without money for new clothes or undergarments, she deals with added social pressures, only to be comforted by an understanding best friend, Annette, who lends her makeup and hands out American advice. A love interest at the factory leads to a surprising plot line, but it is the portrayal of Kimberly's relationship with her mother that makes this more than just another immigrant story. (May)

The Other Side of the Door Nicci French. Minotaur, $25.99 (368p) ISBN 978-0-312-37540-9

At the start of this pitch-perfect thriller from British author French, the husband-wife team of Sean French and Nicci Gerard, band singer Bonnie finds her “summer fling” boyfriend and fellow band member, Hayden, dead on the floor of a friend's London apartment. She proceeds to hide the corpse and obliterate every sign of her presence at the crime scene. This course of action is, predictably, full of pitfalls. Hayden's well-known involvement with other women could have provided Bonnie a motive for murder. To complicate matters, at least one more person appears to have altered the crime scene. Told in a tantalizing series of flashbacks, the narrative draws you into the inner world of the protagonist, a “tough cookie” who nevertheless endures a relationship that's so abusive the reader is never quite sure that she did not, in fact, snap. French (Until It's Over) takes the time to tease out individual characters to a degree seldom seen in crime fiction, saving the final plot twist for the last page. (May)

The Rehearsal Eleanor Catton. Little, Brown/Reagan Arthur, $23.99 (320p) ISBN 978-0-316-07433-9

“Theater,” says one of the characters in Catton's shrewd if turgid debut, “is a concentrate of life as normal.” This idea must be embraced in order to enjoy a novel in which the characters speak and act as if on stage. The girls at the Abbey Grange school are shocked by an affair between a teacher and a student, but Catton aptly observes that they are mostly disappointed by being only peripherally involved in such delicious drama. The girls confide in their saxophone teacher, a puppet-mistress straight out of Notes on a Scandal, who becomes intent on orchestrating a relationship between two of the girls when not delivering monologues on teaching and the psychology of teenage girls. A subplot follows bland first-year drama student Stanley and his increasing involvement with a group of Abbey Grange students focused on staging a play that will also provide a convenient narrative collision point. The novel's real subject is the performance of human life, and in this respect, Catton's choice of adolescent girls and drama students is apt, though the cast is limiting and their revelations repetitive. It's a good piece of writing, but not an especially enjoyable novel. (May)

The Nearest Exit Olen Steinhauer. Minotaur, $25.99 (416p) ISBN 978-0-312-62287-9

Milo Weaver, a former field agent with the CIA's clandestine Department of Tourism, returns to action after a stint in prison for alleged financial fraud in this intense sequel to The Tourist. His handlers want Weaver to pursue a mole rumored to have infiltrated the CIA's black-ops department, but with his loyalty in question, he must first undergo some test missions, one of which is to kill the 15-year-old daughter of Moldovan immigrants now living in Berlin. Such a horrific assignment further weakens Weaver's already wavering enthusiasm for his secret life, and he becomes increasingly preoccupied with reconnecting with his estranged wife and child. When bombshell revelations rock Weaver's world, he vows to somehow put international intelligence work behind him. Can he do so without jeopardizing his and his family's safety? Steinhauer's adept characterization of a morally conflicted spy makes this an emotionally powerful read. Author tour. (May)

Storm Prey John Sandford. Putnam, $27.95 (416p) ISBN 978-0-399-15649-6

At the start of bestseller Sandford's superb 20th Lucas Davenport thriller (after Wicked Prey), the getaway vehicle from a botched early morning robbery, which results in a pharmacy employee's death, almost collides with the car driven by Lucas's surgeon wife, Weather Karkinnen. Weather, who was on her way to work at the Minnesota Medical Research Center, becomes a key witness. Sandford masterfully handles both sides of the equation as the thieves—planner Lyle Mack, his brother, Joe, and their henchmen—work to cover their crime. The investigation belongs to Minneapolis deputy chief Marcy Sherrill, but Lucas of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension pulls out all the stops to protect his wife. Sandford creates additional drama throughout as Weather and a skilled team of doctors perform an operation to separate twins joined at the skull. Sharply drawn characters, intricate plotting, and smooth dialogue make this a sure-fire winner. 500,000 first printing; author tour. (May)

Raiders from the North Alex Rutherford. St. Martin's, $24.99 (448p) ISBN 978-0-312-59700-9

Drawn largely from the autobiography of Babur, the first Moghul emperor, this first of five planned novels about the Moghul empire is heavier on history than plot. The story begins in 1494, when Babur is 12 years old, and moves through the next 36 years, until his death. Babur is a descendant of Timur (Tamerlane to Westerners), a youth suddenly thrust onto a throne that he must defend against traitors and invaders, resulting in a quick education in leadership, torture, deception, merciless warfare, and unbelievable brutality. Babur's lust for power and glory lead him into vicious battles and deadly court intrigues where cruelty, treachery, destruction, and slaughter occur every day. The plot is thin, however, serving as a loose framework for Rutherford's exciting history lesson. The strength of this novel is not the story but the colorful depiction of savage leaders building voracious empires. (May)

Ether Evgenia Citkowitz. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $25 (256p) ISBN 978-0-374-29887-6

Screenwriter Citkowitz maps the territory where false starts and disappointment sometimes lead to unexpected opportunities in her debut collection of capricious stories and a disturbing novella. The title novella follows William, a frustrated writer who abandons New York for L.A. and falls in love with gorgeous actress Madeline. Their quick marriage inspires him to begin work on an autobiographical novel, but when Madeline develops a mysterious illness and befriends a strange young man (William calls him “the Psycho”), his attraction to her sours and his writing takes a dark turn. In “The Bachelor's Table,” Jonathan Edel, a new father, buys an unwieldy antique table on a nostalgic whim, and its presence through an uncomfortable Christmas with his alcoholic mother-in-law forces him to confront old regrets and feelings of inadequacy. An aging actress adopts a troubled boy in “Sunday's Child,” and the challenges they both encounter—at school, at home—come to an unexpected head when a young homeless woman is found sleeping in the boy's backyard playhouse. For all the uncomfortable situations and prickly emotion, the pieces are remarkably easy to digest. (May)

Six Graves to Munich Mario Puzo writing as Mario Cleri. NAL, $14 paper (224p) ISBN 978-0-451-23059-1

First published under a pseudonym in 1967, two years before The Godfather, this thin revenge thriller from Puzo (1920—1999) grafts elements of The Count of Monte Cristo onto a post-WWII European setting. Ten years after American Michael Rogan was left for dead by the Nazis and miraculously survived what should have been a fatal head wound in 1945, Rogan, now the millionaire owner of a computer company, returns to Europe for revenge. After dispatching the first of seven men who murdered his pregnant wife and interrogated him to get Rogan to disclose the Allies' secret codes, the avenger hooks up with Rosalie, a prostitute with a heart of gold, who becomes his companion and assistant. Displaying little of the sophisticated plotting or fully fleshed characterizations that distinguished Puzo's best work, this reissue won't add much luster to his reputation. (May)

Sweet Dates in Basra Jessica Jiji. Avon, $14.99 paper (368p) ISBN 978-0-06-168930-7

Jiji (Diamonds Take Forever) explores the ties that bind and break family, friendship, and love in 1941 Iraq. Heartbroken that her family won't allow her to marry at 13 and be “ushered to the protection of a new home under the guard of a stern husband in the dewy marshlands north of Basra,” Kathmiya Mahmoud is sent to work as a maid in the city of Basra, where her frequent visits to marriage brokers turn up no prospective husbands. Kathmiya begins fantasizing about Shafiq, her mistress's younger brother, and though the attraction is mutual, there's a massive cultural divide between his Iraqi Jewish family and her identity as a Marsh Arab. This chaste historical romance is densely populated and has trouble finding its way through a thicket of subplots, but the cultural perspective and setting are a nice break from the wartime norm, as is the unexpected ending. (May)

Tomorrow River Lesley Kagen. Dutton, $25.95 (352p) ISBN 978-0-525-95154-4

Set during the summer of '69 in rural Virginia, Kagen's stellar third novel, her first in hardcover, chronicles the dramatic changes in the lives of 11-year-old Shenny Carmody and her twin sister, Woody, nearly a year after their mother's disappearance. Woody hasn't spoken since, and their father, a renowned judge, spends most of his nights in a drunken stupor at Lilyfield, their Rockbridge County estate, often turning violent and cruel toward his two daughters. Shenny, adventurous and bright, takes it upon herself to locate their beloved Mama and discover why she left them. In her quest for the truth, Shenny learns many heart-wrenching lessons, not least among them that first impressions “can be dead wrong.” Kagen (Whistling in the Dark) not only delivers a spellbinding story but also takes a deep look into the mores, values, and shams of a small Southern community in an era of change. (May)

Elliot Allagash Simon Rich. Random, $22 (240p) ISBN 978-1-4000-6835-7

Saturday Night Live writer Rich's first novel (after two humorous collections) is a hit and miss riff on Pygmalion in which genial high school loser Seymour gets a life-changing makeover after meeting Elliot, a fabulously wealthy malcontent who has transferred to Seymour's Manhattan private school. Elliot's lessons on the power of money and the fine art of popularity are given in exchange for chubby Seymour's agreement to do whatever Elliot tells him to do, and, sure enough, Seymour transforms from consummate outsider to a Harvard-bound, straight-A class president. But as the book constantly reminds readers, there are things money can't buy, even for the Allagash family, whose astronomical wealth comes, believe it or not, from an ancestor's invention of paper. Elliot “knew the functions of all his father's companies... [but] never seemed to know what I was thinking or feeling,” opines Seymour, who grows increasingly complacent in Elliot's schemes and alienated from his dimensionless, doting parents. While Rich is undoubtedly funny and quick-witted, his novelistic chops are underdeveloped, and the narrative's inevitability and the lack of character development detract from the book's finer, funnier points. (May)

Killer Dave Zeltserman. Serpent's Tail, $14.95 paper (224p) ISBN 978-1-84668-644-3

The strong final book in Zeltserman's felon-out-of-prison trilogy (after Pariah and Small Crimes) focuses on hit man Leonard March, who cuts a deal with the state in exchange for a lighter sentence. By providing full details of the 28 murders he committed for “Boston's top crime boss,” Salvatore Lombard, March receives immunity from prosecution for those crimes. Pleading guilty to lesser crimes leads to his serving only 14 years in prison. Once freed in 1997, March gets a janitorial job in Waltham, Mass., but makes few long-range plans, convinced that it's only a matter of time before Lombard's goons take him out. Writers and journalists pursue the enigmatic March, seeking to capitalize on his murderous past, which is revealed in flashbacks, though survivors of his victims could seek any proceeds. Spare prose and assured pacing place this above most other contemporary noirs. (May)

Dreams of Sex and Stage Diving Martin Millar. Counterpoint/Soft Skull, $13.95 paper (224p) ISBN 978-1-59376-233-9

The grubby demimonde of London's Brixton district serves as the backdrop for this low-rent rock-and-roll tale. Millar's treatment of Elfish, a self-absorbed, indifferently promiscuous, and hygienically challenged young woman engaged in a revenge quest against Mo, her former boyfriend and bandmate, whose penchant for promiscuity is as ripe as his sexual encounters are squalid, reads like a less refined Trainspotting. Elfish's machinations focus on naming her nascent thrash band after Queen Mab, the fairy queen and wish-granter of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Not coincidentally, Mo wants to use the same name for his new band, and he offers a deal: if Elfish can memorize Mercutio's 43-line soliloquy, he'll cede the name. Elfish's quest to get her way is rife with variegated but always shameless machinations, and Millar laces dry, droll humor throughout his depictions of his antiheroine's lies, manipulations, and unabashed self-regard. Elfish's lack of charm provides a wry, even satisfying twist that resolves many subplots and inadvertently gives this antifairy many of the same powers ascribed by the Bard to Queen Mab herself. (May)

Drowning Tucson Aaron Michael Morales. Coffee House (Consortium, dist.), $15.95 paper (330p) ISBN 978-1-56689-240-7

Morales's sometimes powerful but disappointing debut portrays Tucson as a crumbling city teetering on the edge of disaster, where violence triumphs over every character and even the most hopeful of circumstances. The streets are run by the Latin Kings gang; their fates, like nearly all of Morales's characters, are sealed at birth. Among the expansive milieu, there's Jaime, a straitlaced teenager seeking revenge for the murder of his boyfriend; Mr. Gutierrez, a kindhearted old man overwhelmed with grief; Peanut, a gang member who wants a better life for his younger sister; and the women of Tucson, who seem to have little choice outside of becoming rape victims or prostitutes. Unfortunately, Morales's willingness to fall into scenes of graphic violence—not only to drive his point home, but for shock value and, often, to stand in for more original or artful prose—becomes woefully predictable. For a novel that wishes so earnestly for a better future for its downtrodden characters, it does everything in its power to obliterate those hopes in the reader. (May)

The Singer's Gun Emily St. John Mandel. Unbridled, $24.95 (304p) ISBN 978-1-936071-64-7

Mandel (Last Night in Montreal) attempts a globe-spanning crime novel, but the clunky, lukewarm result will please neither thriller aficionados nor more literary-minded readers. Anton Waker, a Manhattan water systems consultant, finds that his world is slowly imploding as his shadowy past as a document forger comes back to haunt him. Compounding his troubles is his alluring and Machiavellian cousin, Aria Waker, who is conspiring to reel him back in for one last big score. All the while, hard-nosed State Department G-woman Alexandra Broden is closing in on the forgery ring. Along the way—the narrative travels from New York to Canada to Italy—Anton must also come to grips with his crumbling marriage and an office romance. While Mandel's prose is brisk, the narrative reads like a slightly dressed-up B-movie screenplay—flat, stocked with one-dimensional characters, and relying on awkward flashbacks to explain away character motivations. But the biggest problem is the narrative's blandness: the sex isn't sexy and the violence isn't especially violent. (May)

The Fabulously Fashionable Life of Isabel Bookbinder Holly McQueen. Atria, $15 paper (376p) ISBN 978-1-4391-3796-3

McQueen brings back the charmingly inept heroine of The Fabulous (Double) Life of Isabel Bookbinder for another bubbly misadventure. Fresh from realizing she might not be cut out to be a bestselling novelist, 27-year-old Londoner Isabel Bookbinder now sets her sights on becoming an international fashion superstar, armed with not a lick of sewing talent but a lifelong love for celebrity style. After some false starts, Isabel fibs her way into a job as a personal assistant to Nancy Tavistock, business partner and “professional muse” to famous designer Lucien Black, whose recent breakdown is threatening to devalue his label. Despite the turmoil, Isabel thrives and discovers that if she can avoid the kinds of catastrophic misunderstandings that derailed her literary aspirations, she may be destined for fashion superstardom after all. Though the occasional stroke of extraordinary luck stretches belief, Isabel is a charming character whose wisecracks and personal evolution help her to stand out in the sea of airheaded urban fashionistas often found in the genre. (May)

Should an Eagle Fall Ken Hodgson. Five Star, $25.95 (300p) ISBN 978-1-59414-865-1

Near the start of this flawed if sometimes eloquent suspense novel from Hodgson (The Man Who Killed Shakespeare), Texas rancher Caleb Starr mistakenly shoots and kills a bald eagle released by a radical environmental group “that was supported mostly by affluent movie stars and recording artists.” Unfortunately for Starr, the shooting is witnessed (and videotaped) by evil, ambitious Marsh Wheelan, who uses the episode to glorify himself and smear Starr. Starr's friends and neighbors in Lone Wolf, Tex., support him in his struggle with the lawyers, politicians, and bureaucrats who pass and enforce unnecessary laws as well as the media people who inflame and distort cases like Starr's. Meanwhile, Starr's life starts to crumble as collateral damage hits those close to him. Hodgson's compelling scenario of a good man fighting big government will resonate with many readers, though others will find that the over-the-top villain undermines the message. (May)

The Bluesiana Snake Festival Aubrey Bart. Counterpoint, $14.95 paper (192p) ISBN 978-1-58243-577-0

Written in a thick, at times impenetrable, bayou patois, this debut novel from a former blue-collar New Orleanian is more about evoking the lived-in experience of French Quarter inhabitants than pursuing a dramatic narrative. Covering a single (pre-Katrina) night, Bart's story finds a full moon rising over a population busting at the seams; colorful characters such as Hidden Davey Crossway, Shushubaby, and Big Jim Bullshit, all city street sweepers, act as lenses through which readers explore the Big Easy's late-night backstreets in vivid, urine-stained detail. Bart's familiarity with the quarter shines despite challenging prose, a mix of New Orleans jive and a peculiar, poetic sensibility: “Place called Myrti's, St. Louis upto Burgundy: battened creole in spanish stucco, cornerfront french doors; red light outside, lowlight inside. Drag scene. Soul.” Matters of clarity aren't helped by characters like Leo Dazzolini, “the fastfood of lifestory”: “Ahm twenny yeath dithablt 'coun' ah almoth died. Ah tolya bot dat feeba ah caught dat time?” Those with the patience to decipher Bart's prose should find this an absorbing tour. (May)

Dark Moon of Avalon: A Novel of Tristan and Isolde Anna Elliot. Touchstone, $16 paper (432p) ISBN 978-1-4165-8990-7

The second installment of Elliot's Twilight of Avalon trilogy returns to the tale of former Queen Isolde and her devoted champion, Trystan. Now that Britain is in danger of falling to treacherous Lord Marche and his ruthless Saxon allies, Isolde knows that her only chance to save the kingdom is a desperate alliance with Saxon king Cerdic, whose willingness is uncertain. Trystan escorts Isolde on her quest to find Cerdic and, in the process, she learns more than she'd like about their time apart, during which he endured everything from slavery to torture; their greatest challenge, however, will be to trust their love. Elliot brings the Arthurian world to rich life, creating a Britain both familiar and distinctly alien to fans of medieval romances. Though Tristan and Isolde's romantic hedging, an obvious play to prolong the sexual tension, can frustrate, fans of the first book should be satisfied with this intermediary episode. (May)

Thunder Beach Michael Lister. Tyrus (Consortium, dist.), $24.95 (240p) ISBN 978-1-93556-205-4; $14.95 paper ISBN 978-1-93556-204-7

In this less than impressive stand-alone crime novel from Lister (Double Exposure), Merrick McKnight, an unemployed newspaper journalist, struggles to maintain his bearings after the deaths of his wife and their young son, Ty, in a car accident. In Panama City, Fla., where Merrick hopes to get a glimpse of Regan, the married stripper with whom he's been having an affair, who's in town with her weekend-biker husband, he spots a photo of Ty's much older half-sister, Casey, with whom he's lost touch, on the cover of the official magazine of Thunder Beach, Panama City's annual spring biker rally. When Casey is reported missing, Merrick goes on a hunt for the young woman that takes him in and out of strip clubs and seedy bars. A possible link with sex slavery raises the stakes. Some readers may find a misunderstanding that relates to Casey's fate a bit of a cheat, while the idealistic note struck at the end jars with the atmosphere of grim realism that pervades the rest of the book. (May)

Rumor Has It Jill Mansell. Sourcebooks Landmark, $14 paper (416p) ISBN 978-1-4022-3750-8

Londoner Tilly Cole discovers the perils of smalltown life in Mansell's perfectly executed exemplar of fluff. After her live-in boyfriend “does a runner,” Tilly ditches London for Roxborough and a job as assistant to interior designer Max Dineen. Much of the town's gossip centers on handsome ladies' man Jack Lucas, and despite his almost irresistible charm, Tilly resolves not to be the latest notch on his bedpost. Meanwhile, gossip threatens to wreck Tilly's friend Erin when she's targeted by a jealous former friend and gets Max's ex-wife, Hollywood soap-opera star Kaye Dineen, hounded back to England. At the center, Tilly and Jack get into tangles, literally and figuratively, as they bounce toward their happy ending. While witty dialogue and wry observations keep the pace brisk, Mansell (Miranda's Big Mistake) still manages to tug at the heart. (May)

Man's Companions Joanna Ruocco. Tarpaulin Sky Press (SPD, dist.), $15 paper (136p) ISBN 978-0-9825416-3-0

Thirty-one brief, clever tales from the author of The Mothering Coven employ traits from the animal kingdom to underscore absurdities in the human species. “Lemmings,” for example, features a desultory dialogue between two lovers who debate the better “iconic” location to jump from—the Space Needle or the Empire State Building. Some of the stories are longer and more satisfyingly developed, such as the nuttily obtuse “Flying Monkeys,” featuring a rarely intersecting conversation between two women onboard an airplane that reveals how the women—former best friends who happen to sit next to each other—can't stand each other. “Flies” pursues a narrator's meandering thoughts about the baking of a cake, moving from morbid medieval cake-baking rituals through the use of red batter to repel flies to the importance of appearance over taste, as a cake appeals above all to memory: “the way you once imagined some other cake tasting.” Though some selections are, at under a page, simply too short to make an impact, Ruocco's understated humor and irony have a playful, experimental appeal. (May)

Darlington Woods Mike Dellosso. Strang Communications/Realms, $13.99 paper (304p) ISBN 978-1-59979-918-6

No shortage of vampire books stock bookstore shelves today, but few combine Christian themes with ghoulish vampire villains like this headlong rush of psycho-spiritual suspense. When the wife and son of Rob Shields go missing, Shields must find them and their abductor, but only by facing his own darkest fears. In tow is essential female sidekick and moral voice, Juli: “You lost your wife and son. When did you lose your faith?” She leads Rob to Darlington, a horrific village of dread-filled citizens and “darklings” who rule by treachery and pure evil. Even Juli has demons of the past to exorcise. Never indulging in long boring tangents or fussy character descriptions, Dellosso's pacing is perfect and passionate. Even though the choice of setting and parts of the plot mirror the popular novel The Shack, readers familiar with that book will find this new combo of Christian vampire fare a quick and breathless read and will scream for more. (May)

By Fire, by Water Mitchell James Kaplan. Other Press (Random House, dist.), $15.95 paper (304p) ISBN 978-1-59051-352-1

Kaplan, a screenwriter, sets his debut novel in 15-century Spain, amid the Inquisition, the attempt to unify the kingdoms of Spain under Christian rule, and the voyage of Christopher Columbus to what the seaman expects will be the Indies. The action centers on the historical figure of Luis de Santángel, chancellor to the king of Aragon and a converso, a Jewish convert to Christianity at a time when the Inquisition sought to repress “judaizing.” Santángel is friend and financier of Columbus, surviving parent of young Gabriel, and more curious than is prudent about his Jewish heritage. While he learns about Judaism in clandestine meetings, a parallel story unfolds, centering on Judith Migdal, a beautiful Jewish woman who learns to become a silversmith in Granada, located in the last part of Spain under Muslim rule. Santángel's attraction to Judith grows, even as the Inquisition closes in and the prospect of another world to the West tantalizes. Kaplan has done remarkable homework on the period and crafted a convincing and complex figure in Santángel in what is a naturally cinematic narrative and a fine debut. (May)

Deliver Us from Evil David Baldacci. Grand Central, $27.99 (416p) ISBN 978-0-446-56408-3

Bestseller Baldacci's sequel to The Whole Truth (2008) lacks the creative plotting and masterful handling of suspense that marked his earlier thrillers. Evan Waller, outwardly a respectable Canadian businessman but secretly a human trafficker who sells children into prostitution, has expanded into arranging nuclear weapons deals with Islamic fundamentalists. Shaw, the lead of The Whole Truth, sets out to stop Evan, as does Regina “Reggie” Campion, a British femme fatale, who works for a clandestine group that tracks down and executes war criminals. Reggie and Shaw, both of whom intend to make their move while Evan is on vacation in Provence, cross paths while maintaining their cover stories. Shaw becomes attracted to Reggie, even as he fears that Evan, who's in fact a sadistic Ukrainian who served the Soviets, will abduct her. Crucial developments come across as contrived rather than clever. The ultimate resolution will surprise few. (Apr.)

Mystery

A Murder of Crows: A Sir Robert Carey Mystery P.F. Chisholm. Poisoned Pen, $24.95 (266p) ISBN 978-1-59058-657-0; $14.95 paper ISBN 978-1-59058-737-9

Set in 1592, Chisholm's fifth Sir Robert Carey mystery (after 2000's A Plague of Angels) includes a couple of potentially interesting supporting characters, Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare, but the playwrights come across as mere caricatures. Not much more developed are the two leads—Carey, the son of Anne Boleyn's sister, Mary, and thus cousin to Queen Elizabeth, and his sidekick, Sergeant Dodd, whose heavy dialect (“whit can ye dae to show us ye're no' one o' his kinship come tae trap us in ambush?”) can be tough to follow. Carey and Dodd seek legal representation to bring a case of unlawful imprisonment against the queen's vice chamberlain, look into the identity of an unclaimed corpse found in the Thames, and probe some shady land deals in Cornwall. Unfortunately, the multiple story lines fail to gel, and the plot drags for long stretches. Fans of Elizabethan historicals would do better with Rory Clements's Martyr (2009). (June)

Half-Price Homicide: A Dead-End Job Mystery Elaine Viets. NAL/Obsidian, $22.95 (272p) ISBN 978-0-451-22989-2

A posh Fort Lauderdale, Fla., resale shop provides the snazzy scene of the crime in Viets's superior ninth mystery starring Helen Hawthorne, the queen of dead-end jobs and magnet for murder (after 2009's Killer Cuts). Helen and Vera Salinda, the owner of Snapdragon's Second Thoughts, are shocked when Chrissy Martlet, a wealthy developer's sexy trophy wife, is found fatally bonked on the head with a Limoges pineapple, then hung with a Gucci scarf after trying to sell Vera some of her designer goods. Identifying Chrissy's killer as well as the culprit who bashes in the head of a model friend with a beer bottle tests Helen's sleuthing abilities to the limit. A teasing plot twist serves up a reminder that even if her greedy ex-husband, Rob, might finally stop pestering her and better jobs appear, there are still mountains to climb before Helen can rest easy with Phil, her PI honey. Viets doesn't waste a word in this tight, fast-paced installment as she deftly balances comedy and tragedy. (May)

A Curtain Falls Stefanie Pintoff. Minotaur, $24.99 (400p) ISBN 978-0-312-58396-5

Set in New York City in 1906, Pintoff's worthy sequel to her Edgar-finalist debut, In the Shadow of Gotham (2009), finds Det. Simon Zeile pursuing another sensational case. When chorus girl Annie Germaine turns up dead on a Manhattan theatrical stage, dressed in the outfit of the company's leading lady, Broadway impresario Charles Frohman asks the authorities to keep the tragedy as quiet as possible so the news won't affect the box office receipts. Next to Annie's body, which shows no marks of violence, is a cryptic note. Zeile soon learns that another actress, presumed to be a suicide, was found dead on another stage three weeks earlier, dressed up with a similar note next to her body. Certain that a serial killer is at work, the detective again consults criminologist Alistair Sinclair, who helped him investigate in the previous book. A larger pool of suspects would have benefited the plot, but the convincing period detail and expert storytelling will hook most readers. (May)

The Broken Circle Shirley Wells. Soho Constable, $25 (288p) ISBN 978-1-56947-638-3

Wells's solid fourth police procedural set in Lancashire (after 2009's Where Petals Fall) opens on a strong emotional note. Jill Kennedy, Harrington CID forensic psychologist and self-help author, interviews Claire Lawrence, a troubled prison inmate who's been convicted of killing her 11-year-old daughter, but has yet to tell authorities where she buried the body. While Kennedy tries to find out, her boyfriend, Det. Chief Insp. Max Trentham, investigates the murder (by head trauma) of Bradley Johnson, a well-to-do Kelton Bridge businessman. Since Johnson, an American who fancied himself a sort of “lord of the manor,” had made more enemies than friends, Trentham has his hands full in narrowing down the suspect list. Two other murder cases also occupy Trentham. While Claire's story grips, the less than spellbinding subplots plod along. Still, Kennedy and Trentham make an engaging sleuthing team. (May)

The Leavenworth Case Anna Katharine Green. Penguin, $16 paper (326p) ISBN 978-0-14-310612-8

First published in 1878, nine years before the debut of Sherlock Holmes in A Study in Scarlet, this atmospheric and suspenseful mystery well deserves a modern audience. When someone shoots Horatio Leavenworth, a wealthy retired merchant, through the head in his library late one night, the evidence at the inquest indicates that no one could have left the victim's locked Manhattan mansion before the discovery of the body the next morning. Suspicion thus falls on members of the household, specifically the dead man's nieces, Mary and Eleanore, only one of whom stands to benefit from their uncle's death. Everett Raymond, a junior partner in a New York law firm that had Leavenworth as a client, teams with unassuming official investigator Ebenezer Gryce to seek the truth. Green (1846—1935), whose smooth prose remains fresh, makes Gryce an interesting enough character to leave fans of traditional whodunits eager to see more of the detective in reissues of his further exploits. (May)

The Counterfeit Murder in the Museum of Man: A Norman de Ratour Mystery Alfred Alcorn. Zoland, $14.99 paper (336p) ISBN 978-1-58195-234-6

At the start of Alcorn's uneven third Norman de Ratour mystery (after 2009's TheLove Potion Murders in the Museum of Man), Norman, the Museum of Man's director and the book's bloviating narrator, discovers a murdered man in a parked car near the museum, located in the New England town of Seaboard. Unfortunately, the victim is “honorary” numismatics curator Heinrich “Heinie” von Grümh, a wealthy MOM contributor. Worse, Heinie turns out to have been shot with Norman's revolver, making him a prime suspect. Meanwhile, Norman must find a new home for a highly articulate chimp, fend off neighboring Wainscott University's efforts to take over the MOM, and look into whether the antique coins Heinie gave the museum are fakes. Alcorn's barbed darts at academia and the rarified world of top-notch museums amuse, but humor alone isn't enough to redeem a rambling tale of wavering morals populated by mostly unattractive characters. (May)

Grey Matters Clea Simon. Severn, $28.95 (240p) ISBN 978-0-7278-6840-4

Sluggish pacing mars Simon's second feline mystery starring Harvard doctoral candidate and nosy parker Dulcie Schwartz (after 2009's Shades of Grey). Outside the Cambridge home of her adviser, Professor William Bullock, with whom she just had an uneasy talk about her unfinished thesis on an obscure Gothic novel fragment called The Ravages of Umbria, Dulcie happens on the bloody corpse of handsome Cameron Dessay, a comp lit whiz who recently switched to English. Dulcie is understandably horrified, as is Professor Bullock's assistant, one of Cameron's many female admirers. Sussing out whodunit leads Dulcie and Mr. Grey, her ghost cat, into dangerous territory, while her romance with fellow grad student Chris Sorenson suffers. Though Simon scores with the spectral Mr. Grey and the likable Dulcie, some cozy fans will find Dulcie's constant fretting over her thesis distracting and wish for fewer details about the world of academia. (May)

Tom Wasp and the Newgate Knocker Amy Myers. Five Star, $25.95 (254p) ISBN 978-1-59414-870-5

At the start of Myers's entertaining second Tom Wasp Victorian historical (after 2007's Tom Wasp and the Murdered Stunner), Tom, a multitalented London chimney sweep, visits his friend Eliza Hogg, curiously called the “knocker,” at Newgate prison, where she's to be hanged the next day for killing her abusive soldier husband. Eliza gives Tom a pawn ticket for a mysterious china doll, which burglars later steal after ransacking Tom's lodgings. Suspense builds with the murder at palatial Claremont House of housemaid Dinah Johnson. Dinah's parents, leaders of the Rat Mob gang, want her killer found, and hire Tom as an undercover detective. Lending protection is the comical Mr. Chuckwick, a man of many disguises. Meanwhile, the rival Nichol Gang targets Tom and Ned, Tom's 12-year-old apprentice, perhaps because Dinah knew the identity of their own “putter-up” or mob leader. Fans of witty, lighthearted whodunits will be rewarded, though some may find the geopolitical significance of the doll stretches credulity. (May)

SF/Fantasy/Horror

Katja from the Punk Band Simon Logan. ChiZine (Diamond, dist.), $16.95 paper (280p) ISBN 978-0-9812978-7-3

This grungy, industrial novel is set during a dark, rainy night on an island where out-of-control industry routinely chews people into pulp. Having stolen a vial that supposedly contains a potent new drug from her sometime boyfriend, Katja hopes to barter it for passage to the mainland. Her plans lead to tenuous alliances with several equally desperate island dwellers, including junkies, drug lords, and corrupt parole officers, who cling to the belief that something—video games, drugs, self-mutilation, love, or just getting off the island—will set them free. Logan (Pretty Little Things to Fill Up the Void) maneuvers a large cast through overlapping sections of the plot, setting up characters separately and then slamming them into violent confrontations. Readers who can tolerate the deliberately unpleasant action will appreciate the skill with which it's presented. (May)

Crown of Destiny Bertrice Small. HQN, $13.95 paper (496p) ISBN 978-0-373-77449-4

Small's sixth and final World of Hetar erotic fantasy (after 2009's The Shadow Queen) wraps up the series with agonizing slowness. Lara, the half-faerie woman who has repeatedly saved the land of Terah in the past, is ready to do it again when her evil son, Kolgrim, becomes engaged to a woman whose magical powers will amplify his own. Small includes the plotting and intrigue, magic, and boatloads of sex that her readers have come to expect, but the story lacks the rich detail and captivating scenes of her older books. Lara's unfulfilled destiny and all the major plot points from the previous books are explained ad nauseam, and sex scenes take the place of conversations that might advance the plot. Only the most loyal fans will endure to the end. (May)

Climate of Change Piers Anthony. Tor, $27.99 (448p) ISBN 978-0-7653-2353-8

Anthony's fifth Geodyssey novel (after 1999's Muse of Art) covers approximately 100,000 years of human evolution, moving at the speed of the glaciers he frequently describes. In between lectures on the development of human bodies and culture, a small group of archetypes with names like Hero, Haven, and Harbinger act out scenarios that demonstrate Anthony's ideas. The result resembles nothing so much as a middle-school textbook with cheery characters attempting to make learning fun, except that these characters are deadly earnest. Anthony's thesis that much of our evolutionary history was caused by climate change is fascinating, but his fictional mouthpieces do little to improve his heavy-handed narration. Readers familiar with the brilliant nonfiction work in this field will find this “message novel” inferior in both scholarship and prose. (May)

The Green Leopard Plague and Other Stories Walter Jon Williams. Night Shade (Diamond, dist.), $24.95 (304p) ISBN 978-1-59780-177-5

In this provocative, entertaining collection of nine reprints, Williams (Implied Spaces) brings together tales of the College of Mystery as well as other explorations of the gray region where psyche and technology meet. Standouts include the Nebula-winning “Daddy's World,” in which a young boy finds himself trapped in a nightmare not of his making; “The Last Ride of German Freddie,” an alternate history in which Friedrich Nietzsche meets Wyatt Earp; “Incarnation Day,” wherein humanity raises its children as computer programs; and the title story, another Nebula winner, about a utopian society's birth and psychological effects. Coupled with extensive notes from the author, these stories invite readers to share and enjoy Williams's extensive knowledge of history, psychology, and culture. (May)

The Tears of Ishtar Michael Ehart. Cyberwizard/Ancient Tomes (www.cyberwizardproductions.com), $16.95 paper (284p) ISBN 978-1-936021-12-3

A by-the-numbers quest narrative, Ehart's old-school sword and sorcery yarn set in ancient Assyria simmers with action but stumbles over flat characters and clunky dialogue. For over 400 years, Ninshi has been forced to serve her master—a man-eating, shape-shifting Manthycore—by finding and defeating warriors for it to devour. Sick of enslavement, she seeks the counsel of a wise man on the banks of the Euphrates. He tells her to find the crystallized tears of the goddess Ishtar and bring them together to defeat the Manthycore. While thrilling at the outset, Ninshi's ensuing quests through Gilgamesh's Mesopotamia resemble the repetitive levels of a video game, and most of her allies and enemies seem to be mere tracings of Joseph Campbell's archetypes. (May)

Dead in the Family Charlaine Harris. Ace, $25.95 (320p) ISBN 978-0-441-01864-2

Still reeling from the deaths of her fairy cousin, Claudine, and many others in 2009's Dead and Gone, Sookie Stackhouse struggles with paranormal politics in her entertaining if slow-moving 10th outing. When Claudine's triplet, Claude, appears at her doorstep, Sookie reluctantly allows him to move in. The government threatens two-natures with mandatory registration, and tensions run high in the local Were pack. Then Eric's maker, a Roman named Appius Livius Ocella, arrives without warning, bringing along Alexei Romanov, whom he rescued from the Bolsheviks and turned into a vampire. Though the action often builds too slowly, the exploration of family in its many human and undead variations is intriguing, and Harris delivers her usual mix of eccentric characters and engaging subplots. (May)

Mass Market

Sweet Tea at Sunrise Sherryl Woods. Mira, $7.99 (400p) ISBN 978-0-7783-2845-2

Woods chooses a whimsical, sweet scenario for her sixth Sweet Magnolia contemporary romance (after 2010's Home in Carolina). Travis McDonald, a ladies' man and washed-up ballplayer, lights in Serenity, S.C., one day and decides to stay. He buys a radio station and, charmed by the friendly chattiness of Sarah Price, a recently divorced mother of two, lures her to become his morning DJ. Sarah, still fending off her belittling ex, Walter, impulsively agrees. Woods spends some time catching up with the robust cast developed in earlier books, and Sarah and Travis frequently play second fiddle to Walter's self-discovery, unexpected pregnancies, the local real estate market, and other smalltown dramas. For longtime fans, however, the digressions have their own charm, and Woods never fails to come back to the romantic point. (May)

The Wish List Gabi Stevens. Tor, $6.99 (384p) ISBN 978-0-7653-6503-3

In this charming but thin paranormal romance debut, Kristin Montgomery's life gets turned upside down when her three aunts blithely inform her that they're fairy godmothers, retiring, and selecting Kristin as their first replacement. The logically minded CPA quickly discovers that all is not wish granting and fairy dust in the world of the magic-using Arcani, where someone very dangerous may be planning a coup. She also has to cope with Tennyson Ritter, an inevitably attractive and arrogant wizard sent by the Arcani to test Kristin's abilities. Kristin enjoys granting kids' wishes, befriending sprites, and seducing Tennyson, but though she supposedly possesses vast untapped magical powers, they don't extend to identifying the (extremely obvious) villain or besting him without help. Readers will hope to see Kristin come into her own in the planned sequels. (May)

It Had to Be You Francis Ray. St. Martin's, $7.99 (304p) ISBN 978-0-312-36507-3

What begins as a tantalizing romance between two stubborn individuals loses some oomph in Ray's fourth Grayson Friends novel (after 2009's One Night with You). Zachary Albright Wilder, an in-demand music producer, is shocked and angry when beautiful, solitary classical musician Laurel Raineau refuses to work with him because of his scandalous reputation. Determined to persuade her, Zach follows her from Los Angeles to Mexico, keeping his identity secret. As Laurel learns to separate Zach's true character from the rumors, he discovers that “loving a person might be easy, but making a relationship work was another matter.” The love scenes are frequent and steamy, though the writing is often jumpy and clichéd, and readers who like a lot of glamour with their romance will enjoy the frequent references to fast cars, exclusive clubs, and high fashion. (May)

Tressed to Kill Lila Dare. Berkley Prime Crime, $7.99 (304p) ISBN 978-0-425-23474-7

Fans of the themed cozy will rejoice as new talent Dare debuts her Southern Beauty Shop series. Fresh from a disastrous divorce, beautician Grace Ann Terhune returns to sleepy, touristy St. Elizabeth, Ga., to work in her mother's salon. Old friendships and rivalries quickly revive, and Grace's horrid ex-husband follows her home. When nasty heiress Constance DuBois turns up dead after a contentious town hall meeting, suspects are plentiful. Chief among them are Grace Ann and her mother, who stumble upon the body and promptly decide to find the killer. Dare turns this off-the-rack concept into a tightly plotted, suspenseful mystery, and readers will love the pretty, plucky, smart, slightly damaged heroine and the rest of the charming cast. (May)

Comics

Forget Sorrow: An Ancestral Tale Belle Yang. Norton, $23.95 (256p) ISBN 978-0-393-06834-4

With a lilting voice and a strongly etched fairy tale hand, writer/artist Yang weaves a riveting true-life tale of ancestral jealousies and familial woes from her father's recollections of growing up in China. Her book begins with Yang in her 20s, recently graduated from college but unable to get herself out into the world, wounded by self-doubt and bad memories of an ex-boyfriend turned stalker. Back living with her immigrant parents in Carmel, Calif., Yang listens to her father's stories about his grandfather, a man of wealth and stature whose many feuding sons left the family dismally ill-prepared for the winds of change that WWII and Mao's revolution sent violently whipping through the land. Betrayal and infighting pockmark these stories of woe, though they're buttressed with an appreciation of an uncle's Buddhist disavowal of material possessions or desires. Yang's story, which balances her own struggles with those of her ancestors without clumsily trying to equate them, echoes both with the tragic darkness of King Lear and the clean austerity of classical Chinese poetry. (May)

Batman and Robin: Batman Reborn Grant Morrison, Frank Quitely, Philip Tan et al. DC, $24.99 (168p) ISBN 978-1-4012-2566-7

Following Bruce Wayne's reported demise, this Grand Guignol miniseries shows the competition to fill his role. Dick Grayson, the original Robin, has established a separate crime-fighting identity as Nightwing, but now has donned the iconic cape and mask of Batman. Partnered with bratty, impatient 10-year-old Damian (son of the original Wayne), he wants to modernize Batman's equipment but maintain his high principles. Dick's successor as Robin, Jason Todd, now calls himself the Red Hood and believes that the way to reduce crime is to kill criminals as dramatically as possible. Unfortunately, the Red Hood's violent tactics bring reprisals in the form of the Flamingo, an incredibly vicious South American assassin who enjoys skinning and eating the faces of beautiful young women. Morrison's scripts use this dark material effectively, and the art—first by Quitely, then by a team of three—is dazzling. In this largely self-contained episode, Morrison expertly retools DC's old superhero machinery. When combined with Quitely, it nearly reaches the heights of the duo's previous All-Star Superman. (Apr.)

Red Michael Nicoll Yahmagulanaas. Douglas & McIntyre, $28.95 (120p) ISBN 978-1-553653-53-0

The work of an artist from the indigenous people of the North Pacific Canadian islands of Haida Gwaii, this “Haida manga” intriguingly blends graphic storytelling with a fine art sensibility. The narrative involves the title character's loss of his sister to a party of raiders and the boy's vow to someday find and rescue her, a goal he puts into effect upon becoming the leader of his people. His quest for vengeance results in a series of tragic events that author Yahmagulanaas communicates via an arresting series of images evoking the traditional visual arts of the Haida people. Designed so its pages can be torn out (provided the reader has two copies) and arranged according to a provided layout, the separate pages combine to form a stunning tapestry; when the layout is followed and the book is seen as a cohesive piece of visual art, the story does not fall prey to moments of confusing storytelling that occur when read as a page-by-page work, and the legendary feel of the piece shines through. A unique work with appeal both for those looking for something different in graphic novels, and for those with an interest in the expression of contemporary Native American culture. (Mar.)

Arata: The Legend, Vol. 1 Yuu Watase. Viz, $9.99 paper (208p) ISBN 978-1-4215-3420-6

This appealingly illustrated fantasy yarn from the creator of Fushigi Yugitells the story of Arata, the heir to the throne of an extradimensional realm populated by magic-wielding men and gods. Unfortunately for Arata, the successors to the throne are all supposed to be female, but the royal family has produced no daughters in three decades, forcing the last princess to serve for two terms of office. As the time of ascension nears, Arata is forced to appear disguised as a girl, a situation he loathes, but an attempted political assassination/revolution exposes his true sex and sets in motion the arrival of his double from our world (also named Arata) and Arata's emergence into modern-day Japan and the angst-ridden high school soap opera of his put-upon doppelgänger. Meanwhile, our world's Arata finds himself in the midst of political intrigue and on the receiving end of a sentence of exile when he's framed for attempted murder, but he finds levels of courage he never displayed in his previous situation. As the Aratas of two worlds have no choice but to live as their mirror image, the stage is set for an epic and entertaining blending of the mundane and the mystical. (Mar.)