Fiction
Reviews of new fiction, thrillers, mysteries, poetry, romance, science fiction, and graphic novels

Apr 12, 2010

Three Sisters Bi Feiyu, trans. from the Chinese by Howard Goldblatt and Sylvia Li-chun Lin. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $24 (288p) ISBN 978-0-15-101364-7

With a mercilessly satirical eye, Bi (The Moon Opera) observes domestic and communal life in late 20th-century China as three of the seven daughters of Wang Lianfang strive for identity and self-respect. In 1971, when serial philanderer Wang is finally caught, he loses his job and the family loses face. Yumi, his eldest daughter, is forsaken by her fiancé and becomes the second wife to an older man in a nearby town. This is a step up, but her new home is no less a hothouse of gossip and suspicion. The third sister, beautiful Yuxiu, follows Yumi with big hopes that are derailed by an unexpected pregnancy. A decade later, youngest sister Yuyang is poised to escape a dreary fate when she’s accepted by a school in Beijing, but she, too, has heartbreak in store. Bi describes with a sober bluntness the coarse brutality and familial and community power jockeying that plays out in villages where life is governed by strict rituals, superstition, and folk beliefs. Drawn with dispassionate candor, this is a bleak tale of human miseries and of women struggling to survive in a culture that devalues them. (Aug.)

The Vanishing of Katharina Linden Helen Grant. Delacorte, $24 (304p) ISBN 978-0-385-34417-3

It may seem strange to describe Grant’s debut as a charming horror novel, but there’s a determined amiableness about the narrative that will appeal to readers who wouldn’t typically be drawn to such subject matter. It’s December 1998, and 10-year-old Pia Kolvenbach and her family are living happily in the quaint German town where her father grew up, until Pia’s grandmother accidentally sets herself on fire and burns to death. A rumor erupts that her grandmother exploded, and, overnight, Pia becomes an outcast. Her only friend from then on is the most unpopular boy in her class, nicknamed StinkStefan. The two of them begin visiting an elderly man who entertains them with ghost stories from local folklore that Pia and StinkStefan hope might help them solve the decades-old mystery of a number of local girls who have gone missing. The story’s richness isn’t as much in the mystery plot as it is in the finely rendered background, where desperate parents strive to protect their children in an uncertain world, though the simplicity of the narration makes the novel feel lighter than probably intended. (Aug.)

What Is Left the Daughter Howard Norman. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $25 (256p) ISBN 978-0-618-73543-3

Set on the Atlantic coast of Canada during WWII, Norman’s latest (after Devotion) is an expertly crafted tale of love during wartime. Wyatt Hillyer loses both his parents on the same day when they jump from different bridges in Halifax, Nova Scotia, after they discover they are both having affairs with the woman next door. Wyatt’s aunt and uncle take him in, and Wyatt becomes his uncle’s apprentice in his sled and toboggan business and, despite the circumstances, soon falls in love with his adopted cousin, Tilda. Yet he must resign himself to loving from a distance when Tilda brings home Hans Moehring, a German university student. The two begin a courtship harshly complicated by reports of U-boat attacks on Canadian ships, and Tilda’s father becoming increasingly uneasy about this potential enemy in their midst. Norman’s writing is effortless, and his plot is grand in scope but studded with moments of tenderness and intimacy that help crystallize the anxiety and weariness of life on the home front. That Norman is able to achieve so much in 250 pages is a testament to his mastery of the craft. (July)

The Transformation of Bartholomew Fortuno Ellen Bryson. Holt, $25 (400p) ISBN 978-0-8050-9192-2

Inspired by a vintage circus photograph, Bryson’s first novel tells the fictional story of the unusual relationship between two human curiosities from P.T. Barnum’s American Museum. Bartholomew Fortuno, the world’s thinnest man, is asked by Barnum to keep an eye on his latest acquisition—Iell Adams, the bearded woman, who is kept in seclusion until the impresario can introduce her to the world. Fascinated by her and desiring a transformative experience, Bartholomew falls hopelessly in love with Iell, much to the surprise of his fellow Curiosities. Bartholomew also gets caught in the middle of a war between Barnum and his jealous wife for control of Iell’s future. The story culminates at Barnum’s birthday party, where Bartholomew is shocked to discover Iell’s big secret. Though thin on plot, this work sympathetically conjures up the backstage world of Barnum’s museum and the pecking order of his Curiosities, and magically transports the reader back in time to Gilded Age New York. Fans of Water for Elephants are sure to want to enter this wondrous midway attraction of a novel. (July)

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake Aimee Bender. Doubleday, $25.95 (304p) ISBN 978-0-385-50112-5

Taking her very personal brand of pessimistic magical realism to new heights (or depths), Bender’s second novel (following An Invisible Sign of My Own) careens splendidly through an obstacle course of pathological, fantastical neuroses. Bender’s narrator is young, needy Rose Edelstein, who can literally taste the emotions of whoever prepares her food, giving her unwanted insight into other people’s secret emotional lives—including her mother’s, whose lemon cake betrays a deep dissatisfaction. Rose’s father and brother also possess odd gifts, the implications of which Bender explores with a loving and detailed eye while following Rose from third grade through adulthood. Bender has been called a fabulist, but emerges as more a spelunker of the human soul; carefully burrowing through her characters’ layered disorders and abilities, Bender plumbs an emotionally crippled family with power and authenticity. Though Rose’s gift can seem superfluous at times, and Bender’s gustative insights don’t have the sensual potency readers might crave, this coming-of-age story makes a bittersweet dish, brimming with a zesty, beguiling talent. (June)

Spies of the Balkans Alan Furst Random, $26 (288p) ISBN 978-1-4000-6603-2

Set in Greece in 1940, this powerful WWII thriller from Furst (The Spies of Warsaw) focuses on Costa Zannis, a senior Salonika police official known for his honesty and ability to settle matters “before they got out of hand.” As the Nazis’ intentions for Europe’s Jews becomes clear, Zannis goes out of his way to aid refugees seeking to escape Germany. When Mussolini’s troops invade Greece, Zannis joins the army, where he meets Capt. Marko Pavlic, who as a policeman in Zagreb investigated crimes committed by the Ustashi, Croatian fascists. With their similar politics, Zannis and Pavlic soon become friends and allies. Subtle details foreshadow the coming crimes perpetrated by the Nazis in the Balkans. For example, Zannis learns from a colleague that someone has been taking photos of the contents of a synagogue so that the Germans can more easily identify what to plunder. Furst fans will welcome seeing more books set in less familiar parts of Europe. (June)

The Liar’s Lullaby Meg Gardiner Dutton, $25.95 (368p) ISBN 978-0-525-95172-8

Jo Beckett investigates a national security threat in Edgar-winner Gardiner’s absorbing third thriller to feature the San Francisco forensic psychiatrist (after The Memory Collector). When troubled country singer Tasia McFarland—who happens to be the U.S. president’s ex-wife—dies of a gunshot wound to the neck during a stunt that goes awry at a huge outdoor concert, Jo’s SFPD friend, Lt. Amy Tang, asks Jo to help determine whether Tasia, who fired a Colt .45 automatic as part of the stunt, shot herself or was shot by an assassin. The ballistics are inconclusive. As Jo looks into the sordid details of Tasia’s life, an antigovernment extremist, Tom Paine, who runs a conspiracy-fueled Web site called Tree of Liberty, accuses people in the government—in particular, President Robert McFarland—of orchestrating Tasia’s death and demands punishment for those responsible. Despite the broad scope of Jo’s inquiry, Gardiner mostly manages to keep the far-reaching plot on course. (June)

The Dead Lie Down Sophie Hannah Penguin, $15 paper (480p) ISBN 978-0-14-311749-0

Det. Sgt. Charlotte “Charlie” Zailer and Det. Constable Simon Waterhouse face one of their strangest cases yet in this superb thriller from Hannah (The Wrong Mother). Ruth Bussey, who suffered a violent attack years earlier, arrives at the police station in the English town of Spilling and explains that her boyfriend, painter Aidan Seed, confessed to murdering a woman named Mary Trelease. Charlie and Simon—who recently got engaged, despite their bizarre relationship—are reluctant to take Ruth seriously, especially after they learn that Mary, a reclusive painter, is alive and well. Ruth’s insistence, bordering on the obsessive, prompts the detectives to start digging into Mary’s history. The pair soon discover disturbing links to Aidan and the art world. When an actual murder is committed, Charlie and Simon must sort out what’s real and what’s imagined. A master of intricate plotting, Hannah seamlessly melds the police procedural with a gothic-inspired whodunit. 5-city author tour. (June)

Leaving the World Douglas Kennedy. Atria, $16 paper (512p) ISBN 978-1-4391-8078-5

Published to acclaim in the U.K. and France in 2009, Kennedy’s ninth novel is a complex study of a line early in the book: “nobody gets away lightly in life.” On the morning after narrator Jane Howard’s 13th birthday, her father, citing Jane’s comment that “No one’s actually happy,” walks out on the family. Jane shuts down emotionally, but excels academically and while at Harvard begins an affair with her married thesis adviser, David, which ends four years later when he’s killed in an accident. Moving on from making big bucks in finance, Jane ends up teaching at a third-tier university in Boston where she falls in love and has a daughter with film archivist Theo, who along with his new paramour, cheats Jane out of most of her savings. Life only gets harder, until, just when Jane is ready to give up, she gets involved in a child-murder investigation in Calgary, Canada. Jane is a quintessential heroine who never makes excuses or wallows in self-pity, despite her grief. Episodically structured yet with a strong narrative drive, this is a book with lasting impact: powerful, provocative, and tender. (June)

The Summer We Read Gatsby Danielle Ganek. Viking, $24.95 (292p) ISBN 978-0-670-02178-9

Two half-sisters search for the “thing of utmost value” in an inherited ramshackle Southampton cottage in Ganek’s witty new novel (after Lulu Meets God and Doubts Him). The story is narrated by introverted, newly divorced, would-be writer Cassie, but the flamboyant center of the story is her older half-sister, Peck, a theatrical socialite determined to “bring out” her sister while thwarting Cassie’s sensible plan to sell Fool’s House, the cottage they’ve jointly inherited from their eccentric aunt Lydia. As they wonder whether the house’s treasure is a Jackson Pollock painting, a first edition of The Great Gatsby, or a family secret, the sisters’ contrasting personalities clash in hilarious ways. During a summer marked by parties that recall both the artsy milieu of Pollock and the posh extravagance of Gatsby, the two sisters run into long-lost loves, strange neighbors, aggressive real estate agents, and charming artist hangers-on as they ponder the legacy of their beloved Aunt Lydia and their relationship to each other. Even though many of the novel’s revelations can be seen a mile away, getting there is a fun, witty, and surprisingly moving trip. (June)

Pray for Silence Linda Castillo Minotaur, $24.99 (320p) ISBN 978-0-312-37498-3

In this overwrought thriller from Castillo, her second after Sworn to Silence, someone slaughters all seven members of the Amish Plank family at their home in Painters Mill, Ohio. The bodies of the two teenage daughters show signs of torture. At first, it appears the father, Amos, killed his wife and five children, then shot himself. When clues point to a killer outside the family, Kate Burkholder, the local police chief who left the Amish community decades before, zeroes in on 15-year-old Mary, who may have flirted with the idea of living in the “English” world. Lending a hand is Kate’s on-again/off-again boyfriend, John Tomasetti, an agent suspended from the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and Identification for failing a recent drug test in the wake of his own family’s murder about two years earlier. Castillo excels at detailing gory crime scenes, but she leaves Kate and John as little more than cookies cut from the same “troubled cop” mold. Author tour. (June)

Speak No Evil Martyn Waites Pegasus (Norton, dist.), $25.95 (400p) ISBN 978-1-60598-096-6

Waites’s brilliant fourth Joe Donovan thriller (after White Riot) puts him in the same league as such established contemporary noir masters as Ian Rankin, John Harvey, and Denise Mina. When Mae Blacklock was 11, she strangled a boy to death in a fit of rage. The story, which made for lurid tabloid fodder, became a common reference point in Britain for juvenile homicide. Forty years later, Mae, now Anne Marie Smeaton, asks Newcastle PI and former journalist Joe Donovan to work with her on a tell-all memoir. Waites alternates between Anne Marie’s interview sessions and an increasingly bizarre series of crimes, in which first one and then two children in nearby communities are murdered. Donovan’s investigative team gradually uncovers a pattern of child killings over the years that appears to follow Smeaton’s frequent moves. Donovan’s continued search for his son, who disappeared six years earlier, at age six, raises the emotional stakes in this searing crime novel. (June)

An American Type Henry Roth, edited by Willing Davidson. Norton, $25.95 (320p) ISBN 978-0-393-07775-9

This posthumous work by the much lauded Roth (Call It Sleep), assembled by former New Yorker editor Davidson from nearly 2,000 manuscript pages, continues the story of Roth’s alter ego, Ira Stigman. Ira, a Jewish writer, has already published his first novel to much acclaim and is struggling with the second (at Yaddo, no less) when he falls for M, a fetching Midwestern pianist, despite having Edith, his domineering mentor and lover, waiting back in New York City. Ira’s search for artistic inspiration soon requires a change of scenery, so he and his latest muse, a fervent Communist, travel to L.A., but things get off to a rocky start: Ira’s one contact is no longer in town and work is hard to come by, but to turn to Edith or M for help would compromise Ira’s effort to stand on his own. The novel comes close to achieving its aspirations of being a sweeping portrait of 1930s America and the story of a writer struggling with art, love, and finding his own voice, but despite a strong start, the narrative loses resonance as it meanders toward an abrupt and unsatisfying conclusion. (June)

The Love Song of A. Jerome Minkoff: And Other Stories Joseph Epstein. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $24 (272p) ISBN 978-0-618-72195-5

Epstein (Fabulous Small Jews) delivers a faulty collection of 14 relentlessly similar, uninspired tales. Mostly about Chicago Jews—particularly male intellectual Chicago Jews—these stories meditate on the perceived faults of others while trumpeting the achievements of the narrators (Yale and comfortable tenure appear more than once). This restrictive formula grows old fast, as do the dismissive and stereotypical treatment secondary characters get: an Irish-American who reeks of beer, a feminist who talks “exclusively about herself and the difficulty of her adolescent menstrual cycles,” and Mexican teenagers who “walked by in baggy jeans low on the hips, unlaced gym shoes, and baseball caps worn backwards.” While this could be read as humor, stock characters don’t leave much room for introspection, development, or nuance. The contrived prose and characters reveal Epstein, a successful nonfiction writer, to be out of his element. (June)

Every House Needs a Balcony Rina Frank, trans. from the Hebrew by Ora Cummings. Harper, $24.99 (320p) ISBN 978-0-06-171423-8

In her first English translation, Israeli author Frank offers a captivating roman à clef told, in part, by a stubborn eight-year-old girl named Rina, whose family emigrates from Romania to Haifa, Israel, following WWII. Living in poor conditions with two other families in a small three-room apartment, Rina and her older—and wiser, and more practical—sister take pleasure in repainting game tiles, bathing once a week, and picking out third-hand blouses from America. The sisters connect with their diverse city from their balcony, which gives them a view into even less fortunate lives. Interspersed with Rina’s childhood memories, a third-person narrative follows the adult Rina as she falls in love with a handsome Spaniard from a well-to-do family, marries him, moves to Barcelona, and returns to Israel to give birth. Though Rina’s spunky personality (and her sister’s sound advice) remain consistent throughout, Frank’s cunning use of the intermittent first person reveals Rina’s childhood in parts, meaning that readers come to understand the grown Rina’s actions only gradually. (June)

Girl by the Road at Night David Rabe Simon & Schuster, $23 (240p) ISBN 978-1-4391-6333-7

Rabe, widely known for his Vietnam plays (Sticks and Bones; etc.), delivers his first Vietnam novel, a competent addition to a very busy subgenre. Pfc. Joseph Whitaker is a draftee from Platteville, Wis., who hopes he will learn how to repair cars in the army. Quach Ngoc Lan is a prostitute whose often abusive clients are GIs. After Whitaker arrives in-country, he, like nearly every GI he meets, spends his free time getting drunk or stoned and looking for sex, which is how he runs into Lan. Rabe presents Lan with some caution—her interiority is murkier than Whitaker’s—as her feelings about Whitaker evolve and, in a haunting bit of foreshadowing, she’s visited by her uncle, who wants a photo of her to put on the family altar. How that photo falls into Whitaker’s hands, and what he does with it, is the plot’s cruel point of convergence. Although Rabe doesn’t add much to our understanding of Vietnam, this novel amply demonstrates the war’s relentlessly dehumanizing power. (June)

Silencing Sam Julie Kramer Atria, $23.99 (352p) ISBN 978-1-4391-7799-0

Cartoonish characters and thin prose mar Kramer’s third media-savvy thriller featuring Minneapolis, Minn., TV reporter Riley Spartz (after Missing Mark). When someone shoots to death newspaper gossip columnist Sam Pierce, who recently raised questions in his column about Riley’s relationship with a former cop, Nick Garnett, so soon after her husband’s death, Riley becomes a murder suspect. Another thorn in Riley’s side is showboating Texan Clay Burrel, a fellow Channel 3 investigative journalist, who will stop at nothing to bury the competition, including Riley, with stories about such topics as a decapitated female corpse, Sam’s murder, and the hijinks surrounding a wind turbine farm disrupted by explosive protests. Clay’s corny, over-the-top John Wayne manner and an unconvincing subplot about Sam’s personal life weigh down the action, though Kramer registers some sharp observations regarding the changes rocking the journalism industry. (June)

Book of Shadows Alexandra Sokoloff St. Martin’s, $24.99 (320p) ISBN 978-0-312-38471-5

At the start of Sokoloff’s solid crime thriller, the discovery in a landfill of the mutilated corpse of Erin Carmody, the 18-year-old daughter of a prominent Boston businessman, presents homicide detective Adam Garrett with a particularly sensitive case. Marks on the body suggest the killer was conducting Satanic rituals. When Adam and his partner, Carl Landauer, question the prime suspect, Jason Moncrief, a college friend of Erin’s, Jason chants the name of the demon Choronzon, then assaults Carl. Despite what appears to be an open-and-shut case, Adam can’t discount the claim that Jason is innocent made by Tanith Cabarrus, an attractive witch who comes to police headquarters to report that she dreamed of other murders—and who believes that supernatural forces are behind the slaughter. As usual, Sokoloff (The Unseen) does a good job keeping the reader guessing whether a supernatural agency is really at work. (June)

Agents of Treachery: Breathtaking, Never Before Published Spy Fiction from Today’s Most Exciting Writers Edited by Otto Penzler Vintage/Black Lizard, $15.95 paper (448p) ISBN 978-0-307-47751-4

Astonishingly, as mystery maestro Penzler points out in his cogent introduction, “there has never been, until now, a collection of original stories devoted” to spy fiction. Penzler has assembled 14 of the biggest names in the thriller genre—such as Lee Child, Joseph Finder, Stephen Hunter, Gayle Lynds, and David Morrell—who all rise to the challenge of writing a short story set in the complex world of international espionage. This unique anthology’s best entry, Charles McCarry’s “The End of the String,” which depicts an intelligence officer’s role in a planned coup aimed at a despotic African president-for-life, will evoke comparisons with John le Carré and Graham Greene. The superlative writing is matched by the variety, which ranges from tales with clever twists to straightforward ones, some contemporary, others with historical settings. (June)

After the Fall Kylie Ladd. Doubleday, $25.95 (304p) ISBN 978-0-385-53281-5

Neuropsychologist Ladd’s flat debut is narrated by four Australians who make three pairs: Cary and Kate, and Luke and Cressida, two married couples—and Kate and Luke, who fall headlong into an affair that could have big consequences. Cary is a chivalrous doctor who desperately wants children, while his impetuous wife, Kate, an anthropologist, is the lusty life of every party. Then there’s Luke, the dashing ad man everyone falls in love with, and Cressida, his beautiful pediatrician wife, who is more dedicated to her patients than to her personal life. Short, snappy chapters alternate between the voices of these characters, building the story of the two marriages and the infidelity that dismantles them. Ladd can turn a phrase and spin a metaphor, but the characters are too thin to sustain sympathy, and little is done to find a new angle on the familiar setup of desire and adultery. (June)

Light Boxes Shane Jones. Penguin, $14 paper (150p) ISBN 978-0-14-311778-0

Jones’s brief and bewildering war fable pursues the plight of a town battling to free itself from the brutal hold of the month of February (also sometimes a person or a force or merely a metaphor), a meanie that has not allowed its wintry grip to lift for hundreds of days. When the despairing townspeople, led by valiant Thaddeus Lowe and his wife and daughter, suffer reprisals from February and “the priests” for trying to break the weather, a group of former balloonists don bird masks and, calling themselves the Solution, instigate a rebellion. Thaddeus’s daughter, Bianca, is kidnapped, along with other children, leading Thaddeus to plot ways to deceive February: townspeople walk around pretending it’s summer and secure “light boxes” around their heads to simulate the sun. February, meanwhile, may simply be feeling unloved by his wife, “the girl who smells of honey and smoke” and who seems eerily like Bianca. It’s a quaint and bizarre allegory that explores the perils of equivocation, but it’s likely more pleased with its own cleverness than readers will be. (June)

Following Polly Karen Bergreen. St. Martin’s, $24.99 (320p) ISBN 978-0-312-57109-2

It’s like Comedy Central picked up Law & Order for an episode in standup comic and ex-lawyer Bergreen’s breezy debut about a rootless, jobless, and loveless snoop in search of her “lifelong dream.“ Fired from a crappy job with a selfish, nasty casting director, Alice Teakle begins obsessively stalking Harvard frenemy Polly—and winds up the top suspect in her murder. But that’s where the fun begins: slipping out of police custody, Alice begins stalking Charlie, her college-days romantic fantasy who she hopes can save her from prison. Charlie takes her in, forging a deal that he’ll help get her off the murder hook if she helps out with a problem his father’s having. But Charlie and Alice sweetly discover a far deeper need of each other. Bergreen makes good use of her comedic skills and varied professional background to create a sharp whodunit that combines edgy thrills with a wicked sense of humor and an endearing heart of gold. (June)

The Truth About Delilah Blue Tish Cohen. Harper Perennial, $13.99 paper (448p) ISBN 978-0-06-187597-7

Motherless would-be art student Lila Mack is the mixed-up heroine of the sluggish and predictable latest from Cohen (Town House). Lila lives with her father in Los Angeles, secretly working as a nude model at the local art school and deeply insecure about the fact that her artist mother abandoned her when she was eight. It’s quite clear there’s more to her mother’s story than what Lila’s dad has told her, so it’s not surprising when Lila’s mother shows up and reveals that Lila—once Delilah Blue Lovett—was actually kidnapped by her father. As it happens, there’s a Web site devoted to her kidnapping that she somehow never stumbled across when Googling her mom’s name. Cohen drops readers into a sticky familial morass—Lila’s father has early onset Alzheimer’s, her mother turns out to be quite flighty, the half-sister she never knew she had is more than a little neurotic—that’s tidily complicated by a burgeoning romance with an art student. Unfortunately, the characters are hollow, the plot has too many unlikely developments, and the happy ending is as forced as it is far-fetched. (June)

The Peculiar Boars of Malloy Doug Crandell. Northern Illinois Univ./Switchgrass, $13.95 paper (216p) ISBN 978-0-87580-633-4

Crandall (Hairdos of the Mildly Depressed) goes farmyard farce in this unfortunate tale of two teenaged brothers, their stunted father (left by their wayward mother), and a pair of gay pigs. Indeed, the discovery that the two newly purchased boars prefer each other to the stable of available females is but the latest absurdity in the life of Ronald and Lance’s sad sack father, Gerald Bancroft, a “pint-sized” farmer turned hog breeder who has been the butt of the locals’ jokes since high school. Ronald, the reasonable older son and an aspiring veterinarian, arranges for the hogs’ artificial insemination and tries to keep his angry father from venting his wrath on the boars, but not before news of the “peculiar” animals sweeps the nation, arousing heated demonstrations. Narrated by Lance, the younger, sensitive son who dreams of becoming a pilot, the novel misses no opportunity to skewer Gerald, or even the boys’ mother, who makes an occasional appearance and is, like her ex-husband, a one-dimensional gag. Crandell’s latest effort forgoes empathy or even slightly refined humor in favor of barnyard grunts. (June)

My Sister’s Voice Mary Carter. Kensington, $15 (332p) ISBN 978-0-7582-2920-5

Carter’s talent continues to evolve, as evidenced in this solid offering about deaf artist Lacey Gears, whose happy life—good boyfriend, rising career, faithful dog—is upended when she receives a mysterious note informing her that she has a twin sister she didn’t know existed. Lacey soon discovers the message is true and that she’s not an orphan as she had thought: her parents put her up for adoption and kept her hearing twin, Monica. As she comes to terms with this, she reconnects with her sister, but the secrets kept by her birth family could have dire consequences. Though the plot is limp in spots, Carter’s command of deaf culture is superb, and Lacey is a charismatic heroine—a nice contrast to her unstable, clingy twin. The unique spin Carter (Accidentally Engaged) takes on the familiar theme of self-discovery gives this a welcome, fresh feeling. (June)

Blood Red Quintin Jardine Headline (IPG, dist.), $24.95 (352p) ISBN 978-0-7553-4024-8

Primavera Blackstone, the heroine of Jardine’s crime thriller series set on the Catalan coast, mostly wrestles with her carnal attraction to Gerard Rivera, a local priest, in her middling second outing (after Inhuman Remains). When a fellow British ex-pat asks Primavera to organize a wine fair, despite opposition from José-Luis Planas Ros, a key member of the town council of L’Escala, she seeks out Planas and buys his support for the event. Soon afterward, Planas dies, apparently from a heart attack that causes him to fall over his garden wall to a rockery below. Primavera gets involved in what becomes a murder case, stumbling on the truth in the end. The self-absorbed lead and forgettable prose (“Life is like a round of golf. If you drop a shot at one hole, you do your damnedest to get it back at the next”) don’t help a plot line more likely to appeal to romance readers than to fans of the author’s sometimes grimly realistic Bob Skinner series (Fatal Last Words, etc.). (June)

A Hopeful Heart Kim Vogel Sawyer. Bethany House, $14.99 paper (352p) ISBN 978-0-7642-0509-5

Romance writer and author of 14 novels, Sawyer has written another tenderhearted tale, this one set in Barnett, Kans., in 1888. When widowed Hattie Wyatt opens a school for young women to learn the skills needed to be a rancher—or rancher’s wife—22-year-old orphan Tressa Neill becomes one of Hattie’s first students. Initially an unwilling participant forced to enroll in Hattie’s school by her aunt and uncle, the shy Tressa eventually warms to her environment. She applies herself to her studies and is soon intrigued by Abel Samms, a bachelor whose heart was broken by a girl who, like Tessa, came from the east. Encountering various dangers, Tressa and Abel are soon thrust into one another’s company by no design of their own, and a mutual attraction blossoms that neither can ignore. Sawyer’s fan base will appreciate this latest work for its heart, yet they may well be disappointed by its lack of depth or freshness. (June)

Shades of Morning Marlo Schalesky. Multnomah, $13.99 paper (352p) ISBN 978-1-60142-025-1

Book and coffee shop owner Marnie Wittier lives on the opposite end of the country from where she grew up; she needs that much distance from her past. But her past won’t stay away; her estranged sister, Rose, dies and Marnie is named guardian of Rose’s 15-year-old son, Emmit, who has Down syndrome. Another complication: Rose’s attorney is Taylor Cole, whom Marnie once loved. The complicated family history unreels in the narrative, alternating with Marnie’s learning to cope with the sweet and very challenging Emmit. Schalesky leavens a story that could be sad with friendly, quirky touches: Marnie’s customers, her iguana Max. Some devices seem contrived: Marnie’s box of memorabilia that signifies major life events, the cute meeting between Marnie and Taylor. But Christy-award winning Schalesky (Beyond the Night) has a good feel for psychological complexity. And a reader won’t see the nice twist at the end coming until it hits like the California earthquake that opens the book. The story’s not 100% plausible, but it’s satisfying and charming. (June)

Falcon Seven James W. Huston St. Martin’s, $24.99 (320p) ISBN 978-0-312-36432-8

Jack Caskey, a Washington, D.C., criminal defense attorney and former navy SEAL, tries to prevent the judicial railroading of two U.S. Navy aviators by the International Criminal Court in this timely and provocative thriller from bestseller Huston (Marine One). When navy officers Doug “Raw” Rawlings and Bill “Dunk” Duncan bomb an approved target in Pakistan, they hit not a meeting between Taliban and al-Qaeda leaders, as expected, but European aid workers and their patients. After their F-18 Hornet is shot down during the mission, the captured pilots wind up in The Hague, where they’re charged with war crimes. Jack, who leads a hastily assembled team to defend Raw and Dunk, travels to Pakistan in a dangerous effort to find witnesses. Meanwhile, the U.S. government maneuvers to avoid the trial. Huston provides an intriguing look at international law, current American policies, and modern war. (May)

Mystery

Shoulder Bags and Shootings Dorothy Howell Kensington, $22 (272p) ISBN 978-0-7582-2378-4

A clever, fast-moving plot propels Howell’s third mystery to feature L.A. fashionista Haley Randolph (after 2009’s Purses and Poison). Haley really hated Tiffany Markham, her archrival in the purse party business, but she didn’t shoot Tiffany and stuff her body in the trunk of a Mercedes belonging to Ada Cameron, the grandmother of Haley’s boyfriend and department store owner, Ty Cameron. Discovering who did is a challenge, ditto snaring this season’s totally hot Sinful handbag. Can Haley do both and stay out of jail? While Haley’s hyperventilating first-person voice can be too much at times (“I perked up in my seat, beyond excited, way past thrilled, bordering on crazed”), the action is smoother than the butter-soft leather of a Prada bag, and the gritty details of working retail are spot-on. Airhead Haley displays appealing grace under fire as she also deals with her stalking nemesis and former boss, lawyer Kirk Keegan. (July)

Cut, Paste, Kill: A Lomax and Biggs Mystery Marshall Karp Minotaur, $24.99 (304p) ISBN 978-0-312-37822-6

In Karp’s excellent fourth mystery featuring LAPD detectives Mike Lomax and Terry Biggs (after 2009’s Flipping Out), the pair look into the stabbing death of British citizen Eleanor Bellingham-Crump, who escaped prosecution for killing a 10-year-old boy while driving drunk by virtue of her husband’s diplomatic immunity. The killer left a scrapbook at the scene detailing the circumstances of Bellingham-Crump’s crime. The FBI fills the detectives in on two other murders, apparently by the same killer, a vigilante targeting criminals who managed to evade justice. The investigators luck out when a lead takes them to Gladys Wade, an inmate who claims to know the murderer’s identity and wants to barter that secret for her parole. Karp offers multiple twists that will keep most readers guessing until the end, and balances the grim plot with Biggs’s inexhaustible supply of genuinely humorous one-liners. Kinky Friedman and Carl Hiaasen fans should latch onto this series. (June)

Indian Country Noir Edited by Sarah Cortez and Liz Martínez. Akashic, $15.95 paper (300p) ISBN 978-1-936070-05-3

Written by both Native American and non-Native authors, the 14 stories in this worthy volume in Akashic’s noir series range geographically from northern Canada to Puerto Rico and from New York’s Adirondacks to Los Angeles. One of the more impressive entries is Melissa Yi’s moving “Indian Time,” about Mohawk Fred Redish’s painful attempts to visit his young sons under the care of his white mother-in-law. “JaneJohnDoe.com,” David Cole’s story of a woman forced to forge a new identity for a drug lord or see her family slain, works perfectly. Leonard Schonberg’s “Lame Elk,” about an alcoholic’s last chance to reform, is a noir gem. Co-editor Martínez’s poignant “Prowling Wolves” recounts the sad fate of Iwo Jima flag-raiser Ira Hayes. Other contributors include Lawrence Block, Jean Rae Baxter, Reed Farrel Coleman, and Gerard Houarner. (June)

Unfinished Portrait Anthea Fraser Severn, $28.95 (224p) ISBN 978-0-7278-6884-8

British veteran Fraser’s artfully plotted seventh Rona Parish mystery (after 2008’s Next Door to Murder) focuses on the hunt for brilliant artist Elspeth Wilding, biographer Rona’s latest subject, who’s been missing for 18 months. A child prodigy, Elspeth first exhibited her pictures at age 13, but years later she became depressed after her best friend and fellow artist, Chloë Pyne, apparently threw herself under a train. Elspeth’s sister, Naomi Harris, hopes Rona’s research on Elspeth’s biography will somehow bring Elspeth back home. When Rona interviews artist Nathan Tait, a colleague of Rona’s artist husband, Max Allerdyce, Nathan blames Elspeth for Chloë’s death. After someone bashes in the head of Elspeth’s housekeeper at the artist’s house in Buckford, Rona realizes she’s on to something dangerous. The abrupt, far-fetched ending may disappoint some cozy fans, but most will be satisfied and surprised by the identity of Chloë’s killer. (June)

Frozen Stiff: A Claire Watkins Mystery Mary Logue Tyrus (Consortium, dist.), $24.95 (240p) ISBN 978-1-935562-11-5; $14.95 paper ISBN 978-1-935562-10-8

At the start of Logue’s tepid eighth mystery featuring Pepin County, Wis., deputy sheriff Claire Watkins (after 2008’s Point No Point), Dan Walker, who’s been celebrating New Year’s Eve alone in his cabin’s new sauna, finds himself locked out of his cabin after a brief naked roll in the snow. Subzero temperatures ensure that he’s frozen stiff by the next morning. Miraculously, Dan revives, but is unable to recall what happened to him, though it appears someone deliberately locked him out. Suspicion falls on Dan’s soon-to-be-ex-wife, Sherri, as well as his spoiled daughter, Danielle, but other suspects soon emerge. Meanwhile, a possible change in Claire’s long-term relationship with Rich Haggard, among other personal issues, complicate Claire’s hunt for who wanted Dan dead. Series fans may enjoy the rough Wisconsin winter and revisiting old friends, but Logue fails to generate much suspense or excitement. (June)

Northern Ex Colin Campbell Severn, $27.95 (192p) ISBN 978-0-7278-6871-8

In this middling crime novel from British author Campbell (Blue Knight, White Cross), 36-year-old Vince McNulty, who was bounced after 18 years with the West Yorkshire police for brutalizing a pedophile, now patronizes the Northern X chain of massage parlors he used to bust during his time on the vice squad. While enjoying a masseuse’s services in a room at one such establishment, he hears a young woman’s screams elsewhere in the house. Vince goes to the rescue of a girl who appears to be in her early teens, overpowering the brute he suspects is abusing her. When the girl disappears, the “disgraced ex-copper” teams with ex-con Don “Donkey” Flowers to track her. Vince’s inquiries overlap with Det. Constable Jimmy Tynan’s investigation into seven missing massage parlor girls. While Vince likes to replay scenes from his favorite movies and recite the lyrics from the ’60s song “The House of the Rising Sun,” he remains a stock type. (June)

Maid of Murder: An India Hayes Mystery Amanda Flower Five Star, $25.95 (282p) ISBN 978-1-59414-864-4

Flower’s breezy debut introduces a quirky heroine—India Hayes, a librarian at Martin College in Stripling, Ohio, who’s also an artist. India agrees, yet again, to be a bridesmaid, this time for her childhood friend, Olivia Blocken, for whom her brother, Mark, an assistant professor at Martin, still carries a torch. After Olivia left Stripling for college elsewhere, Mark suffered a breakdown and buried himself in mathematics. Not wanting to upset Mark, India doesn’t tell him she’s a bridesmaid in his lost love’s wedding. When someone pushes Olivia to her death in the college fountain and Mark becomes the most likely murder suspect, India turns amateur sleuth in an effort to prove her brother’s innocence. Warring cats and distinctive characters, like India’s “everything Irish” landlady and her bizarre ’60s activist parents, will appeal to cozy fans. (June)

Where Death Delights: A Forensic Mystery of the Nineteen-fifties Bernard Knight Severn, $28.95 (256p) ISBN 978-0-7278-6847-9

Knight brings his own experience as a Home Office pathologist to this absorbing first in a new series set in Britain’s Wye Valley. When pathologist Richard Pryor and Angela Bray, a young biologist on the rebound from a broken engagement, go into business offering forensic expertise, they expect paternity tests and postmortems to be their bread and butter, but one of their first cases involves bones that two women each claim prove the death of a loved one. Later, what is first dismissed as an accidental drowning takes on a sinister dimension as a result of their testing. Knight (Crowner Royal and 12 other mysteries in his medieval Crowner John series) describes the arcana of autopsy without going into overly graphic detail. While the testing processes considered state of the art in 1955 are crude by today’s standards, he succeeds in making them just as interesting. A couple of great plot twists at the end will leave readers eager for a sequel. (June)

The Bishop Must Die Michael Jecks Headline (IPG, dist.), $24.95 (416p) ISBN 978-0-7553-4420-8

The 28th entry in Jecks’s Knights Templar series (after 2009’s No Law in the Land) takes its time bringing series lead Baldwin de Furnshill into the main plot, but readers won’t mind the wait. In 1326, Walter Stapledon, the bishop of Exeter, begins to receive threatening letters that place him in fear for his life. Almost half the book goes by before the bishop asks his old friend de Furnshill, keeper of the king’s peace and investigator of suspicious death, for help in identifying the author of the threats. The letters somehow managed to find their way into the bishop’s inner sanctum from a number of possible culprits. Political turmoil—in particular, the prospect of a French invasion—also keeps the medieval detective busy. The sprawling cast of characters can be a bit overwhelming, but Jecks once again captures the spirit of the period with another exciting visit to 14th-century England. (June)

SF/Fantasy/Horror

Tomb of the Fathers Eleanor Arnason Aqueduct (www.aqueductpress.com), $15 paper (160p) ISBN 978-1-933500-36-2

Lydia Duluth—interstellar traveler, holovid location scout, and star of several of Arnason’s short stories—explores the purported lost home world of the matriarchal, lizardlike Atch in this stand-alone adventure. She’s joined by her occasional lover Olaf Reykjavik; Vagina “Gina” Dentata, a modified pseudo-ape; Precious Bin, a male Atch; and several artificial intelligences (one of which resides in her head). Lydia discovers warlike female Atch descendants who have killed off the males and now reproduce by cloning, but when she and her team try to leave, they’re trapped by a slightly barmy AI intent on keeping the violent Atch from traveling in space. Fans of Arnason’s dry wit, entertaining character interactions, and complex, imaginative futures will be delighted by this tale and the promise of a forthcoming Lydia Duluth collection. (June)

The Frenzy Way Gregory Lamberson Medallion, $15.95 paper (362p) ISBN 978-1-605-42107-0

A series of gory murders terrorizes New York City in this rollicking horror tale from Lamberson (Johnny Gruesome). A “werewolf murderer” uses blood to write taunting references to shape-shifters at each gore-splattered Greenwich Village crime scene. The victims include an elderly professor with a research interest in transformation, several attractive young clubgoers, and a cop. Police captain Anthony Mace hunts the killer, as do three supernatural investigators: tribal policeman John Stalk, occult bookstore owner Angela Domini, and Catholic secret agent Pedro Fillipe, all of whom know far more about magic than Mace does and aren’t fettered by his increasingly skeptical superiors. Despite the overly familiar secret-society setup and some thinly drawn characters, Lamberson’s knack for furiously fast-paced action and the building terror of the graphic and increasingly sexualized murders combine in a surprisingly compelling read for horror fans with strong stomachs. (June)

Blonde Bombshell Tom Holt Orbit, $13.99 paper (384p) ISBN 978-0-316-08699-8

Driven mad by the “lethally insidious... toxic aural garbage” that is Terran music, the canine inhabitants of the planet Ostar send Mark Two, a bomb so smart it composes violin sonatas, to blow up Earth. Insatiably curious, Mark Two delays its mission, takes human form, and explores Earth to find out why the Mark One bomb vanished. After encountering software revolutionary Lucy Pavlov, a unicorn, two men who probably aren’t werewolves, and drunken corporate stooge George Stetchkin, Mark decides not to complete his mission, precipitating confrontations with a third bomb (named Bob) and the entire Ostar war fleet. Holt, well-known in the U.K. for historical flights of fancy, is set to make a splash in the U.S. with this wickedly funny, take-no-prisoners mashup of love, Armageddon, activists, and one of the universe’s most valuable commodities: octopi. (June)

Demon Hunts: Book Five of the Walker Papers C.E. Murphy Luna, $14.95 paper (416p) ISBN 978-0-373-80314-9

In Murphy’s oddly fuzzy fifth mystery featuring half-Cherokee, half-Irish Seattle police detective Joanne Walker, the usually feisty urban shaman and her psychically gifted partner, Billy Holliday, confront the Seattle Slaughterer, a cannibalistic serial killer who might also be a banshee or a wendigo. Joanne’s beginning to appreciate her gifts of healing and Sight, as does her boss, Capt. Michael Morrison, but it’s the anniversary of her mother’s death, and she’s still grieving the loss of Coyote, her Navajo mentor and boyfriend. She’s delighted when Coyote suddenly returns, and less thrilled that the investigation requires her to travel into the eerie Lower and Middle World to save victims and confront the monster. Unfortunately, the romantic reunion with Coyote generates few sparks for this low-key installment, and the killer, who should be terrifying, comes off as a scenery-chewing conundrum. (June)

Fritz Leiber: Selected Stories Edited by Charles N. Brown and Jonathan Strahan. Night Shade (Diamond, dist.), $24.95 (364p) ISBN 978-1-59780-180-5

The versatility of SFWA Grand Master Leiber (1910—1992) is ably demonstrated by these 17 superb stories, each of which has “wonder blazing at its core.” “Smoke Ghost” places a classic ghost story in a modern urban setting, while the dread in “Coming Attraction” reflects the uneasiness of the cold war. The powerful “Gonna Roll the Bones” explores man’s compulsion toward self-destruction, while a different archetype is revealed in “The Girl with the Hungry Eyes,” which reveals the vampiric seduction of modern consumerism. There are three tales of adventurous rogues Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, including the Nebula Award—winning “Ill Met in Lankhmar,” in which youthful derring-do leads to heart-wrenching tragedy. Longtime fans and new readers alike will treasure this accessible and wide-ranging collection. (June)

Naamah’s Curse Jacqueline Carey Grand Central, $26.99 (576p) ISBN 978-0-446-19805-9

In this sequel to 2009’s Naamah’s Kiss, Moirin, the devoted servant of a sex goddess, journeys across half of a fantasy version of Asia in search of her soulmate, Bao. In Tatar territory, she finds Bao... and his wife. His father-in-law, the Great Khan, is willing to go to great extremes to keep Bao and Moirin apart. Captured by the fanatic Patriarch of Riva, Moirin escapes to find that Bao has vanished again, this time headed toward the distant lair of the Spider Queen and her army of assassins. The romantic tale is marred by Moirin’s narcissistic awareness that she is destined for a glorious fate that lesser mortals like Bao’s jealous wife may only envy. Carey’s storytelling ability is top-notch, however, and readers will applaud her willingness to resolve major plot threads in the middle book of a trilogy. (June)

The Time Weaver Shana Abé Bantam, $23 (336p) ISBN 978-0-553-80686-1

Abé’s fifth Drákon fantasy romance (after 2009’s The Treasure Keeper) introduces Honor Carlisle, whose time-traveling powers help her fit into a dragon society hidden in the midst of 18th-century England. In an original and ambitious spin on time travel stories, Honor is at once the heroine and, from a future time line, the nemesis who drives the plot. The slow revelation of why and how such a sympathetic character could turn against her values adds dramatic tension, and the drákon’s well-meant efforts to avert tragedy lead them to horrific expedients, making a welcome change from stock villains. Despite occasional purple prose and an unsatisfying ending precipitated by a third party who forces resolution on the conflicted protagonists, this story delivers a real sense of wonder. (June)

Mass Market

Silent Scream Karen Rose Grand Central, $7.99 (608p) ISBN 978-0-446-53836-7

Readers may never use an unsecured free Internet connection again after plowing through Rose’s engaging new thriller. Four Minneapolis college students burn a condo complex, apparently for political reasons, killing a young woman and a security guard. Homicide detective Olivia Sutherland catches the case; when firefighter David Hunter discovers crucial evidence, he and Olivia must set aside their believably difficult romantic past to find the story behind the arson. Meanwhile, a stalker considers what to do with video of the students’ incriminating conversations. Rose (I Can See You) packs action into every moment of four intense days as the meticulous, capable cops and firefighters race to stop a deadly blackmailer with his own distorted sense of morality. Thriller fans will love the high-adrenaline story and robust cast of intriguing supporting characters. (June)

Masked by Moonlight Nancy Gideon Pocket, $7.99 (384p) ISBN 978-1-4391-4963-8

Gideon kicks off a paranormal romance series with intriguing characters and zippy action. Det. Charlotte Caissie has spent years working homicides for the New Orleans PD. She links a savagely mutilated murder victim to crime boss Jimmy Legere, and suspects Legere’s enforcer, Max Savoie, might know more than he’s telling about the attack. Max has lusted after Charlotte for years, and after Max saves her from would-be rapists and reveals he’s the hero who once rescued her from kidnappers, Charlotte starts to share his feelings. Despite Max’s monstrous shape-shifting abilities and probable involvement in her case, they soon surrender to mutual attraction. Charlotte walks a razor-fine line with her professional ethics and romantic life, but Gideon deftly avoids writing herself into corners and masters the tension required to keep her complex and engaging story moving. (June)

Chimera Rob Thurman Roc, $7.99 (352p) ISBN 978-0-451-46342-5

A touching story on the nature of family, trust, and love lies hidden in this action thriller. While raiding a secret facility for genetically modifying and training children to be deadly assassins, Stefan Korsak, a young bodyguard for the Russian mafia, finds a boy who strongly resembles his younger brother, Lukas, kidnapped 10 years before. Now the protective, wisecracking, strangely naïve big brother and the brainwashed killer teen are on the run from the man who transformed the boy from gentle child to lethal property. Thurman (the Cal Leandros series) weaves personal discovery seamlessly into the fast-paced action, making it easy to cheer for these overgrown, dangerous boys. The technological background is superficially different from the supernatural framework of Thurman’s earlier books, but the themes remain the same, and readers who enjoyed her previous work will find this just as satisfying. (June)

One Dance with a Duke Tessa Dare Ballantine, $7.99 (416p) ISBN 978-0-345-51885-9

This standout Regency romance, the first in Dare’s Stud Club trilogy, matches an unlikely heroine with an arrogant, secretive duke. Plump, plain, and poor, spinster Amelia d’Orsay is astonished when Spencer Dumarque, duke of Morland and a famously handsome and wealthy bachelor, literally sweeps her off her feet and out the door at a London ball. The news of a friend’s unexpected death leads them on a significant detour, and Amelia returns home at dawn. Deciding others will believe Amelia compromised after a night in his company, Spencer asks for her hand, leading to a hasty, often conflicted, and deeply passionate marriage. Amelia’s imperfections endear her to both the reader and her husband, while Spencer’s complexity of character sets him well beyond the typical aristocrat and a little bit of a murder mystery adds the perfect finishing touch. (June)

An Aesop for Today

PW editor Teicher’s second book is a marvel of storytelling, but of course we’d say that.

Cradle Book Craig Morgan Teicher BOA (Consortium, dist.),$14 paper (72p) ISBN 978-1-934414-35-4

Thirty-three sublime, deceptively simple reflections on states of human awareness comprise this prose collection by poet Teicher (Brenda Is in the Room), who is also PW’s poetry editor. In bedtime-story selections grouped under themes of “Silence,” “Fear,” “Sleep,” Teicher gives voice to our suppressed terrors of the dark, animism, unclean urges, and supernatural convergences: a man is granted the wish of invisibility in “The Reward,” using the power to observe everything he can until he becomes “a repository... of moments that threaten to repeat themselves for all eternity,” in short, a poet; dust collecting in clumps in corners takes on life as “it is simply waiting for us to join it” (“The Dust”); a tree stump finds a remedy for its acute loneliness by engulfing a monk in its gnarled roots so that they can die together (“The Monk and the Stump”). The immutable condition of the stone becomes the metaphor for life in “The Story of the Stone.” Teicher’s subtly composed fables are effortless and enduring, celebrate the virtue of story above all, and render philosophers of his readers. (June)