Biggest Liar in Los Angeles
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Ken Kuhlken, Author Poisoned Pen Press $14.95 (250p) ISBN 978-1-59058-736-2 9781590587362
James Ellroy fans will welcome Kuhlken's intriguing sixth California Century mystery (after 2008's ""The Vagabond Virgins""). Set in 1926 and the first in the series chronologically, this entry focuses on the early career of PI Tom Hickey. Outraged to learn that a black friend has been lynched in L.A.'s Echo Park, news that the mainstream media has suppressed, Hickey risks his day job as a meat salesman to look into the killing. Hickey explores possible links to crooked cops, the Ku Klux Klan, city hall, newspaper moguls William Randolph Hearst and Harry Chandler, and evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson, who recently resurfaced after a mysterious five-month disappearance. Kuhlken mixes historical and fictional characters with an ease that will remind many of Max Allan Collins's Nate Heller series (""True Crime"", etc.). He's equally adept at melding the murder inquiry with Hickey's struggles with his dysfunctional family. ""(May)"" .
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The Wave
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Tom Miller, Author Sherman Asher Publishing $18.95 (290p) ISBN 978-1-890932-38-1 9781890932381
After a 6.8-point quake ravages Hawaii with a 20 foot tidal wave, biology professor Scott Richardson discovers an expanding crevasse on the Pacific Ocean floor capable of unleashing a 2,000-foot tsunami powerful enough to obliterate the entire Pacific Rim. Calling on his buddy, former Navy SEAL Chuck Palmer, Richardson attempts to determine the cause of the crevasse before it's too late. As the duo race against time and come up against violent agents of Hawaii's tourism industry, first-time author Miller proves adept at generating tension and mixing geological science with tough-guy humor. Unfortunately, forced dialogue and odd shifts in perspective work against the narrative, and Miller's cliffhanger ending makes for an unsatisfying conclusion.
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Dark Faith
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Maurice Broaddus, Editor, Jerry Gordon, Editor Apex Publications $19.95 (375p) ISBN 978-0-9821596-8-2 9780982159682
Although the horror genre naturally lends itself to up close and personal examination of good and very nasty evil, little writing in that genre is faith inflected. This anthology addresses that gap. ""Faith"" is used loosely and expansively in this collection of short tales that offers something for lots of different tastes-slasher, fairy tale, end times, ghost story-as well as religion. ""Zen and the Art of Gordon Dratch's Damnation,"" by Douglas F. Warrick, is a meditation on enlightenment as cagey as any Zen master's teaching. ""Different from Other Nights"" by Eliyanna Kaiser offers a knife twist on the Passover celebration. Although the anthology is uneven, as collections often can be, the very best, like Gary A. Braunbeck's ""For My Next Trick I'll Need a Volunteer,"" resonate in the mind long afterward, with no guts or gore. And while Cathrynne M. Valente's ""The Days of Flaming Motorcycles"" is a wicked clever zombie tale set in Augusta, Maine, readers may wonder where zombie Jesus is when we need him.
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Finding Jeena
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Miralee Ferrell, Author Kregel Publications $13.99 (304p) ISBN 978-0-8254-2645-2 9780825426452
Jeena Gregory is dumped by her boyfriend as this contemporary novel by Ferrell (The Other Daughter) opens. But she can console herself with professional success: a new job as interior designer for a high-end development marks how far she's come from a poor, troubled childhood. Jeena's also got a grandmother who brings out her best. But a major career complication knocks the wheels off the cart of success, and Jeena must make difficult choices. Not much is subtle as this evangelical Christian story predictably unfolds. A number of supporting characters are stereotypical (adorable child, catty friend) rather than convincing; colloquial dialogue rings false; there's even an altar call answered by a character who becomes transformed, a throwback to the days when Christian fiction was highly formulaic. The writing has a tendency to tell instead of show (""a cruel mouth set in a cadaverous, lewd face""; ""accentuating his masculine good looks""). Ferrell has ideas, but her execution needs work.
Justice!
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Dana Fuller Ross, Author, Dan Fuller Ross, Author Bantam $7.99 (402p) ISBN 978-0-553-57766-2 9780553577662
In the conclusion to her Empire trilogy, set in the early 18th century, Ross brings to life the spirit and patriotism of the pioneering Holt family. Clay Holt is on a government mission to track the elusive Comte Jacques de la Carde, a French nobleman suspected of illegal land-grabbing schemes and of conspiring with hostile Indians. Saddled with a wife and child and besieged by foul weather, Holt continually remains a step behind his nemesis, and it seems that the U.S. government will lose the Western Territory to the New French Empire. After dropping off his family in a pioneer settlement, Clay, posing as a guide, rescues la Carde's group from an Indian attack and rather predictably spoils their plans. Fans of the series may be left hoping for more: Ross leaves the Holt affairs on an ambiguous note, with Clay's brother Jeff returning from an Indian settlement in Russian Alaska with a story of his own to tell. (Oct.)
Show of Evil
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William Diehl, Author Ballantine Books $7.99 (416p) ISBN 978-0-345-37536-0 9780345375360
In this sequel to Diehl's Primal Fear, an incarcerated serial killer's enemies begin meeting grisly deaths. (June)
The Hellfire Club
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Peter Straub, Author Ballantine Books $7.99 (544p) ISBN 978-0-345-41500-4 9780345415004
In a starred review, PW called this story of a twisted serial killer ""supple and exciting."" (Aug.)
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Touch
Adania Shibli, trans. from the Arabic by Paula Haydar, Interlink/Clockroot, $13 paper (72p) ISBN 9781566568074 9781566568074
Celebrated young Palestinian writer Shibli-a playwright, author and essayist now located in the UK-makes her American debut with an exquisite, powerful novella that transports readers to her West Bank homeland. In spare prose, Shibli follows an unnamed little girl, the youngest in a large Palestinian family, as she examines her world and tries to understand her place in it. Though focused on the finest details-flakes of rust against skin, the softness of grass-Shibli takes readers to the center of a family and a culture, using the same careful, dispassionate observation to report everyday events like the father's shaving as she does to depict the death of a sibling in area violence. Like a great volume of poetry, Sibli's first novel (her second is forthcoming from Clockroot) has rhythm and unexpected momentum, and cries for re-reading. (May)
Shadow Prowler
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Alexey Pehov, trans, from the Russian by Andrew Bromfield. Tor, $24.99 (396p) ISBN 97800765324030
Bestselling Russian author Pehov translates easily in his English fantasy debut. With a self-deprecating thief as a hero who doesn't believe he is the chosen one, Perhov's epic is jam-packed with fantasy staples and their variants, including a quest for magical artifact, prophetic poetry, cryptic oracles, fanged elves, clean-shaven dwarves, gnomes, goblins, and orcs. The first in a trilogy, protagonist Shadow Harold proves modest and witty enough a narrator to carry the series. Combining Russian translation and the vocabulary of an invented world, the prose can feel conflicted, but is helped along by a glossary of terms. Overall, the gentle language of the story befits a main character happy to be "wolf-single," even as he glances repeatedly at the mysterious and lovely Lady Miralissa. (Mar.)
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Ravishing in Red
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Madeline Hunter, Jove, $9.99 (368p) ISBN 9780515147544 9780515147544
The latest from veteran Regency romance writer Hunter (Provocative in Pearls) begins a new series with the brave Audrianna Kelmsleigh who, while attempting to exonerate her father's death, ends up drawn to one of his persecutors, handsome Lord Sebastian Summerhays, after they're both lured to a Brighton inn by the same mysterious advertisement. When Audrianna momentarily lets down her guard for a kiss with Lord Sebastian, a mysterious figure known as Domino appears; after shots are fired, the escalating controversy further threatens Audrianna's family's name. Hunt pays little attention to period custom and language, apparently more concerned with future storylines-taking special care to introduce Audriana's three beautiful friends and Summerhays's matching trio (an injured brother and two handsome friends). It should be no surprise, then, that the novel is most enjoyable in its leads' moments of passion. (Mar.)
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