Catching Hell
Greg F. Gifune, Cemetery Dance (www.cemeterydance.com), $30 (128p) ISBN 978-1-58767-191-3 9781587671913
Delirium Books editor Gifune's stunning novella has the precision, creepiness, and breathless pace of a classic horror movie. In the summer of 1983, three young actors and a stagehand at a sleepy New England repertory theater company drive to Maine for their last summer getaway before going their separate ways. A series of bizarre incidents strands them in a small and antiquated hamlet ruled by dark forces that won't let them leave alive. This is taut and gripping old-school horror that startles and unnerves up to the very end. While the bones of Gifune's tale are familiar, his subtle characterizations, attention to historical detail, and sympathy with the restless, reckless mindset of his 20-something characters will draw in and engage even jaded readers. (Aug.)
Sympathy for the Devil
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Tim Pratt, Night Shade (www.nightshadebooks.com), $15.95 paper (448p) ISBN 978-1-59780-189-8 9781597801898
Hugo winner Pratt turns his Locus-honed editing skills to the crowded field of themed anthologies. His chosen unifying element is the Devil, or devils, broadly interpreted in 36 original and reprinted works. Bygone days are represented by an excerpt from Dante's Inferno; well-known 19th-century tales such as Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown" and Stevenson's "The Bottle Imp"; and stories from the golden age of pulp fantasy, such as Bloch's "That Hell-Bound Train" and Sturgeon's "The Professor's Teddy Bear." The newer offerings are equally wide-ranging, including Kelly Link's poignant, recursive "Lull"; Holly Black's giggle-out-loud "A Reversal of Fortune"; and China Miéville's vividly creepy "Details." Anyone delighted by con games, terrified of damnation, and not offended by Pratt's cheeky dedication ("Thank you, Satan! I couldn't have done it without you") will find plenty to enjoy. (Aug.)
Almost To Die For
Tate Hallaway, NAL, $9.99 paper (256p) ISBN 978-0-451-23057-7 9780451230577
Hallaway's witty, fast-paced series starter cheerfully details the horrors of magical war and high school life. Anastasija Ramses Parker is a modern-day witch's daughter, fond of wearing "black with black and black" but hopelessly unable to perform actual magic. When she flunks her coven's initiation ceremony, she learns that her father is a vampire—and not just any vampire, but a vampire leader, which makes her "some kind of vampire princess." Possibly more important, Ana's best friend, Bea, has a crush on vampire hunter/punk rocker Nikolai, who's torn between kissing and killing Ana, who thinks he's cute but wants to stay loyal to Bea. Ana's narration is pitch-perfect and totally teen: half calculated attitude, half wistful empathy. This all-too-brief tale will have readers hunting down Hallaway's Garnet Lacey novels while they wait for Ana's next adventure. (Aug.)
Death on a Budget: An Emerson Ward Mystery
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Michael W. Sherer, Five Star, $25.95 (408p) ISBN 978-1-59414-891-0 9781594148910
After the apparent shotgun suicide of Emerson Ward's childhood friend Lou Barrett, the Chicago freelance sleuth heads back home to Huntley, Ill., for the funeral in Sherer's competent but uneven sixth whodunit (after 2006's Death Is No Bargain). Meanwhile, Emerson's girlfriend, Nell Reilly, threatens to leave for Seattle with their two-year-old daughter, Emily, to visit her cancer-stricken mother. Emerson was planning to drive back to Chicago the afternoon of the funeral, but decides to stick around after Lou's sister, Meg Brodsky, asks him to investigate Lou's death. Danger erupts after Emerson asks too many questions about Lou's business partner, Pete Anderson, and a shady mall development that's left many investors in hot water. Emerson becomes increasingly alarmed as clues from the past dovetail with those from the present, leading to a surprising resolution that could have used more foreshadowing. (Aug.)
Florida Heat Wave
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Edited by Michael Lister, Tyrus (Consortium, dist.), $27.95 (364p) ISBN 978-1-935562-17-7; $17.95 paper ISBN 978-1-933562-16-0
While a few of the 18 stories in this Florida-themed anthology are mediocre, there are enough top-notch entries to satisfy crime fans. The book gets off to a weak start with Mary Anna Evans's "Low-Budget Monster Flick," about a murder on a movie set, but rebounds dramatically with James W. Hall's captivating "Over Exposure," the volume's standout. Not a crime story as such, it examines a man's obsession with a picture of a naked woman he'd seen in a photography magazine as a child and his efforts to identify the model. A desperate author finds a solution to writer's block in Carolina Garcia-Aguilera's solid if predictable "Personal Experience." The always reliable Lisa Unger offers "Wild Card," in which a waitress stumbles on a murderer virtually red-handed, but she gets a chance to survive the encounter by running an errand; the taut story line has the suspense typical of Unger's novels. Other contributors include John Lutz, Alex Kava, and Carolyn Haines. (Aug.)
Power Slide: A Darcy Lott Mystery
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Susan Dunlap, Counterpoint, $25 (272p) ISBN 978-1-58243-542-8 9781582435428
In Dunlap's subdued fourth mystery to feature San Francisco stunt double Darcy Lott (after 2009's Civil Twilight), Darcy's on-again/off-again boyfriend and fellow stuntman, Damon Guthrie, confesses part of a shameful secret about his past. Before revealing more, he asks the definitely alarmed Darcy to bring John, her cop brother, to a meeting at the Palace of the Fine Arts. En route to the meeting, Damon dies in a suspicious car accident, and once again Darcy turns sleuth. Darcy also resumes her overdue search for her brother, Mike, who's been missing for more than 20 years. As she nimbly juggles both investigations, Darcy's snooping puts her in the crosshairs of those responsible for Damon's murder. While Dunlap's appealing Zen detective retains her cool, some readers may find it hard to believe that the astute Darcy would date a man for six or seven years without knowing more about him than she does. A far-fetched subplot about collectible movie memorabilia adds some local color. (Aug.)
The Superman Project: A Chico Santana Mystery
A.E. Roman, Minotaur, $25.99 (272p) ISBN 978-0-312-37501-0 9780312375010
Roman's excellent second Chico Santana mystery (after 2009's Chinatown Angel), another hard-boiled whodunit, finds the endearing New York City PI in bad shape, reduced to living in his small Bronx office on the eve of a divorce from his wife of a decade. Then 18-year-old Pablo Sanchez, "about 250 soft pounds of fat," and Pablo's mother, Esther, who's "wearing an old ‘Obama for President' campaign button," walk in the door. Pablo needs Chico's help tracing a missing couple: Brooklyn artist Gabby Gupta and her husband, Joey Valentin, with whom she was at odds and thus the NYPD's prime person of interest. Joey happens to be a childhood crony of Chico's. Pablo, a janitor working for a spiritual self-improvement center known as the Superman Project, is convinced that forces out to destroy the project framed Joey. Despite himself, Chico begins to buy into the conspiracy theory, especially after someone murders Esther. Roman keeps the action moving all the way through a wicked sting toward the end. (Aug.)
The Nesting Dolls: A Joanne Kilbourn Mystery
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Gail Bowen, McClelland & Stewart, $26.95 (336p) ISBN 978-0-7710-1275-4 9780771012754
Canadian author Bowen's enjoyable if flawed 12th Joanne Kilbourn mystery (after 2008's The Brutal Heart) focuses largely on the rich family life of the Regina, Saskatchewan, academic, who gets involved in a convoluted custody case and murder. At a pre-Christmas concert, a troubled young woman hands a baby boy to teenage Isobel Wainberg with a message for Isobel's mother, Delia, who's a friend and law partner of Joanne's husband, Zach Shreve. The young woman turns out to be Abby Michaels, who says she's Delia's daughter. When Abby is discovered raped and strangled in a car in a snowy parking lot soon after her stunning revelation, her death adds to the confusion and consternation over the fate of her six-month-old son, Jacob. Questions of parentage and custody cloud the murder investigation, while Zack's health (he's a paraplegic) presents still more difficulties. Bowen's resolution may well disappoint, but her realistic depictions of Joanne's extended caring family should please fans. (Aug.)
Bones in High Places
Suzette A. Hill, Soho Constable, $25 (256p) ISBN 978-1-56947-655-0 9781569476550
Hill's delightful fourth 1950s clerical mystery (after 2009's Bone Idle) takes the Rev. Francis Oughterard, canon of St. Botolph's in Molehill, Surrey, to the Auvergne in the south of France, where he has inherited a villa from Elizabeth Fotherington, the annoying woman he murdered outside his vicarage in 2007's A Load of Old Bones. Accompanying Francis is his sister, Primrose, and his unscrupulous friend, Nicholas Ingaza, who provided him with an alibi that got him off the hook for Mrs. Fotherington's murder and who believes the villa may contain Nazi gold. To Francis's astonishment, his dog, Bouncer, and his cat, Maurice, for whom he made arrangements back in England, also turn up in France, where they all become involved in yet another comic and dangerous romp. Evocative descriptions of the French countryside, an intriguing puzzle, and a host of lively characters will leave series fans and newcomers alike eager for the next installment. (Aug.)
Dream Queen
Betsy Thornton, Minotaur, $25.99 (288p) ISBN 978-0-312-60205-5 9780312602055
Thornton's gripping sixth mystery featuring victim's advocate Chloe Newcombe (after 2008's A Song for You) charts her earlier years, long before she moved to Arizona. Two years after her older brother, James, died of AIDS in California, Chloe, then a New York City PI, travels to Dudley, Ariz., a small town where Tucson therapist Hal, James's surviving partner, has a home, and where Danny, her younger brother, has fallen for Kristi Marsh, a beautiful but troubled woman. Danny and Kristi meet Chloe at the airport, but en route to Dudley tragedy strikes—Danny disappears after they stop to fix his van at a garage while the two women wait at a diner across the street. Kristi also vanishes soon after they reach Hal's, but she's later found shot to death in a shack containing packages of a street drug called "Dream Queen." Kristi's stepfather, a therapist friend of Hal's, hires Chloe to investigate. As she uncovers a bizarre coverup, Chloe comes to some sticky realizations in this multilayered literary whodunit. (Aug.)
