The murder of an 18-year-old prostitute by a shadowy patron who has asked her to safeguard a mysterious book kick-starts Southey's lively fourth 18th-century mystery featuring Newcastle-upon-Tyne musician Charles Patterson (after 2009's Secret Lament). Soon after beginning to investigate, Charles, who has a knack for unraveling crimes, is off to work at a country house party, where he's surprised to find the rightful heir to the now missing book among the guests. Others in residence include an affable but deceptive host, a snobbish hostess, and Esther Jerdoun, the wealthy older woman Charles can neither afford to marry nor bear to be without. Violent attacks, a second death, and sundry encounters with spirits ensue. While the book's minor paranormal element feels jarring at times, Southey impeccably evokes the period, and the latest twist in Charles's unlikely romance will leave readers eager for the next installment. (Nov.)

Reviewed on 09/27/2010 | Release date: 09/01/2010 | Details & Permalink

Set in 1913, Pearce's thin seventh mystery to feature Scotland Yard's Sandor Seymour (after 2009's A Dead Man in Naples) opens with an intriguing puzzle. Seymour, a troubleshooter routinely dispatched across Europe to handle sensitive inquiries, looks into three suspicious deaths on the island of Malta—two British sailors and a German balloonist have expired after being admitted in good health to a British naval hospital. The aviator, Kiesewetter, entered the hospital for observation after his hot-air balloon landed unexpectedly. Witness reports that an unknown person was seen bending over the supine body of one of the sailors shortly before the sailor's demise add to concerns that a murderer might have been at work. Unengaging scenes between Seymour and his love interest as well as a denouement that doesn't fulfill the promise of the premise will disappoint fans of Pearce's superior Mamur Zapt series (The Mark of the Pasha, etc.). (Nov.)

Reviewed on 09/27/2010 | Release date: 10/01/2010 | Details & Permalink

Dreams of the angel of death haunt crusty, nearly retired Philadelphia homicide detective Michael Coletti in this so-so serial killer mystery. When a gunman calling himself "the angel of death" kills three people in a church, Fr. Thomas O'Reilly winds up convicted of the murders. Despite solid evidence against the priest, Coletti has his doubts as O'Reilly's execution nears 10 years later. Suddenly, the killer is back committing similar crimes, appearing and disappearing as if by magic. Coletti, new partner Charles Mann, and state police profiler Mary Smithson race against O'Reilly's execution date and still more killings in a desperate effort to catch the culprit. Clues dropped by the angel of death pointing to a personal connection with Coletti and some of his previous cases add to the detective's guilt. Jones (Payback) nails his Philadelphia setting and the hard role of cops, but his unlikely plot resolution may leave readers feeling cheated. (Nov.)

Reviewed on 09/27/2010 | Release date: 11/01/2010 | Details & Permalink

In Crawford's sprightly seventh mystery with recipes featuring sisters Bernie and Libby Simmons (after 2009's A Catered Birthday Party), the proprietors of A Little Taste of Heaven, their Longely, N.Y., catering company, prepare a Thanksgiving feast for Scrooge-like fireworks manufacturer Monty Field and his family at the Field mansion. When Monty comes into the kitchen to test the roasting turkey, Bernie and Libby watch in horror as Monty taps the pop-up button in the bird's breast and the turkey explodes, blowing off the top of his head. Libby fears their stuffing made the turkey explode, but they soon learn that there was plenty of rivalry among the assembled family members, any one of whom had reason to want Monty dead. A heavy snowstorm ensures the suspects stay put as the sisters start to investigate. That their father, Sean, was on bad terms with the victim complicates their task. The action builds to more fireworks and a dramatic rescue. (Nov.)

Reviewed on 09/27/2010 | Release date: 11/01/2010 | Details & Permalink

Charlie Moon and his best friend, Scott Parris, the chief of police of upscale Granite City, Colo., face a doozy of a case even by their standards in Doss's folksy 15th mystery featuring the Ute tribal investigator (after 2009's The Widow's Revenge): solving the murder of megabucks investor Samuel Reed before it occurs. Though the two lawmen initially scoff at the prospective victim's proffered wager that he won't survive his young wife's upcoming birthday, they have second thoughts after Mrs. Reed's 911 report of a phantom break-in as well as more serious concerns once Moon's self-appointed deputies—his reprobate Aunt Daisy, an elderly shaman with supernatural sources, and teenage orphan Sarah Frank—tail the lady in question to a rendezvous with her lover. Even so, ensuing events blindside Moon and Parris, setting in motion a denouement surprising enough to make it worth tolerating the author's myriad digressions and annoying stylistic quirks. (Nov.)

Reviewed on 09/27/2010 | Release date: 11/01/2010 | Details & Permalink

The death of Mallory Johnson, a popular high school cheerleader, in a suspicious car crash propels Edgar-winner Maron's satisfying 16th Deborah Knott mystery (after 2009's Sand Sharks). While Deborah, a Colleton County, N.C., judge, and her huge clan are preparing for a big North Carolina Christmas, her husband, chief deputy Dwight Bryant, looks into the shooting of two trailer-park brothers. Deborah's countless nieces and nephews pop up frequently, and Deborah, with her realistic and appealing combination of common sense and a sharp ear, pulls clues from the kids' random comments. Mallory's less popular half-brother, her slighted best friend, and all the boys she toyed with are all possible bad guys, though how the one-car accident was orchestrated is a mystery in itself. As usual, interludes with relatives overshadow the investigating, but of course the warm and authentic family relationships are the heart of this evergreen series. (Nov.)

Reviewed on 09/27/2010 | Release date: 11/01/2010 | Details & Permalink

Henry James's The Turn of the Screw provides the inspiration for the lengthy title tale of Thomas's superb fifth collection of Sherlock Holmes pastiches (after 2009's Sherlock Holmes and the King's Evil). In 1898, Holmes and Watson intervene on behalf of Victoria Temple, a governess confined to an insane asylum after a verdict of guilty but insane for the murder of 10-year-old Miles Mordaunt, who was suffocated only days after his eight-year-old sister, Flora, died of diphtheria. The accused murderess is convinced that the ghosts of a valet and her predecessor as governess were trying to seduce both children into evil. The three other selections are nearly up to the same high standard. "The Case of a Boy's Honour," about a scandal at a boarding school, compels even without a murder to solve. Sherlockians will hope Thomas continues to turn out these faithful and imaginative recreations for years to come. (Dec.)

Reviewed on 09/27/2010 | Release date: 12/01/2010 | Details & Permalink

This fluffy first in a promising new cozy series from bestseller Clark (Dying for Mercy) introduces 27-year-old, down-on-her-luck actress Piper Donovan. After a painful breakup and too few acting gigs in Manhattan, Piper has returned home to Hillwood, N.J., where she's assisting her mother, Terri, at the family bakery, the Icing on the Cupcake. Piper is pleased to be preparing the cake for the upcoming wedding of her friend Glenna Brooks, the star of A Little Rain Must Fall, a daytime soap opera that Piper appeared in before her character was killed off. An actual murder, the cyanide poisoning of one of Glenna's A Little Rain Must Fall co-stars and her former lover, Travis York, threatens to derail the wedding. After further dangerously sticky developments, Piper confronts the surprising killer. Piper having to deal with Terri's macular degeneration lends some emotional weight. (Jan.)

Reviewed on 09/27/2010 | Release date: 12/01/2010 | Details & Permalink

This mammoth collection presents five decades of Dixon: sex, frustration, and attempts at deeper communication, mostly missed. The 62 stories evoke neuroses, delusion, banality, and everyday absurdities in deceptively simple sentences, as with the narrator of "Getting Lost," weighing what to take from his lover's apartment. "She'd see the mug and know it's mine and my favorite and maybe one day return it with all the other things I'd leave behind and that day we might be able to get something going again." There are echoes of Ernest Hemingway and prefigurings of Raymond Carver's lower-middle-class minimalism infusing tales of scrappers and scrapers, such as the reluctant union supporter in "Produce," the bewildered john in "Fired," and the alienated underling of "Cleanup Man." Fabulist offerings, like "The Bussed" and "China," suffer in comparison to more focused, dialogue-rich pieces, such as "She" or "Biff," where the line between inquisitive and intrusive is breached, then plowed over in admirably neurotic fashion. Usually sublime, sometimes sloppy, and occasionally bewildering, these stories are a testament to an impressive career spent too much under the radar. (Oct.)

Reviewed on 09/27/2010 | Release date: 10/01/2010 | Details & Permalink

Turner's debut is a road novel that stalls in first gear. In the aftermath of a failed romance, Russell Pinske restlessly decides to head to California. He does so by first heading to his hometown of Door Prairie, Ind., to look up old acquaintances. What follows, and fills the novel, are the stories and relationships of Russell and assorted friends, among them a couple of smalltown dope dealers. Every character has a story or three; problem is, none is terribly interesting, and nothing much happens. It's low-key time in slackerville. Turner is ambitious; this is described as the first in a projected series of four books about "errant souls," and the road novel is an honored form for social observation. But his characters are one-dimensional, and his writing suffers from a few too many adjectives and adverbs ("Guy exclaimed in a harsh whisper"; "dreary light oozed through yellowed shades"). (Nov.)

Reviewed on 09/27/2010 | Release date: 01/01/2011 | Details & Permalink