May and June Publications

A decade after the well-received Till the Fat Lady Sings, Alisa Kwitney returns with The Dominant Blonde, an appealing romantic mystery. Lydia Gold is on a tropical vacation with her soon-to-be fiancé, Abe. During a diving excursion, Abe goes down and never comes up; then Lydia learns that he had cleaned out her family's savings, to the tune of $3 million. She turns to sexy scuba instructor Liam MacNally to help her track Abe down—but they're not the only ones looking for him. This smart, funny caper is much better than its title and cover imply. (Avon, $13.95 paper 288p ISBN 0-06-008329-8; June)

This War Called Love is the second collection of stories by American Book Award—winner Alejandro Murguía (Southern Front). Young Reymundo's idyllic life in 1950s Mexico City is interrupted by one tragedy after another in the richly detailed "Boy on a Wooden Horse." Although the eight subsequent stories don't quite measure up to this one, there are a few gems. In "Ofrendas," Reymundo is older, living in San Francisco's Mission District, mourning a lost friend on the Day of the Dead. The darkly humorous "Barrio Lotto," in which a bus driver and his psychic wife struggle to stay afloat financially, features an ending worthy of Roald Dahl. (City Lights, $11.95 paper 154p ISBN 0-87286-394-8; June)

An artist desperate for approval from his wealthy, sadistic father narrates nonagenarian Marianne Hauser's (The Talking Room, etc.) spare but engrossing novella, Shootout with Father. James, a sculptor, tries to make sense of the daunting man who has brought him so much misery and frustration. Through a series of recollections and forbidden letters, a portrait of James's father emerges: an avid collector of priceless armor, a brilliant businessman who abused and neglected his wife and son. But most illuminating is the discovery of his father's long-ago infatuation with an older male mentor and the heartbreak he experienced as a result. Hauser's insight and sharp wit make for a captivating read. (FC2 [Northwestern Univ., dist.], $11.95 paper 81p ISBN 1-57366-100-7; June)

Elin Hilderbrand's Nantucket Nights (after The Beach Club) digs into the private lives of three middle-aged women—Kayla, Val and Antoinette. For 20 years, they have made annual midnight excursions to the beach to drink champagne, skinny-dip and swap confidences, until one night Antoinette disappears into the surf and doesn't return. Juicy revelations wash up like broken seashells—Antoinette had a daughter 20 years ago and a second love-child was on the way—and that's just the beginning. Things get more twisted at every turn, with enough lies and betrayals to fuel a whole season of soap operas. It takes a little while for things to get going, but once they do, readers will be hooked. Regional author tour. (St. Martin's/Dunne, $23.95 240p ISBN 0-312-28335-0; June)

A dark family drama that begins in 1968 and spans 15 years, The House of Women is the most recent British import from the late Catherine Cookson (The Bondage of Love; A Ruthless Need; etc.). Emma is the stern, feisty 74-year-old matriarch of Bramble House; also living there are her hypochondriac daughter, Victoria; her granddaughter, Lizzie, Lizzie's monstrous husband, Len, and their teenaged daughter, Peggy, who is impregnated by Andrew, a local boy, whom she marries. As the years pass, allegiances shift, illicit romances flare up and characters are moved to acts of violence and worse. It's an absorbing spectacle for those who don't mind a bit of melodrama. (Center Point, $28.95 288p large print ISBN 1-58547-069-4; June)

Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, justly acclaimed for their translations of such Russian classics as Gogol's Dead Souls and Dostoyevski's The Brothers Karamazov, Crime and Punishment and Notes from Underground, have now undertaken another major Dostoyevski novel, The Idiot. Their trademark style—fresh, crisp and faithful to the original (bumps and blemishes included)—brings the story of naïve, truth-telling Prince Myshkin to new life. As is true of their other translations of Dostoyevski, this will likely be the definitive edition for years to come. Intro. by Pevear. (Knopf/Everyman, $25 672p ISBN 0-375-41392-8; May)