Fiction - May 2007

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Aria
by Nassim Assefi
In this epistolary novel, a woman travels the world, trying to come to terms with her grief. Jasmine's parents immigrated to the USA from Iran so that she could have a good life. She is now a successful oncologist, but has been disowned by her parents for "living in sin" with the man who became the father of her child. When her child dies, she travels the world, looking for some way to make meaning out of disaster.

In the Company of Fishers
by Ken Boire
In the Company of Fishers follows a day in the life of Moosemeat John. Old John is a legend among fishers. The story is strong, the pace fast, and the writing rich. These characters get inside your skin, and you will hear them inside your head.

The Folded World
by Amity Gaige
We've all heard the truism that the devil is in the details. For novelist Gaige, whose O My Darling was a winner of the National Book Foundation's first 5 Under 35 award, these details are hidden in the folds of everyday life. Charlie Shade, a young social worker, is attempting to balance his job as part of a mobile mental-health team with his responsibilities to his family. It's not easy. Eager to prove his competence as a clinician, he virtually ignores his stay-at-home wife and twin daughters. When the inevitable crisis hits, the novel brings readers into the center of the maelstrom.

Kalooki Nights
by Howard Jacobson
Long listed for the 2006 Man Booker Prize and hailed by The Times (London) as a work of genius, Jacobson's exquisitely written, audaciously funny novel explores the countless questions of postwar Jewish identity.

Goodbye Mexico
by Phillip Jennings
The worlds of espionage and subversion are as unpredictable and absurd as any other form of warfare. Jennings gives Goodbye Mexico relevance with a clear-eyed look at how the right hand of the intelligence establishment often doesn't know what the left hand is doing.

Forever
by Karen Kingsbury
Katie Hart is thrilled about her future with Hollywood's Dayne Matthews. But as she plans a wedding and looks for a house on the shores of Lake Monroe, she receives tragic news. Now she and the members of the Baxter family must travel to Los Angeles and sort through their options.

The King of Methlehem
by Mark Lindquist
A new novel from acclaimed author Lindquist--a ripped-from-the-headlines look at the drug underworld, in which veteran police detective Wyatt James tracks a powerful methamphetamine distributor through a world of addiction, destruction, and madness.

Consequences
by Penelope Lively
This new novel by award-winning British author Lively (Moon Tiger) begins in the 1930s, as Londoners Lorna and Matt meet, marry, and move into a rural English cottage, where daughter Molly is born. When Matt dies in battle during World War II, the shattered Lorna moves back to London to live with Lucas, Matt's business partner and friend. When subsequent loss occurs, the narrative shifts to Molly, now a smart, independent young woman looking out for her younger brother and stepfather while making her way in the working world. Later, as Molly negotiates midlife, the narrative shifts again, settling on Molly's daughter, Ruth, a journalist who is married with two children and yet yearns for happiness.

Back on Blossom Street
by Debbie Macomber
New York Times bestselling author Macomber returns with an engaging tale, as a new knitting group begins at Lydia Goetz's store, The Good Yarn.

The Savage Garden
by Mark Mills
In the summer of 1958, young Cambridge scholar Adam Strickland is sent to Tuscany to study the memorial garden of the Villa Docci. Dedicated to the memory of Signor Docci's wife, who died in the 16th century, the garden is an amazing and surreal world of statues, grottoes, arbors, and mysterious inscriptions. Adam begins to suspect that it may even hold clues to the murder of the young Signora Docci. As his research progresses, Adam is drawn into a parallel intrigue involving the present-day Doccis and the murder of one of the current signora's sons during the villa's German occupation.

The Faith Healer of Olive Avenue
by Manuel Muñoz
The interconnected stories that comprise Muñoz's collection are the work of an explosive new talent. The recurring characters throughout the stories cross paths in unexpected ways, revealing a neighborhood as an entity that is both embracing and unforgiving.

After Dark
by Haruki Murakami
With his trademark humor and psychological insight, Murakami's power of observation plays out in this sleek novel of encounters set in Tokyo during the witching hours between midnight and dawn.

The Quest
by Wilbur Smith
New York Times bestselling author Smith returns with the next installment of his thrilling Egyptian series. Following on from River God, The Seventh Scroll, and Warlock, The Quest continues the story of the Warlock, Taita, master of magic and the supernatural.

Sheer Abandon
by Penny Vincenzi
British bestseller Vincenzi (No Angel) pulls out all the stops in this orchestral saga. In 1985, three young British women meet in a Heathrow departure lounge en route to precollege sojourns. One of them, upon her return to England, secretly gives birth and abandons the baby in a cleaning supplies closet at the airport; "Baby Bianca" captivates the public's sympathies until she is adopted. The mystery of who her mother is serves as the spine of this fat, satisfying novel, and Vincenzi creates multiple intrigues around the three women: Jocasta, a rising tabloid journalist; Clio, a physician specializing in geriatrics; and Martha, a corporate lawyer running for Parliament.

Luncheon of the Boating Party
by Susan Vreeland
One of the most significant paintings of the impressionist period is Renoir's "Luncheon of the Boating Party," and it's hard to imagine that a novel could do it justice. Yet this new work from Vreeland (Girl in Hyacinth Blue) does just that. She opens with an agitated Renoir eager to respond to criticism from Émile Zola, that the Impressionists have yet to produce a work of genius measuring up to their claims. Prodded by Alphonsine, whose family owns a restaurant on the river near his mother's home in Louveciennes, Renoir conceives a masterwork that will truly capture la vie moderne. He will depict a group of canotiers, or boaters, enjoying a festive lunch on the restaurant's veranda. Then he's off to collect models: Alphonsine, of course, and her brother; the painter Gustave Caillebotte; an actress and a model he has loved; and more. Vreeland weaves together their stories in unaffected prose that at first seems too modest for the painting it describes. In the end, she creates a profoundly moving portrait of the creative process and of a community of people who came together for a moment to help create one great work.

Mysteries:

Up in Honey's Room
by Elmore Leonard
Up in Honey's Room is the newest novel in a string of critically acclaimed bestsellers from the renowned master of American crime fiction. Leonard brings his talent for characterization, rich ear for dialogue, and piercing insight to a gripping story set in the years of World War II.

Whack a Mole: A John Ceepak Mystery
by Chris Grabenstein
In Grabenstein's third entertaining mystery set in the delightfully campy Jersey shore town of Sea Haven, John Ceepak, an Iraq war veteran with a strict moral code, now has a full-time partner in former volunteer officer Danny Boyle. Still settling into their groove as partners, the two men try to have personal lives and deal with the cast of characters within the police department while investigating a serial killer from the 1980s who has begun leaving body parts around the beach town.

A Tremor of Demons
by Frederic Lindsay
When Edinburgh detective Jim Meldrum is called to investigate a recently discovered corpse, the only suspicious circumstances seem to be that the dead man has his slippers on the wrong feet. But when it turns out the deceased man has actually been clinically mutilated, Meldrum realizes that this will be a case out of the ordinary.

A Fatal Grace: A Three Pines Mystery
by Louise Penny
Quebec Surete Inspector Armand Gamache, who made his debut in Still Life (2006), returns in this enjoyable follow-up. An almost universally disliked, even hated, woman is murdered. Naturally, the pool of potential murderers is deep, ranging from the victim's lover to her friends (well, acquaintances) to various others in the small Canadian community of Three Pines. Gamache, a smart and likable investigator systematically wades his way through the pool, coming upon a few surprises along the way.

Play Dead
by David Rosenfelt
Edgar Award finalist and Today show Book Club pick Rosenfelt spins a tale of crime and courtroom theatrics where the only witness to a high-profile murder is a golden retriever.

A Stranger Lies There
by Stephen Santogrossi
In Santogrossi's engrossing, dark debut (winner of the St. Martin's Press/Malice Domestic contest for Best First Traditional Mystery Novel), the curiously endearing protagonist, Tim Ryder, wakes up one morning to find a dead body on his Palm Springs, California, lawn. Ryder, a carpenter, wonders if the murder is connected to testimony he gave against a co-conspirator in a criminal case 30 years earlier, when he did time for a bungled robbery, a misguided attempt to raise money for antiVietnam War protests. With the next current-day casualty, the matter becomes more urgent, and even more personal, and Tim is determined to find the killer.