Fiction, October 2004

General Fiction |Mysteries |Horror/Science Fiction/Fantasy

General Fiction

Baldacci, David: Hour Game: A Novel (October 2004)

The unstoppable duo from the New York Times bestseller Split Second returns to track two diabolical killers, one of whom is copying the other — and stealing the "credit."
Case, John: The Murder Artist: A Novel (October 2004)

A TV reporter sets out on a coast-to-coast quest against time to save his twin sons in this novel by the Hammett Prize–nominated author of the Eighth Day.
Collins, Natalie R.: Wives and Sisters (October 2004)

After surviving a brutal attack on her as a young adult, Allison makes a desperate attempt to escape Mormon bonds and finds herself on a collision course with community leaders as they cover up the steps of a sexual predator.
Cooper, J. California: Some People, Some Other Place: A Novel (October 2004)

J. California Cooper returns with a sweeping novel about love and heartbreak, perseverance and luck, telling her tale with insight and grace. This multigenerational tale is set in a town called "Place" on a street named "Dream Street" where neighbors on the block are people of all colors, all striving to overcome personal troubles and disappointments, and all holding fast to their dreams of a better life.
Defoe, Gideon: The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists (October 2004)

Not the most brilliant pirate the world has ever seen, the Pirate Captain, when asked to name the seven seas, responds: "There's the North Sea. And the other one near Mozambique. And what's the one in Hyde Park..." And there are also those Post-it notes strewn about his quarters reminding him to say such piratical things as "Hard about, lads!" and "Splice the main sail!" Despite these shortcomings, he does have the most luxurious beard you ever did see, and even after mistakenly attacking Charles Darwin's Beagle while searching for some major pirate booty, the Pirate Captain offers to help the fledgling scientist save his brother from the wrath of the evil Bishop of Oxford. Before the outlandishly heroic climax, you will encounter pirates in drag, discussions about radioactive elephants, and a long journey to avoid the unfathomably horrible sea serpent .
Flook, Maria: Lux (October 2004)

Lux — a searing, poignant, darkly comic novel set on Cape Cod — is by the author of the bestselling true crime story Invisible Eden.
Goodman, Eric: Child of My Right Hand: A Novel (October 2004)

As Jack and Genna Barish struggle to deal with their 17-year-old son's announcement that he is gay, their conservative town's reaction, and their own marital conflicts, the complex dynamics of a family unfold.
Headley, Jason: Small Town Odds: A Novel (October 2004)

Writing with an acute sense of place and characters reminiscent of Richard Russo, Headley's first novel tells the hilarious and poignant story of a habitual screwup in Pinely, West Virginia.
Helprin, Mark: The Pacific and Other Stories (October 2004)

This collection of 16 stories displays the remarkable scope, incomparable wit and deft prose that have come to be Helprin's signature. Lighthearted, glittering fables are met with starker tales that sound the depths of sacrifice and duty.
Hospital, Janette Turner: North of Nowhere, South of Loss: Stories (October 2004)

Janette Turner Hospital explores the infinite incarnations of loss in these prize-winning stories. Her characters oscillate between estrangement and intense connectedness, between a permanent sense of dislocation and a yearning to belong.
Jakes, John: Savannah, or, A Gift for Mr. Lincoln: A Novel (October 2004)

In this rousing new tale, Jakes tells a story of battlefield danger, wartime romance and indomitable courage. The characters bring to life an almost forgotten moment in the Civil War — a season of simmering hostilities, rising hopes and empty stockings — perhaps the most strife-torn yet heartwarming Christmas in all of American history.
Jordan, Neil: Shade: A Novel (October 2004)

Nina Hardy is murdered in the garden of her childhood home by a childhood friend, but her body is never found. She remains a silent shade, watching and retelling the events of her life and afterlife as her brother and friends try to make sense of her death.
Kuper, Peter: Sticks and Stones (October 2004)

Kuper uses vividly rendered sequential art to tell a timeless story that incorporates only the most elemental forces — sticks and stones, fire, diamonds and rain. The result is a witty, powerful saga of life and death, and war and peace.
Lodge, David: Author, Author (October 2004)

Framed by a dramatic and moving account of Henry James's last illness, Author, Author begins in the early 1880s, describing James's friendship with the genial Punch artist, George Du Maurier, and his intimate but problematic relationship with fellow American novelist Constance Fenimore Woolson.
Mewshaw, Michael: Island Tempest (October 2004)

Frank Pitchard leads a quiet, rather depressed existence since he was forced to retire. Things get interesting, though, when a neighbor in his island community turns out to be an ex-mobster in witness protection who's got an assassin on his tail with the Feds not far behind.
O'Brian, Patrick: 21: The Final Unfinished Voyage of Jack Aubrey: Including Facsimile of the Manuscript (October 2004)

In response to the interest of millions of O'Brian fans, here is the final, partial installment of the Aubrey/Maturin series — the proposed follow-up to Blue at the Mizzen. These are the three chapters left on O'Brian's desk at the time of his death.
O'Brien, Dan: The Indian Agent: A Novel (October 2004)

This is a riveting novel about Red Cloud, the Pine Ridge Indian Agency, and the agent who made his mark on history.
P., Melissa: 100 Strokes of the Brush Before Bed (October 2004)

An instant blockbuster in Italy where it has sold over 700,000 copies, 100 Strokes of the Brush Before Bed is the fictionalized memoir of Melissa P., a Sicilian teenager whose quest for love rapidly devolves into a shocking journey of sexual discovery.
Roberts, Nora: Northern Lights (October 2004)

Lunacy was Nate Burke's last chance. As a Baltimore cop, he'd watched his partner die on the street — and the guilt still haunts him. With nowhere else to go, he accepts the job as Chief of Police in this tiny, remote Alaskan town, where he unearths the secrets and suspicions that lurk beneath Lunacy's placid surface. And his discovery will threaten the new life — and the new love — that he has finally found for himself.
Samson, Lisa: Tiger Lillie: A Novel (October 2004)

Fifteen years after the mysterious disappearance of Ted, her childhood sweetheart, gutsy and daring Lillie Bauer — bungee-jumper, book addict and delightfully offbeat coordinator of extreme high-concept weddings — is ready to find love again.
Shaara, Jeffrey M.: To the Last Man: A Novel of the First World War (October 2004)

The New York Times bestselling novelist turns to World War I to tell the sweeping, spellbinding and emotional story of the war that devastated a generation and elevated America to prominence as a world power.
Shanghvi, Siddharth D.: The Last Song of Dusk (October 2004)

In the tradition of Arundhati Roy and Salman Rushdie, a new voice tells an exuberant and tender story of love and loss, sex, karma and colonialism set in 1920s India.
Sherman, Dayne: Welcome to the Fallen Paradise: A Novel (October 2004)

Baxter Parish, Louisiana, is a bloody place where family tradition is stronger than law and pride is more valuable than life. Twenty-seven-year-old Jesse Tadlock returns home after a peaceful Army hitch to claim his inheritance, but he finds he can't outrun the legacy of violence that has haunted his family.
Shreve, Anita: Light on Snow: A Novel (October 2004)

Written from the point of view of 30-year-old Nicky as she recalls the vivid December day, 19 years earlier, when she and her father found an abandoned infant in the snow, this is a beautiful contemporary novel about love and memory from the author of the bestselling All He Ever Wanted and The Pilot's Wife.
Smith, D. James: My Brother's Passion (October 2004)

A thoughtful boy on the brink of adolescence struggles to make sense of the evil that resides in his small town.
Steel Danielle: Echoes (October 2004)

Steel draws readers into a vanished world, weaving an intricate tapestry of a mother's love, a daughter's courage, and the unwavering faith that sustained them — even in the darkest hours of World War II.
Updike, John: Villages (October 2004)

Updike's 21st novel is a bildungsroman describing the education, romantic and otherwise, of Owen Makenzie.
Vincenzi, Penny: Something Dangerous (October 2004)

Strong-willed and stubborn, Celia Lytton has survived much in her time; now she must guide her family through the brooding dangers of the 1930s and the terror and spirit of wartime until peace is finally declared.

Mysteries

Cruikshank, Jeffrey L.: Murder at the B-School (October 2004)

This riveting debut novel probes murder, pretension and conspiracy in the halls of Harvard University's famed graduate program.
Davidson, Diana Mott: Double Shot (October 2004)

Davidson whips up a rich souffle of murder and mischief as her trusty heroine Goldy Schultz gets caught up in a web of secrets and lies that could tear her family apart.
Evanovich, Janet: Metro Girl (November 2004)

Evanovich's new novel about a woman in search of her missing brother comes complete with high stakes, hot nights, murder and graft — not to mention car chases, car races, car explosions and much more.
Hillerman, Tony: Skeleton Man (November 2004)

New York Times bestselling author Tony Hillerman is back with another blockbuster novel featuring the legendary Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn and Sergeant Jim Chee.
Mayor, Archer: The Surrogate Thief ( A Joe Gunther Mystery) (October 2004)

The latest installment in the classic Joe Gunther series finds the Vermont detective on his most personal and dangerous case yet.
Morris, Bob: Bahamarama (October 2004)

As unpredictable as island trade winds, Bahamarama twists and turns its way to a stunning conclusion and announces the arrival of a writer who is sure to surprise and delight mystery fans for years to come.
Russell, Kirk: Night Game: A John Marquez Crime Novel (October 2004)

Former federal agent John Marquez again pushes the boundaries of safety and politics when he takes his team of Fish and Game officers on a dangerous operation in pursuit of bear poachers. Night Game hits hard and moves fast toward a finish that ricochets through wilderness, backwoods towns and the darker recesses of love and greed.
Schutz, Benjamin M.: The Mongol Reply (October 2004)

Serena Tully is in a battle to regain custody of her children and seeks the help of Dr. Morgan Reece, a specialist in evaluating child-parent relationships. Reece will have to battle a law firm that will do anything to win and a plaintiff who is one step away from becoming a cold-blooded killer.
Woods, Stuart: The Prince of Beverly Hills (October 2004)

Woods introduces a demoted 1930s Hollywood detective who is reassigned to security detail for Centurion Pictures. His charm has columnists dubbing him the "Prince of Beverly Hills" until he uncovers a murder cover-up and a blackmail scam that threaten the studio and may originate with the mob.

Horror/Science Fiction/Fantasy

Anthony, Piers: Currant Events (October 2004)

When Clio, the Muse of History, sits down to pen the 28th volume in the Chronicles of Xanth, she is stunned to discover it is already there! Vexed and bewildered, Clio resolves to leave the quiet comfort of her study on the slopes of Mount Parnassus, and ask her old friend, the Good Magician Humfrey, to search for a solution to her problem in his Book of Answers.
Butcher, Jim: Furies of Calderon (October 2004)

In the realm of Alders, where people bond with furies — elements of earth, air, fire, water and metal — 15-year-old Tavi struggles with his lack of furycrafting. But when his homeland erupts in chaos, Tavi's simple courage will turn the tides of war.
Donaldson, Stephen R.: The Runes of the Earth (October 2004)

Donaldson makes a triumphant return to his critically acclaimed Chronicles of Thomas Covenant series with a quartet of new novels that take place 10 years after Covenant's ultimate sacrifice as savior of the Land.
Eddings, David: The Treasured One: Book Two of the Dreamers (October 2004)

From the bestselling authors of the The Elder Gods comes book two of The Dreamers series, a brand new fantasy epic.
Foster, Alan Dean: Sliding Scales: A Pip & Flinx Novel (October 2004)

Sliding Scales is the tenth novel in the Pip and Flinx series. The pair find danger and excitement on their most daring mission — a vacation.
Kiernan, Caitlin: The Dry Salvages (October 2004)

Award-winning author Caitlin R. Kiernan, best known for her contemporary settings, "gothnoir" tales of pain and wonder, and atmospheric stories of Lovecraftian terror, was first published as an author of dark science fiction. Now she returns to sf with a novella The Dry Salvages. Three centuries in the future, though much of Earth has been crippled by war, pollution and catastrophic climate change, man has at last traveled to the stars and found evidence of at least one extraterrestrial civilization. In a bleak and frozen Paris, at the dawn of the 22nd century, an old woman is forced to confront the consequences of her part in these discoveries and the ghosts that have haunted her for almost 50 years. The last surviving member of the crew of the starship Montelius, exopaleontologist Dr. Audrey Cather struggles to remember what she's spent to long trying to forget — the nightmare she once faced almost 90 trillion miles from Earth.
Pohl, Frederik: The Boy Who Would Live Forever (October 2004)

Returning to his bestselling Gateway universe for the first time in nearly 20 years, Pohl has written a science fiction novel to captivate the readers who helped Gateway and Beyond the Blue Event Horizon win the Hugo Award for Best Novel.
Russell, Sean: The Shadow Roads (October 2004)

The Shadow Roads is the finale to the Swans' War trilogy, the breakout epic praised as "perfectly plotted, beautifully written fantasy" (Publisher's Weekly).
Sherman, David: Star Wars: Jedi Trial: A Clone Wars Novel (October 2004)

This is a new Clone Wars novel in which Anakin Skywalker undergoes his own personal Jedi Trial.
Wilson, F. Paul: Crisscross: A Repairman Jack Novel (October 2004)

An anonymous mercenary, with no last name and no social security number, Jack has thrilled a veritable army of readers ever since his bestselling debut in The Tomb. In his latest gripping adventure, he takes on two cases at once.