Fiction, January 2005

General Fiction |Mysteries |Horror/Science Fiction/Fantasy

General Fiction

Abbott, Megan E.: Die a Little (February 2005)

Shadow-dodging through 1950s Hollywood glamour and its seedy flip-side, Die a Little tells the story of a femme fatale costume girl whose masquerade as the perfect housewife is clever enough to fool her detective husband, but not her suspicious sister-in-law.
Antoni, Robert: Carnival (February 2005)

This ambitious third novel takes readers on an expedition that stretches from contemporary New York City to the glitter of Trinidadian Carnival, going deep into the island's mountainous interior.
Arvin, Nick: Articles of War (February 2005)

This short, spare and hypnotic novel tells of an Iowa farm boy who enlists in the Army during World War II and is sent to Normandy shortly after D-Day.
Barmack, E. S.: The Virgin (January 2005)

An electric, darkly comic novel set in the world of reality television.
Beigbeder, Frederic: Windows on the World (February 2005)

Weaving together philosophy, myth, world politics and humor, this work of literary daring is a fearless, moving and unsettling novel set against the events of September 11.
Beverly-Whittemore, Miranda: The Effects of Light (February 2005)

Blending themes of lost innocence, sexual awakening and triumph over loss, this evocative debut novel features two sisters whose lives are forever altered by a series of photos.
Bissell, Tom: God Lives in St. Petersburg: And Other Stories (January 2005)

In this collection the author of Chasing the Sun turns his observant eye to fiction with sometimes tragic, sometimes hilarious adventures and misadventures of Americans colliding with the unfamiliar in Central Asia.
Braffet, K. T.: Josie and Jack (February 2005)

Teenage siblings Josie and Jack are each other's whole world. Josie lives inside Jack's love and happily submits to his control, following him on his sociopathic path. When their father's erratic behavior finally drives them away, things get complicated, sinister and interesting in this contemporary Hansel and Gretel story.
Bright, Susie: The Best American Erotica 2005 (February 2005)

In keeping with her mission to bring the latest trends in erotica to a wide audience, editor Bright mixes stories by such names as Jane Smiley and Mary Gaitskill with authors who are just emerging from the underground/small press erotica scene.
Dann, John R.: Song of the Earth (February 2005)

This is the multi-generational saga of the wanderings of one prehistoric tribal family who leave Africa and travel northward into central and eastern Europe, always searching for safety while challenged by evil tribes.
DeLaney, Frank: Ireland (February 2005)

Author Delaney combines the intimate, passionate texture of the Irish spirit with a sweeping, epic historical scope to tell the story of how the character of the land and its people were shaped by history, neighboring England and the Irish themselves.
Fasman, Jon: The Geographer's Library (February 2005)

This debut novel takes a young reporter from his small town paper to the heart of an international smuggling ring, centuries old, that amasses the alchemical artifacts that lead to eternal life.
Haig, Brian: The President's Assassin (February 2005)

With just three days to prevent the assassination of the President, Army lawyer Sean Drummond races the clock in the high-stakes countdown of his career.
Hardwick, Gary: The Executioner's Game (January 2005)

Written in the tradition of Elmore Leonard, this knife-edge thriller combines the relentless pacing of The Bourne Identity with the urban grit of 8 Mile.
Holden, Craig: The Narcissist's Daughter (February 2005)

Determined to destroy his boss's family, gruff medical student Syd Redding is soon caught in the sexual machinations of this magnetic family. What begins as a simple, if risky, affair leads from obsession through rage to a revenge plot that transforms the lives of everyone involved.
Johnson, Charles: Dr. King's Refrigerator: And Other Bedtime Stories (February 2005)

This collection of recently published stories by the National Book Award–winning author explores issues of identity and race.
Joyce, Graham: The Limits of Enchantment (February 2005)

This tale of midwifery, alchemy, magic, truth and identity offers the story of two women: one with a deep past, and one who finds her history in the other.
Kincaid, Nanci: As Hot as It Was You Ought to Thank Me (February 2005)

From a place where you don't have to run away to find yourself, this novel's young heroine, Berry, joins the ranks of other memorable and spirited girl narrators such as Bone in Bastard Out of Carolina, Kaye Gibbon's Ellen Foster, Lily Owens in The Secret Life of Bees and Scout from To Kill a Mockingbird.
Makine, Andrei: The Earth and Sky of Jacques Dorme (February 2005)

With this novel, Makine, whose work has been compared to Chekhov and Proust, brings to a stunning conclusion the epic trilogy that began with Dreams of My Russian Summers.
McCormack, Patrick: The Last Companion (February 2005)

McCormack offers a uniquely compelling take on the great battle for the magical chalice and the secrets of Dark Age Britain in this novel set 10 years after the Battle of Camlann, in which the legendary Arthur was slain.
McCrumb, Sharyn: St. Dale (February 2005)

Bestselling author Sharyn McCrumb looks deeply into the heart of America in this emotionally charged novel about love, miracles and grassroots sainthood.
McKenzie, Elizabeth: Stop That Girl: A Novel in Stories (February 2005)

This beguiling collection of prize-winning stories chronicles the colorful travails of Ann Ransom, from her childhood with her disjointed family through a tender adolescence and beyond.
Mortman, Doris: Shades of Red (February 2005)

From New York Times bestselling author Mortman comes a novel about the rivalry between sisters, the ruthless determination of their mother and the seething hatred of an enemy set on destroying them.
Patterson, James: Honeymoon (February 2005)

When rich men begin to die mysteriously, FBI agent John O'Hara is on the case. After a young writer succumbs to an apparent heart attack, John turns a probing eye to the man's ambitious widow.
Patterson, Richard North: Conviction (February 2005)

Patterson recounts the harrowing story of a possibly innocent man, the labyrinthine politics of death row and one lawyer's personal and professional crisis.
Rayner, Richard: The Devil's Wind (February 2005)

A story of mobsters, murder and the birth of Las Vegas is set against the backdrop of the McCarthy hearings and the testing of the A-bomb in the Nevada desert.
Robotham, Michael: Suspect (February 2005)

Psychiatrist Joe O'Loughlin's comfortable life begins to crumble when he is diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and becomes a suspect in a brutal murder case.
Roberts, Nora: O'Hurley's Return (February 2005)

Two of the author's novels about the Irish-American O'Hurley family of performers are bound together into this one volume.
Roby, Kimberla Lawson: The Best-Kept Secret (February 2005)

It was love-to-hate at first sight when Kimberla Lawson Roby's readers met Reverend Curtis Black — surely one of the cleverest ne'er-do-wells ever to set foot in a church. In this new tale, Curtis is starting over. He has a new job, a new wife (again), and a newfound will to follow the straight and narrow path of righteousness.
Row, Jess: The Train to Lo Wu (February 2005)

In these exquisitely imagined stories, Row's Hong Kong is a city filled with outsiders, where race, sex, religion and culture collide to forge surprising connections.
Schneider, Bart: Beautiful Inez (February 2005)

Beautiful Inez is rich with music, children, a beguiling affair, Bohemian romance and eccentric characters in the streets, coffee houses, mental hospitals and symphony halls of San Francisco in the early sixties.
Steinke, Darcey: Milk: A Novel (February 2005)

From a writer of depth and courage comes a brilliant and haunting novel that explores the intersection of spirituality and sexuality.
Su, Tong: My Life as Emperor (February 2005)

From the author of Raise the Red Lantern comes his first novel in almost ten years — a chilling yet entertaining tale about a pampered and naive 14-year-old prince who finds himself, suddenly and unexpectedly, named Emperor of China.
Wagner, Bruce: The Chrysanthemum Palace (February 2005)

This quintessential L.A. storyteller spins his most ambitious novel to date: a philosophical, heartbreaking tale of three friends lost in a California dream gone mad.
Wideman, John Edgar: God's Gym: Stories (February 2005)

The first story collection in more than a decade from one of the most celebrated African-American authors of modern-day literature contains stories that move from the intimate to the political, from shock to transcendence.
Willig, Lauren: The Secret History of the Pink Carnation (February 2005)

Even a modern girl could use a hero. Eloise Kelly, a smart but slightly fumbling Jimmy Choo-clad American, has had her nose in books, but she's about to uncover the secret history of the Pink Carnation — a tale of espionage, adventure and romance. And she just might find a hero of her own along the way.
Zigal, Thomas: The White League (February 2005)

Blackmail, a secret society and a white supremacist running for governor are the key ingredients in this Southern crawfish boil of a novel about guilt, privilege and racism in one of America's most exotic cities, New Orleans.

Mysteries

Arsenault, Mark: Speak Ill of the Living (February 2005)

Everybody thought the banker surprised by car-jackers was dead and buried — until a photograph of him taken by his captors turns up. If the banker is alive, then whose ashes are buried in his grave?
Beaton, M. C.: Death of a Bore (February 2005)

Writer John Heppel has a problem — he's a consummate bore. When he's found dead in his cottage, there are plenty of suspects. But surely boredom shouldn't be cause for murder, or so thinks local bobby and sleuth Hamish Macbeth.
Camilleri, Andrea: Excursion to Tindari (January 2005)

From the author of The Shape of Water and Voice of the Violin comes the fifth in the international bestselling series featuring the irresistible Sicilian detective, Inspector Montalbano.
Colley, Barbara: Wiped Out (February 2005)

The latest book in the Charlotte LaRue Mystery series is an inspired re-imagining of the classic cozy tradition.
Crais, Robert: Forgotten Man (February 2005)

In The Last Detective Crais returned to his signature characters, private investigator Elvis Cole and partner Joe Pike. Now, after scratching the surface of Cole's troubled past, Crais returns with a stunning suspense novel that leads to the dark secrets of Cole's own life.
Ehrman, Kit: Cold Burn (February 2005)

From the author of At Risk comes a taut story of a man gone missing from his job at a thoroughbred horse farm in Warrenton, Virginia.
George, Nelson: The Accidental Hunter (February 2005)

Nelson George takes the contemporary noir novel to new heights in his latest offering featuring the title character from Night Work and introducing another hauntingly original protagonist.
Granger, Ann: That Way Murder Lies (February 2005)

Globetrotting diplomat Meredith Mitchell and her fiance, Detective Superintendent Alan Markby, return to investigate a poison pen campaign in a cozy English village where nothing is as it seems.
Manell, Henning: Before the Frost: A Linda Wallander Mystery (February 2005)

Before the Frost inaugurates Mankell's new mystery series about Linda Wallander, daughter of Inspector Kurt Wallander, and also features Stefan Lindman of The Return of the Dancing Master.
Montanari, Richard: The Rosary Girls: A Novel of Suspense (February 2005)

A devious serial killer who targets young Catholic girls is on the loose and detectives Kevin Byrne and Jessica Balzano are on the case to find him before he strikes again.
Myers, Tamar: Assault and Pepper (February 2005)

The national bestselling author cooks up a satisfying new tale — and a half dozen killer chili recipes.
Nadel, Barbara: The Ottoman Cage: A Novel of Istanbul (February 2005)

When a brutal murder shocks Istanbul's rundown Jewish quarter, the Turkish police force unleashes its best weapon — the chain-smoking, brandy-swilling Inspector Cetin Ikmen, husband to a strict Muslim woman and loving father of eight.
Robinson, Peter: Strange Affair: A Novel of Suspense (February 2005)

When Inspector Alan Banks receives a disturbing phone call from his estranged brother, he immediately heads to London. Meanwhile Detective Anne Cabbott rushes to a gruesome murder scene on the outskirts of Eastvale. Soon both investigations lead to the same horrifying conclusion.
Stroby, Wallace: The Heartbreak Lounge (February 2005)

Ex-state trooper Harry Rane, who first appeared in Stroby's debut novel, The Barbed-Wire Kiss, becomes caught up with Nikki Ellis, a woman desperate for help. Her ex, Johnny Harrow, has just been released from prison, and he's on his way to settle his accounts.
Tierney, Ronald: Nickel Plated Soul (February 2005)

Private investigator Howie Cross is beaten to a pulp by a couple of thugs, though he has no idea why. Temporarily out of action, he asks Deets Shanahan to take on his one current case. It's straightforward enough, in principle: Hugh Dart wants his wife traced. The only thing is, Dart has just finished a 35-year sentence for murdering her.
Todd, Charles: A Cold Treachery (January 2005)

December, 1919. Deep in England's frozen Lake District, constables discover a scene of unimaginable carnage: the bodies of five family members splayed across a bloodied cottage kitchen. Somewhere amidst the peaks and valleys of this beautiful country lurks a murderer who considers so much spilt blood the least of his revenge.

Horror/Science Fiction/Fantasy

Banks, L. A.: The Bitten: A Vampire Huntress Legend (February 2005)

In this fourth book in Banks's series, Damali Richards and Carlos Rivera now have the chance to explore their love. But they are quickly thrust into a web of vampire politics and intrigue when one of the four Master vampires steals one of the Keys that opens the sixth seal as foretold in Revelations.
Swainston, Steph: The Year of Our War (January 2005)

Unique among his fellow immortals and mortal folk alike, Jant Comet can fly. His talent is a gift and a curse that has earned him a place in the Castle Circle as Messenger to the Emperor San — soaring above the bloody battlefields of his world, carrying word back to his master of the ever-escalating conflict between man and the armies of giant, flesh-devouring insects. But while Jant's duty is to remain neutral in the petty squabbles and power plays of the 50 who will neither age nor die naturally, bitter rivalries that have festered for centuries now threaten to incite a savage civil war. And Jant may be the only being alive capable of stemming the onrushing tide of destruction and the unstoppable insect infestation. For only he can gain entrance — through extreme doses of the narcotic that owns his soul — into a place of darkest wonders and revelations; a strange and horrific alternate reality that none but Jant Comet believes exists.
Woodall, Clive: One for Sorrow, Two for Joy (January 2005)

Welcome to Birddom — a land where Magpies rule. Dark forces are at work. Dominance has been achieved by systematic genocide and slaughter. In Birddom, blackbird and sparrow have been exterminated. The magpie has replaced the pigeon in the city and the starling in the garden. For small birds throughout the land, survival is everything. Birddom needs a hero. A hero to fight the darkness and to bring light back to the land. But what can one bird do in the face of such evil?