Fiction, February 2005

General Fiction |Mysteries |Horror/Science Fiction/Fantasy

General Fiction

Agnello, Simonetta Hornby: The Almond Picker (March 2005)

Like many memorable works of fiction, this surprising mystery — and love story — set in rural Sicily hinges on a single question: who is Maria Rosalia Inzerillo, known as Mennulara, the almond picker?
Akunin, Boris: The Turkish Gambit (March 2005)

It is 1877, one year after Erast Fandorin's adventures in The Winter Queen and the brilliant young sleuth now finds himself in the middle of a war raging between Russia and the Ottoman Empire.
Albo, Mike: The Underminer, or, The Best Friend Who Casually Destroys Your Life (February 2005)

With this book, Albo channels the hilarious and mysterious evil everyone has encountered — the toxic best friend who slowly and relentlessly dismantles the life of a nameless victim.
Bank, Zsuzsa: The Swimmer (February 2005)

Hungary, 1956. Without a word, Katalin leaves her family and sets out for the West. Her husband, Kalman, abandons the family farm and begins a long and circuitous journey through Hungary with his two young children, Kata and Isti. As their father sinks into depression, Kata and her brother create their own imaginary universe.
Barry, Sebastian: A Long Long Way (February 2005)

Readers meet Willie Dunne when he is still a gifted boy growing up in Dublin and follow him — through a diary and letters home — into battle during World War II where he must shoulder the unending internal damages of the war along with the hatred of his own countrymen for fighting for Britain.
Brady, Joan: Bleedout (March 2005)

In the tradition of Scott Turow and Stephen L. Carter comes a mesmerizing and suspenseful novel that is also an affecting observation of contemporary social mores.
Branston, Julian: Tilting at Windmills: A Novel of Cervantes and the Errant Knight (February 2005)

This sparkling tale of crazed knights, thwarted love and literary rivalry is set against the background of a mighty empire that is suffering from a century of reckless wars and a ruling hierarchy stultified by patronage and ritual.
Brewer, Sonny: The Poet of Tolstoy Park: A Novel (March 2005)

Told by his doctor that he would die within a year, Henry Stuart decides not to accept his fate and moves to Alabama. For the next 20 years visitors traveled to visit the wise Stuart, who named his 10-acre property after Leo Tolstoy.
Brooks, Geraldine: March: A Novel (March 2005)

From the author of the international bestseller Year of Wonders comes a powerful love story set against the catastrophe of the American Civil War. From Louisa May Alcott's beloved classic Little Women, Brooks has taken the character of the absent father, March, and adds adult resonance to portray the moral complexity of war and a marriage tested by the demands of extreme idealism.
Buchan, Elizabeth: Everything She Thought She Wanted (March 2005)

No one has captured the complexities of marriage at middle age better than Elizabeth Buchan. Now she is back with another irresistibly entertaining and thoughtful tale of two women at the crossroads — of love, of freedom — who wonder: where does happiness lie?
Davis, Claire: Season of the Snake (March 2005)

From the author of Winter Range comes a powerful, frightening novel of love, loyalty and secrets kept by those closest to us.
Flaherty, Bob: Puff: A Novel (February 2005)

Meet John Gullivan, age 13, obsessed with the moles that dot most of his body. Meet his brother Gully, who can't stop laughing at them. Now meet the brothers 10 years later, in the middle of the most ferocious blizzard anyone can remember. Set in an Irish working-class suburb of Boston in the 1960s and 1970s, Puff centers on a quest as the soon-to-be-orphaned brothers, posing as rescue personnel, attempt to steer their dilapidated van through insurmountable snow, all to score a bag of pot. A raucous caper, Puff is as hilarious as it is heartfelt and will resonate with old and young alike.
Gaffney, Elizabeth: Metropolis: A Novel (March 2005)

A novel of epic proportions, Metropolis tells the story of a young man's struggle to find love and create a life in late 19th century New York.
Garwood, Julie: Slow Burn (March 2005)

From the author of Killjoy and Murder List comes an electrifying new work of romantic suspense — the gripping story of a woman's return to her tiny hometown, where she unexpectedly finds herself implicated in a decades-old murder.
Guilfoile, Kevin: Cast of Shadows (March 2005)

A bereaved doctor undertakes a diabolical experiment in a shattering philosophical thriller that anticipates the moral, social and metaphysical dilemmas science is poised to confront.
Iggulden, Conn: Emperor: The Field of Swords (March 2005)

Published in 2003, Emperor: The Gates of Rome introduced readers to a new historical series. Now they are swept back to the epic and legendary world of ancient Rome as the blood brothers continue their adventure.
Jennings, Phillip: Nam-A-Rama (March 2005)

Jennings' unpredictable novel of Vietnam is an American classic in the making, a not-so-longing look at the absurdity of a war in which the damned and the innocent share the same hootch, the same Commander-in-Chief and sometimes even the same body-bag.
Kelly, Thomas: Empire Rising (February 2005)

Making 1930s New York the setting for a rich and unforgettable story, Kelly's third book is a novel of love and work, of intrigue and jealousy among the people who built the "eighth wonder of the world" — the Empire State Building.
Kennedy, A. L.: Paradise (March 2005)

A novel of dark extremes, Paradise tells a comic but terrifying love story about two alcoholics alternately battling and embracing their addiction, and each other.
Laurens, Stephanie: The Truth About Love (March 2005)

The Cynster phenomenon continues with this new addition to the series from the author of The Ideal Bride and The Perfect Lover.
Lewis, Pam: Speak Softly, She Can Hear (March 2005)

A violent secret between friends fuels this brilliantly crafted novel of literary suspense.
Lovecraft, H. P.: Tales (February 2005)

The visionary master of cosmic horror joins The Library of America with this collection of classic stories of the strange and fantastic.
Margolin, Phillip: Lost Lake (March 2005)

Margolin returns with another shocking and explosive thriller about how a young tabloid reporter's "paranoid" theories just might be true.
Martin, Eric B.: Winners: A Novel (February 2005)

A novel of startling scope and ambition, Winners reaches into the hearts and minds of would-be millionaires and ghetto toughs, businesswomen and single moms, gym-rat moguls and slackers, all grasping for the gold ring of something better.
Martinez, Michele: Most Wanted (March 2005)

In this scary and sexy debut thriller, a young prosecutor is in a wild race against the clock to solve a brutal Park Avenue murder before the killer comes after her.
Maslowska, Dorota: Snow White and Russian Red (March 2005)

Reminiscent of Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting, this debut novel is a fresh and surprising portrait of marginalized fatalistic post-Communist youth. It is the story of Andrzej "Nails" Robakoski who unravels after his girlfriend, Magda, dumps him.
McDermott, Keith: Acqua Calda (March 2005)

Gerald has been preparing to die. During the last of his three hospital stays, he has drawn up a last will and testament, a living will, assigned a health care proxy and arranged his own cremation. Then, from out of nowhere, Gerald's health is revived by the new miracle drugs. His AIDS-related death is put on hold, while, at the same moment, his old boss invites Gerald to perform in a play at the Palazzo d'Arte in Sicily. The Italians, an unexpected romance and his love of the theater reconnect Gerald with lost joy. Even as his health fails, he finds himself transformed by the ecstasy of everyday life.
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.
Medina, Pablo: The Cigar Roller (March 2005)

This award-winning storyteller's new novel is a radiant journey through the mind of Amadeo Terra, a Cuban cigar factory worker confined in a Florida hospital after a stroke has left him paralyzed.
Nance, John J.: Saving Cascadia (March 2005)

Cascadia Island, just off the coast from Seattle, was formed 200 years ago when tectonic forces exploded the Washington seacoast upward, making dry land out of previously submerged rocks. Now, a natural disaster of epic proportions hits and aviation rescue offers the only chance of survival for revelers attending a hotel opening on the island.
O'Neill, Jamie: Disturbance (March 2005)

Never before published in the United States, this witty, darkly imagined masterpiece is the first novel from the author of At Swim, Two Boys, a new voice in Irish fiction.
Pelacanos, George P.: Drama City (March 2005)

In this blistering and soulful novel of the D.C. underworld, an ex-con finds himself caught between the light and the dark sides of the street after a malevolent young killer spoils his chances to stay straight.
Prose, Francine: A Changed Man (March 2005)

Masterfully plotted, darkly comic, A Changed Man illuminates the everyday transactions in our lives, exposing what remains invisible in plain sight in our drug-addicted and media-driven culture.
Rushforth, Peter: Pinkerton's Sister (March 2005)

It's turn of the century New York, a city bursting with new life as the old century's order makes way for the mercantile class. But in the Pinkerton household a 19th century embarrassment remains: Alice Pinkerton — considered by neighbors as the "madwoman in the attic."
Seymour, Gerald: The Unknown Soldier (March 2005)

Intelligence agents hunt for the world's most lethal terrorist in this suspenseful novel from a master of espionage fiction.
Shelton, Sandi Kahn: What Comes After Crazy: A Novel (March 2005)

Shelton offers a warm, funny, poignant and extremely real story about a woman who fights to stay true to herself — and to her two young children — after her husband has an affair and moves to the desert to "find himself."
Shreve, Porter: Drives Like a Dream (March 2005)

Shining with the heart and humor that Shreve brought to his first novel, Drives Like a Dream is a smart, wry tale about a modern mother in the midst of a radical lifestyle crisis and her outlandish attempts to get her family back.
Siegel, James: Detour (March 2005)

From the bestselling author of Derailed comes the adrenaline-charged tale of an American couple who travel to Colombia to adopt a baby — and the lengths to which a husband will go to save his family when things take a horrible turn.
Steel, Danielle: Impossible (March 2005)

When a high-powered gallery owner collides with an offbeat artist, it's the perfect recipe for disaster. With unerring insight into the hearts of men and women — and into the soul of the artist — Danielle Steel takes readers into a world of glamour and genius, priceless art and dazzling creativity.
Stern, Steve: The Angel of Forgetfulness (March 2005)

This time-defying odyssey from the 1960s to the Lower East Side of New York at the turn of the 20th century features a detour through heaven on the wings of a derelict angel.
Svenson, Peter: Wrongful Reconciliation (March 2005)

Peter Svenson's second novel is a sequel to his earlier Washed Up With A Broken Heart in Rock Hall, which chronicled the hapless Budge Moss's initial forays into single-hood.
Wener, Louise: Goodnight Steve McQueen (March 2005)

From the author of The Perfect Play comes a charmingly romantic — yet edgy — novel set in the music industry about friendship, love, growing up and always following your dreams.
Wolitzer, Meg: The Position: A Novel (March 2005)

The author of The Wife takes another step forward with an ambitious and exhilarating new novel about sex, love, the 1970s and one extraordinary family.

Mysteries

Andrews, Ruseell: Midas (March 2005)

When East Hampton, New York, becomes the site of the first terrorist suicide bombing to hit U.S. shores, local cop Justin Westwood discovers that someone is targeting specific people to murder and covering his tracks with "suicide bombings."
Barron, Stephanie: Jane and His Lordship's Legacy (March 2005)

From the author of Jane and the Ghosts of Netley, Jane and His Lordship's Legacy is historical suspense writing at its finest, graced with insight, perception and uncommon intelligence of its singular heroine, in a mystery that will test the mettle of her mind and heart.
Block, Lawrence: All the Flowers Are Dying (March 2005)

Lawrence Block returns with one of his most inspired and popular characters: the extraordinary Bernie Rhodenbarr. Antiquarian bookseller by day, burglar by night, Bernie has an innate knack, a gift, for getting into places designed to keep him out.
Bloom, Elizabeth: See Isabelle Run (March 2005)

Combining thrills with attitude, this novel follows a jilted bride uncovering sinister secrets at a multimedia empire.
Celine, Marie: Dishing Up Death (February 2005)

A graduate of a top culinary arts school, Kitty's passion for food and pets has led her to create her own business catering to the elite and demanding clientele of the City of Angels. When one of her clients, fading rocker Rich Evan, is found face down in one of her creations, Kitty must fight to clear her name and save her business.
Clark, Carol Higgins: Burned: A Regan Reilly Mystery (March 2005)

Surf's up for sleuth Regan Reilly as she mines the rich myth and lore of the Hawaiian islands in this new caper.
Compton, Jodi: Sympathy Between Humans (March 2005)

On the streets of Minneapolis, Sarah has worked everything from vice to missing persons. But six months after the death of a small-town criminal in rural Minnesota, Sarah is still protecting the identity of a killer — and now a zealous D.A.'s investigator has come to town, determined to make an arrest.
Dunning, John: The Sign of the Book: A Cliff Janeway Novel (March 2005)

From the author who has charmed America with his passion for collectible first editions comes a riveting new Cliff Janeway Bookman crime novel that reveals some of book collecting's most shocking secrets.
Ellis, Peter Beresford: Badger's Moon: A Mystery of Ancient Ireland (March 2005)

In October 667 A.D. in the land of Ireland, shocking murders occur on the nights of three consecutive full moons. Sister Fidelma of Cashel is dispatched to uncover the truth behind the events of the Badger's Moon before the next full moon comes and the killer strikes again.
Farmer, Jerrilyn: Flaming Luau of Death: A Madeline Bean Novel (March 2005)

When Madeline Bean throws the hippest bachelorette luau ever — with a suspiciously laid-back beach boy, a murderer in their midst and a freaking volcano eruption — it looks like anything but happily ever after.
Friedman, Kinky: Ten Little New Yorkers (March 2005)

In this tale of murder and mayhem set in Greenwich Village, "The Kinkster" is at it again with his seventeenth novel featuring his incomparable alter-ego.
Geagley, Brad: Year of the Hyenas: A Novel of Murder in Ancient Egypt (February 2005)

In this evocative murder mystery set in ancient Egypt, an empire's sumptuous glory and intrigue blend seamlessly with timeless themes of greed, ambition and crimes of passion.
George, Elizabeth: With No One as a Witness (March 2005)

When an adolescent boy's nude body is found mutilated and artfully arranged on the top of the tomb, it takes no large leap for the police to recognize the work of a serial killer. The case goes to New Scotland Yard Acting Superintendent Thomas Lynley, who must pursue the killer despite a devastating tragedy within the department.
Gleeson, Janet: The Serpent in the Garden: A Novel (February 2005)

With sure understanding of period detail and the character of 18th century England, the author of The Arcanum delivers a richly nuanced tale of greed, suspense, intrigue and revenge.
Holmes, Rupert: Swing: A Mystery (February 2005)

Journey back to the 1940 World's Fair by San Francisco Bay, where jazz musician Ray Sherwood is appearing with Jack Donovan and His Orchestra at the baronial Claremont Hotel. As Swing begins, Ray is on his way to meet a college student named Gail at "Treasure Island," the extravagant San Francisco exposition that rivals the New York World's Fair that same year. While waiting for Gail, Ray encounters a mysterious Frenchwoman who, shortly after propositioning him, plunges to her death from the Fair's tallest tower. Ray is immediately drawn into a complex and seductive mystery that will require all his nerve and improvisational ingenuity.
Klavan, Laurence: The Shooting Script: A Novel of Suspense (March 2005)

In the sequel to the thriller The Cutting Room, Roy Milano, self-described movie detective, stumbles into a murder case centering on an uncompleted film from 1972 — a film that inspires cinema buffs to kill for that elusive footage.
Kozak, Harley Jane: Dating is Murder (March 2005)

Kozak delivers another laugh-out-loud funny, literate mystery for readers of Janet Evanovich and Sue Grafton, and for Kozak's own growing legion of fans.
Lordon, Randye: Son of a Gun: A Sydney Sloane Mystery (February 2005)

New York City private investigator Sydney Sloane has enough drama in her own family to make her normally shy away from such cases professionally. But this one is different. Her friend, and father of her godchild, Captain John Cannady of the NYPD, has been critically shot in the hallway of his own apartment building, with few traces of the shooter left behind. Just after the shooting, his wife Peggy got a call from a man claiming to be the son she gave up for adoption after an unfortunate teen pregnancy. With four days to find some sort of solution, Sydney agrees to track down the long-ago child and protect the family of the man clinging to life in the hospital.
Martin, Nancy: Cross Your Heart and Hope to Die: A Blackbird Sisters Mystery (March 2005)

From the author of Some Like It Lethal comes the newest book featuring a trio of hot-blooded women with a manor-born flair for fashion — and for solving crimes.
Robb, J. D.: Immortal in Death (March 2005)

When a top model is murdered, police lieutenant Eve Dallas discovers that the world of high fashion thrives on an all-consuming obsession for youth and fame. J.D. Robb is the pseudonym of bestselling author Nora Roberts.
Swain, James: Mr. Lucky: A Novel of High Stakes (March 2005)

After taking a death-defying jump from his burning hotel room, a loser is miraculously transformed into a major-player winner, prompting the Las Vegas casinos to hire ex-cop Tony Valentine to prove the winning streak isn't on the square.
Tremayne, Peter: Badger's Moon (March 2005)

In October 667 A.D. in the land of Ireland, shocking murders occur on the nights of three consecutive full moons. Sister Fidelma of Cashel is dispatched to uncover the truth behind the events of the Badger's Moon before the next full moon comes and the killer strikes again.
White, Stephan: Missing Persons (March 2005)

The stakes are raised for psychologist Alan Gregory in his thirteenth case. His friend and fellow therapist Hannah Grant has mysteriously died at the office. The police are baffled, leaving another apparent homicide unsolved in Boulder, Colorado. Only Alan has the means to decipher Hannah's clues, a quest that will take him to Las Vegas.

Horror/Science Fiction/Fantasy

Benford, Gregory: The Sunborn (March 2005)

The author of Timescape and Eater returns with a gripping new novel set in the same dynamic future as his wildly popular The Martian Race.
Hemingway, Amanda: The Greenstone Grail (March 2005)
McIntosh, Fiona: Myrren's Gift: The Quickening Book One (March 2005)

Destined by blood to command the Morgravian army, Wyl Thirsk assumes his awesome responsibility while barely a teenager when his father meets an early death — a duty that calls him to the royal palace of Stoneheart and into the company of the crown prince Celimus. Already a spiteful and cruel despot who delights in the suffering of others, Celimus forces his virtuous new general to bear witness to his depraved "entertainments." But a kindness to a condemned witch in her final agonizing hours earns young Thirsk a miraculous bequest, at the same time inflaming the wrath of his liege lord. With dread war looming in the north, Wyl must obey the treacherous dictates of Celimus and embark on a suicidal journey to the court of an ancient enemy — armed with a strange and awesome secret that could prove both boon and curse. For unless he accepts Myrren's gift, it will surely destroy him . . . and the land he must defend as well.
Stackpole, Michael A.: A Secret Atlas (March 2005)

The author of bestselling Star Wars novels follows his acclaimed original DragonCrown War Cycle with the first in a dazzling new trilogy.