Fiction, March 2005

General Fiction |Mysteries |Horror/Science Fiction/Fantasy

General Fiction

Almond, Steve: The Evil B.B. Chow and Other Stories (April 2005)

The writer who took readers on a cross-country journey that revealed his long love affair with chocolate in Candyfreak has produced a funny, bracing, sometimes shocking, always imaginative collection of stories and characters for this new compilation.
Amat, Nuria: Queen Cocaine (March 2005)

Following the footsteps of a writer persecuted because of his ideas and tortured by his own frustrations, a young Catalan woman embarks on an adventure in the jungles of Colombia where her familiar world shatters and from which nothing emerges unharmed.
Bates, Judy Fong: Midnight at the Dragon Cafe (April 2005)

Judy Fong Bates's fresh and engaging first novel is the story of Su-Jen Chou, a Chinese girl growing up the only daughter of an unhappy and isolated immigrant family in a small Ontario town in the 1950s.
Berg, Elizabeth: The Year of Pleasures (April 2005)

When Betta Nolan's husband dies, she honors a promise she made to him to move to a small town and start a new life. Without minimizing her great sorrow, she nonetheless attempts to find pleasure on a daily basis. Betta's journey from grief to joy is an inspiring reminder that life is ready to give bountifully to those who will receive.
Cleage, Pearl: Babylon Sisters (April 2005)

From the author of What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day and Some Things I Never Thought I'd Do comes a fast-paced and emotionally resonant new novel of a daughter seeking the identity of her father.
Cook, Robin: Marker (May 2005)

The master of the medical thriller returns with his most heart-pounding tale yet. New York City medical examiners Dr. Laurie Montgomery and Dr. Jack Stapleton (Vector) return to confront a series of puzzling hospital deaths of young, healthy people after successful routine surgery.
Dietrich, William: The Scourge of God (March 2005)

From a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist, historian and naturalist comes a novel of the clashing of civilizations, as Attila the Hun struggles to overthrow the Roman Empire.
Estrin, Marc: The Education of Arnold Hitler (April 2005)

Estrin's second novel is the story of a young man who stumbles through the second half of the 20th century bearing a most unfortunate name.
Galloway, Gregory: As Simple as Snow (March 2005)

A mesmerizing labyrinth of art, magic and cryptic love sparks the imagination in this first novel about a young man's quest to unravel the puzzle his missing girlfriend may (or may not) have left behind.
Hendricks, Judith Ryan: The Baker's Apprentice (April 2005)

The sequel to Hendricks' debut novel Bread Alone continues the funny and poignant saga of Wynter Morrison — bread-maker on the night shift at a bakery.
Ishiguro, Kazuo: Never Let Me Go (April 2005)

The latest novel from the author of The Remains of the Day is set on an estate in England that serves as home to children cloned as organ donors and is narrated by a young woman about to become a donor herself.
Jackson, Joshilyn: Gods in Alabama (April 2005)

A crime from her youth threatens a young woman's future in this debut novel that follows in the Southern tradition of Big Stone Gap.
Kidd, Sue Monk: The Mermaid Chair (April 2005)

Jessie Sullivan's conventional life has been "molded to the smallest space possible." But when she is called home to tiny Egret Island and meets Brother Thomas, a monk who is soon to take his final vows, she discovers a freedom that feels overwhelmingly right. Also on the island is a beautiful and mysterious chair that is dedicated to a saint who, legend claims, was first a mermaid. Is its power only a myth? Or will it alter the course of Jessie's life? Kidd is the author of the bestseller The Secret Life of Bees.
Kurlansky, Mark: Boogaloo on 2nd Avenue: A Novel of Pastry, Guilt, and Music (April 2005)

The debut novel from the author of Cod, Salt and 1968 is a vivid, funny, exuberantly textured story of a tight-knit, ethnically diverse New York neighborhood on the brink of change.
Lliteras, D. S.: The Silence of John (March 2005)

Lliteras uses the dramatic setting of Jesus on the cross to illustrate the cultural and historical exclusion of women in the church and society.
McDonough, Yona Zeldis: In Dahlia's Wake (April 2005)

In this moving portrait of ordinary people in heartbreaking circumstances, McDonough explores the ache of loss and the search for solace. After losing their beloved daughter, can Rick and Naomi ever find their way back to each other?
Miller, Andrew: The Optimists (April 2005)

Clem Glass was a successful photojournalist, firm in the belief that photographs could capture truth and beauty, until he went to Africa and witnessed the aftermath of a genocidal massacre.
Nelson, James L.: Thieves of Mercy: A Novel of the Civil War at Sea (April 2005)

In this sequel to Glory in the Name, the Confederate defense culminates in the bloody, near-suicidal river fight that will be known as the Battle of Memphis.
Rice, Christopher: Light Before Day (March 2005)

Light Before Day is a riveting and complex story of an elusive serial killer and a labyrinth of revenge and sexual obsession.
Rock, Peter: The Bewildered (April 2005)

In Portland, Oregon, three high school friends spend their time skateboarding, studying foreign languages and classical music, and plotting a shared future that will avoid the superficiality they witness in the adult world around them.
Salter, James: Last Night (April 2005)

This new collection explores the author's signature themes: love, honor, sacrifice, friendship and abandon. In these taut, powerful stories, Salter portrays men and women in their most intimate .
Sleigh, Dan: Islands (April 2005)

This novel of epic proportions from South Africa, set between 1650 and 1710, covers the first 50 years of the Dutch colony at the Cape of Good Hope. Through the life stories of seven men — all involved with and defined in one way or another by Pieternella, the beautiful daughter of the first mixed marriage of the new colony — we gain an understanding of the vast historical forces at work.
Sorrentino, Gilbert: Lunar Follies (April 2005)

In this bitingly satiric, imaginative tour of gallery, museum and performance art exhibitions, Sorrentino skewers the pretensions of the contemporary art world and its flailing attempts at relevance in a society whose attentions have strayed to the immediacy of pop culture.
Stockley, Philippa: A Factory of Cunning (April 2005)

Philippa Stockley's heroine is a gloriously scheming and amoral French aristocrat who goes by her nom de plume of Mrs. Fox. Arriving in London with only a handful of gold and her loyal maidservant she sets about establishing herself with the high society. Here are evil Earls, virginal lasses, bawdy clerics and a plot full complex twists and turns all told in an extraordinarily accurate 18th-century voice.
Thomson, Keith Stewart: Pirates of Pensacola (April 2005)

The Cooke and Hood families have been at each other's throats since the days of the Spanish Main. The latest chapter in their piratic rivalry takes place in 2004, when an old treasure map turns up.
Tracy, P. J.: Dead Run (April 2005)

The Monkeewrench gang returns in another caustically funny, frighteningly real thriller set deep in the northern woods, far from civilization and cell towers.
Vollmann, William T.: Europe Central (April 2005)

In his newest work, Vollmann presents a series of intertwined paired stories that compare and contrast the moral decisions made by various figures — some famous, some infamous, some unknown — associated with the warring authoritarian cultures of Germany and the USSR in the 20th century.
Wells, Rebecca: Ya-Yas in Bloom (April 2005)

Ya-Yas in Bloom reveals the roots of the Ya-Yas' friendship in the 1930s and roars with all the raw power of Vivi Abbott Walker's 1962 T-Bird through 60 years of marriage, child-raising and hair-raising family secrets.
Winterson, Jeanette: Lighthousekeeping (April 2005)

Winterson begins a new cycle and a return to the lyrical intimacy of her earliest works. In Lighthousekeeping she has created a modern fable about the transformative power of storytelling.

Mysteries

Alexander, Bruce: Rules of Engagement (March 2005)

Blind 18th-century judge Sir John Fielding and his assistant Jeremy are confronted with a series of deaths that test even Sir John's legendary skills of deduction.
Barr, Nevada: Hard Truth (March 2005)

Park Ranger Anna Pigeon comes face-to-face with the dark side of humanity when she investigates the disappearance of three young girls in Rocky Mountain National Park.
Carter, Charlotte: Trip Wire (March 2005)

Carter returns with another suspenseful novel in the Cook County Mystery series that brings the black experience to vivid life during one of the most turbulent times in American history — right after the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
Delany, Vicki: Scare the Light Away (March 2005)

Recently widowed Rebecca McKenzie left her hometown 30 years ago to escape a brutal childhood and psychopathic grandfather. When she returns for her mother's funeral, a diary and her troubled brother cause her to extend her stay.
Elkins, Aaron: Where There's a Will (April 2005)

The newest installment in the Gideon Oliver series follows the forensic anthropologist to Hawaii, where he uncovers a deadly family plot of greed and murder.
James, Dean: Baked to Death (April 2005)

In the fourth installment of James' mystery series, resident vampire sleuth Simon Kirby-Jones must deal with a group of medieval enthusiasts who set up camp for their annual gathering in the meadow behind Blitherington Hall.
King, Jonathon: A Killing Night (March 2005)

No longer content to live solely in his remote shack in the Everglades, Max Freeman is looking to move beyond his self-imposed isolation. So when his onetime girlfriend, Detective Sherry Richards, asks for his help as a private investigator in nailing an ex-cop she suspects of killing several young women in South Florida, Max is ready to help her see justice done.
McCall Smith, Alexander: In the Company of Cheerful Ladies (April 2005)

In this sixth novel in The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, Precious Ramotswe is busier than usual at the agency, when an unidentified intruder in her house on Zebra Road and the sudden appearance of a mysterious pumpkin add to her concerns.
Perry, Anne: Long Spoon Lane (March 2005)

In the newest novel featuring Victorian-era sleuth Thomas Pitt, London is a city besieged by anarchists. After a violent gun battle between rioters and police, a chase culminates in narrow, cobbled Long Spoon Lane, where the young son of Lord Sheridan Landsborough is shot to death. Was he was the victim of an accident or murder?
Strohmeyer, Sarah: Bubbles Betrothed (April 2005)

Zany supersleuth Bubbles Yablonsky wows her fans with her investigative savvy and high-energy adventures.
Walker, David J.: All the Dead Fathers (April 2005)

A killer exacts revenge on Catholic priests accused of abuse in this tense new entry in Walker's Wild Onion series.

Horror/Science Fiction/Fantasy

Golden, Christopher: Wildwood Road (March 2005)

Following The Boys Are Back in Town, Golden returns with a new novel of paranormal suspense about love, loss and the forces that shape us.
Mesta, Gabriel: The Martian War: A Thrilling Eyewitness Account of the Recent Invasion as Reported by Mr. H.G. Wells (April 2005)

The author imagines the circumstances surrounding H.G. Wells' most famous novel, The War of the Worlds.
Roberson, Chris: Here, There and Everywhere (April 2005)

Roxanne Bonaventure is granted the ability to travel anywhere in space and time in this episodic work that plays with the genre conventions of science fiction, romance, adventure, detection and more, all with an underpinning of theoretical physics.