New Fiction Releases
September 2010

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General Fiction . Mystery & Detective . Science Fiction & Fantasy

General Fiction

And Thereby Hangs a Tale
By Jeffrey Archer
Fifteen short pieces by the international best-selling author are set in various world regions and include “Members Only,” in which a young man’s life is transformed by a Christmas cracker.

Ape House
By Sara Gruen
A tale drawn from the author’s extensive research into human-ape communications follows the story of a group of apes who are kidnapped from a language laboratory and subsequently cast on a reality television show that calls into question scientific assumptions about common DNA that is shared by apes and people.  By the author of Water for Elephants.

Bad Blood (Virgil Flowers)
By John Sandford
When a murder suspect commits suicide after his arrest for killing a farmer, Virgil Flowers uncovers a multi-generation, multi-family conspiracy involving a series of monstrous crimes.

Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self
By Danielle Evans
A volume of short works includes “Harvest,” in which an unplanned pregnancy prompts an African-American college student’s self-evaluation; “Jellyfish,” in which a father realizes how little he knows his daughter; and “Snakes,” in which a mixed-race girl recounts a fateful summer with white relatives.

The Bells
By Richard Harvell
Ringing the church bells in an 18th-century Swiss Alps community, illegitimate youth Moses Froben is cast out by his self-serving father and seeks refuge in the historic abbey of St. Gall, where his singing talent and gifted hearing lead to a forbidden romance.

By Nightfall
By Michael Cunningham
Peter and Rebecca Harris have settled into a comfortable mid-life – with their careers as an art dealer and editor blossoming, and their son in college – until Rebecca’s look-alike brother with a history of drug problems shows up and makes Peter question his artists, their work, his career, and nearly everything else. By the author of The  Hours.

C:  A Novel
By Tom McCarthy
Growing up with a father who teaches hearing-impaired children and a sister who takes inappropriate sexual liberties, Serge struggles with unusual sexual predilections that challenge his adulthood, from his service in World War I to a fateful confrontation in an Egyptian catacomb.

A Call from Jersey
By P. F. Kluge
Kluge weaves a tale surrounding the life of Hans Greifinger, a German-American who immigrated to the U.S. in 1928 and built a life for himself in New York and later New Jersey, and his son George, who has adopted the surname Griffin for his lackluster, nationally syndicated travel column.

Chosen
By Chandra Hoffman
Chloe Pinter, a Portland adoption caseworker, becomes increasingly involved in the lives of three couples, two of whom are expecting babies and one who is seeking to adopt, and must deal with the aftermath when a baby is kidnapped.

Come Again No More
By Jack Todd
During the Great Depression, Eli Paint and his granddaughter Emaline struggle with the hardships of the Dust Bowl, as well as a rift in their own relationship and Emaline’s failing marriage to a womanizing prize-fighter.

Dexter Is Delicious
By Jeffry Lindsay
Dexter reevaluates his life views upon the birth of his daughter and investigates the disappearance of a teenage girl amid rumors of cannibalism.

Dogfight:  A Love Story
By Matt Burgess
Dreading the prison release of his violent older brother, who blames him for his imprisonment and for wooing away his pregnant girlfriend, young drug dealer Alfredo struggles with cultural clashes in Queens while planning to steal a pit bull for a homecoming dogfight.

Don’t Blink
By James Patterson and Howard Roughan
After he witnesses a hit on a mob lawyer that sparks an all-out mafia war, reporter Nick Daniels captures a key piece of evidence and launches a relentless investigation, during which he endures humiliation, threats, violence, and worse.

The Elephant’s Journey
By Jose Saramago
A tale inspired by a true story follows the adventures of a neglected elephant who is given by King Joao of Portugal to Archduke Maximilian as a wedding gift and who travels with the Archduke through the war-torn storied cities of 16th-century Europe.

Emily Hudson
By Melissa Jones
After the start of the Civil War, orphaned Emily Hudson must go to live with her puritanical uncle in Newport, Rhode Island, who attempts to marry her off, only to have Emily journey to London with her cousin, William, who soon becomes her controlling patron, prompting her to set out alone to meet her destiny in the eternal city of Rome.

Fame:  A Novel in Nine Episodes
By Daniel Kehlmann
Receiving calls for another person after buying a cell phone, a man creates sophisticated illusions to influence the personal lives and professional ambitions of his callers, from a blogger who wants to be depicted in fiction to a businessman who juggles life with two women.

Freedom
By Jonathan Franzen
The idyllic lives of civic-minded environmentalists Patty and Walter Berglund come into question when their son moves in with aggressive Republican neighbors, green lawyer Walter takes a job with Big Coal, and go-getter Patty becomes increasingly unstable and enraged.

The Gendarme
By Mark T. Mustian
Seen by those around him as a virtually senile nonagenarian, Emmet Conn is haunted by vivid memories of a past he and others deliberately worked to forget, a situation that compels him to seek out the love of his life to beg her forgiveness.

Getting to Happy
By Terry McMillan
A sequel to the best-selling Waiting to Exhale picks up 15 years later to find Savannah contemplating divorce, Bernadine succumbing to painkiller addiction after a second husband’s swindle, Robin falling into shopaholism, and Gloria confronting profound change after a fateful event.

The Golden Mean
By Annabel Lyon
A prize-winning story inspired by the historical relationship between Aristotle and the young Alexander the Great finds the legendary philosopher reluctantly tutoring a childhood friend’s son only to find himself impressed by the young heir’s potential and early handling of difficult military and political challenges.

The Good Daughters
By Joyce Maynard
The best-selling author of Labor Day describes the lives of two women born on the same day, one a realist and the other a dreamer, as they navigate the milestones of life, from New England to China and Canada.

Heaven’s Fury
By Stephen Frey
Preparing for a dangerous snowstorm in rural Wisconsin, Sheriff Paul Summers finds his efforts hampered by the arrival of a mysterious group of criminals, a suspicious disappearance, rumors of cult activity, and the murder of a former lover.

An Irish Country Courtship
By Patrick Taylor
Joining two overworked doctors in a small Irish village where he hopes to become a full partner, young Dr. Laverty questions his ambitions in the face of a romantic reversal, while housekeeper Kinky Kincaid dreads the loss of her status to Dr. O’Reilly’s new paramour.

Last Night at Chateau Marmont
By Lauren Weisberger
A woman supports her musician lover as he works his way to rock-star status, only to find herself dumped for a Brazilian supermodel, a tragedy that causes her to seek solace in a sisterhood of women who have been jilted by successful men, and are out for revenge.

Legacy
By Danielle Steel
Steel weaves together the stories of a writer working in the heart of academia in modern-day Boston and a daring young Sioux Indian on an incredible journey in the 18th century.

Lost Empire (Fargo Adventures)
By Clive Cussler
Discovering a Confederate relic during a diving expedition in Tanzania, Sam and Remi Fargo learn of the existence of a second artifact that is being ruthlessly sought on multiple continents by a fast-rising Mexican political party.

Man in the Woods
By Scott Spencer
Two characters from A Ship Made of Paper, Kate Ellis and her daughter, Ruby, meet a wandering adventurer and offer him stability if he is willing to forgo his deep convictions and make compromises to get along with others.

Mini-Shopaholic
By Sophie Kinsella
While trying to deal with her mini-terror 2-year-old, financially strapped Becky Brandon attempts to plan a surprise party on a budget for her husband, Luke, and starts to come apart at the seams as she juggles the party, her precocious child, and her faltering personal-shopping business.

The Mullah’s Storm
By Thomas W. Young
When their plane is shot down while transporting an important Taliban detainee, navigator Michael Parson and Army interpreter Sergeant Gold fight for survival in the harsh blizzard terrain of Afghanistan, where they struggle to outmaneuver terrorists and dubiously trustworthy villagers.

Naked Heat (Nikki Heat)
By Richard Castle
The best-selling mystery author of Heat Wave continues the story of tough and sexy NYPD homicide detective Nikki Heat and hotshot reporter Jameson Rock on the trail of a murderer in Manhattan.

The Network
By Jason Elliot
Based on real characters, a prize-winning travel writer describes the recruitment of a former Army officer, Anthony Taverner, by the British Secret Intelligence Service for a dangerous mission in Afghanistan to keep weapons out of the hands of al-Qaeda.

Nothing Happens Until It Happens to You:  A Novel Without Pay, Perks, or Privileges
By T. M. Shine
Hoping to make positive changes in spite of a layoff and limited employment opportunities, Jeffrey Reiner humbly submits to demeaning jobs while tackling the daunting realities of his dysfunctional family.

Pirates of the Levant (Captain Alatriste)
By Arturo Pérez-Reverte
Taking work as a mercenary aboard a Spanish galleon, Captain Alatriste, accompanied by his faithful foster son, Inigo, participates in a grueling battle on the high seas that brings Inigo’s readiness for independence into question.

Portobello
By Ruth Rendell
After he finds an envelope full of cash, 50-year-old Eugene Wren, who is plagued by a shameful addiction, posts a notice about the find around Portobello Road, and soon he is connected to other Londoners, all with their own obsessions and despairs, who enter his life and that of his fiancée, changing them both forever.

Pretty Little Things
By Jilliane Hoffman
After 13-year-old Lainey Emerson disappears after a Friday night out with her friends, Special Agent Bobby Dees, who is still haunted by the unsolved disappearance of his own daughter, fears that she may be the victim of an online predator.

The Queen of Patpong (Poke Rafferty)
By Timothy Hallinan
The quiet Bangkok family life of American travel-writer Poke Rafferty, wife Rose, and daughter Miaow, is threatened when a man from Rose’s past forces Poke to uncover the whole truth about his wife’s former life in a red-light district.

Room
By Emma Donoghue
A 5-year-old narrates a riveting story about his life growing up in a single room where his mother aims to protect him from the man who held her prisoner for seven years since she was a teenager.

Russian Winter
By Daphne Kalotay
Former Bolshoi ballerina Nina Revskaya auctions off her jewelry collection and becomes overwhelmed by memories of her homeland, the friends she left behind amidst Stalinist aggression, and the dark secret that brought her to a new life in Boston.

Safe Haven
By Nicholas Sparks
After having a summer romance with a local while visiting Italy with her friend, Audrey, Renee returns home to live out a pretty standard American family life, only to find out 20 years later that Audrey is dying of cancer – and has a few secrets and surprises for Renee as she helps Audrey at the end of her life.

Salvation City
By Sigrid Nunez
Seeking refuge in the home of an evangelical pastor after a flu pandemic decimates the planet’s populations, 13-year-old orphan Cole witnesses the community’s preparations for a prophesied religious cataclysm and struggles with memories of a very different world.

Santa Fe Edge
By Stuart Woods
Recovering from his most recent battle with the Mexican mafia and a clash with his ex-wife, Ed Eagle encounters a mysterious new client who offers dangerous clues to unresolved elements from Ed’s past.

A Secret Kept
Tatiana De Rosnay
When traumatic memories about a disturbing event from a childhood summer holiday cause his sister to suffer a debilitating car accident, Antoine befriends a street-wise mortician who helps him to manage painful family truths.

Snakewoman of Little Egypt
By Robert Hellenga
A middle-aged anthropology professor contemplating his future becomes romantically involved with a woman released from jail after shooting her husband, the pastor of a snake-handling church.

Some Sing, Some Cry
By Ntozake Shange and Ifa Bayeza
Co-authored by a Pushcart Prize-winning writer and her award-winning playwright sister, the story of emancipated slave Elizabeth Mayfield traces her rise to the matriarch of a family of musically gifted southern women who overcome brutal obstacles while witnessing key moments in American history.

Sourland
By Joyce Carol Oates
Sixteen short stories from the prolific author explore themes of violence, loss, and grief, including a tale about a librarian amputee who attracts a married man, and a young girl in love with her incarcerated husband.

Starlit
By Lisa Rinna
In a novel by an acclaimed TV star and Dancing With the Stars alumna, Tally Jones arrives in L. A. at the age of 17 and navigates the scandalous road to Hollywood stardom, meeting her share of handsome actors and power brokers along the way.

The Thieves of Darkness
By Richard Doetsch
The author of The 13th Hour finds reformed master thief Michael St. Pierre traveling to Istanbul to rescue an associate and prevent an ancient artifact from falling into the hands of a brutal adversary, an effort that is complicated by Michael’s secretive ex-girlfriend.

Thirteen Hours
By Deon Meyer
After a teenage American tourist has her throat slit in Cape Town, recovering-alcoholic detective Benny Griessel must find her friend, Rachel Anderson, before she meets the same fate. But when he’s also put on the case of a murdered South African music executive, Benny realizes he must solve both crimes in a single day if Rachel has any chance of survival.

To the End of the Land
By David Grossman
Fleeing to Gaililee in despair when her son voluntarily rejoins the Israeli army, Ora drags along estranged family friend Avram, a tortured former POW to whom she relates her experiences of motherhood against a backdrop of constant war and fear.

Torn Between Two Lovers (The Big Girls Book Club)
By Carl Weber
One of Virginia’s most successful women, Loraine Farrow, tries to focus on her marriage to Leon, but her ex-lover Michael refuses to let her go – especially when he discovers that Leon is hiding a dark secret that could break up their marriage.

Vermilion Drift (Cork O’Conner)
By William Kent Krueger
Assigned to provide security at a mine where protestors are trying to prevent the storage of nuclear waste, Cork O’Connor discovers the bodies of five long-missing people and a recently murdered sixth victim who was killed with Cork’s own gun.

Vestments
By John Reimringer
Just a few years after his ordination as a priest in the Catholic Church, James Driscoll finds himself attracted again to his first love, Betty Garcia, and torn by his opposing desires for the Church and for Betty, and haunted by his familial heritage, is faced with a crossroads.

The Violin of Auschwitz
By Maria Angels Anglada
In an American release of a well-received international tale, Jewish violin maker Daniel endures the inhuman conditions of Auschwitz by doing carpentry work, and is directed by the camp commander to craft a perfect violin or forfeit his life.

What I Didn’t See
By Karen Joy Fowler
In a collection of compelling stories, the best-selling author of The Jane Austen Book Club writes about John Wilkes Booth’s younger brother; a one-winged man; a California cult; a rebellious teen facing torture in a rehab facility; and a mother who invents a fairy-tale world for her son.

The Widower’s Tale
By Julia Glass
Enjoying an active but lonely rural life, 70-year-old Percy haplessly allows a progressive preschool to move into his barn and transform his quiet home into a lively, youthful community that compels him to reexamine the choices he made in the decades after his wife’s death.

The Witch of Hebron:  A World Made By Hand Novel
By James Howard Kunstler
In a post-oil America, there is no electricity, no Internet, people travel by horse and buggy, the government is little more than a rumor, wars are fought over dwindling resources, and illness is a constant presence. In the little town of Union Grove, New York, the people must deal with roving bandits and a sinister cult that threatens to shatter the hamlet’s stability.

Zero History
By William Gibson
While an ex-singer-turned-journalist unsuccessfully struggles to avoid notice by twisted marketing genius Bigend, a talented Russian linguist emerges from rehabilitation amid Bigend’s discovery of an anonymous rival on the global market.

Mystery & Detective
(some titles may also be found in General Fiction)

Bad Boy:  An Alan Banks Novel
By Peter Robinson
Annie Banks, partner to Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks, uncovers a plot involving his daughter and a devious psychopath.

Between Summer’s Longing and Winter’s End:  The Story of a Crime
By Leif G.W. Persson
A first entry in a trilogy inspired by the unsolved 1986 assassination of Swedish Prime Minister Olaf Palme traces an investigation into an unknown American’s death in Stockholm that reveals a complex web of espionage and intelligence failures.

Dead Man’s Chest (Phryne Fisher)
By Kerry Greenwood
When she tries to go on summer holiday, Phryne Fisher discovers that the Johnsons, who were supposed to be at the vacation home, are nowhere in sight, thus beginning a mystery that involves smugglers, pirate treasure, and the mysterious Madame Selavey.

Hypothermia (Detective Erlendur)
By Arnaldur Indridason
Unofficially investigating a suspicious suicide, Inspector Erlendur becomes increasingly unsettled by the unsolved cases of two young people who went missing decades earlier under circumstances tied to his own past.

An Impartial Witness: A Bess Crawford Mystery
By Charles Todd
Nurse Bess Crawford finds herself on the search for a devious and dangerous killer in 1917 London after a woman she recognized from a wounded soldier’s photo is found murdered.

My Lost Daughter
By Nancy Taylor Rosenberg
Presiding over a wrenching murder case, California judge Lily Forrester finds her attention divided when she assists her distraught law student daughter, who is being treated in an unethical medical facility that bilks patients for extravagant insurance payouts.

Nemesis (Marcus Didius Falco)
By Lindsey Davis
When two of his father’s associates disappear under suspicious circumstances, informer Marcus Didius Falco of A.D. 77 Rome investigates allegations of a feud involving a group of notorious freedmen, who are receiving high level protection from corrupt rulers.

A Nose for Justice
By Rita Mae Brown
After a water-rights standoff in Nevada escalates into murder and Mag’s great aunt, Jeep, becomes a prime suspect, it is up to Mags, her wire-haired dachshund Baxter, and Jeep’s German Shepherd-mix King, to sniff out the real killer before it is too late. This is the first book in a new canine-sleuthing series by the best-selling author of Hounded to Death.

Rag and Bone (Billy Boyle World War II Mystery)
By James R. Benn
Billy Boyle is sent to London during the Battle of Britain to investigate the murder of a Soviet official, which may be a revenge killing in response to the massacre of thousands of Polish officers, and finds his probe complicated by the fact that his friend Kaz is the prime suspect.

Shadows in the Street (Simon Serrailler)
By Susan Hill
After two prostitutes are found strangled and the wife of the St. Michaels Cathedral dean and a respectable woman on her way to work go missing, Chief Inspector Simon Serrailler is put on the case and faces the greatest danger of his life.

Trail of Blood (Theresa MacLean)
By Lisa Black
The past meets the present in the third novel featuring forensic scientist Theresa MacLean when fresh bodies show up bearing the hallmarks of an at-large serial killer who had terrorized Cleveland seventy-five years earlier.

Wicked Appetite (Diesel)
By Janet Evanovich
A new crossover series by the best-selling author of the Stephanie Plum mysteries introduces pastry chef Lizzie Tucker, who is recruited by newcomer Diesel to track down a cache of priceless ancient relics while keeping them out of the hands of her criminal mastermind cousin.

Wicked Witch Murder (Lucy Stone)
By Leslie Meier
After getting an unnerving psychic reading from Diana Ravenscroft, Tinker Cove’s newest resident, Lucy Stone, stumbles upon the dead body of Malcolm Malebranche, a seemingly harmless magician who worked children’s birthday parties – and who has ties to Diana.

Romance

Dark Peril (Carpathian)
By Christine Feehan
Dominic of the Dragonseeker Carpathians is on a desperate mission in the heart of enemy territory when he crosses paths with Solange Sangria, the last of the jaguar people, who is trying to save shape-shifting women from her murderous father. Their shared passion for the cause morphs into a fiery romance.

Maybe This Time
By Jennifer Crusie
Entreated by her ex-husband to help with two orphans recently placed in his custody, a closure-seeking Andie discovers the task to be much harder than anticipated in light of the orphans’ delinquent antics, a haunting, and Andie’s rekindled feelings.

Waking Up in Dixie
By Haywood Smith
Trapped in a loveless marriage 30 years after escaping from her unpromising small hometown, Elizabeth is shocked when her greedy husband is profoundly transformed by a stroke that compels him to correct his ways by blackmailing their community’s bad guys.

Science Fiction & Fantasy
(some titles may also be found in General Fiction)

Dust
By Joan Frances Turner
A debut urban fantasy chronicles life-after-death for Jessie, who was killed in a car crash nine years ago.  After her burial, Jessie woke and returned to Earth as a zombie, joining a gang who fight and hunt together until a mysterious illness threatens both humans and zombies alike.

The High King of Montival
By S. M. Stirling
Rudi Mackenzie must return to Montival in the post-apocalyptic Pacific Northwest and forge an alliance with old enemies if he is ever going to defeat the minions of the Prophet and assume his rightful place as Artos, King of Montival.

How to Live Safely in a Science Fiction Universe
By Charles Yu
In a world transformed by time-travel technology, a counselor searches for the father who invented time travel and vanished, a quest marked by quirky pseudo-companions.

The Shattering: Prelude to Cataclysm (World of Warcraft)
By Christie Golden
A follow-up to Arthas is an official novelization based on the Cataclysm expansion of the multi-million-player online game and features an epic back-story depicting characters from the latest regions.

The Waters Rising
By Sheri S. Tepper
When the Sea King declares war on the small kingdoms of Norland and forbids any ships from sailing on the rising waters that threaten to flood humanity, a princess must awaken an ancient killer to save the world.

What Distant Deeps (RCN)
By David Drake
When Captain Daniel Leary and spy Adele Mundy try to take a vacation on the fringes of human space, they don’t have long to rest, as they soon must defend galactic civilization from traitors, giant reptiles, and barbarian pirates.

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8/2010