Prepub Alert

Dewberry, Elizabeth. His Lovely Wife. Harcourt. Mar. 2006. 288p. ISBN 0-15-101221-0 [ISBN 978-0-15-101221-3]. $24.
Ellen Baxter is tall and blonde, like Princess Diana. And—what a coincidence—she happens to be in Paris when Diana dies. After discovering an odd photo of Diana at the site of her death, Ellen is compelled to track their eerie similarities.

Goodman, Allegra. Intuition. Dial. Mar. 2006. 400p. ISBN 0-385-33612-8. $25. CD: Random Audio.
From National Book Award finalist Goodman: a tale involving several mice at a cash-strapped cancer research lab whose sudden remission provokes jubilation among the staff—until one bright-eyed young scientist challenges the results.

Hannah, Kristin. Magic Hour. Ballantine. Mar. 2006. 400p. ISBN 0-345-46752-3. $23.95; lrg. prnt. ISBN 0-7393-2605-8. $25.95.
Julia puts her heart into aiding troubled children, so she's devastated when she's forced to give up her practice. Then she connects with a mute little girl who's been abandoned—and the doctor fighting to protect her.

Liss, David. The Ethical Assassin. Ballantine. Feb. 2006. 320p. ISBN 1-4000-6421-X. $24.95.
Celebrated for his historicals A Conspiracy of Papers and A Spectacle of Corruption, Liss here goes contemporary. His hapless hero is selling door to door when he witnesses the murder of two customers and realizes that to survive he's got to cooperate with the killer (who just might be a deranged animal rights activist).

McKinty, Adrian. The Dead Yard. Scribner. Mar. 2006. 304p. ISBN 0-7432-6643-9. $24.
Mercenary Michael Forsythe won't be enjoying his holiday in Spain. He's been ordered by gorgeous British Intelligence agent Samantha to infiltrate an IRA sleeper cell in America. With a three-city tour.

Mosse, Kate. Labyrinth. Putnam. Mar. 2006. 528p. ISBN 0-399-15344-6. $25.95. CD: Penguin Audio.
“Three secrets. Two women. One Grail.” That's how the publisher sums up this first book from the cofounder of Britain's noted Orange Prize, who was honored as a European Woman of Achievement in 2000. While volunteering at a dig in the Pyrenees, Alice discovers two skeletons, several artifacts, and the drawing of a labyrinth. They lead her back to a woman named Alais, whose father entrusted her with the secret of the Grail at the time of the Albigensian heresy. Foreign rights sold to nine countries.

Nelson, Antonya. Some Fun: Stories and a Novella. Scribner. Mar. 2006. 256p. ISBN 0-7432-1874-4. pap. $14.
Fun, indeed. REA Award winner Nelson adds to her treasure chest of story collections with this potpourri of seven stories and a novella, which deal mostly with confused teens and their even more confused parents.

Nunez, Elizabeth. Prospero's Daughter. One World: Ballantine. Feb. 2006. 304p. ISBN 0-345-45535-5. $24.95.
Accused of endangering patients, a British scientist exiles himself to a remote Caribbean island, where his daughter falls in love with a mixed-race boy. Shakespeare with a twist.

Parker, Robert B. Sea Change: A Jesse Stone Novel. Putnam. Mar. 2006. 304p. ISBN 0-399-15267-9. $24.95.
This time, the sea brings Paradise, MA, police chief Jesse Stone the decomposing body of a divorced heiress who had a penchant for naughty sex in front of the camera. Alas, no one seems to care that she's dead, but that doesn't stop the investigation.

Perry, Thomas. Nightlife. Random. Mar. 2006. 384p. ISBN 1-4000-6004-4. $24.95.
The cousin of a Los Angeles underworld kingpin is dead, his girlfriend is missing (do those blonde strands at the scene of the crime make her killer or victim?), and Portland detective Catherine Hobbs intends to sort it all out.

Spanogle, Joshua. Isolation Ward. Delacorte. Mar. 2006. 400p. ISBN 0-385-33853-8. $22; lrg. prnt. Random. ISBN 0-7393-2586-8. $24. CD: Random Audio.
Why are three handicapped women rushed to the same Baltimore hospital within days of one another? And, after being called in to help, why is Dr. Nathaniel McCormick of the Centers for Disease Control discouraged from tracking a dangerous virus cross country? Spanogle took time off from his med school studies at Stanford to pen this medical thriller, an in-house favorite.

Steel, Danielle. The House. Delacorte. Mar. 2006. 352p. ISBN 0-385-33828-7. $27; lrg. prnt. Random. ISBN 0-7393-2597-3. $29. Cassette/CD: Random Audio.
Workaholic lawyer Sarah receives an inheritance from a client, with instructions to use the money for something other than work. And, lo and behold, her plans to restore a beautiful 1923 mansion brings her in touch with committed architect Jeff Parker.

Strout, Elizabeth. Abide with Me. Random. Mar. 2006. 352p. ISBN 1-4000-6207-1. $24.95.
After the multi-award-winning Amy and Isabelle, Strout finally returns with the story of a preacher torn asunder by his daring young wife's death. The parishioners who should be helping him are instead cold as stone. With a national author tour.

Waters, Sarah. The Night Watch. Riverhead: Putnam. Mar. 2006. 448p. ISBN 1-59448-905-X. $24.95.
Waters trots from Victorian England, the setting of her previous award-winning and -nominated novels (e.g., Tipping the Velvet), to 1940s London. Even as the Blitz rages, three women and one man cross paths repeatedly as friends and lovers.

White, Randy Wayne. Dark Light. Putnam. Mar. 2006. 352p. ISBN 0-399-15336-5. $24.95. Cassette/CD: Penguin Audio.
After a Category Four hurricane uncovers wreckage along Florida's west coast, an old woman visits White's stalwart Doc Ford, insisting that a newly exposed German submarine will reveal the truth about a loved one lost while reputedly hooking up with the sub's crew. But soon it is apparent that her story doesn't hold (sea)water.

White, Stephen. Kill Me. Dutton. Mar. 2006. 352p. ISBN 0-525-94930-5. $25.95.
Colorado psychologist Alan Gregory faces a cutting-edge case—if you were horribly disabled, would you really mean it when you said you wanted to die?

Whitehead, Colson. Apex Hides the Hurt. Doubleday. Mar. 2006. 208p. ISBN 0-385-50795-X. $22.95.
What's in a name? It's a job for the nomenclature consultant who heads up this novel (he once dubbed a bandage ''Apex Hides the Hurt''). Now the town of Winthrop wants to be called something different. With a national tour.

Wolitzer, Hilma. The Doctor's Daughter. Ballantine. Mar. 2006. ISBN 0-345-48584-X. $24.95.
The doctor's daughter has aches of her own. Another triumph for Wolitzer; see review, p. 70.

Baumann, Leslie, M.D. The Skin Type Solution: A Revolutionary Guide to Your Best Skin Ever. Bantam. Mar. 2006. 496p. ISBN 0-553-80422-7. $20.
Oily? Dry? Whatever? Find your skin type and the right ingredients for it with help from Baumann of the University of Miami Cosmetic Center.

Britten, Rhonda. Do I Look Fat in This?: Get Over Your Body and on with Your Life. Dutton. Mar. 2006. 304p. ISBN 0-525-94945-3. $24.95.
You've seen her as life coach on the Emmy Award–winning Starting Over. Now start over yourself with advice on accepting your body type. With a 15-city tour.

Dornstein, Ken. The Boy Who Fell Out of the Sky: A True Story. Random. Mar. 2006. 320p. ISBN 0-375-50359-5. $23.95.
Series editor at PBS's Frontline, Dornstein lost his older brother, an aspiring writer, in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. Since then, he has reconstructed his brother's life from the writings he left behind.

Erlbaum, Janice. Girlbomb: A Halfway Homeless Memoir. Villard. Mar. 2006. 256p. ISBN 1-4000-6422-8. $21.95.
In summer 1983, a then teenaged Erlbaum (now a Bust columnist) fled her home and descended into the darkness of New York City's streets. Here she explains how she came out alive.

Emerick, Geoff & Howard Massey. Here, There and Everywhere: My Life Recording with the Beatles. Gotham: Penguin Group (USA). Mar. 2006. 304p. ISBN 1-59240-179-1. $26.
Special Beatles insights (they never end) from a recording engineer who started out as an assistant on ''I Want To Hold Your Hand''—at age 15.

Gordon, Emily Fox. Are You Happy?: A Childhood Remembered. Riverhead: Putnam. Mar. 2006. 208p. ISBN 1-59448-904-1. $22.95.
A celebrated essayist shares ''moments of radiant apprehension'' during an otherwise shaded childhood as she contemplates the nature of happiness.

Kurlansky, Mark. The Big Oyster: New York on the Half Shell. Ballantine. Feb. 2006. 304p. ISBN 0-345-47638-7. $23.95.
Kurlansky, who gave us Cod and Salt,would seem to be just the right man to talk about oysters—specifically, those that bedded down near New York City's Ellis Island from time immemorial until pollution did them in during the 1920s.

Mayes, Frances. A Year in the World: Journeys of a Passionate Traveler. Broadway. Mar. 2006. 304p. ISBN 0-7679-1005-2. $26.
Who won't want to travel through France, Spain, Greece, Turkey, Morocco, and more with the author of Under the Tuscan Sun?

Schiavo, Michael with Michael Hirsh. Terri: The Truth. Dutton. Mar. 2006. 288p. ISBN 0-525-94949-1. $24.95.
Accused of being a murderer and indeed threatened with murder, Schiavo speaks out about his efforts to save wife Terri and finally to let her go in a memoir that should prove both painful and controversial.

Sen, Amartya. Identity and Violence: The Illusion of Destiny. Norton. Mar. 2006. 224p. ISBN 0-393-06007-1. $24.95.
Next in Norton's inspiring ''Issues of Our Times'' series, this work by Nobel economist Sen proposes that much of today's violence stems from our misguidedly clinging to embedded concepts of identity.

Wicker, Tom. Shooting Star: The Brief Arc of Joseph McCarthy. Harcourt. Mar. 2006. 224p. ISBN 0-15-101082-X. $24.
Veteran journalist Wicker takes on a senator whose ­violent anticommunism ended up scarring America in the 1950s.