Mystery

Expect the Unexpected with this month's mysteries. Readers will cling to the side of one of the world's tallest mountains in Charles G. Irion and Ronald J. Watkins's Murder on Everest. Planning a murder in Johannesburg, South Africa (Jassy Mackenzie's Random Violence), is almost as thrilling as escaping spiders in the Australian outback (Jeanne Matthews's Bones of Contention). And an unsuspecting lawyer who flees big-city pressure for a Hawaiian beach finds deception and murder even in paradise (Douglas Corleone's One Man's Paradise).

After Henry Mappestone is murdered, his brother Geoffrey (The Coiner's Quarrel) inherits Goodrich Castle in the Welsh Marches—along with the disgruntled, starving Welsh, greedy, unscrupulous Norman lords, and Henry I of England, who wants Geoffrey's loyalty. After several attempts on his life, Geoffrey, known for his problem-solving ability and tactical military experience in the Crusades, must untangle a skein of intrigue before the Welsh rebel against England. VERDICT Beaufort, a pseudonym for two ex-Cambridge academics (one of whom also writes under the name Susanna Gregory), brings Norman England vividly to life. Full of drama, suspense, and plot twists, this is a complicated story of murder, superstition, revenge, and greed that will appeal to fans of medieval historicals.

As a series of rapes terrorize the city of Bari in the Apulia region (Italy's boot heel), three young men must confront their dark sides. One thinks he might be sliding into madness. The second abandons his desire to be an attorney and is seduced into a life of crime. The third is a sociopath. VERDICT Former Mafia prosecutor Carofiglio (A Walk in the Dark; Involuntary Witness) packs enough psychological suspense into this tightly woven tale to satisfy readers who crave another Barbara Vine or yearn for Georges Simenon's non-Maigret novels.

Rick Rounder returns to his hometown of York in northern England, sets up a private detective agency, and deals with his jealous brother, now the police chief, and his antagonistic former mates on the force. He thinks nothing of being hired to follow a man's wife, but things get weird when the husband kidnaps Rick and clues to a young girl's disappearance lead to a century-old crime. VERDICT With fast action, well-developed characters, a history lesson on York, and a suspenseful ending, this debut by a British journalist will appeal to fans of British crime fiction. [Library marketing.]

Criminal attorney Kevin Corvelli leaves Manhattan after losing a major capital murder case and moves to Honolulu. Hired to defend Joey Gianforte, a law student accused of killing the girlfriend who dumped him, Corvelli must ferret out the information that can be used in the young man's defense while trying not to make the same mistakes that derailed him in New York. VERDICT This winner of the 2009 Minotaur Books/Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel Award by a former defense attorney will leave readers with a greater understanding of trial preparation and what constitutes professional integrity. Fans of John Grisham, Lisa Scottoline, and other legal thriller authors will enjoy this for the sheer pleasure of seeing a master defense attorney at work in the courtroom. [Minotaur First Edition Selection.]

In her second outing, after In the Wind, former Chicago cop-turned-PI Anni Koskinen is hired to find a rapist who, 20 years ago, brutally attacked a young woman. The victim identified the wrong young man, who spent two decades in prison. Anni investigates a number of current rape cases similar to the Lincoln Park Rapist, but the political ambitions of the prosecutor and the stubbornness of the police make her job an uphill battle. VERDICT Fister, a librarian and frequent LJ contributor (see p. 38), juggles a lot of plot lines that might lead to some confusion for the reader. But her book—a Chicago version of the infamous 1989 Central Park rape case—ultimately packs a real punch. It will appeal to Sara Paretsky fans and mystery readers who long for tough and savvy female investigators.

After making a politically incorrect comment to his boss, St. Louis homicide lieutenant George Hastings and his team get assigned to protecting Sen. Alan Preston from a prison escapee who has threatened to kill the senator. As Hastings tries to do his job, he uncovers the real story of former CIA agent John Reese, whom Preston had prosecuted when he had been a U.S. district attorney. VERDICT Hunt's fourth George Hastings title (after The Assailant) is an exciting, action-packed tale. Hunt, a practicing attorney, stays away from the courtroom and focuses on the gritty reality of police work in a big city where politics and favoritism often overshadow justice. Readers who like Michael Connelly's early books will especially appreciate.

In 1926 Los Angeles, Tom Hickey's black mentor and friend is found hanging in Echo Park, across the street from evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson's temple. Tom fears the KKK killed Frank, but the newspapers and the police deny that there was a lynching. So Tom sets out to uncover the truth and stop a race riot. VERDICT This prequel to Shamus finalist Kuhlken's Hickey family historical series (and the sixth entry, after The Vagabond Virgins) reveals how the Hickey Detective Agency comes to be. Kuhlken demonstrates his command of keeping a story moving with a meticulously thought-out plot while populating it with believable characters. Fans of Les Roberts's Saxon novels will enjoy this title for its similar L.A. ambience. It will also appeal to readers interested in early 20th-century California history. [See Prepub Mystery, LJ 1/09.]

PI Jade de Jong, who fled her native South Africa ten years ago after her policeman father was killed, returns to Johannesburg and is asked to work with her father's former assistant and now current superintendent, David Patel, on a the car-jacking murder of a wealthy white woman. The husband is the prime suspect, but Jade's investigation points to a killer randomly picking victims. Jade is not convinced, and she soon gets caught up in trying to help out too many people while attempting to get to the man convicted of killing her father—the real reason she has come home. VERDICT South African writer Mackenzie has created a strong female character with amazing resilience, unusual friends, and incredible luck. This gripping first entry in a new crime series set in postapartheid South Africa should please readers of Zoë Sharp and Suzanne Arruda. Fans of other South African crime fiction by Deon Meyer, Roger Smith, and Malla Nunn will also want to try.

Darby Farr returns home to Hurricane Harbor, ME, to handle a real estate deal for her terminally ill aunt. With a greedy woman and an unscrupulous doctor vying to buy the property, the closing comes down to murder. VERDICT This gentle cozy with some unexpected plot twists is sure to please fans of Sarah Graves. [See Prepub Mystery, LJ 12/09.]

Showing a house to a client who turns out to be an old high school boyfriend, Nashville real estate agent Savannah Martin discovers a coworker's corpse. VERDICT The hilarious dialog and the tension between Savannah and Rafe will delight fans of chick-lit mysteries and romantic suspense. Under the pen name Jennie Bentley, the author writes a popular DIY cozy series (Fatal Fixer Upper).

The climbing team that left the son of one of the world's wealthiest men dead on Mount Everest goes back the next year to retrieve his body. What starts out as a very dangerous undertaking turns into a media frenzy when people begin to die. VERDICT The real excitement in this series debut by two seasoned climbers lies in the suspenseful climbing scenes. Throw in a good mystery, and you have it all.

Anna Winthrop, a New York City sanitation supervisor, gets involved in a murder case when one of her staff is killed on the job. VERDICT Anna is not the brightest of sleuths (she meets drug dealers in deserted parks at night), and Marshall clearly does not know how the NYPD works. But fans of previous series titles (Death Is Disposable; Evil Justice) will want.

When her wealthy American uncle announces he's going to rewrite his will and commit suicide with the aid of a rogue physician, Dinah Pelerin joins her family in a run-down lodge in Queensland, Australia, where she soon discovers everything she believed about her family is false. VERDICT In this launch of a new international cozy series, Matthews places a refreshingly original female sleuth into a maelstrom of lies and deceit.

When bedridden and rich Joyce Hauptman dies suddenly, the medical examiner finds signs of arsenic poisoning. Her husband is the prime suspect, but detective Lenny Shaw's meticulous investigation finds there's more here than a straight mercy killing. VERDICT Solomita (Cracker Bling) delivers a most unusual tale of a cop who gets too involved in a murder case. This one will keep noir fans in suspense. [See Prepub Mystery, LJ 11/1/09.]

Welcome to Greenwich Village, circa the mid-1960s, complete with go-go girls, miniskirts, easy sex, and the acrid smell of hemp everywhere. Onto the scene lumbers Mike Hammer, a self-professed Neanderthal and card-carrying carnivore who happily ogles the goods on display but can't quite heartily embrace the offerings. That's the sorrow at the heart of this latest "collaboration" between Spillane (1918–2006) and the prolific, protean Collins (Road to Perdition), who was chosen by Spillane to inherit his incomplete manuscripts. When Mike witnesses a bicycle messenger being mugged, he characteristically retaliates by gleefully killing two tie-dye-wearing druggies and seriously wounding a third. Subsequent murders, though, seem to suggest that it's Hammer who's the real target. Who's out to do in Hammer? The image of a brooding figure contemplating the decline evident all around him, along with characters done in broad strokes, invite comparisons with Batman. VERDICT To dismiss this as bottom-drawer Spillane would mean missing out on an enormously entertaining confection with its politically incorrect views, giving fans of the Mad Men TV series as well as proponents of vigilante justice something to talk about over the watercooler. [See Prepub Mysery, LJ 1/10.]—Bob Lunn, Kansas City, MO