James’s engaging eighth Cat in the Stacks mystery (after 2016’s No Cats Allowed) finds affable Charlie Harris, the interim director of the Athena College library in Athena, Miss., looking forward to chairing a discussion panel and giving a short opening speech at the Southern Academic Library Association’s conference that his college is hosting. A glance at the list of attendees turns up the names of old friends from his days at library school, but it also reveals someone else from Charlie’s past: Gavin Fong, one of the most despised men in the SALA. Even the usually mild-mannered Charlie ends up taking a swing at Fong, who has made it clear that he’s after the permanent job of library director at Athena College. When Fong is found dead, poisoned with a bottle of water from his private stock, Charlie steps up to investigate, accompanied by his leash-trained Maine Coon cat, Diesel. James (the pen name of Dean James), a Mississippi native, has a real knack for evoking a small Southern town with a strong sense of community. Agent: Nancy Yost, Nancy Yost Literary. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 01/20/2017 | Details & Permalink

Bestseller Goodkind (the Sword of Truth series) doesn’t stint on either gore or implausibilities in this over-the-top paranormal thriller. John Bishop, an employee of the Clarkson Center for Developmental Disability, has captured a man whom he considers the devil and kept him in the basement of John’s Chicago home for weeks. John considers informing Detective Janek, for whom he’s been doing some consulting, about this dangerous situation, but he fails to act before the devil kills him and escapes. That the fiend removes both of John’s eyes, partially eating one, is just the first of many shocks. Janek reveals to John’s devastated sister, Kate, that her brother had the ability to look at photographs (but only ones “shot on film and developed directly from the negative onto photo paper”) and identify which ones depict killers. Janek was using John to help her solve crimes, and when she determines that Kate shares her brother’s gift, she enlists Kate to carry on the family tradition. Kate partners with author Jack Raines, an expert on evil who believes that the central theme of all books, movies, and TV is murder. The payoff will sorely test readers’ ability to suspend disbelief. Agent: Russell Galen, Scovil Galen Ghosh Literary. (Nov.)

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What is the significance of a boy’s drawing of a little parachute? That’s the question facing Sturbannführer Kraus, an SS officer stationed in Paris, as he interrogates the boy’s adoptive mother, Angélique, in this solid espionage thriller set in 1943 from Janes (The Sleeper). Kraus suspects that 10-year-old Martin Bellecour’s image is evidence that a British operative has parachuted into France to learn the location of the German V-1 rocket launching sites. He later learns that Angélique may be acting as a courier for those in the underground planning to sabotage the sites. Angélique claims that the pair have come to Paris from Abbeville so that Martin, who’s been unable to talk since the German invasion of France in 1940, can see a medical specialist. Angélique has been having an affair with Martin’s father—a fact she hides from the Nazi—and that adds drama to the story line. Fans of Janes’s Kohler and St. Cyr mysteries (Clandestine, etc.), which are likewise set in occupied France, will enjoy this standalone, even though its characters and plot are less memorable than those in the series. (Aug.)

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Fuller (A Love Made New) steps away from the traditionally idealized life of the Amish to focus more on the ideas of redemption and grace as they pertain to flawed yet loving individuals in her latest inspirational romance. Phoebe Bontrager is a young Amish woman with secrets. She and four-year-old Malachi are staying with her Aunt Bertha for a time when a letter from Jalon Chupp finds its way to Phoebe’s hands. Thus begins an epistolary relationship between two people filled with desperate loneliness. Jalon, who lives in Birch Creek, Ohio, has been suffering from guilt for years over an accident that gravely injured his cousin. Then he and Phoebe begin their correspondence. The connection they forge simply reinforces his faith in God and the knowledge that God’s plan is in play. Yet the secrets both have had to keep in order to protect others may be the very things that tear them apart. Fuller’s refreshing portrayal of the Amish as complex, flawed children of God adds deeper dimension to a plot already filled with lovable characters and an artfully crafted world that draws readers in and invites them to stay. Passion and joy for God and the written word are evident throughout the book, woven into a heartwarming invitation to share the love. Agent: Tamela Hancock Murray, Steve Laube Agency. (Mar.)

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Macomber (A Girl’s Guide to Moving On) continues her New Beginnings series with two parallel stories of love almost lost. New-to-town music teacher Beth and mechanic Sam don’t hit it off immediately when their mutual friends Nichole and Rocco set them up on a blind date in Portland, Ore. But the night takes an unexpected turn when Beth is in a car accident that leaves her in critical condition. From that evening on, Sam stands by her as she recovers from her injuries, but once Beth is out of the hospital, their growing bond is tested by their complicated pasts and hang-ups. Meanwhile, Beth decides to help her aunt Sunshine find the one who got away, sparking concerns that she’s meddling too much in the lives of others. Although the stories dovetail well, showing Beth and Sunshine’s very different relationships founded on unexpected connections, the book itself becomes weighed down by its own subplots, which would be better served by breaking the book in two. Even so, this latest from the prolific Macomber is a fun, sweet read that fans of her style will undoubtedly find satisfying. Agent: Theresa Park, Park Literary. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 01/20/2017 | Details & Permalink

ER nurse Calvert (the Crisis Team series) intertwines a mob drama with the frenzy of a hospital emergency room in this explosive page-turner. Sloane Ferrell, a fiercely private new ER nurse at Hope Hospital in Los Angeles, Calif., is trying to bury her past mistakes by taking a job in a new city. As Sloane exits Hope one afternoon, a pink-haired young woman is pulled, allegedly against her will, into a car. Trusting her instincts, Sloane yanks her from the perpetrator and invites the woman to a diner, where she notices a strange tattoo: “property of...$.” Sloane is unable to get much information from the young woman, but believes she is in over her head with the local mob. The original incident is also witnessed by Micah Prescott, the hospital’s marketing director, and his friend Coop, a local reporter and camera man, who captures the scene. Micah, impressed by Sloane’s actions rescuing the girl as well as by her beauty, decides that Sloane could make a perfect model for his billboard campaign to enhance the hospital’s sagging reputation. But when he approaches Sloane, she thwarts his plans, even threatening to go to HR if he doesn’t leave her be. As she pushes him away, his interest only grows, and he becomes convinced of her ability to lift the unpopular hospital. Calvert adeptly intertwines drama, passion, hope, and her medical expertise to deliver a suspenseful tale that will leave readers guessing until the end. (Feb.)

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Waberi (In the United States of Africa), professor of French and Francophone literature at George Washington University, places this short, intricate novel in 1998 Rwanda, four years after the genocide, weaving horrific memories and allusions to the atrocity into stories of dealing with the trauma. Divided into “Fictions” and “Stories,” the book is broadly categorized as fiction but maintains a heavy autobiographical bent. In his preface, Waberi asks, “How many bodies are we talking about? Falling, stumbling, caught by the ends of the hair, finished off, emasculated, defiled, raped, incinerated?” The novel’s fractured form lends the subject matter depth and scale; while the stories are each personal and intimate, the collective pain is vast. In the standout chapter “And the Dogs Feasted,” an old woman has renamed her dog Minuar, after the French name for the UN peacekeeping mission she says “failed to protect us.” She explains that her own dog “fattened up on human flesh during the genocide,” even feasting on the bodies of some of her family members: “We all know each other around here, so he probably did eat people he knew.” Though brief, the novel poses large questions and insinuates itself into an ongoing literary discussion about how to record the horrific acts of the genocide. From the first line, Waberi’s stunning book pays testimony to his delicate dilemma: “One almost feels like opening with an apology for the very existence of this work.” (Feb.)

Reviewed on 01/20/2017 | Details & Permalink

Kinghorn takes readers to England in 1914, shortly before WWI begins, to tell the story of two women of drastically different means who are brought together by the shifting fate of their country. The book begins with Pearl Gibson landing a job as the maid of Lady Ottoline Campbell, a wealthy landowner in Northumberland. Pearl is a dutiful employee, but her relationship to Lady Campbell turns out to be not as formal as she expected. Slowly, the two become friends, bonding over their shared experiences of the uncertainty and heartache of watching the men in their lives go off to war. As they grow closer, Pearl learns more about her employer than she bargained for and must make hard decisions if she wishes to learn to stand on her own. Kinghorn carefully weaves the story of love and self-discovery into the solemn tapestry of war, loss, and mental instability. Pearl experiences the beauty of life alongside the sting of betrayal and heartbreak, always striving to be more than what the situation of her birth dictates for her life. With language that draws the reader into the story, Kinghorn brings the past to life and makes Pearl’s struggles for stability accessible relatable and affecting. Kinghorn embraces a dark time in history to tell this immersive and historically sound coming-of-age tale. Agent: Deborah Schneider, Gelfman Schneider Literary (Jan.)

Reviewed on 01/20/2017 | Details & Permalink

Readers looking for something decidedly different from the usual Christian historical fiction will find it in Markert’s (A White Wind Blew) new novel, which spotlights post-Prohibition Kentucky. The folks of Twisted Tree would love for Barley McFee, who is reeling from the sudden death of his youngest son, Henry, to reopen the Old Sam McFee bourbon distillery, but he is lost in the pain of his tragedy. When a drifter is buried in the nearby potter’s field, strange events start happening: Barley’s daughter Annie’s legs are healed, and Henry’s shoes are found in the dead man’s belongings. William, Barley’s eldest son, records the goings-on that begin to reveal Barley’s past, a hidden history that threatens the family and the distillery. Miracles, mysteries, signs, and secrets ferment along with murder, threats, illegal activity, and lots of drinking to create a novel that will entertain as well as confound. Some traditional Christian readers will balk at the alcohol-induced drama, but others will find a unique tale that will leave them thinking long after the last bottle is stoppered. Agent: Dan Lazer, Writers House. (Jan.)

Reviewed on 01/20/2017 | Details & Permalink

In the longest work of fiction to date from the Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright, an aged actor moves through his fragmented memories of his father, the young girl who loved him, and the vast American landscape that served as a backdrop to it all. Following a poignant foreword by Patti Smith, each successive chapter of the novel flits among times and forms: there are poetic reminiscences of the actor’s ex-wife, and terse all-dialogue conversations between him and the lover intending to blackmail him. Coloring those dynamics are flashbacks to the actor’s complicated relationship with Felicity, his father’s underage girlfriend, who also comes to take the actor’s virginity. Mixed amongst these grounding story lines are vivid scenes of his father’s death, drug fantasies, and vague meditations on sex and death. The last section of the book concerns Felicity’s disappearance and apparent suicide, an event that deepens and bonds every moment that precedes it. Though some of the writing feels like leftovers from discarded drafts of books and plays, much of the content remains striking and memorable, illustrative of what makes Shepard’s work so arresting on the screen and the page. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 01/20/2017 | Details & Permalink