Fiction Reviews

ISBN 978-0-7387-1249-9

At the start of Meade's diverting third Marjorie McClelland 1930s cozy (after 2007's Ghost of a Chance), Marjorie agrees to help an anxious young wife, Elizabeth Barnwell, find her missing husband, Michael. When Marjorie and her fianc , wealthy Englishman Creighton Ashcroft, discover a dismembered body that turns out to be Michael's mistress, the philandering husband surfaces shortly thereafter and is arrested for murder. Marjorie, though, suspects the police have the wrong man. Meanwhile, the members of Marjorie's church in Ridgebury, Conn., have planned a wedding reception for her and Creighton complete with Mrs. Shutt's revolting Perfection Salad. Can they gracefully get out of this without hurting any feelings? While weak on period detail, this light whodunit does offer a surprise closing twist. (Apr.)

SF/Fantasy/Horror

Fallen Tim Lebbon. Bantam Spectra, $12 paper (448p) ISBN 978-0-553-38467-3

Stoker-winner Lebbon successfully combines quest adventure and horror in this gripping and disturbing tale. Some 4,000 years before the events of Dusk (2006), the people of Noreela are just beginning an era of expansion, with explorers going constantly further into unknown territory for profit and glory. Blocking the voyagers' southward journeys, however, is the Great Divide, a cliff that reaches into the clouds. Ramus Rheel, an aging explorer battling cancer, and Nomi Hyden, whose wealth has not diminished her craving for adventure, are friendly enemies who set out to scale the Divide and earn recognition as the greatest voyagers of all. When they find the lair of one of the ancient Sleeping Gods, they get considerably more excitement and terror than they bargained for. Lebbon creates vivid and convincing major and minor characters, places and creatures, blending wonder and nightmare in this dark and memorable novel. (Apr.) The Queen's Bastard C.E. Murphy. Del Rey, $14 paper (448p) ISBN 978-0-345-49464-1

Taking a break from urban fantasy, Murphy (House of Cards) turns to this uneven opener for a Reformation-inspired fantasy series. Belinda Primrose is a lovely young woman whose mysterious father, Lord Drake, has trained her to be an assassin serving Lorraine, the queen of Aulun. While Belinda is Lorraine's unacknowledged bastard, young Prince Javier of Gallin was secretly adopted by Lorraine's dangerous rival, Queen Sandalia, when her husband's untimely death caused her to miscarry the child who was to be Gallin's heir. When Javier encounters Belinda while she's on a spy mission in Gallin, he falls hopelessly in love with her, a devotion that deepens when they discover they're both witchbreed magic users. Murphy excels in depicting their passion, but readers looking for romance will be shocked when Belinda incites and abets Javier's rape of another woman, and the talky political intrigue frequently comes at the expense of much-needed action. (Apr.) A Guide to Folktales in Fragile Dialects Catherynne M. Valente. Norilana/Curiosities (www.norilana.com

ISBN 978-1-934267-01-1

First published in the U.K. in 1995 as Stranglehold, this extremely disturbing novel from Ketchum (The Girl Next Door) effectively examines the insidious effects of child abuse as it spreads from generation to generation. When Lydia McCloud meets Arthur Danse at a wedding party in Plymouth, N.H., she thinks he's a man she could grow to love. When Arthur meets Lydia, he thinks that she's the sort of woman people would always want to protect and that he's going to show her she wouldn't always be protected. Once their only child, Robert, is born, Arthur's behavior worsens. When the courts become involved, the nightmare really begins. This scathing novel is an indictment of a justice system that makes a mockery of its very name. In a new afterword, Ketchum (aka Dallas Mayr) discusses his real-life sources. (Apr.)

Comics

Elliot Wave Theory - a key market behaviour (spiritual godfather, mirage, pretty bad people) BBB 5 (c; I Hh #

Rescue Wall Street - a group of speculation Rise and Fall of genius (Baffet said that the typical smart Anshashi) B - zEjl @ Kf

Securities and Futures win Code (trading rules 1) (too many rules, too many rules and too few rules) A -? Xq d kc ^ b

Exchange Rules 2 - the road to success of the new strategy (the rules too little, too few rules, too many rules) A -?; DMv5 A +

Variable-investment (speculative and investment) B --7o IphJ