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| Mystery / Thrillers |
An Instance of the Fingerpost
- Iain Pears offers a literary and intellectual tour de force. In 1660s England, an Oxford fellow is found dead under mysterious circumstances, and a young woman stands accused of the crime. This is an absorbing mystery that combines the sensibilities of a good, old-fashioned whodunit with the historical and intellectual erudition of Umberto Eco. This is a major work from the already highly respected author of the Jonathan Argyll mystery series.
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Gone, Baby, Gone
- In Dennis Lehane's latest, "Gone, Baby, Gone," Detectives Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro search for two kidnapped
children. Once the plot really kicks in Lehane weaves in more strands than the Bayeaux tapestry to create the book that caused me to gush in such an unappealing manner. The novel turns both characters inward, to the relationship that smolders between them, and outward, to a nation that allows 300 children to go missing each year. This is a rare prize and arguably Lehane's best novel to date.
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Lucky Bastard
- Some call it "The Manchurian Candidate" meets "Primary Colors," but Charles McCarry's "Lucky Bastard" in many ways
surpasses these iconic books in its cynicism and clever narrative. McCarry's careers as presidential speechwriter, CIA agent, and journalist bring a chilling verisimilitude to this story about a communist plot to infiltrate the Oval Office. "Lucky Bastard" comes to us in a year when real political dramas seemed destined to eclipse all fiction.
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The Ape Who Guards the Balance
- Elizabeth Peters, who was named Grandmaster for the 1998 Edgar Awards, takes full advantage of her Ph.D. in Egyptology to depict the exotic world of Edwardian Egypt in her 10th Amelia Peabody mystery, As usual, Peabody and her dashing archaeologist husband, Radcliffe Emerson, trade more witty quips than any couple since Nick and Nora Charles. Peters's mysteries are always a pleasure, but the importance of Ramses in this installment suggests a fascinating new direction this series.
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Love Is a Racket
- KRAOP. That's the sound of scriptwriter-con artist Jeffty Kittridge's fingers breaking. Rather, being broken--by the collector for the local shark. John Ridley's "Love Is a Racket" is about as snappy as Jeffty's fingers, and Jeffty's relentless first-person narrative makes this contemporary noir farce as much a pleasure as Ridley's first novel, "Stray Dogs." Ridley's hip voice sounds like an extra- gritty, slightly cynical Elmore Leonard, and fans of "Rum Punch" or "Get Shorty" are sure to love this one.
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The Coffin Dancer
- The entire cockpit broke away from the disintegrating plane and rose into the air, leaving the fuselage and wings and
engines ... engulfed in a ball of gassy fire. This horrifying bombing of a Hudson Air jetliner introduces a murderer identified only by a macabre "dancing" tattoo. Quadriplegic criminologist Lincoln Rhyme and his protege Amelia Sachs match the Dancer's every step in this much-anticipated, tightly plotted successor to "The Bone Collector." Deaver, a master of balancing rapid pacing with forensic detail, keeps readers guessing until the final pages.
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Angels Flight
- One of the most complex and harrowing mysteries to appear in 1998. is awakened in the middle of the night and, out of rotation, he is assigned to the murder investigation of a high-profile African American attorney, Howard Elias. The police department itself is at the center of the investigation. Under the specter of the L.A. riots, and facing turmoil at home, Bosch suddenly finds himself questioning friends and associates while he is forced to work side by side with some longtime enemies |
The Prodigal Spy
- Joseph Kanon's critically acclaimed, Edgar-winning debut thriller, "Los Alamos," seamlessly blended a fictional murder mystery with the real-life drama of the Manhattan Project. Now Kanon again weaves a tale of alternate reality in which the McCarthy hearings turn up a bona fide communist spy. Or do they? With literary craftsmanship, Kanon traces the life of Nick Kotlar as he tries to uncover the truth about his father--the man suspected of being a Soviet agent.
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