On my reading list
THE GHOST WAR, Alex Berenson, Putnam. $24.95
Berenson, who won an Edgar last year for the first book in this series, once again features John Wells, the only American CIA agent to penetrate al-Qaeda. Wells is back in Washington, but when the CIA finds evidence of a surge in Taliban activity, Wells
returns to Afghanistan. Berenson is a former reporter for The New York Times and this series is getting lots of kudos.
NEXT OF KIN, John Boyne, St. Martin's Press. $24.95
I've been a big fan of Boyne since reading The Boy in the Striped Pajamas and The Thief of Time. This thriller is set in London in 1936 where the talk is all about the affair between Edward VIII and Mrs. Simpson. A member of the aristocracy, Owen
Montignac, has run up huge debts and he must find 50,000 pounds or find himself six feet under. When his late uncle's will is read in favor of Owen's cousin Stella, he finds that a
royal crisis can provide the means for profit and for murder.
A PERSON OF INTEREST, Susan Choi, Viking. $24.95
When a mail bomb explodes on a campus in the Midwest, Professor Lee, an Asian American math professor, comes under suspicion. The FBI believes he may be the infamous "Brain Bomber" a terrorist whose primary targets are scientists and mathematicians. This is loosely based on the story of the Unabomber. Choi is the author of American Woman, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, which was loosely based on the
story of Patty Hearst.
DAKOTA, Martha Grimes, Viking. $25.95
Andi Oliver, who was introduced in Biting the Moon, returns. Drifting from one State to another, she finally arrives in North Dakota where she is hired at Klavan's pig farming facility. As Andi begins to uncover the truth about Klavan's and their slaughterhouse, there are two men on her trail - one hired to kill her, the other demanding something from her forgotten past. Sounds fascinating, or confusing if you haven't read the first book in this series!
HELL'S BAY, James W. Hall, St. Martin's Minotaur. $24.95
When Abigail Bates, the matriarch of one of Florida's aristocratic families, is found drowned, a chain of events is set into motion, embroiling Thorn with a family he never knew he had and a fortune he doesn't want. Hall, in my opinion, is the most talented and
most neglected of writers who set their mysteries in Florida.
L.A. OUTLAWS, T. Jefferson Parker, Dutton. $25.95
Allison Murietta is becoming a real celebrity in Los Angeles with her compulsion to steal beautiful things, invite the media along, and then donate much of her take to charity. But rookie deputy Charlie Hood becomes involved when one of her jobs ends with ten gangsters dead and a half-million dollars worth of diamonds missing.