Publishers Weekly - March 7, 2016

have been. More effective is the Hitchcockian “Equatorial,” in which Mrs. Wheeling, her husband’s third wife, begins to suspect during an excursion to the Galapagos that her scientist spouse may be trying to clear the decks for the fourth Mrs. Wheeling;

Oates deftly manipulates the reader through this novella, in part by doling out key bits of backstory that dramatically shift the narrative kaleidoscope. And she truly hits her stride in the stories rooted in apparent normalcy, as in the George Zimmerman riff “Soldier,” and “Big Momma,” in which angry, unloved 13-year-old Violet ends up taking a horrific turn from the Jersey suburbs into the Twilight Zone. This devil’s half-dozen of dread and suspense is a must read. Agent: Warren Frazier, John Hawkins & Associates. (May)

Zigzag:
A Nameless Detective Novel

Bill Pronzini. Forge, $24.99 (272p) ISBN 978-

0-7653-8103-3

This so-called novel in MWA Grandmaster Pronzini’s consistently superior Nameless Detective series (Vixen, etc.) consists of two new novellas and two previously published short stories set in the San Francisco Bay area. In the titular novella, the character known as Nameless investigates a car accident in the Russian River area when he stumbles upon two bodies. It looks like a fatal gun battle over marijuana and money, but when the wife of one of the victims asks him to investigate further, the action zigs and zags to an unexpected and satisfactory conclusion.

In “Grapplin’,” street musician Charles Anthony Brown searches for his long-lost niece, only his name isn’t Brown, and she isn’t his niece, and the story is a study in compassion. “Nightscape” is a deftly handled study of how two unrelated things can come together. “Revenant” explores how an evil man can use a belief in the occult to his advantage. Pronzini is economical with his details, providing just the right ones to bring each scene to life.

Agent: Dominick Abel, Dominick Abel Literary Agency. (May)

Back Lash:
A Sam Acquillo Hamptons Mystery

Chris Knopf. Permanent, $29 (264p) ISBN 978-

1-57962-429-3

Early in Knopf’s nicely plotted seventh
getting the respect or resources it deserves,
decide that the way to change things is to
begin starting fires. Though the story is
mostly formulaic—Spenser spars with
thugs, crosses a high-level mobster, shares
good food, banter, and a bed with his
long-time love interest—Atkins tosses in
a surprising change to his lead’s status quo,
and series fans will be eager to see what he
does with it in Spenser’s next outing. Agent:
Helen Brann, Helen Brann Agency. (May)

; The Doll-Master and Other
Tales of Terror

Joyce Carol Oates. Grove/Atlantic/Mysterious,

$24 (336p) ISBN 978-0-8021-2488-3

Oates (Jack of Spades) convincingly dem-
onstrates her mastery of the macabre with
this superlative story collection. Though
the titular
opening tale sets
the creepy tone,
narrator Robbie,
who starts
stealing dolls
as an eighth
grader, is odd
enough that its
denouement is
less surprising
than it could
authors highlight the brutality of the North
Korean government, though the titular
villain, “Honored General” Chou Jang Hee,
is barely a presence. Crocker’s globe-trotting
investigation of state-sponsored counter-
feiting feels like make-work before the final
mission unfolds. It’s only when the rescue
goes wrong, as rescues will, and Crocker and
his surviving team must avoid dangerous
North Korean forces as they make their way
toward the border that the novel becomes
consistently gripping. Agent: Heather
Mitchell, Gelfman Schneider Literary. (May)

Robert B. Parker’s Slow Burn

Ace Atkins. Putnam, $27 (304p) ISBN 978-0-

399-17085-0

Edgar-finalist Atkins’s solid fifth Spenser novel (after 2015’s Robert B. Parker’s Kickback) finds the Boston PI looking into a year-old blaze at a Catholic church in the South End that claimed the lives of three firefighters. While Spenser’s fire department friend, Capt. Jack McGee, suspects arson, neither the police nor McGee’s investigators have been able to make a case. McGee needs Spenser to keep a low profile, fearful that his pension may be imperiled if word of his unofficial digging reaches the brass.

Meanwhile, some firefighter wannabes, who believe that the fire department isn’t

; The Loney

Andrew Michael Hurley. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $25 (304p) ISBN 978-0-544-74652-7

Apalpable pall of menace hangs over British author Hurley’s thrilling first novel, narrated by a London boy, “Tonto” Smith, whose affectionate nickname was bestowed by a parish priest who likened himself to the Lone Ranger. Tonto and his family undertake an Easter pilgrimage to the Moorings, a house overlooking a treacherous swath of tide-swept Cumbrian coast known as the Loney. Smith’s devoutly Catholic mother hopes that taking the waters at the nearby shrine will cure his older brother, Hanny, of his lifelong muteness. But the Cumbrian landscape seems anything but godly: nature frequently manifests in its harshest state and the secretive locals seem beholden to primitive rites and traditions that mock the religious piety of the visitors. Adding to the mystery is Coldbarrow, a spit of land turned twice daily by the tides into an island, where a man, a woman, and a pregnant teenage girl have taken refuge in a gloomy house named Thessaly. Hurley (Cages and Other Stories) tantalizes the reader by keeping explanations for what is happening just out of reach, and depicting a natural world beyond understanding. His sensitive portrayal of Tonto and Hanny’s relationship and his insights into religious belief and faith give this eerie tale depth and gravity. Agent: Lucy Luck, Aitken Alexander Associates (U.K.). (May)