Salon Books | Mystery roundup


	Search BarnesandNoble.com for more great mystery books! A L S O+.T O D A Y Turkey shoot Salon's critics pick the worst, and most overrated, books of 1998 Breakfast on Pluto Reviewed by Daniel Reitz Shortlisted for the 1998 Booker Prize, McCabe's new novel is partly about Ireland's troubles and partly about cross-dressing and the search for love T A B L E+T A L K Hate Shakespeare for no good reason? Share your irrational book prejudices in Table Talk's Books area B O O K C A S E A new service for book lovers R E C E N T L Y Remembering William Gaddis, neglected master By Carter Scholz (12/18/98) Coffee-table books for holiday giving -- and grabbing (12/16/98) Love Undetectable By Andrew Sullivan (11/30/98) Uncle Andrew's cabin By Peter Kurth (11/30/98) From he-man to holy man By Elaine Showalter (11/12/98) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Browse the Books feature archive - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -		MYSTERY ROUNDUP \| PAGE 1, 2 - - - - - - - - - - The Moor: A Mary Russell Novel BY LAURIE R. KING \| ST. MARTIN'S PRESS \| 304 PAGES BUY IT FROM BARNES&NOBLE.COM What if Sherlock Holmes had married a woman who was a writer and his intellectual equal, a woman who became his investigative partner? In this fourth book of her series, Laurie R. King uses the eyes of Mary Russell (who is married to Holmes but nevertheless discovers new details about him each time they work together) to provide insight into the popular detective character. This artful follow-up tale to the classic "The Hound of the Baskervilles" is set in Dartmoor in 1924. King uses the character of the Rev. Sabine Baring-Gould, an eccentric scholar and "colleague" of Holmes, to contrast folk tales and technology, and the newly rich and country folk. Mary's description of how she thinks through all the elements of a mystery -- so deep in thought as if she were in a trance -- is excellent. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Like a Hole in the Head BY JEN BANBURY \| LITTLE BROWN \| 288 PAGES BUY IT FROM BARNES&NOBLE.COM Jen Banbury's main character, Jill, the sarcastic employee of the Bitter Muse Bookstore in Los Angeles, is offered a chance to buy a signed first edition of Jack London's "The Cruise of the Snark." She buys it and resells it the same day, pocketing the money. Some serious goons come looking for it, and Jill is the unreliable narrator with a dark secret, borrowing a gun and a motorcycle from a friend and trying to get the book back. She faces her adversaries, learns more than she ever wanted to know about Hollywood acting families and keeps her cool, even while being interrogated. At times both funny and scary, this unpredictable book is a great first novel, and a classic noir tale, '90s style. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Gone, Baby, Gone BY DENNIS LEHANE \| WILLIAM MORROW \| 256 PAGES BUY IT FROM BARNES&NOBLE.COM Set in the Boston area, Dennis Lehane's fourth novel is a story about missing children. Private investigators Angela Gennaro and Patrick Kenzie are investigative partners and lovers who work their cases together. At first they are reluctant to get involved in the case of a missing 4-year-old girl, but the girl's determined aunt and a supportive police officer talk them into it. Even though Lehane's narrator is professionally detached, throughout the book you get a sense of the mood of hopelessness in the search and the determination it takes to keep it going. Lehane sets the tone with a sad but practical introduction featuring statistics of lost children in America and the rates at which they are found. Lehane creates a broader picture of life, and contrasts Kenzie's and Gennaro's perspectives as the search is reflected in the media and leaves its mark on everyone involved. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - When Last Seen Alive BY GAR ANTHONY HAYWOOD \| PUTNAM \| 223 PAGES BUY IT FROM BARNES&NOBLE.COM Black detective Aaron Gunner is a loner working two assignments: a missing persons case on a seemingly simple man who turns out to have many enemies and a surveillance case for the wife of a prominent politician who wants proof that he's cheating on her. Gar Anthony Haywood, who is true to the hard-boiled school and pulls no punches, paints a portrait of gritty modern Los Angeles: aloof cops, seedy hotels and gambling joints peopled with bodyguards and gangsters. He also places Gunner in a community of business owners who provide the detective with leads. Gunner comes too close to a secret organization called Defenders of the Bloodline with a reputation for eliminating "Uncle Toms" from the "House of Africa" and who threaten anyone who tries to expose them. Well-paced, realistic dialogue and plenty of action lead up to an unexpected twist ending. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The Organ Grinders BY BILL FITZHUGH \| AVON \| 368 PAGES BUY IT FROM BARNES&NOBLE.COM Bill Fitzhugh's protagonist, Paul Symon, meets his nemesis -- Jerry Landis, the corrupt head of a corporation that is destroying the natural resources of all the lands it owns -- early in life. Symon finds it difficult to act and instead writes Landis letters voicing his rage. Landis is dying of a rare disease that ages him very quickly, and he buys into the latest corporate trend: genetic experimentation on primates -- in this case, large baboons -- for organ transplantation and trade. Landis wants to purchase a longer life for himself through technology. Fitzhugh's hilarious second book presents all the modern-day horrors of the destruction humans wreak on the planet (and on each other) at a breakneck speed. The amount of action gives his writing an ironic tone, and you can see events flying at the characters like car wrecks waiting to happen. Fitzhugh has based these scenarios on real developments in organ transplant research, with which he heads each chapter. The observant reader will also find the lyrics of the protagonist's namesake -- musician Paul Simon -- scattered throughout the text. SALON \| Dec. 24, 1998 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Become a Salon member. Click here.