Books of the Week

Literary fiction / historical
Hawks, Kate
Watch by Moonlight
Morrow 038081465X

Based on the familiar poem,The Highwayman, by Alfred Noyes, this tragic romance vividly brings to life Bess, the innkeeper’s teenage daughter and Jason Quick, a publisher’s son who has taken to a life of crime after politics put his father in debtor’s prison and banished him to the streets. Their doomed romance is skillfully told. Li-fi at its very best, the poetic prose complements a dramatic story rather than standing in place of one.

Crime/ Police Detective /Caper
Viking Funeral
Cannell, Stephen
St. Martin's Press 0312269609

On the eve of asking Alexa, his true love and fellow LAPD, to cop to marry him, Shane Scully sees his lifelong best friend driving past on the highway, the best friend who had committed suicide in his cop car. Trying to find out what is going on leads Shane into a deep cover operation where he finds that Jody is not what who he thought he knew, he believes he’s killed his true love, and he discovers that the cops working uncover have gone renegade. This is one of those knock-your-socks-off can’t-stop-till-its-done page turners. Cannell also wrote King Con, one of the best caper novels ever.

YA/ Fantasy
The Ropemaker
Dickinson, Peter
Delacorte 0385729219

The people of the valley have lived in peace and prosperity for 20 generations guarded by impregnable glaciers at one end and and enchanted forest that sickens men at the other. The women in Tilja’s family have kept the forest defenses strong by singing to the cedars while the men of Tahl’s family have listened to the streams running from the mountains. But now the protections are wearing off and to renew them Tilja and Tahl along with her grandmother and his grandfather must venture into the empire in search of the powerful magician who had granted the valley its safety so long ago. Tilja, who cannot hear the cedars, has the unique ability to deaden magic which helps in the quest much as Bailey Beldon’s tone deafness in Pat Murphy’s There and Back Again. Readers of The Ropemaker will also enjoy Dia Calhoun’s Firegold.

Fantasy/ World of Faerie
Shinn, Sharon
Summers At Castle Auburn
Ace 0441008038

The young Coriel, illegitimate daughter of a noble and a wise woman, finds that things she thought were terrific -- hunting for Aliora, the elven like fey creatures used as slaves, and the gorgeous crown prince who is betrothed to her half-sister are not exactly as great as they seemed. Shinn lyrically builds a world of magic and suspense as Corie travels the labyrinth to adulthood. The murder mystery subplot is superb!

Science Fiction/ Detection
YA/ Science Fiction/
Bell, Hilari
A Matter of Profit
HarperCollins 0060295147 0060295139

Sickened by war, Ahvren, a young Vivitare joins his family on T'Chin, the capitol of a 40 planet confederation that the Vivitare Empire has recently conquered. Ahvren accepts his father's challenge of trying to find out who is planning to assassinate the Emperor in the hopes that it will free him from going off to war again and also free his foster sister who is being forced into marrying the crown prince. His investigation takes him to a bibliogoth (librarian) who, even though he looks like a giant ant, becomes his mentor as Ahvren learns the real meaning of honor, courage, and winning.

YA/ Fantasy/ Paranormal/ Contemporary/
McDonald, Joyce
Shades of Simon Gray
Delacorte 0385326599

Some of the events that happen in the small town of Bellehaven become eerily mysterious when Simon Gray, brilliant student and all around good guy, wraps his car around the town's ancient hanging tree. In a coma, Simon keeps finding himself in different places most notably at the tree where he meets a young man who was hanged there in the early history of the town. Meanwhile Simon is being investigated for hacking into the school's computers and one of his friends finds evidence in her historical research that the town's past was not always as honorable as it presented itself.

Science Fiction
Adventures in Time and Space With Max Merriwell
Murphy, Pat
Tor Books 0312866437

When unemployed librarian Susan Galina wins a trip on a cruise ship she takes her pal Pat Murphy, a physicist, along little expecting to meet Max Merriwell, her favorite author, and experience the bizarre things that can only befall one in the Bermuda Triangle. As Susan surprisingly finds herself falling for the ship's security officer, Max Merriwell's pseudonyms are incarnated leading to mayhem on board. The combination of quantum physics and the significance of fiction make for an astonishing blend. One can't help but think of the strange currents that flow through reality when this is read close to Connie Willis's Passage. Publishers' Weekly called it a "book obsessed with books" and how can one go wrong with that?

YA/ Historical/ 1960s
The Stones of Mourning Creek
LesBecquets, Diane
Winslow Press 1588370046

Once again Winslow Press introduces a stunning new talent in the YA lit world. Only a few months after Francie loses her mother she almost loses her life to a snake bite. Returning to consciousness in the home of a local black family, she finds friendship and belonging that leads to ostracization at her all white Alabama high school. As Francie and Ruthie delve into the evil that pervades their segregated community, danger stalks them. Strong themes of friendship, family, romance, tolerance, violence, and abuse of power may seem like a lot for one novel but they are gracefully woven into an unforgettable whole in this powerful debut.

YA/ Fantasy/ Fairy Tales
Schmidt, Gary D.
Straw into Gold
Clarion Books 0618056017

This truly well done alternate take on the Rumplestiltskin tale, told with a bold but sensitive male voice, starts with what would happen if the miller's daughter failed to guess Rumplestitltskin's name. On Tousle's first foray into town he is the only one to step forward to protest the execution of a band of the poor accused of treason. To save them and avoid their fate he, accompanied by the blinded Innes, set out on a quest to find the answer to a riddle asked by the king.

YA/ Fantasy//Fairy Tale
Kindl, Patrice
Goose Chase
Houghton Mifflin 0618033777

No good deed goes unpunished and to Goose Girl's chagrin her kindness to an old crone results in beauty and riches ruining her life. Hair that sheds gold dust and tears that are diamonds make her incredibly attractive to the silly local prince and the evil king of a neighboring kingdom. Locking herself in a tower to avoid marriage she eventually is rescued by her gaggle of geese only to go from the frying pan into the fire when she ends up in the lair of a trio of ogresses. As more adventures ensue, Goose Girl proves her mettle.

Science Fiction/ Youthful Protagonists/ Young Adult
Lowenstein, Sallie
Focus
Lion Stone 0965848639

When 16 year old Andrew refuses to focus on his future and choose an augmentation that will allow him to learn a career, his father a diplomat accepts a job on Miner’s Planet where the uncommunicative natives occasionally drop valuable information. On Miner’s Planet with his body guard augmented mother and his two younger sisters, he writes stories and wonders about the Natives and the Water People as well as about the bent over white-haired clerk at “the club” where all the miners except for Andrews family live. Andrew comes up with some interesting ideas including one that posits that houses are organic and grown not built. Interesting concepts about the nature of creativity and an alien culture that is basically unconscious when not united are combined with the importance of asking the right questions.

YA/ Contemporary/ Problem
Born Blue
Nolan, Han
Harcourt Brace 0152019162

Janie/Lashaya is a blond haired blue-eyed foster child (who believes she is African-American) being raised in a smelly home with her African-American foster brother, Harmon, who introduces her to his “ladies,” cassette tapes of the greatest women blues singers. She has a phenomenal voice and her experiences from the kidnapping by her heroin addicted mother who sells her to a drug dealer to her abandonment of her own infant, infuse her singing with the pain that makes the blues resonate.

Fantasy/ Bestiary
Historical/ Prehistory
Longtusk
Baxter, Stephen
Eos 0380818981

The legendary Longtusk, a mammoth, starts his adventures as a young adolescent when he is separated from his herd. He becomes involved with humans first befriending a child of the Dreamers and then becoming a slave of the Fire Hands when they destroy the Dreamers community. Learning from the mastodons who are held in captivity by the Fire Hands, Longtusk eventually finds his family again and leads them to safety.

YA/ Contemporary/ Multicultural
The Other Side of Truth
Naidoo, Beverley
HarperCollins 0060296291

In a family that has always valued truth above all, Sade’s life is changed by it. Her journalist father refuses to back down from telling the truth about the corrupt Nigerian government and as a result his wife is murdered. Sade and her brother must lie about their identities to be smuggled to London where their professor uncle fails to meet them and they end up in foster care, afraid to tell the truth because they fear for their father’s safety. A powerfully told tale that will appeal to readers of many ages.

YA/Suspense/Mystery
Black Mirror
Werlin, Nancy
Dial 0803726058

Finally, at long last, Werlin's latest teen thriller is on the shelves. This masterful combination of mystery and teen angst is the story of Frances who not only must come to terms with her brother's apparent suicide but also reconcile the mixed heritage that has left her unhappy with her combination of Jewish and Japanese features and body types. Having remained a stranger to the other students at the private prep school she attends on scholarship, she must start interacting with them if is is ever to discover the truth behind Daniel's death. He had been her best and only friend as well as her brother until he became involved with Unity, a campus based philanthropic organization that she fears was responsible for his death. As she ventures out, the school's reputed drug dealer seems to be the only one who is not standing against her. The foreshadowing reminds this reviewer of Joy Fielding's fine suspense work.

YA/ Contemporary/ Coming of Age
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
Brashares, Ann
Delacorte 0385729332

As every American female over the age of eleven knows, finding a perfect pair of jeans is a magical, mystical experience. When four friends, who were all born within weeks of each other and have known each other all their lives, prepare for their first summer apart they discover that a pair of pants found at a thrift store fits each one of them to perfection even though they have very different body types. They come up with a plan to mail the pants and updates on their activities throughout the summer. One goes to Greece for a summer with her grandparents where she meets a remarkable young man, one goes to soccer camp in Mexico, one goes to spend the summer with her father and discovers that he has a new family, and one stays home, working in a discount store and wearing a hideous smock but finding a young friend who transforms her life. Love, loss, and coming of age merge in a beautifully crafted and exceptional novel.

YA/ Science Fiction
The Beguilers
Thompson, Kate
Dutton 0525468064

Rilka, never really fitting in, expresses her grand intention to find out about the beguilers, the mysterious beings that entice people who go out after dark to their deaths. She is also different because unlike everyone else in her world, she is allergic to the cuddly furry creatures that take away the griefs and anxieties of humans. Her quest estranges her from her family and friends but leads her to important knowledge.

Crime/Caper / Humorous
Too High
Hirschfeld, Corson
Forge 0765300117

Seriously funny, this crime novel featuring Digger Fitz, an ex-hippie archaeology professor, his herpetologist niece, Nikki, and assorted wackos and law enforcement officials is a terrific read and a good read-a-like for those who love books by Carl Hiaasen. The Fitzs had planned a little family reunion, with Digger flying in from Hawaii and Nikki coming in from Cincinnati, at Edgar’s new place in rural Kentucky. Before Nikki arrives, Edgar is found murdered with a mouth full of lead fishing weights and his lips stuck together with a fishing hook and one of locally manufactured odiferous “Winky Worms.” Digger, originally under suspicion for his brother’s death, finds a pal in Coony, the local sheriff who is a history buff and Nikki find another snake lover in Bo the deputy. But much of the story involves Bo’s criminal siblings, Rita Rae who is scheming a major scam involving a local militia group and two wealthy but criminally wacko antiquities adversaries, and Jesus Bob--formerly Judas Bob who is slightly more that a little deranged.

YA/ Contemporary
The Black Book [Diary of a Teenage Stud]: Vol. 1. Girls, Girls, Girls
Black, Jonah
Avon 0064407985

Jonah Black is back in Pompano Beach after being expelled from the private prep school in Pennsylvania after some mysterious and undisclosed scandal. Jonah is glad to be reunited with old friends but the rumor mill has been rife with outrageous tales of his exploits. He constantly daydreams and fantasizes about Sophie but leaves the reader with the feeling that something awful has happened to her. With a feel much like Rob Thomas’s Rats Saw God, it unfortunately does not end but leaves the reader hanging on the “to be continued” cliff.

©2001 Diana Tixier Herald