WWW.PUBLISHERSWEEKLY.COM 61Review_FICTION
at the Hotel Theresa, prominent socialite
Olivia Frelon, an African-American
woman who could pass for white, wins the
short story award, but she fails to appear
onstage. Instead, a hysterical woman
announces that Olivia is lying dead in the
street outside the hotel. Apparently, she
fell from a high window. Was she pushed?
The police arrest a close friend of Olivia,
Vera Scott, who recently learned of an affair
between Olivia and her husband. Vera’s
maid, who believes she’s innocent, asks
Weldon Haynie Thomas, Harlem’s first
African-American policeman, to investi-
gate, even though he lacks the authority
to do so. Meanwhile, Hughes Wellington,
a wealthy white entrepreneur fascinated
with the black community, hires a PI to
satisfy his own interests. The freewheeling
ensemble narrative explores the shifting
alliances among race and elite social circles.
This spiritual successor to Nella Larsen’s
1929 novel, Passing, will keep historical
mystery fans guessing. (Sept.)Haunted House Murder
Leslie Meier, Lee Hollis, and Barbara Ross.
Kensington, $26 (320p) ISBN 978-1-4967-1996-6
Meier, Hollis, and Ross’s enjoyable third
holiday-themed anthology (after 2018’s
Yule Log Murder) collects three long haunted
house stories, each set in coastal Maine. In
Meier’s “Haunted House Murder,” Tinker’s
Cove reporter Lucy Stone tries to befriend
her standoffish new neighbors, whose house
emits strange sounds and lights, without
success. She comes to consider asking the
police to intervene. In Hollis’s “Death by
Haunted House,” Island Times newspaper
office manager Hayley Powell becomes
suspicious of the quirky Salinger family
that has moved into the abandoned house
next door when the realtor disappears
after a public argument with one of the
Salingers. Finally, in Ross’s “Hallowed
Out,” Julia Snowden, of Busman’s Harbor,
investigates the murder of an actor reen-
acting the murder of Prohibition-era
gangster at a local diner. The well-drawn
main characters, not the spooky goings-
on, are the main attraction. Cozy fans are
in for a Halloween treat. Agents: Christina
Hogrebe, Jane Rotrosen Agency (Meier);
Michael Bourret, Dystel & Goderich Literary
Management (Hollis); John Talbot, Talbot
Fortune Agency (Ross). (Sept.)Archer and her parents must come to terms
with the 15th anniversary of the kidnap-
ping of her sister, Emily, which occurred
during a trip to America when Rosie was
just a baby. Despite having little hope of
success, Rosie resolves to do something,
and she begins by reading all the conspiracy
theories and stories about the kidnapping
online. Her research uncovers a few
promising leads, one involving a well-
known reporter. As Rosie fights for the
truth, Anna seeks her own, and soon both
find themselves in danger. Barber creates a
fast-moving tale of good and evil, obsession
and sacrifice—all in the name of love. This
gifted storyteller is a writer to watch. Agent:
Luigi Bonomi, LBA Agency (U.K.). (Sept.)Molten Mud Murder:
An Alexa Glock Mystery
Sara E. Johnson. Poisoned Pen, $15.99 trade
paper (320p) ISBN 978-1-4642-1123-2
In Johnson’s promising, if flawed, debut,
American Alexa Glock, who specializes in
odontology, has just finished a fellowship
at Auckland University—“Teeth were what
had brought her to New Zealand’’—and
wants to stay in the country she now loves.
When a body is found half submerged in a
thermal mud pool where temperatures can
reach above 200 °C, Alexa hopes to help
the police. She instinctively knows that
teeth will be the best way to identify the
remains and gains a spot on the team led by
Det. Insp. Bruce Horne, who eventually
realizes Alexa’s knowledge is invaluable.
The dead man turns out to be Paul Koppel,
a realtor and councilman whose policies
and development plans were at odds with
the Maori, for whom “boiling the head of
an enemy is the ultimate revenge.” Koppel
may also have trespassed on their sacred
land. Johnson provides a fascinating view
of New Zealand and insights into the Maori
culture, but her characters, especially the
underdeveloped Alexa, are still a work in
progress. That said, armchair travelers
will have fun. Agent: Natalie Lakosil,
Bradford Literary. (Sept.)A Death in Harlem
Karla FC Holloway. Triquarterly, $18.95 trade
paper (248p) ISBN 978-0-8101-4081-3
Set in 1927, Holloway’s disquieting
debut examines the seamy side of the
Harlem Renaissance. During the Ninth
Annual Opportunity Awards Banquet heldLipskar, Writers House. (Sept.)
The Fifth Column
Andrew Gross. Minotaur, $28.99 (400p)
ISBN 978-1-250-18000-1
In the powerful first chapter of this
ambitious, if flawed, thriller from bestseller
Gross (Button Man), washed-out, alcoholic
Columbia graduate student Charles
Mossman is drinking in a Manhattan bar,
mourning his twin brother, recently killed
fighting the fascists in Spain. It’s 1939,
and Mossman, who’s Jewish, is taunted by
Nazi sympathizers who attended a huge
pro-Hitler rally at Madison Square Garden
earlier that evening. In the ensuing fight,
Mossman ends up accidentally killing an
innocent bystander. In 1941, after serving
his manslaughter sentence, Mossman
returns home to his wife and their six-year-
old daughter, Emma, who’s spending a lot
of time with their neighbors, the Bauers,
an affable Swiss couple. After hearing from
Emma that she’s heard the ostensibly anti-
Nazi Bauers praise Nazi policies, he grows
suspicious about their loyalties and begins
some clumsy amateur sleuthing. The early
revelation that the Bauers are part of a
fifth column operating within the U.S.
undercuts the suspense. Contrived plot
developments don’t help. Nonetheless,
readers will root for Mossman in his heroic
efforts to thwart the villains. 100,000-copy
announced first printing; author tour. Agent:
Simon Lipskar, Writers House. (Sept.)
A Girl Named Anna
Lizzy Barber. Mira, $15.99 trade paper (320p)
ISBN 978-0-7783-0899-7
High school senior Anna Montgomery,
the heroine of British author Barber’s taut
first novel, lives a quiet, devout life in
Florida with her
widowed
mother. When
Anna and her
boyfriend, the
local pastor’s
son, decide to
sneak off to
Astroland, the
state’s biggest
theme park
(where she’s
never been), for her 18th birthday, she
discovers Astroland is strangely familiar.
Meanwhile, in London, teenager Rosie