WWW.PUBLISHERSWEEKLY.COM 45Review_FICTION
Quinn with suspicion. When Quinn and
Sister Daria begin to investigate, they
discover that Trisha was at odds with her
twin, Trina, over Trisha’s relationship
with Wyatt, and that Trisha and Scott
were hiding a secret. Meanwhile, Quinn
reconnects with her secret crush, Aiden
Harrington, now a police detective. Smooth
prose, realistic characters, a budding
romance, and not too much silliness make
this cozy a winner. Tantalizing recipes
round out the volume. Agent: Jill Marsal,
Marsal Lyon Literary. (May)
★ The Big Man’s Daughter
Owen Fitzstephen. Seventh Street, $15.95
trade paper (184p) ISBN 978-1-64506-019-2
This arresting mystery from Fitzstephen
(Hammett Unwritten) explores what might
have happened to a minor character in
Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon. In
1922 San Francisco, cunning 18-year-old
Rita Gaspereaux
is at loose ends
after her con
artist father,
Cletus, “known
to some in the
rackets as the
Big Man,” dies
in a shootout
over the
possession of a
statuette called
the Black Falcon. Rita, who’s learned a few
tricks from Cletus, believes she’s at last
free to take control of her life, but barely a
day passes before she’s drawn against her
will into a quest to retrieve the fabled bird.
Meanwhile, Rita takes solace in fiction,
“almost as effective an escape as laudanum,”
in particular a novel about an innocent
18-year-old from Kansas, Dorothy G.
Extracts from the novel nicely complement
Rita’s story. Lies, cons, shifting alliances,
kidnapping, and death propel readers
toward a strangely hypnotic climax,
which is skillfully presaged yet still an
exhilarating surprise. Fans of metafictional
mysteries will be enthralled. (May)
Of Mice and Minestrone:
Hap and Leonard the Early Years
Joe R. Lansdale. Tachyon, $15.95 trade paper
(224p) ISBN 978-1-61696-323-1
Full of humor, gritty drama, and
insightful observations, the five stories in
this rewarding collection from Edgar
winner Lansdale (The Elephant of Surprise)
concentrate on the early years of his two
mismatched East Texas private eyes: Hap
Collins, a straight, white liberal; and
Leonard Pine, a gay, black conservative.
Lansdale packs a punch in the standout
“Sparring Partner,” in which the pair, as
high schoolers, are hired by a ruthless
boxing manager to train a weakling college
kid and a giant named Man Slayer. Hap and
Leonard fend off a murderous racist in the
thrillingly grisly “The Watering Shed,” and
in the moving title tale, Hap strives to
help a battered woman escape her abusive
husband. A food theme runs from the
smells of an adolescent Hap’s grandma’s
kitchen to a teenage Leonard’s insistence
on being served breakfast in a whites-only
café. “Good Eats,” a selection of recipes
with a disclaimer from Hap, rounds out the
volume. This book adds rich background
to Lansdale’s tough, morally decent
characters, who first appeared in 1990’s
Savage Season. Agent: Danny Baror, Baror
International. (May)A Full Cold Moon
Lissa Marie Redmond. Severn, $28.99
(240p) ISBN 978-0-7278-8987-4
In Redmond’s workmanlike fourthpolice procedural featuring Det. Lauren
Riley of the Buffalo (N.Y.) PD (after
2019’s A Means to an End), Lauren, on
temporary leave from the cold case
unit, looks into the murder of Gunnar
Jonsson, a young Icelandic man found
bludgeoned to death in an alley near his
hotel. Due to the victim’s nationality,
the FBI steps in and provides Lauren
with a new partner, special agent
Matthew Lawton. Lauren discovers that
Gunnar came to Buffalo to meet his
multimillionaire father, John Hudson,
whose identity he recently discovered
by taking a DNA test. Mr. Hudson was
overjoyed at meeting Gunnar, but his
other two children weren’t. Just as
Lauren identifies a local suspect, the
Icelandic authorities request that she
and Matthew come to Reykjavík to
interview Gunnar’s employer. Once in
Iceland, Lauren starts to develop theories,
as well as potential suspects (of which
there are only two), and then lets them
drop while she sees the sights of
Reykjavík. Armchair travelers will have
fun, but those expecting more than a
cursory investigation will be disappointed.
Agent: Bob Mecoy, Creative Book Services.
(May)★ The Nemesis Manifesto
Eric Van Lustbader. Forge, $27.99 (352p) ISBN 978-1-250-75117-1F
ans of bestseller Lustbader’s contributions to the
Jason Bourne franchise (Robert Ludlum’s The Bourne
Initiative, etc.) will welcome this outstanding series
launch. Evan Ryder, a field agent in a black ops
shop, works deep within the Department of Defense.
Her spymaster boss receives a list with six names of
agents investigating a mysterious organization known as
Nemesis. In the last 10 months, five of them have either
disappeared or been badly injured. Evan and fellow agent
Brenda Myers are sent to interview the one survivor,
Patrick Wilson. The obviously unwell Wilson, who’s been
tortured, keels over and dies while talking to them, and
shortly thereafter Evan and Brenda are the target of a car bombing. The novel
encompasses such standard thriller elements as Russians, Nazis, betrayal, treasonous
U.S. politicians, and evil masterminds, but Lustbader elevates these familiar
components well above the usual thriller norm. Credible action and often lyrical
prose support the complex, intelligent plot. A series of twists and an extended fight
sequence at the end will leave readers amazed and pleasantly exhausted. Lustbader is
at the top of his game. Agent: Mitch Hoffman, Aaron M. Priest Literary. (May)