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Thornton, Rosy: Crossed Wires

Headline Review © 2009, 352 pages

Peter Sheffield is a charmingly self-effacing Oxford don who has smashed up his Land Rover's front end at the start of Rosy Thornton's Crossed Wires. The girl behind the phone at his insurance company's call center is Mina Heppenstall, who finds his bumbling and the fact that he'd swerved to avoid a cat charming. From that inauspicious beginning, and after another accident on Peter's part,  a long-distance relationship develops between the two, though they're divided by the telephone wires as well as differences in age and station. But they're situations are otherwise similar: both are single parents--Peter's a widower with twins; Mina, now in her 20's, was pregnant at 17.

Craig, Daniel Edward: Murder at Graverly Manor

Midnight Ink © 2009, 368 pages

Murder at Graverly Manor is the third book in Daniel Edward Craig's 5-Star Mystery series, featuring hotelier Trevor Lambert. Trevor, between jobs and back in his hometown of Vancouver, Canada, comes across a Victorian mansion turned bed and breakfast with a for sale sign in its yard. Intent on buying the creepy house, Trevor agrees to the bizarre demand of its current proprietress, Lady Graverly, that he live and work at the inn for a month while she decides if he's worthy of the property. It's not a thoroughly pleasant prospect: the allegedly haunted manor is saddled with a violent history. Rumors abound that Lady Graverly's husband, not seen for fifty years, was involved in the disappearance of a chambermaid. There are weird noises at night, the staff are hostile or incompetent, and Lady Graverly herself, who is alternately sweet and scary, is less than forthcoming about her plans for Trevor.

McCall Smith, Alexander: The Miracle at Speedy Motors

Anchor Books © 2008, 240 pages

In this ninth installment in Alexander McCall Smith's Botswana series Mma Precious Ramotswe again confronts a series of small problems that come to her attention at the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. Most disturbing is her receipt of a threatening letter, which refers indelicately to her traditional build and to the over-large glasses of her associate, Mma Grace Makutsi. Mma Ramotswe is also tasked with locating any surviving family of a woman who believes herself to have been adopted, an assignment that turns out to be less straightforward than one would expect. As usual, Mma Ramotswe deals with matters with great wisdom and vast quantities of bush tea. And as usual, McCall Smith's writing is perfectly charming.

Luxenberg, Steve: Annie's Ghosts

Hyperion © 2009, 401 pages

Steve Luxenberg's mother had always said--had indeed made a point of proclaiming--that she was an only child. So Luxenberg was surprised to discover toward the end of his mother's life that she had in fact had a younger sister, Annie, who grew up with her in their childhood home in Detroit. Annie was disabled--mentally impaired and perhaps mentally ill, and born with a bad leg that was subsequently amputated. She was institutionalized in 1940 at the age of 21, when Luxenberg's mother was 23. She would remain institutionalized for more than 30 years, until her death in 1972. During that time, apparently, Luxenberg's mother never visited Annie, and she never told her children--nor, quite possibly, her husband--about Annie's existence. Luxenberg began to investigate his mother's secret after her death, hoping to figure out why she had kept silent. While tracking down aging family members and long-lost acquaintances to ask about Annie, Luxenberg uncovers other secrets, and learns a lot more about his family than he had understood as a boy.

Shors, John: Beside a Burning Sea

NAL Trade © 2008, 448 pages

After the hosptal ship Benevolence is sunk by a torpedo in the South Pacific, nine survivors struggle toward a nearby island. Once they reach land their immediate survival is assured: the island turns out to be an uninhabited paradise with ample food and fresh water, and enough medical supplies from the sunken ship wash ashore to meet their needs. The problem is that the island's strategic location makes it ripe for occupation. The survivors therefore must prepare for the eventuality of a landing by Japanese forces. As they confront the difficulties of living on the island and their fears for the future, their relationships deepen. The captain of the Benevolence and his wife, a nurse, mend a rift that had been developing between them. An unlikely love affair develops between another nurse, Annie, and the Japanese POW that saved her life. Jake, a farmer turned sailor, bonds with Ratu, a Fijan boy who had stowed away on the Benevolence. But there's a viper in the midst of this tropical love fest, someone who's not what he seems and who threatens the safety of all of them.