New Release Spotlight: July 29, 2008

Though not a work of fiction but a memoir, "What I Talk About When I Talk About Running" is still worth checking out just for the fact that it was written by the amazing Haruki Murakami. In 1982, having sold his jazz bar to devote himself to writing, Murakami began running to keep fit. A year later, he’d completed a solo course from Athens to Marathon, and now, after dozens of such races, not to mention triathlons and a dozen critically acclaimed books, he reflects upon the influence the sport has had on his life and—even more important—on his writing.

David Hewson's newest thriller, "The Garden of Evil", will be scaring up chills in its readers. In a deserted artist’s studio in the heart of Rome, detectives stumble upon a scene of shocking brutality: two bodies, freshly killed. Looming over them is a painting that bears all the hallmarks of a Caravaggio: a brilliantly colored canvas depicting a violent tableau of beauty and depravity. . . . In David Hewson’s bold new novel of suspense, this grisly discovery sends Detective Nic Costa on a desperate chase through the streets of his city. The consequences are devastating. And for Nic, the case has only just begun.

It's not often that you get a new book that's described as Kafkaesque (since Kafka is a rather polarizing writer), but "The Defenestration of Bob T. Hash III" by David Deans makes such a claim. In a picture-postcard town, in the sunny suburban home of Bob T. Hash III, something altogether strange and amazing has occurred: An African gray parrot (and beloved pet) named Comenius has suddenly and unexpectedly transformed into a man. It seems this unassuming exotic bird, heretofore content to mind its own business, has miraculously metamorphosed into the spitting image of his unsuspecting master, Bob T. Hash III–right down to the smartly pressed suit, dashing necktie, and sensible horn-rims.

Finally, James Scott Bell releases his newest legal thriller, "Try Darkness". Ty Buchanan is living on the peaceful grounds of St. Monica's, far away from the glamorous life he led as a rising trial lawyer for a big L.A. firm. Recovering from the death of his fiancée and a false accusation of murder, Buchanan has found his previous ambitions unrewarding. Now he prefers offering legal services to the poor and the under-represented, from his "office" at local coffee bar The Freudian Sip. A mysterious woman with a six year old daughter comes to him for help. She's being illegally evicted from a downtown transient hotel, an interest represented by his old law firm and former best friend, Al Bradshaw. Buchanan won't back down. He's going to fight for the woman's rights. But then she ends up dead, and the case moves from the courtroom to the streets. Determined to find the killer and protect the little girl, who has no last name and no other family, Buchanan finds he must depend on skills he never needed in the employ of a civil law firm.