PAM HOUSTON’S NOVEL mixes travel narratives with tales of difficult relationships; alas, vaguely unsatisfying.

INTRICATE PSYCHOLOGICAL SUSPENSE novel follows two loners and the secrets they carry to the English countryside.

COMPLEX, ULTRA-SMART PARANORMAL thriller takes us inside an epidemic where people are possessed by angry ghosts.

POETIC AND TROUBLING novel follows a social worker’s loss of faith in himself, obsession with a homeless client.

A REPORTER TURNS SLEUTH to investigate suspicious deaths and shady land deals in this entertaining mystery.

SWEEPING EPIC ADVENTURE follows a Spanish woman from poverty to success as a couturiere to wartime espionage.

WILD, GRITTY NOIR adventure has plenty of graphic sex and violence, a unique tough-broad protagonist’s voice.

CHILLING, COMPELLING NOVEL shows a gay white South African man’s struggles with family, apartheid society, army.

PUZZLE LADY CORA Felton sleuths again, in a mystery that involves blackmail, puzzles, and one of her many exes.

ART-WORLD SOAP OPERA is a compulsively readable pageturner depite its over-the-top melodramatic plot.