If you’re looking for exciting escapism, you can’t go wrong with a new novel from Ian Rankin titled “Blood Hunt.” Willie Morris was a Harper’s Magazine legend. His friend Larry L. King has written his life’s story in “In Search of Willie Morris.” In paperbacks, look for Anne Lamott’s different take on religion in “Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith.” In April, Paulo Coelho’s take on good vs. evil in “The Devil and Miss Prym.”
FICTION
Blood Hunt, by Ian Rankin, Little, Brown, 385 pages, $24.95|Edgar Award-winning Rankin is back with the story of ex-soldier Gordon Reeve, who doesn’t believe it when his brother’s death is ruled a suicide.
Dirty Blonde, by Lisa Scottoline, HarperCollins, 354 pages, $25.95|Newly appointed federal judge Cate Fante’s life comes crumbling down around her when details of her sex life become front-page news.
The Rules of Perspective, by Adam Thorpe, Henry Holt, 338 pages, $25|When a small gallery in a German town is struck by artillery in the closing days of World War II, a Van Gogh painting’s fate will be decided by either the gallery owner, an American soldier or a Nazi.
NONFICTION
In Search of Willie Morris: The Mercurial Life of a Legendary Writer and Editor, by Larry L. King, Public Affairs, 353 pages, $26.95|As editor of Harper’s, Morris became a legend working with authors like Norman Mailer, David Halberstam and King. Here, King writes a biography of his friend and drinking companion.
While Europe Slept: How Radical Islam Is Destroying the West From Within, by Bruce Bawer, Doubleday, 247 pages, $23.95|The author notes that there are large and rapidly growing radical Muslim enclaves in Europe, and the powers that be, including government and media, are kowtowing.
The Great Wall: China Against the World 1000 BC-AD 200, by Julia Lovell, Grove, 412 pages, $25|Lovell offers a history of the 2,200-year-old, 4,300-mile-long wall and how it has become a symbol of China’s nationalism.
PAPERBACKS
Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith, by Anne Lamott, Penguin, 320 pages, $14|The author of “Traveling Mercies” is back with an irreverent meditation centering on faith and discussing what matters in our lives.
Pursuit, by Thomas Perry, Random House, 382 pages, $13.95|When 13 people are massacred in a Kentucky restaurant, criminology professor Danile Milliken uses a man with a dark past to get into the mind of the killer and start a cat-and-mouse game.
The Exile, by Allan Folsom, Forge, 690 pages, $7.99|When young cop John Barron won’t play along with dirty older guys on the force, he has to leave the country with his ill sister to save both of their lives. He finds himself involved in a centuries-old secret.
COMING UP
The Devil and Miss Prym, by Paulo Coelho, HarperCollins, 224 pages, $24.95, July|When a stranger comes to the village of Viscos with the devil literally by his side, the widow Berta is sure that he has come to battle for the soul of the village.
31 Days: The Crisis That Gave Us the Government We Have Today, by Barry Werth, Doubleday, 416, $26.95, April|Here is the story of the four weeks after Richard Nixon left the White House and the effects of decisions made during that period that continue to this day.
A Dirty Job, by Christopher Moore, William Morrow, 400 pages, $24.95, April|From the wacky pen of Moore (“The Stupidest Angel”) comes a story about death. Poor Charlie Asher doesn’t ask for the job, but he becomes the merchant of death, assigned with recovering souls of people who die and giving them to the living.
