David L. Robbins has made the period of World War II his own with novels like “War of the Rats,” “Last Citadel” and “Liberation Road,” all set in Europe. He’s back with “The Assassins Gallery,” set in the U.S. In nonfiction, here’s a quirky one: “Babylon by Bus” is the memoir of two aimless Americans who go to Baghdad in 2004 to scam work as a nongovernment agency. Jacqueline Winspear’s detective Maisie Dobbs is back with her third case in “Pardonable Lies,” the search for a man who was declared dead in World War I. His mother thinks he’s still alive. In September, look for a novel from Suzanne Berne, “The Ghost at the Table,” about a woman who agrees to go to a family Thanksgiving even though she thinks her father murdered her mother.
FICTION
The Assassins Gallery, by David L. Robbins, Bantam, 432 pages, $25|In this “what if” novel, Robbins tells the story of a lone assassin sent to the United States in the waning days of World War II to kill FDR. A history professor from England with arcane knowledge of assassins must stop her.
The Brambles, by Eliza Minot, Knopf, 256 pages, $23.95|Minot takes readers into the lives of a family gathered at the impending patriarch’s death. It’s a story of coming to terms with family life and how secrets can change the way you view yourself.
One Last Breath, by Stephen Booth, Bantam, 416 pages, $25|Set in England’s famed Peak District with its caves and tunnels, Booth’s story is centered on a man who is released from prison after 13 years and immediately becomes the prime suspect in a new murder.
NONFICTION
Babylon by Bus, by Ray Lemoine and Jeff Neumann, Penguin, 336
pages, $24.95|A loosely drawn memoir of two young ne’er-do-wells who travel to Iraq,
start their own Non- Governmental Organization and learn a little bit in the process.
A Pickpocket’s Tale: The Underworld of Nineteenth-Century New York, by Timothy J. Gilfoyle, W.W. Norton, 544 pages, $27.95|The author uses the life story of George Appo, a pickpocket and con man, to shed light on the criminal doings of New York in the early 1900s.
Ghost Hunters: William James and the Search for Scientific Proof of Life After Death, by Deborah Blum, Penguin, 384 pages, $25.95| Many scientists around the turn of the 20th century tried to find if there was a scientific basis for the spiritualism that was popular at the time. Here is an account of that search by a Pulitzer Prize-winning author.
PAPERBACKS
Pardonable Lies, by Jacqueline Winspear, Picador, 368 pages, $14|In her third Maisie Dobbs novel, Winspear has the psychologist and detective in search of an aviator who disappeared during World War I.
Heaven, by Jeffrey Aracher, St. Martin’s, 480 pages, $15.95 |This is Archer’s final entry in a trilogy of memoirs about his imprisonment for perjury. It centers on his time in minimum security.
The Diezmo, by Rick Bass, Mariner, Houghton Mifflin, 224 pages, $13.95|A historical novel about two young American men who are captured after a raid in Mexico during the early days of the Texas Republic. They end up in a dreadful Mexican prison.
COMING UP
The Ghost at the Table, by Suzanne Berne, Algonquin, 304 pages, $23.95, Sept.|Cynthia Fiske agrees to attend Thanksgiving with her family at her sister’s house. It’s something of a family reunion, but Cynthia has thought for a long time that her father murdered her mother when the girl was 13.
What Paul Meant, by Garry Wills, Penguin, 208 pages, $24.95, Nov.|Wills interprets Paul’s writing, discusses his influence on early Christians and discusses the controversies surrounding him down through the centuries.
The Stories of Mary Gordon, by Mary Gordon, Knopf, 480 pages, $26, Oct.|Here in one volume are all of Gordon’s short stories, 41 in total, that cover a range of characters and situations.
