David Hewson brings back detectives Nic Costa and the unconventional Gianni Peroni to settle what appears to be an open-and-shut case in “The Lizard’s Bite.” In nonfiction, look for Erik Larson’s (“The Devil in the White City”) latest popular history. This one, “Thunderstruck,” is about a man who kills his wife and then, as fate would have it, becomes linked with Guglielmo Marconi, the inventor of the wireless. Paul Auster’s surprisingly charming and upbeat story in “The Brooklyn Follies,” is just out in paperback. And, looking ahead, Denver author Stephen White has another Alan Gregory novel on the way. “Dry Ice” is due in March.
FICTION
The Lizard’s Bite, by David Hewson, Delacorte, 432 pages, $22 | Roman detectives Nic Costa and Gianni Peroni, exiled to Venice, need to solve one last mystery before going on holiday.
The Hounds and the Fury, by Rita Mae Brown, Ballantine, Random House, 336 pages, $24.95 | This is the fifth entry in Brown’s fox hunting books and concentrates on the dogs more than previous books.
Big Dreams and Dark Secrets in Chimayo, by G. Benito Cordova, University of New Mexico, 304 pages, $26.95 | This novel from professor emeritus Cordova shines light on rural New Mexico in this mythological story of a town drunkard.
NONFICTION
Thunderstruck, by Erik Larson, Crown, 480 pages, $25.95 | Larson again shows how two people – one considered a genius and the other a killer – are linked despite their tremendous differences.
Life After Death: The Burden of Proof, by Deepak Chopra, Crown, 304 pages, $24 | For Chopra, death is just the doorway to life after death, and he considers life as just one stop on a soul’s long journey.
Not Your Usual Founding Father: Selected Readings From Benjamin Franklin, edited by Edmund S. Morgan, Yale University Press, 320 pages, $26 | Morgan has gathered writings, both well-known and obscure, that paint a picture of the man who is probably our most curious founder.
PAPERBACKS
The Brooklyn Follies, by Paul Auster, Henry Holt, 306 pages, $14 | Auster, not known for upbeat literature, goes against form in this uplifting novel of a retired insurance salesman who returns to Brooklyn to die.
Propero’s Daughter, by Elizabeth Nunez, Ballantine, 316 pages, $13.95 | Set in her native Trinidad, Nunez recasts Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” in this story of colonialism, race and class.
Andrew Jackson: His Life and Times, by H.W. Brands, Anchor, 620 pages, $16.95 | Brands depicts Jackson from his poor beginnings to his presidency, as well as Old Hickory’s campaigns against the Indians and the beginnings of the Civil War.
COMING UP
Dry Ice, by Stephen White, Penguin, 352 pages, $25.95, March | White goes back to his first novel, “Privileged Information,” and its villain, psychopath Michael McClelland, to haunt longtime hero, psychologist Alan Gregory.
Paper Trails: True Stories of Confusion, Mindless Violence, and Forbidden Desires, by Pete Dexter, Ecco, 320 pages, $25.95, Feb. | The National Book Award-winning author of “Paris Trout” made his reputation as a newspaper columnist. Here is a collection of his nonfiction.
House of Meetings, by Martin Amis, Knopf, 256 pages, $23, Jan. | A conflict between two brothers in Moscow of 1946 over a woman continues in a slave labor camp above the Arctic Circle with consequences into the next century.
