Fans of Carl Hiaasen’s wacky humor are in for a treat with “Nature Girl,” Hiaasen’s first novel since 2004’s “Skinny Dip.” Using firsthand accounts, Margaret Gaskin recounts the night that Adolf Hitler started his bombing of London in “Blitz: The Story of December 29, 1940.” In paperbacks, if you have the time, Jung Chang and Jon Halliday have written an exhaustive, if subjective, account of the life of China’s strongman leader in “Mao: The Unknown Story.” Coming in March, look for a new novel from Jonathan Lethem, “You Don’t Love Me Yet,” about a young woman who is a drummer in an alternative rock band in Los Angeles.
FICTION
Nature Girl, by Carl Hiaasen, Knopf, 320 pages, $25.95 | The madcap world of Florida that only Hiassen can offer is on display in this tale of Honey Santana, who is determined to make the world better by teaching a telemarketer better manners.
The Boleyn Inheritance, by Philippa Gregory, Simon & Schuster, 528 pages, $25.95 | The author of “The Other Boyleyn Girl” returns with another historical novel that uses different perspectives to relate the demise of Henry VIII.
The Phony Marine, by Jim Lehrer, Random House, 224 pages, $23.95 | A salesman in an upscale men’s clothing store makes a big mistake when he buys a Silver Star pin on e-Bay.
NONFICTION
Blitz: The Story of December 29, 1940, by Margaret Gaskin, Harcourt, 448 pages, $27 | Using published and unpublished accounts of the people who lived through it, Gaskin tells the story of the first night of the German attack on London early during World War II.
Somewhere: The Life of Jerome Robbins, by Amanda Vaill, Broadway, 688 pages, $40 | Vaill tells the story of the man who choreographed “West Side Story” on Broadway and was either an evil taskmaster or a beloved mentor.
Monopoly: The World’s Most Famous Game & How It Got That Way, by Philip E. Orbanes, Da Capo Press, 280 pages, $26 | Admittedly not objective, the author – a former official with Parker Brothers – presents a history of the game that has sold more than 200 million copies.
PAPERBACKS
Mao: The Unknown Story, by Jung Chang and Jon Halliday, Knopf, 864 pages, $18 | An entertaining, if not altogether scholarly, account of the atrocities and private life of China’s former leader.
Darkly Dreaming Dexter, by Jeff Lindsay, Vintage Crime, 304 pages, $12.95 | The sardonic Dexter has charm to spare, but he has a dark secret. While working as a lab technician for the Miami police, he is also a serial killer in his spare time.
American Legend: The Real-Life Adventures of David Crockett, by Buddy Levy, Berkley, 352 pages, $15 | Levy chronicles the life of Crockett, who was born in Tennessee in 1886, became a congressman and potential presidential candidate before dying at the Alamo.
COMING UP
You Don’t Love Me Yet, by Jonathan Lethem, Doubleday, 240 pages, $24.95, March | Lethem (“Motherless Brooklyn”) moves from New York to Los Angeles to tell a story of near-fame by an alternative rock band.
Nixon and Mao: The Week That Changed the World, by Margaret MacMillan, Random House, 416 pages, $27.95, Feb. | MacMillan recounts the week in 1972 when President Nixon and Chairman Mao reopened relations between their two countries, severed since 1949.
Storm Runners, by T. Jefferson Parker, William Morrow, 384 pages, $25.95, March | Thriller writer Parker is back with a story of a sheriff’s deputy whose wife and son are murdered in a hit meant for him. The catch: The killer is his best friend from high school.
