Fans of Greg Iles’ novels like “The Quiet Game” and “24 Hours” are in for a treat with his newest, “True Evil.” It’s a doozy of a tale of spousal murder with a twist. Omar Nasiri spent some time inside Osama bin Laden’s training camps in Afghanistan and tells us what it was like in “Inside the Jihad: My Life With Al Qaeda, A Spy’s Story.” Frank McCourt became a publishing phenomenon with his memoir “Angela’s Ashes.” He followed that with “‘Tis” and now, with “Teacher Man,” just out in paperback, he completes the story of his life so far. In March, look for David Morrell’s new thriller, “Scavenger,” a life-and-death take on the old children’s game.
FICTION
True Evil, by Greg Iles, Scribner, 528 pages, $25.95 | Someone is killing the spouses of people who can pony up big bucks, really big bucks. But they are not doing it in a conventional manner.
Murder at the Opera, by Margaret Truman, Ballantine, 336 pages, $24.95 | Truman’s 22nd Washington, D.C., mystery starts with a young Canadian opera singer found dead at the Kennedy Center. As the investigation continues, Truman throws in some anecdotes about the opera “Tosca.”
The Hidden Assassin, by Robert Wilson, Harcourt, 453 pages, $25 | Wilson (“A Small Death in Lisbon”) is in Seville, Spain, again as Inspector Jefe Javier Falcon is called on to investigate terrorists who have blown up an apartment building.
NONFICTION
Inside the Jihad: My Life With Al Qaeda, A Spy’s Story, by Omar Nasiri, Perseus, 384 pages, $26.95 | The author, who doesn’t use his real name, recounts life inside the Afghan training camps run by Osama bin Laden.
Joan Crawford: Hollywood Martyr, by David Bret, Avalon, 299 pages, $25.95 | Bret relates Crawford’s life as she went from working in a laundry in Kasas City to become an Oscar-winning actress who liked her vodka.
The Yellow House: Van Gogh, Gaugin and Nine Turbulent Weeks in Arles, by Martin Gayford, Little, Brown, 352 pages, $24.99 | Van Gogh and Gaugin had a falling-out after living together in France. The author relates the story of the friction and how it affected later works of art by the two masters.
PAPERBACKS
Teacher Man, by Frank McCourt, Simon & Schuster, 258 pages, $15 | The author of “Angela’s Ashes” and “‘Tis” continues his life story. This time he covers his life as a teacher in New York’s public school system.
Wolf Boy, by Evan Kuhlman, Three Rivers Press, 326 pages, $13 | In this atypical novel – a comic book about a brother’s death – Kuhlman chronicles the life of a family’s tragedy.
Everybody Loves Somebody, by Joanna Scott, Back Bay, 260 pages, $13.99 | The award-winning author once again concentrates on love in this collection of short stories set during the last century.
COMING UP
Scavenger, by David Morrell, Perseus, 368 pages, $24.95, March | A dark thriller that centers on a high-tech scavenger hunt, against the clock, for a century-old time capsule.
Poor People, by William T. Vollmann, Ecco, 464 pages, $29.95, March | Vollman’s seven- volume study of violence, “Rising Up and Rising Down,” has been widely praised and now he explores another timeless phenomenom.
If You Lived Here, by Dana Sachs, HarperCollins, 336 pages, $24.95, February | In this debut novel, Sachs relates the ins and outs of adopting a child from another country as she and a friend travel to Vietnam.
