Editor’s Choice
Resolution, Robert B. Parker, $25.95. Parker applies his customary vigor to this sequel to Appaloosa (2005), in a sparse, bullet-riddled rumination on law and order, friendship and honor. Though the plot meanders its way to a too-fast climax, Parker’s dialogue is snappy, and his not-a-word-wasted scenes suit this spartan Western. Publishers Weekly
FICTION
Dead Silver, by Neil McMahon, $24.95. Like “Lone Creek,” McMahon’s first novel to boast a Montana setting, this fine crime novel fairly glows with the big skies, rough country and outsize characters of his home state. Publishers Weekly
Blue Smoke and Murder, by Elizabeth Lowell, $24.95. An art scandal enlivens this au-so-courant novel of romantic suspense from best-seller Lowell (“Innocent as Sin”), set in various locales around the American Southwest. . . . Lowell’s keen insights into art- world shenanigans serve to remind the reader about the value of art for art’s sake rather than art for money’s sake. Publishers Weekly
NONFICTION
The Pact: Bill Clinton, Newt Gingrich, and the Rivalry That Defined a Generation, by Steven M. Gillon, $24.95. An unlikely and largely unknown alliance between the former president and speaker of the House occupies center-stage of this thoughtful book that recreates the tumultuous years of the Clinton administration. Publishers Weekly
The Girl With the Crooked Nose, by Ted Botha, $25, The real-life saga of Frank Bender, who unexpectedly rode a commercial photography career to a parallel gig reconstructing the faces of unidentified murder victims and suspects. Kirkus
Flying High: Remembering Barry Goldwater, by William F. Buckley Jr., $25.95. As always, Buckley writes well about politics, but the singular achievement of this book is its nostalgic remembrance of an enduring friendship between the author and his subject. Washington Post
PAPERBACKS
The Maytrees, by Annie Dillard, $13.95. As in all of Dillard’s writing, transcendent moments abound. And the last line of this effort is so lovely it may send you right back to the book’s beginning. The New York Times
The Narcissist’s Daughter, by Craig Holden, $14. Following Holden’s outstanding breakout novel “The Jazz Bird,” comes this moody study of class tension, sexual obsession and murder in 1970s Cleveland. Publishers Weekly
The Used World, by Haven Kimmel, $14. How to rediscover faith in this used and broken world, during a vacuous holiday season, in a junk shop tricked out to look like home, among the old eggbeaters and heavy black telephones of the dead? Kimmel manages to suggest that hope is possible here. Publishers Weekly
COMING UP
The Wrecking Crew: How Conservatives Rule, by Thomas Frank, $25. According to the author (“What’s the Matter With Kansas?”) rather than cutting down the big government they claim to hate, conservatives have simply sold it off, deregulating some industries, defunding others, but always turning public policy into a private-sector bidding war. (August)
Foreign Body, by Robin Cook, $25.95. A series of unexplained deaths in foreign hospitals sends a UCLA medical student on a search for answers. As the death count grows, so do the questions, leading to a sinister global conspiracy. (August)
