Higashino, Keigo. The Final Curtain.

NY: St. Martin, 2023 (2013).

Japanese police procedurals (even in translation) are perhaps something of an acquired taste, but I enjoy them. The Japanese criminal justice system is an interesting combination of the the model found in the English-speaking world (as installed by MacArthur during the postwar occupation) and Japan’s own strong hierarchical traditions. There are a number of popular authors in this field, and I’ve read most of them, but Higashino is easily the best-loved, as shown by his repeated best-seller status, his many awards, and the numerous Japanese films and television series based on his work. Besides several standalone novels, he has done two series, the more recent of which features Detective Kyoichiro Kaga, who, in this fourth outing (published in Japan in 2013 and due to be released in in English this December), has finally risen from Sergeant to Inspector.

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Lowell, Nathan. The Wizard’s Butler.

Np: The Author, 2020.

So, Roger Mulligan, in his early thirties, is between jobs an running short of money, having spent some years as an U.S. Army medic with three tours in Afghanistan, followed by a couple of years as an EMT, when he sees an ad in the paper for a carer for an older gentleman, the uncle of Naomi, the woman who interviews him. Roger takes the job, but only after meeting the gentleman: Joseph Shackleford, who is extremely wealthy and much more spry than Roger expected — but only when Naomi isn’t in the room. And his job title will be “butler,” though he’ll actually be doing a little of everything, since he will be the only staff in the huge mansion. What’s more, Mr. Shackleford tells him he’s a wizard. But who knows what old people might believe, right?

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Dewes, J. S. The Last Watch.

NY: Tor, 2021.

Traditionally, there are two types of sciences fiction — “hard” and “soft.” (Though a good SF novel is a blend of both.) This one is definitely on the “hard” side of the scale, with highly imaginative and speculative tech on every page. The setting is some thousands of years in a future when what’s left of the human race has spread to nearly all corners of the universe, right up to its edges — literally. We spent a thousand years in a war of mutual extermination against the Viator, a humanoid alien species that killed off most of homo sapiens but also resulted in the final defeat of the enemy a couple of centuries in the past. Or “supposed defeat,” because they popped up again a few decades ago and it took another nine years to kill them all off — again. And that doesn’t count the wandering bands of half-breed “drudgers,” which the Viator had created as soldiers.

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Cook, Trisha & Brendan Halpin. Notes from the Blender.

NY: Egmont, 2013.

This is the first book I’ve read from these two authors, each of whom has produced several novels on their own, and it’s a pretty good one. There are two main characters: Dec (short for Declan, because both his parents were Elvis Costello fans) is sixteen, heavily into death metal, something of a loose cannon at home and at school, and kind of a mess. His mother was killed by a drunk driver when he was nine and he still feels the loss keenly, though he admits his father has done a decent job raising him. His Aunt Sarah is a lesbian and a Unitarian minister, and he finds some balance in his life by staying over with her on weekends and working as the sexton (i.e., janitor and handyman) at her church. Neilly is a year older and her parents are divorced because her attorney father finally came out as gay. Now he’s getting married to his partner and Neilly will be attending the ceremony.

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Wells, Martha. System Collapse.

NY: Tor, 2023.

The original four novella-length stories telling the tale of the self-manumitted partly-human (he’s a “construct”) Security Unit who refers to himself as “Murderbot” brought Wells a large coterie of enthusiastic fans. The first full-length novel, Network Effect, solidified her position as one of the best writers of “hard” science fiction working today. Following that was a sort of standalone novella (basically a murder mystery) set after the first four, but she’s also contracted for three more novels and this first one of those is due out around Thanksgiving, but Tor sent me an advance reading copy. Believe me, it’s going to be worth the wait, but there’s a caveat: Wells is not one of those authors who screeches to a halt for a big info dump to let the reader know everything that came before, so if you haven’t already read the six preceding books, you will have no idea of who the characters are or what the world is like in which they live. This is especially true if you haven’t read Network Effect yet, because much of the background of the plot and many of the characters are carried over directly from that.

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Edwards, Coyote J. M. Coffee, Milk & Spider Silk.

Np: The Author, 2021.

As far as I can tell, this self-published fantasy novella (60 page) is the author’s first effort. It’s a bit cutesy in places, but it’s not bad overall. The setting is Embervein, a magically protected town whose population is nearly all “monsterfolk” — satyrs, dryads, moth-people, minotaurs, and so on. The protagonist, Gwen Khetosni, is a “drider,” a spiderlike being with eight legs, nearly as many arms, and usually the largest creature in the room. She has spent half her life in the City Guard, and she’s very good at her job, but now it’s time to move on, and Gwen has always wanted to be the proprietor of her own little cafe and coffeehouse.

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Hiaasen, Carl. Wrecker.

NY: Knopf, Sep 2023.

Besides writing an award-winning column for thirty-five years for the Miami Herald, Hiaasen is best known for his off-the-wall crime novels, all set in his native Florida, and all eighteen of which have made the New York Times Bestseller List (several have also made it to the big screen). But even some of his fans may not be aware that he has also written half a dozen books for younger readers — and that the first one, Hoot, won a Newberry Medal. This latest one is aimed at adolescents and it’s a model of how to take teenage readers seriously. The focus of the story is Valdez Jones VIII of Key West, fifteen years old and an eighth-generation Conch, descendant of a 19th-century Bahamian salvage diver — a “wrecker” — in the days before Scuba gear when freediving on storm-sunken ships was tough and dangerous work.

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