All Ash Levine ever wanted was to be a cop, yet several months back, he turned in his badge at the Los Angeles Police Department, devastated over the killing of a witness he had sworn to protect. When a fellow police officer is murdered, Levine is asked to rejoin the force, at least temporarily, to head the investigation; he agrees, with apparent reluctance, which allows him to both name his own terms for his return and regain access to the files of the now-cold case that precipitated his early departure from the force. 

That's the basic setup for Miles Corwin's debut thriller, Kind of Blue, but it only hints at the intricacy of plotting, characters and dialogue to be found between the covers. Levine is a complex character, not averse to breaking the rules, particularly when it comes to dubious fraternization with members of the fairer sex (even ones related to his investigation, a distinct procedural no-no). Twists and turns abound, and the resolution should come as a surprise even to longtime mystery aficionados. 

Kind of Blue may be Corwin's first thriller, but he's no stranger to the world of the LAPD. Formally a crime reporter for the the Los Angeles Times, he is also the author of two behind-the-scenes looks at the LAPD: The Killing Season and Homicide Special.

ALL'S FAIR IN LOVE

Prior to reading Dead Spy Running, British author Jon Stock was an unknown quantity to me, but not to fans such as Lee Child and Meg Gardiner—both of whom waxed poetic about his characters and relentless take-no-prisoners pacing. In the time-honored Shakespearean tradition of using all the world as a stage, Stock takes the reader on a clandestine whirlwind trip from London to Poland, and then all the way to India, with the good guys (who are really the bad guys, sorta) in hot pursuit of the bad guy (who is, for the most part, a good guy). Confused yet? Hey, it's a spy novel, you're supposed to be puzzled until the final pages, and it is a pretty safe bet that you will be. 

Protagonist Daniel Marchant is the perfect post-Bond spy: cynical, a bit world-weary and jettisoned by the Service during an internal investigation into his loyalties. He is, however, in love, which may be his salvation or his undoing, as his girlfriend is also a spy (and possibly for the opposing team). Move over, Jason Bourne, there's a new kid in Spyville!

TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE

As Bill Pronzini's The Hidden opens, Shelby and Jay Macklin are not getting along; in fact, they are at the brink of divorce. Jay has recently lost his job, and the attendant financial burdens have weighed heavily on the couple. Now, thanks to a sympathetic friend, they have the opportunity to spend Christmas week at a seaside cabin, a luxury otherwise unthinkable in their reduced circumstances. Murphy's Law is hard at work with respect to the Macklins, however, and before their first night has passed, they will lose their heat, their power and one of their Toyota Prius' windshield wiper blades in the worst storm to hit the California coast in years. And then the murders begin. 

Bill Pronzini is an old-school craftsman, whose books are always well plotted and staffed, and the tension grows stronger with each passing page. A quick note: Have a look at my blog for a bit of comical backstory on The Hidden that would not fit in the print edition of BookPage! 

MYSTERY OF THE MONTH

Lee Child can always be counted on for a good read, and his latest Jack Reacher novel, Worth Dying For, is no exception. Good enough, in fact, to be our Mystery of the Month. Hard on the heels of the best-selling 61 Hours (June's Mystery of the Month), which left the reader wondering whether Reacher had survived the explosive cliffhanger of an ending, Worth Dying For finds our hero once more on the move—battered, but still alive and kicking. This time out, he can be found in the deep nether reaches of Nebraska, minding his own business as usual, when he happens upon a situation that seems to require his white-knight attention: a badly beaten housewife, a drunken doctor scared witless (to the point of being unwilling to treat the bleeding woman) and two generations of bullies who have terrorized a small farm town for much too long. Mix in a group of Vegas hoods, an Iranian underworld contingent and a violent group of Cornhusker wannabes, and you have a recipe for violence that will test Reacher to his extreme outer limits. 

If your taste in books runs to nonstop action, and particularly if you are partial to fisticuffs, look no further; Reacher may be getting older, like the rest of us, but unlike the rest of us, he shows no signs of letting up. 

Marital difficulties turn murderous in Pronzini's suspenseful departure from the estimable Nameless Detective series (Schemers, 2009, etc.).

Jay Macklin loves his wife, knows she's fallen out of love with him and doesn't blame her. It's in the hope that his marriage can be saved that he decides on a getaway that will allow them to rediscover and rekindle their love. Just the two of them—alone and undistracted, between Christmas and New Year's, in a remote vacation house somewhere on the Northern California coastline—reassessing how good they once had it. That turns out to be a frail hope indeed. Not only does therapeutic isolation morph into self-imprisonment, but the Macklins' only neighbors are anything but neighborly. Brian Lomax routinely beats and terrorizes his wife. The Lomax houseguests, Paula and Gene Decker, drink too much and snipe at each other as if Edward Albee had invented them. Further darkening the atmosphere is the lurking menace of a sociopath run amok, a preservationist transmogrified by his sense of mission into a five-time (at least) serial murderer the media have dubbed the Coastline Killer. It's just as cold and bleak inside the vacation house as outside—a dire prologue to a sudden, furious storm that ratchets up the violence while bringing emotions to a boil.

Taut, spare and seamlessly plotted. The real accomplishment, however, is the villain of the piece, portrayed sympathetically but without sentimentality.

Jay Macklin is hoping that spending the time between Christmas and New Year's with his wife, Shelby, at a friend's cottage on the Northern California coast will bring them closer together after a hard year. After they lose power during a storm on their first night, they visit their neighbors for some matches. Brian Lomax answers the door with a gun in hand, and even after the Macklins are invited in for a drink, the tension in the house is enough to send them away quickly. Interspersed with the main action are several vignettes featuring a man who is willing to murder those who threaten the coastal wilderness. The bad weather, the marital strife, and the suspicion that almost every character displays lend Pronzini's (Savages; The Crimes of Jordan Wise) latest book a gloomy air. Jay doesn't evoke much sympathy, and the real action, on a dark and stormy night, no less, doesn't occur until the final quarter. VERDICT Not Pronzini's strongest work, this is still worth a look for his fans and most mystery collections. [Pronzini is married to Marcia Muller, whose latest Sharon McCone mystery, Coming Back, is reviewed above.—Ed.]—Eric Norton, McMillan Memorial Lib., Wisconsin Rapids, WI

Routine prose and thin characters mar this stand-alone novel of suspense from MWA Grand Master Pronzini (The Other Side of Silence). Jay Macklin, who six months earlier lost his office manager job, has persuaded his paramedic wife, Shelby Hunter, to spend a few days at a friend's remote Northern California cottage, in a last-ditch effort to save their 12-year-old marriage. At night, in a winter downpour, they have trouble finding the cottage. On a search for matches after a power failure, the couple drive to a neighbor's house, where they encounter Brian and Claire Lomax, whose marriage is obviously in more trouble than their own. Jay and Shelby soon realize Brian physically abuses Claire. When the Coastline Killer, a vigilante who's been targeting random victims because they don't respect the environment, claims another victim, the local police consider Jay a suspect. The denouement will leave many readers feeling cheated. (Nov.)