From the incomparable Anne Tyler, a rich and compelling novel, spanning three generations, about a mismatched marriage - and its consequences.-Michael and Pauline seemed like the perfect couple - young, good-looking, made for each other. The moment she walked into his mother's grocery store in Baltimore, he was smitten, and in the heat of World War II fervour, they marry in haste. From the sound of the cash register in the old grocery to the counterculture jargon of the sixties, from the miniskirts to the multilayers of later years, Anne Tyler captures the nuances of everyday life with telling precision and sly humour.

Subject: Daredevil Darian Sabura Family History: He's an empath -- but the source of his power is a mystery Deepest Secret: He avoids human contact and emotion -- especially love With his rock-hard body and bottomless bank account, Darian Sabura fearlessly traveled the globe in search of his next adrenaline rush -- and found it rescuing a damsel in distress. Abigail Pembroke's sheltered life had been violently shattered when she'd witnessed a brutal murder. Now someone was trying to ensure she didn't live to talk about it. But Abby wasn't the only one in danger. From the moment he saw her, Darian couldn't stop the flood of emotion that destroyed the long-held barriers around his soul. For the first time, he felt cold-blooded fear -- and desire. And as their stalker drew near, he risked sheltering Abby in his arms...and his heart.

WOULD SHE RUN AWAY--WITH HIS HEART?Small town girl Blaire Harding had always kept bad boy Justin Chisholm at arm's length. But after months of wooing, she finally agreed to let him into her life--and her bed. After one remarkable night, Blaire avoided the youngest Chisholm brother like the plague, leaving Justin to wonder why.... When he discovered that Blaire was in the family way, the rogue of Cherokee Rose was eager to do the right thing and marry her. But the independent Miss Harding would rather raise her baby alone than marry a man who didn't love her. Could this cowboy convince her that he cared? Or would he end up trailing her across the state of Oklahoma?

Amiable, wisecracking Alex Rasmussen was first introduced—to great acclaim—in The Heaven Stone, which won the PWA/St. Martin's Best First Private Eye Novel Contest, and was also named one of the best mysteries of the year by the Providence Journal-Bulletin. Now ghosts from the past and a murderous Halloween haunt his second case. A former cop gone private, Rasmussen makes a living in the decaying New England mill town of Lowell, Massachusetts. Lowell is also the hometown of Good Night Show host Jerry Corbin, whose career has started to slump in recent years. Corbin and his entourage have come to town to film the pilot episode for a new series designed to boost his sagging star quotient and rescue his ratings. Unfortunately, someone's been sending Corbin hate mail, and an off-the-record investigation is in order. Enter Rasmussen, whose familiarity with TV consists of whatever's on the set in his local bar between sporting events....

United by chance during their formative years at Barnard College, three women come of age in New York Minna Grant, Maud Noon, and Liz Becker are assigned as roommates during their freshman year at Barnard. The daughter of Communist parents, Liz makes a name for herself as a photographer. Minna, bright and pretty, is an avid swimmer with a promising academic future. And Maud, an unprepossessing scholarship student, catches the eye of the handsomest boy at Columbia and rises to fame as a poet. As the decades pass, each woman lives out her own individual passions, tragedies, and destiny. Grumbach's courageous and nuanced tale of female friendship, coming of age, and New York across the decades is a must-read.

Simran likes Tyrone from the moment she spots him in the crowd. He's gorgeous and he won't take no for an answer. There's just one problem. . . Tyrone is black and Simran's not sure how her family will react. Even though her parents were a 'love match' and married each other against the wishes of their families, Simran doesn't think they will approve of her having a black boyfriend, and her nightmare uncles and aunts certainly won't. Like her cousin Ruby says, it's the last taboo.But Simran likes Tyrone too much to walk away, so they face the problems their relationship causes together. But it becomes harder than either of them predicted and when the hatred they encounter escalates into violence, with families and friends turning against each other, Simran and Tyrone are forced to question whether they are strong enough to fight for what they believe in.

Without a doubt, the family and friends of fictional sleuths are two of the most endangered species on the planet. Crime novelists seem to have no qualms about sacrificing the people nearest and dearest to their protagonists, if doing so will advance plot development or bestow emotional depth upon their series stars. Peter Robinson continues this ruthless tradition in Strange Affair, his tension-packed 15th novel featuring headstrong British Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks. Still on the mend after the blazing finale of 2004's Playing with Fire, temporarily sworn off whiskey but back to smoking, Banks is interrupted in the midst of brooding over his life and failed relationships by a message from his estranged younger brother, Roy, who says he needs the DCI's help in "a matter of life and death." Concerned, especially since Roy boasts a history of dubious business dealings, Banks leaves Yorkshire for his sibling's home in London, only to find that residence unlocked, Roy's computer missing, and his cell phone left behind. After learning that Roy was last seen stepping into a car with an unidentified man, and receiving on Roy's mobile what appears to be a photo of his only brother slumped over in a chair, the cop fears that a kidnapping has occurred. Meanwhile, back in Eastvale, Banks's colleague and ex-lover, Detective Inspector Annie Cabbot, probes the shooting death of Jennifer Clewes, a 27-year-old family planning center administrator from London who's been found in her car, with the address of Banks's once-ruined (and recently broken into) cottage tucked into her jeans pocket. As Annie seeks to identify Clewes's attacker and determine whether this crime fits a pattern of roadway assaults, she's anxious also to discover what connection Banks may have to the case. But the DCI is frustratingly nowhere to be found. Like 2003's Close to Home, Strange Affair adds some welcome bricks to Banks's back story, this time forcing him to reappraise a brother whom he had long resented and distrusted. Simultaneously, Robinson's latest police procedural delivers artfully contrived, intersecting story lines charged with rumors of international arms dealing, hints of misdeeds at a women's clinic, secondary players so shady they might be invisible after sundown, and insights into just how far Banks's career has distanced him from folks less steeped in the ugly side of mankind. An immensely satisfying mystery, filled with professional risks and personal regrets, this is truly an Affair to remember. --J. Kingston Pierce

My mother might be dead, but she was still my mother. I knew that, even if my dad seemed to have forgotten.