October Publications

Jan Burke's 18 collects the shorter fiction by this Edgar-winning author (Bones), including "The Man in the Civil Suit," which won an Agatha Award, plus two stories written especially for the book. Edward D. Hoch provides a handsome introduction, while blurbs from the likes of James Crumley, Jonathan Kellerman and Marcia Muller testify with obvious sincerity to Burke's tale-writing talent. (A.S.A.P [asap-publishing@cox.net], $30 338p ISBN 1-892011-23-9)

The seventh bestselling e-book on Amazon.com last year, Michael McClelland's first novel, Oyster Blues, introduces two endearing characters, bookish Florida oyster-shucker Jane Ellen Ashley and equally bookish Happy Harry Harper, who inadvertently get mixed up with the mob and murder as they amble along the path to true romance. A Featured Selection of the Mystery and Literary Guilds, this one may be short on dialogue but serves up plenty of lively exposition. (ibooks [S&S dist.], $19.95 272p ISBN 0-7434-5259-3)

Rue Morgue offers two vintage mysteries: The Mano Murders (1952), by Juanita Sheridan, with its exotic Hawaiian setting (Rue Morgue [Tomenid@attbi.com], $14 paper 154p ISBN 0-915230-51-8), and the lighthearted Home Sweet Homicide (1944; a 1946 film with Randolph Scott), by Craig Rice, the subject of Jeffrey Marks's 2001 biography, Who Was That Lady? ($14.95 paper 220p -53-4)

September Publication

In Michael Craft's sixth solid Mark Manning mystery, Hot Spot, the Dumont, Wis., journalist and his lover, architect Neil Waite, are honored to act as witnesses at the wedding of Roxanne Exner, best friend to them both, and Carl Creighton, Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor of Illinois. But when an electric shock at the reception that kills a major donor to Creighton's campaign turns out to be no accident, Mark faces the daunting task of clearing the name of the chief murder suspect—the bride—in this engaging whodunit. (St. Martin's Minotaur, $23.95 288p ISBN 0-312-28900-6)