MARC LECARD
Tiny Little Troubles
(St. Martin's Minotaur, $24.95)

"Lecard follows his acclaimed debut, Vinnie's Head (2007), with a second crime novel that deftly mixes dark humor with a fast-moving plot. Pablo Clench, who manages the nightshift at a San Francisco strip club, stumbles on the chance of a lifetime after surveillance of his lust-interest, exotic dancer Aphrodite Anderson, leads him to her lover, Aaron Rogell, an inventor who's made some amazing breakthroughs in the field of nanotechnology... The various plot lines converge in a farcical blend of violence and satire that will have many readers grinning in spite of themselves." Of his first book, the Rocky Mountain News said: "I promise to never again compare Lecard to Carl Hiaasen in a review. Just this once. Lecard is that good." For great photos of Marc's first signing event at "M" in 2007, go immediately to: www.marclecard.com/newsA.html.

SUSAN DUNLAP
Hungry Ghosts
(Counterpoint, $25.95)

Set among the wistful Victorians of San Francisco, the second installment of the Darcy Lott series finds stuntwoman Darcy once again plagued by murder. "In Anthony-winner Dunlap's intriguing second mystery to feature Buddhist stuntwoman Darcy Lott (after 2007's A Single Eye), Darcy returns to her native San Francisco, where she attends the opening ceremony of a new Buddhist zendo center. To her surprise, the center's new landlord is a dead ringer for her missing brother, Mike, and he's on the arm of Tia Dru, who used to know Mike..."

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