FICTIONMAIGRET ON THE RIVIERA by Georges Simenon,...

FICTION

MAIGRET ON THE RIVIERA by Georges Simenon, translated by Geoffrey Sainsbury (Harvest: $5.95). French detective Maigret’s vacation in Antibes is interrupted by the murder of an Australian sheep rancher.

VANISHED by Mary McGarry Morris (Washington Square Press: $6.95). Precocious, post-pubescent Dotty Johnson kidnaps shy, retiring, 40-ish Aubry Wallace (and a baby, to boot) from a Vermont town.

STORIES OF THE OLD SOUTH, edited by Ben Forkner and Patrick Samway, S.J. (Penguin: $9.95). Collection of fiction from 1830s to 1930s by prominent writers that evince a distinctive regional identity.

SEIZE THE FIRE by Laura Kinsale (Avon: $4.50). Dethroned princess attempts to reclaim her kingdom with the help of an enigmatic naval hero.

WHEN THE CAT’S AWAY by Kinky Friedman (Berkley: $3.95). Former country-western-singer-turned-detective, “the Kinkster” is intrigued by the case of a cat missing from a Madison Square Garden show.

NONFICTION

DEBBIE: My Life by Debbie Reynolds and David Patrick Columbia (Pocket: $5.50). Sobering look at Reynolds’ tribulations, from Hollywood ingenue through marital troubles to rebuilding her life and career.

SPARROWS POINT: Making Steel--The Rise and Ruin of American Industrial Might by Mark Reutter (Summit: $14.95). Chronology of a steel town whose success and decline parallels the steel industry.

LIFE LAUGHS LAST by Philip B. Kunhardt Jr. (Fireside: $10.95). More than 200 droll, riotous and improbable photographs that appeared on Life magazine’s Miscellany page over the years.

WHAT’S WRONG WITH WALL STREET? by Louis Lowenstein (Addison-Wesley: $10.95). Lowenstein’s position is that some of today’s common business practices, i.e., LBOs (leveraged buy-outs), are insidiously detrimental to the American economy.

THE SPY WHO GOT AWAY: The True Story of the Only CIA Agent to Defect to the Soviet Union by David Wise (Avon: $4.95). Wise interviews Edward Lee Howard, a disgruntled former agent, in Budapest in 1987.

SELF-HELP / REFERENCEYOUR CHILD: Selecting Day Care, edited by Elizabeth Woolever (Better Homes and Gardens: $2.95). Explores what’s available, and factors to consider in making an appropriate selection.

CAN MY BRIDESMAIDS WEAR BLACK? . . . and 325 Other Most-Asked Etiquette Questions by Marjabelle Young Stewart (St. Martin’s: $8.95). Don’t let the confusion in contemporary manners trick you into a faux pas.