FICTIONVINELAND by Thomas Pynchon (Penguin: $9.95). Pynchon’s...

FICTION

VINELAND by Thomas Pynchon (Penguin: $9.95). Pynchon’s latest appeared after an interval of 17 years.

HARMFUL INTENT by Robin Cook (Berkley: $5.50). An anesthesiologist and a sympathetic nurse race to prove the doctor’s innocence and to prevent further orchestrated deaths.

THE KEYS TO TULSA by Brian Fair Berkey (Washington Square: $6.95). Rakish Richeter Boudreau, currently down on his luck, agrees to help a shady character silence a well-connected hooker.

DEVICES AND DESIRES by P.D. James (Warner: $5.95). Adam Dalgliesh retreats to an English cottage to reflect on his newest book of poetry but is drawn into a serial-murder investigation and a nuclear-power-plant controversy.

NONFICTION

DOC: The Story of Dennis Littky and His Fight for a Better School by Susan Kammeraad-Campbell (Plume: $9.95). A New Hampshire principal’s unwavering belief in a different kind of educational system resulted in improved student performance.

THE ROCKET’S RED GLARE: War, Politics and the American Presidency (Touchstone: $10.95). Historical analysis of the effects of public opinion on U.S. foreign policy.

FORGED IN BATTLE: The Civil War Alliance Of Black Soldiers and White Officers by Joseph T. Gatthaar (Meridian: $12.95). Probes the contradictory and uncomfortable relationship between the volunteers of the United States Colored Troops and their commanding officers.