Murder, Conspiracy, Adventure in the Publishing Arena

Russell Andrews’ “Gideon” (Ballantine, $24.95, 435 pages) is a stylish yarn about a struggling young author named Carl Granville who is lured by a predatory uber-editor into ghostwriting a book that “will change the course of history.” The strings attached are as thick as jungle vine. Each day, Granville will be shown only a soupcon of “highly confidential information” supplied by a source known only as Gideon. From these glimpses, Carl must create a polished roman a clef quick enough for it to be in the stores within six weeks. For his efforts, he will receive an advance of $50,000 (against a final $200,000) and the proper publication of his own first novel.

The work is grueling; the material is disturbing, a story of infanticide in a nameless Mississippi hamlet. But Granville keeps doing his professional best until . . . his editor is brutally murdered, her boss claims ignorance of the project, the “Gideon” manuscript and files disappear, two extremely sadistic killers start leveling the playing field and, thanks to them and the media, the whole world soon blames Carl for the corpses piling up.

Not the whole world, exactly. His former girlfriend, a resourceful journalist named Amanda, still believes in him and, because of that, is forced to go on the run with him from killers and the law. The book’s got everything a big adventure thriller should--a potentially world-shaking secret, nearly invincible villains, vulnerable protagonists on the run, romance, betrayal, at least two genuine surprises, and an array of unusual, ultra-graphic murders. What takes it a step beyond the works of such practitioners as John Grisham, David Baldacci and Richard North Patterson are the seriousness of its message and the playfulness with which it bites the hand that publishes it.

More cannot be said about the former without tipping too much of the plot. Re the latter, I should note that Russell Andrews is the pen name of two authors familiar with the ever-changing publishing game. Peter Gethers is a veteran editor and author; David Handler has written several mystery novels featuring Stewart Hoag, a ghostwriter a bit more seasoned than Carl Granville. They poke fun, good-natured and otherwise, at several inhabitants and institutions of the Manhattan literary establishment. And they’re not above a little self-referential joke. “Getting Blue” is an early Gethers novel. Handler made his debut with “Kiddo.” Their fictional hero’s first effort, a book deemed “too damned good to be successful in today’s market” is titled “Getting Kiddo.”

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Loren D. Estleman’s “The Hours of the Virgin” (Mysterious Press, $23, 296 pages) is the 13th entry in a long-running series chronicling Detroit private eye Amos Walker’s quests for truth and justice. Since his 1980 debut in “Motor City Blue,” Walker hasn’t changed much. He’s still intelligent, cynical and unflappable, as hard-working as he is hard-boiled. Should you be looking for playful banter or self-analysis or a good recipe for meatloaf, Walker is not your private eye. His focus is on the job at hand, getting from point A to point B and sizing up the people he meets along the way. If his no-nonsense narrative strays at all, it’s to paint a picture of Motown that’s every bit as vivid and informed as Raymond Chandler’s take on this part of the world. In “Hours,” the tough PI starts out trouble-shooting the recovery of a stolen medieval illuminated manuscript (the “Virgin” of the title) and winds up revisiting his past. Twenty years before, the manuscript thief got away with murdering Walker’s beloved mentor. The personal angle makes this a particularly powerful entry in the acclaimed series.

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If you’re hungry for a fast and funny new mystery that celebrates sleuthing, opera and gastronomy, though not necessarily in that order, or you’re curious about the new electronic book formats, by all means sample Dick Adler’s “The Mozart Code” (Hard Shell Word Factory, 155 pages, available at various prices from various Internet sites, including Amazon.com, Rocket eBooks and BarnesandNoble.com). This appetizing first novel follows food- and opera-loving editor-turned-private eye Ivan Davis on the trail of a missing man and an elusive unknown Mozart opera. The quest takes him from home base in L.A. (where he’s attacked at his Sports Connection) to a suspenseful finale in the snowy mountains of New Mexico, a journey marked by murders, duplicity, a little sex and a whole lot of high-caloric high life. Enjoy.

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The Times reviews mysteries every other week. Next week: Rochelle O’ Gorman on audio books.