Books published by publisher Warner Books, 2001

Joe Gunther, a Brattleboro, Vermont, cop, is the head of the new VermontBureau of Investigation (VBI), a joint task force charged with statewideresponsibility for major crimes. In The Marble Mask, the VBI's first casetakes the force north to Stowe, where a 50-year-old corpse has turned up in acrevasse on Mt. Mansfield. Some of the more interesting minor characters inauthor Archer Mayor's long-running series about the amiable elder sleuth makereturn appearances here as Joe's teammates--like one-armed Willy, a former wife-beater who's now playing footsie with Sammie Martens, one of Joe's favoritecolleagues. When the frozen stiff turns out to be a (formerly) big-time Canadiancrime boss named Jean Deschamps, who disappeared after World War II, Joe and hisgang cross the border to work with the Mounties, the S++ret+¬, and the local copsin Sherbrooke, where Deschamps's son Marcel is involved in a turf war with theHell's Angels and a rival gang of thugs. Old secrets and intrigues come tolight while an intricate plan to frame a dying man for a crime half a centuryold forms an interesting puzzle that's not fully revealed until the last coupleof pages. Mayor excels at painting a picture of a time and place that's as authentic asmaple syrup, and in Joe he's created a Cooperesque character who's almost asenigmatic as the mist-shrouded mountains of his beloved state. Skiers who'veschussed down Stowe's fabled slopes will enjoy Mayor's recreation of the town inits bygone era as well as the description of its renaissance as a majortourist attraction today. Joe doesn't change much from book to book, but that'sfine with Mayor's fans. He's a good cop, a quiet hero, a reliable guy, and his11th appearance in this tightly woven mystery is cause for cheer. --JaneAdams

Talk about unlucky sevens. An hour ago, seventeen-year-old, seven months pregnant Novalee Nation was heading for California with her boyfriend. Now she finds herself stranded at a Wal-Mart in Sequoyah, Oklahoma, with just $7.77 in change. But Novalee is about to discover hidden treasures in this small Southwest town--a group of down-to-earth, deeply caring people willing to help a homeless, jobless girl living secretly in a Wal-Mart. From Bible-thumping blue-haired Sister Thelma Husband to eccentric librarian Forney Hull who loves Novalee more than she loves herself, they are about to take her--and you, too--on a moving, funny, and unforgettable journey to . . . Where the Heart Is.

In Boston and an ocean away, in Ireland, two young women-both virgins-find themselves pregnant. Around the world, epidemics, droughts, famines, floods, and worse threaten major cities. Terrifying forces of light and darkness are gathering, and former run turned P.I. Anne Fitzgerald investigates the immaculate conceptions to discover the truth-and to save the young women, and possibly herself. From #1 bestselling author James Patterson comes his most compelling, most frightening thriller ever.