When the world all around you seems uncertain and riddled with chaos, what could be more reassuring than a first rate mystery, a story that brings a semblance of order into one's life, at least for a few hours of blissful reading pleasure. But nothing's more annoying than to begin a new thriller and find in short order that it simply doesn't deliver the goods.
      Rest easy. There are some consistently reliable and virtually always engaging authors with a backlist large enough to provide the seeker with a rewarding experience.
      In her latest Anna Pidgeon mystery, "Hunting Season," (Putnam) the remarkable Nevada Barr offers yet another beautifully nuanced and hard-to-put-down tale set in Mississippi's Natchez Trace Parkway. Ranger Anna is called to a building within the park where the body of a local man has been discovered. The corpse shows signs of having expired as a result of some kinky sexual behavior, but Anna knows better than to accept such an obvious explanation.
      As always, Barr blends a criminal investigation with sharp commentary on the cultural mores and natural history of the region she's writing about. Here, in the deep South, we see the vestiges of racism and the stifling effects of years of insular living and thinking. Anna encounters a pack of "good ol boys" in a frightening scene set in the woods at night, and battles her own demons regarding a new lover, a tonic which she desperately needs, but is afraid of having. There truly is no finer writer in the realm today and her descriptive prose in observance of the natural world is always stunning. Among Barr's many Anna Pidgeon stories, both "Blind Descent" and "Firestorm" are particularly outstanding .
      Detective novels are admittedly one of the more tired mystery sub genres, but Bill Pronzini, a grizzled old pro if ever there was one, has written almost thirty "Nameless" detective stories with nary a misstep the entire time. His latest, (which has earmarks of being the final in the series) has the typical one word title, "Bleeders" (Carroll & Graf) - a term which refers to blackmailers -- and proves to be a solid, if not flashy, entry in the canon. Good old Nameless once more puts his tired body on the line for a client, a man who claims he's being extorted for his wife's large family fortune. But Nameless --wise and experienced in the ways of deception -- knows better and uncovers a scam that ripples throughout the Bay Area.
      Pronzini tosses out clues and red herrings with the deft hand of a blackjack dealer, and when coupled with his trademark internal dialogues about everything from current events to the state of his love life, produces a terrifically readable and satisfying mystery. Another especially good Nameless story is the unnervingly claustrophobic "Shackles."
      Grand Dame of murderous British domestic drama Margaret Yorke doesn't quite meet her usual standard in her new "A Case to Answer," (St. Martin's) an especially low-key, low-crime effort. The story revolves around an ultra-dysfunctional family in suburban England and their not so deep and dark secrets. Suffice to say, when Yorke reveals the twisted relationships between a complicated melange of blood relatives and their assorted spouses and lovers, it's not a pretty picture. But here is a story lacking in both murder and suspense, and while the familial malice certainly entertains, readers will be even more enthralled with numerous titles from her backlist, including the sneakily vicious "Act of Violence" and the equally edgy "A Question of Belief."

A notable debut:
      A familiar theme -- "normal" guy kills rival in fit of passion, covers up the crime and then lives in guilty turmoil -- is given a brisk work out by first time Australian born novelist Hugo Wilcken in "The Execution" (HarperCollins). A literary sensibility heightens the appeal of this tale of amoral married human rights public relations specialist Matthew Bourne, who, despite a predilection for casual affairs, is heartbroken to discover his girlfriend is also having an affair. In a fit of pique he confronts her lover and smashes his skull with a vase. After a colleague helps him clean up (of course we know you can never really "clean up" after a murder) the unwinding of matthew's life begins in earnest. This taut and compelling noirish narrative explores the fever-like psychosis which gradually takes over Matthew's inner life with chilling results.

Where are they now?
      J. M.. Redmann, whose New Orleans lesbian detective Mickey Knight leads turbulent private and professional lives hasn't surfaced since 1999's Lost Daughters, a let down follow up to her masterpiece, The Intersection of Law and Desire (1995).
     After her sparkling debut set in a surreal Southern California, Like a Hole in the Head, Jen Banbury looked like she'd be the torch bearer of Gen X mystery writers...but unfortunately, we're still waiting....
     Then there's Jesse (Prichard) Hunter who authored two of the best serial killer novels of the 90s, Blood Music in 1993 and One, Two Buckle My Shoe, 1997. Both are widely available used, but we wonder what she's been doing since.

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