The Berrybenders carry on

REVIEWS BY SUKEY HOWARD

The eccentric characters (some real, others inspired invention) from Sin Killer, the first of Larry McMurtry's epic four-part frontier adventure, are now journeying up the Missouri River in this second volume, The Wandering Hill, and they're still a fascinatingly unruly lot. The autocratic Lord Berrybender, who brought an ample part of his aristocratic family, plus a retinue of retainers, from England to amble and shoot their way across America, is losing his grip. But his beautiful, fiercely feisty, archly articulate daughter, Lady Tasmin, now married to her enigmatic mountain man Jim Snow, is there to take control and infuse this saga with her special spice and swagger. The super-talented Alfred Molino maintains the perfect narrative momentum, giving each colorful character a unique voice with a spot-on accent.


Bosch is back

Harry Bosch, the hard-boiled, tough-tender LAPD detective with lots of smarts, threatened to retire from the force last time around and has actually done it in Michael Connelly's latest, Lost Light. But, ìbadge, or no badge, Bosch makes it clear from the get-go that his mission, ìto stand by the dead, is as strong as ever. Adhering to his conviction, Harry follows up on a cold case that gets hot enough to burn him—or at least singe him on the edges. The murder of a young woman who worked for a movie company was never solved, and it still haunts him. The heist of $2 million from the company's movie set a few days later was never linked. Now, a scrap of new info from a quadriplegic cop makes citizen Harry reopen the case, and that gets him too close to too many people who don't want him nosing around. Narrator Len Cariou keeps the pace as the action accelerates and the plot takes some dangerous swerves.


The Bean Town boys are back too

And they're swimming with a bunch of sharks who are definitely of the bloodthirsty sort in Robert B. Parker's Back Story, read as only Joe Mantegna can. Spenser—reveling in his trademark droll, dry dialogue and with his serenely scary, glacially cool cohort, Hawk, and the beautiful, brainy Susan, and falling into occasional philosophic reverie—has also taken on a cold case. A young woman was murdered 28 years ago during a bank hold up and now her daughter wants justice. Digging into the past turns out to be a blast—or many blasts—aimed directly at Spenser. Seems he's uncovered some info that some very nasty folks wanted to keep covered, and they'll go to some very nasty lengths to do just that. An ordinary Spenser caper is better than most and a good one, as this is, is always prime crime.


Another strange case

Derek Strange doesn't banter with his partner, Terry Quinn, the way Spenser parries with Hawk, but they do mull over their very obvious differences as they work. They're both ex-cops, now PIs, but Derek is black, Quinn is white and 20 years his junior. They star again in Soul Circus, George P. Pelecanos's new, finely crafted tale of dire doings and dealers in the Southeast section of Washington, D.C.

Strange and Quinn have been hired by a hotshot defense team representing a crime lord involved in a big-time drug business and over a dozen murders. When they find a young woman whose testimony could swing the verdict, they find that keeping her safe may cost them more than they want to pay. Pelecanos sets the scene in Southeast with uncanny accuracy and lets Derek Strange ponder social problems and inequities as he goes after the bad guys. You'll hear the real voices of those mean streets in Richard Allen's flawless reading.


Fitness witness

Fitness fiends, fitness-phobes and the moderates in between know that getting exercised over exercise is a part of our 21st century culture that's here to stay. As we try to shape up our winterized bodies before putting them into skimpy swimsuits, it's especially interesting—and helpful—to find out what really works and what's fad and fiction. Gina Kolata, a well-known science writer for The New York Times and an avid exerciser herself, gives us the skinny on the science of conditioning in her new book, Ultimate Fitness: The Quest for Truth About Exercise and Health, read by Eliza Foss. Fun and full of fascinating stories of hypesters, hucksters and true gurus, it may also give you that extra push to do a bit more—inspired by Ms. Kolata, I took a spinning class and now I'm happily hooked.


Tales of gods and heroes

Mythology, Thomas Bulfinch said, is the handmaid of literature. That, in turn, would make his time-honored Bulfinch's Mythology the handmaid of mythology. Like so many of us, I was enthralled by these fabulous tales of the ancient world as a child, then later relied on Mr. Bulfinch to decipher the myriad allusions to the myths that often befuddle readers of ìelegant literature. Now, this classic of classics is available as an audio presentation with a wow of a cast, obviously chosen by the gods. Richard Dreyfuss, Olympia Dukakis, Edward Hermann, B. D. Wong and Kate Burton, among others, read unabridged selections from Bulfinch's Mythology: Gods and Heroes. It's a joy to hear these tales again and to share them with the younger bunch who may not know what was in Pandora's box, how a golden apple started the Trojan War, why Niobe wept or what Hercules' labors were all about. These great Greco-Roman myths and more are all here, and all the more charming read aloud.


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