Specialty bookshelf: reviews of mystery, science fiction, children's and regional titles

Rocky Mountain News

Published August 28, 2008 at 7 p.m.

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MYSTERY

Blackout

By Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Roza. Henry Holt, $24. Grade: A

The apparently motiveless murder of a crippled homeless man in an upscale section of Copacabana puts Chief Inspector Espinosa to the test. Why would the guests at a dinner party nearby lie about what they saw? After a second murder involving a young woman on the other end of Rio de Janeiro's social spectrum, the inspector sifts through lies and obfuscations to link these two unlikely crimes.

In the process, we stroll the streets of Copacabana and visit the city's notorious slums with the reserved but unrelenting Espinosa and his colleagues in a novel that spans the city's economic differences.

Final word: Translated into eight languages, this series has achieved worldwide popularity for its stylish police procedurals flavored with the spices of Rio.

-Jane Dickinson

SCIENCE FICTION

Love in the Time of Fridges

By Tim Scott. Bantam Spectra, $12. Grade: A-

Huckleberry Lincoln returns to his hometown of New Seattle after several years to find a new mayor obsessed with safety. The mayor has nearly completed a wall that will keep the rest of the world out, and his smiling face is seen on video screens everywhere chanting the city's new motto: "Do not die for no reason. What's the point? Right?"

Inanimate objects have the ability to walk, talk and think (just a little), so that coffee tables have become insurance salesmen, spin driers badger people for any piece of apparel that is the slightest bit damp, and refrigerators not only offer up their delicacies, but sing harmony.

Upon arrival in New Seattle, Huck meets a beautiful woman and becomes embroiled in a conspiracy to save the city from isolation and political correctness.

Final word: Those whose science fiction tastes run to off-the-wall weirdness will love this book. Scott has a gift for satire.

-Mark Graham

CHILDREN

M is for Mischief: An A to Z of Naughty Children

By Linda Ashman; illustrated by Nancy Carpenter. Dutton Children's Books, $16.99. Grade: A

Every behavior you don't want your child to be known for is presented from A-Z in an amusing book by Denver's Ashman.

Paired with the irreverently funny artwork of Carpenter, Ashman details the misbehavior of 26 children with alliterative rhymes that conclude with each child going too far, and often getting their comeuppance.

There's Angry Abby, who argues incessantly until one day she debates with an alligator and gets gobbled up, and Doodling Daphne, who draws on everything in the house, then gets a lark to doodle on Dad's face before he wakes.

Final word: Kids will chuckle at these outrageous children, and parents will thank their lucky stars that their children aren't on the list.

-Jennifer Miller

REGIONAL

Castles of Colorado

By Ann Westerberg. Johnson, $22.95. Grade: C+

The word castle evokes images of vast medieval European structures, but Westerberg proves that Colorado also has castles, albeit smaller ones. Rather than serving as fortifications, as their medieval counterparts did, Colorado's castles were primarily built by wealthy late-19th-century capitalists fulfilling ego dreams of conspicuous consumption.

Westerberg traces the history of 20 Colorado castles, ranging from Denver's Castle Marne and Richthofen Castle to Donald "Cano" Espinoza's "aluminum can" castle in Antonito and Jim Bishop's contemporary one-man structure, still under construction in Beulah. She also includes family scandals and possible hauntings, as well as relevant information regarding tours. Countless color photos enhance the text.

Final word: Westerberg has thoroughly researched her subject, but extraneous information and an uneven writing style, alternating factual information with slangy interpolations and trite phrases, is a major distraction.

-Joan Hinkemeyer

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