3 by Julia Spencer Fleming

A Fountain Filled With Blood is the second mystery in the series about Episcopal Priest Clare Fergusson and police chief Russ Van Alstyne. This time out, Clare gets involved in investigating a series of attacks on closeted (and not so closeted) gays in her small upstate NY town.

Out of the Deep I Cry, the 3rd book in the series, is a bit of a time-shifting mystery. A buried secret from prohibition days is causing mayhem and murder in Millers Kill.

To Darkness and To Death, number 4 in the series, takes place on the day of big party in the new resort in Millers Kill. Greed, eco-warriors, family tensions, and a missing woman add confusion to the mix.

In each of the first 4 books, Clare and Russ have been fighting their growing attraction to each other--book 4 brings things to a head, as Russ decides to leave his wife to follow his heart to Clare.

The Night Gardener by George Pelecanos

The Night Gardener takes place in D.C., like other Pelecanos books. This time out, two ex-cops and and couple of current cops are trying to make sense of a murder that looks a lot like some long ago serial murders.

If you have watched The Wire, it's hard not to feel like you're reading a story arc from that series. Pelecanos worked on The Wire, and either it sounds like him or he sounds like it.

In any case, this is a fast-paced, gritty, and beautifully observed story. Anyone who has liked previous Pelecanos books will want to read this one. Anyone who likes The Wire, may want to give it a try.

Pelecanos still has a few tricks up his sleeve--watch for him to surprise you in this outing.

Already Dead by Charlie Huston

Already Dead is a vampire detective novel with zombie interruptions. Joe Pitt is a rogue vampire in a city of vampire "gangs", and he's trying hard to remain independent. The city is New York City, and the vampires and other assorted creatures of the night live just under the surface. Joe keeps his independence by doing favors for the muckety-mucks of the major vamp gangs--favors you might expect from a noirish detective. Joe has a few issues to resolve: he's in love with an HIV+ bartender who doesn't know he's a vamp, he has stumbled across some sort of zombie-making monster, and he's searching for a missing girl who was last seen hanging with a recently zombified murder victim.

This is the freshest of the recent crop of vamp books I've read. It's the kind of book that makes me say, "Hey, what else has this guy written?"

I Feel Bad About My Neck by Nora Ephron

A collection of essays by Nora Ephron, mostly about getting old, but some just generally about being a woman. In her usual wry style, Ephron frets about her neck, her purse, maintenance (hair, skin, nails, etc.), the fact that as a White House intern she didn't have an affair with JFK, living in NYC, etc. A quick, fun read.