"Village of the Ghost Bears" by Stan Jones (Soho Press, 352 pages, $24)

Alaska State Trooper Nathan Active has just about the perfect surname for his job, and in the latest mystery in this near-perfect series, Active investigates the discovery of a dead hunter on a remote lake, a "blue teardrop cupped in the foothills of the Brook Range." A deadly fire at a village community center kills the local police chief, and Active discovers the crimes are connected. If your knowledge of Alaska, like mine, is superficial at best and skewed at worst (thanks to recent election politics), you'll appreciate the cultural authenticity and the stark vividness of the book's isolated settings.

"Necessary as Blood" by Deborah Crombie (William Morrow, 384 pages, $24.99)

Like Elizabeth George, Crombie is an American who sets her mysteries in England, and like George, Crombie creates intelligent professionals with rich personal lives to which the reader is given access and insight. Crombie's main characters, Scotland Yard detectives Gemma James and Duncan Kincaid, are partners at work and at home, and Crombie balances their professional and private lives with aplomb. When an artist disappears from a bustling market in London's East End, James and Kincaid investigate. When the artist's husband, a lawyer of Pakistani heritage, also vanishes, the resulting investigation comes too close to home for comfort. This is a layered, elegant mystery about the ties that bind families and communities and the bigotry and depravity that can tear them asunder.

"London Boulevard" by Ken Bruen (Minotaur, 256 pages, $24.99)

Irish writer Ken Bruen's style has been likened to James Joyce's, if Joyce had written noir. Trust me, the description's not hyperbole. Bruen's prose is ice-pick sharp, his tone defiantly cynical, and his themes marry violence and philosophy in a way that's hard to resist. In his latest, Bruen is not so much channeling the Irish bard as he is re-imagining Billy Wilder after a shot of Bushmills. This clever pastiche of "Sunset Boulevard" is a gritty gem. Ex-con Mitchell, who remembers nothing about the brutal crime that sent him to prison, takes a job with a fading film star in her swanky London mansion. Mitchell's trying to avoid a nasty loan shark who wants Mitchell's enforcer skills, and the film star, well, you know the story, she's desperate. "In Irish," a character says, "bronach ... means sadness but a lot more." This book exactly. Read it before the film comes out.

Star Tribune, Star Tribune
Detective Stories, edited by Peter Washington

"Detective Stories" edited by Peter Washington (Everyman Library, 384 pages, $15)

This outstanding collection of short stories has something for everyone, including a few unusual choices that even the well-schooled in the genre will relish. Opening with an exceptional Sara Paretsky story involving a deadly Mahjong game, the collection travels back in time, stopping in the mid-20th century with tales from Ruth Rendell, Georges Simenon and a post-modern treat from Jorge Luis Borges. Terrific tales from two of the trinity of the hard-boiled -- Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett -- follow. Sadly, Ross MacDonald is absent. The collection closes as strongly as it opens with one of Arthur Conan Doyle's best, "Silver Blaze," and a rare story from the relatively unknown 19th-century writer, Bret Harte.

"The Lineup" edited by Otto Penzler (Little, Brown and Co., 416 pages, $25.99)

Otto Penzler is a little like the Simon Cowell of the mystery world, discovering and editing talent via his New York bookstore and his numerous crime anthologies. For "The Lineup" he asked Michael Connelly, Lee Child, Carol O'Connell, Robert Crais, Faye Kellerman and Ian Rankin, among others, to write about the genesis and "the inside story" of their main characters. Mystery fans will find plenty of dish in this collection of essays, including the scoop on Kellerman's Peter Decker and Rina Lazerus, the etymology of Jack Reacher's name, and why Carol O'Connell's Mallory is such a fierce fictional broad.

"Talking About Detective Fiction" by P.D. James (Knopf, 208 pages, $22)

Those of us who spend our time pages deep in murder and mayhem are, for the most part, mild-mannered and peace loving. Really, we are. This paradox infuses James' little book. With a delightful matter-of-factness, she explores her lifelong passion for reading and writing about murder. Whether she's tracing the mystery's beginnings, surmising about its future or examining its "highly organized structure and recognized conventions," her style is charming, witty and thoroughly engaging. James is a staunch defender of the art of the mystery and an erudite admirer of its canon.

Carole E. Barrowman teaches at Alverno College in Milwaukee and blogs at carolebarrowman.com.