This Must Be the Place
By Maggie O'Farrell. (Vintage, 382 pages, $16.95.)
This was one of my favorite novels of last year — one of many that I read and didn't, for various reasons, get a chance to write about, so I am glad to see it all new again in a paperback edition. "This Must Be the Place" is a family saga, the story of Daniel and his wife, Claudette, a reclusive movie star, who live in a ramshackle house in extremely rural Donegal in Ireland. Daniel has two children from a previous marriage, and a secret from his past that is threatening to undo him.
The story is told not chronologically, but as a mosaic, in chapters that skip around in time (the book covers roughly 1940 to present day) and from multiple points of view, slowly revealing secrets that reverberate through the years and haunt the present.
As with O'Farrell's earlier novels ("Instructions for a Heatwave," "The Hand That First Held Mine"), "This Must Be the Place" is seamlessly written and engrossing. And as with her earlier books, it is also is shot through with wisdom about families, relationships, forgiveness and love.
LAURIE HERTZEL
Fallout: A V.I. Warshawski Novel
By Sara Paretsky. (William Morrow, 433 pages, $27.99.)
Chicago detective V.I. Warshawski is back and sharper than ever. Author Sara Paretsky's latest — "Fallout" — finds our intrepid private detective searching for a film student and a former Hollywood star who have gone missing.
A family connection and several calls prompt Warshawski to load her dog, Peppy, into the car and set out for Lawrence, Kan., on a road trip that ultimately will involve murder, missile silos, biological warfare, radiation, quasi-military vigilantes, racism, crooked cops, protesters, property rights, contaminated soil, a conspiracy or three and a near-death experience. She has boyfriend trouble, too.
But the ever thorough sleuth mostly keeps her temper as she and Peppy sniff out every clue and run down every lead in this substantial, twisting mystery novel.
The author of the much praised series grew up in Kansas, where she obviously noticed the follies of small-town life. Paretsky began writing V.I. Warshawski stories about 30 years ago, and her tales are favorites of esteemed authors in the genre — at least judging by the book jacket.
Anyone who likes a good detective story will like this book.
BECKY WELTER
