G.M. Ford, NAMELESS NIGHT. William Morrow, $23.95 (signed first edition). Clair's February favorite is Ford's first standalone. Paul Hardy is a man who's cheated death not once, but twice: once, when he was found nearly dead, with no name and no memory in a railroad car; and a second time seven years later, when a car accident restores some of his memory. What he remembers is a name – Wesley Allen Howard – and a vision of palm trees.






Martha Grimes, DAKOTA. Viking, $25.95 (signed first edition). In this sequel to BITING THE MOON, Andi Oliver finds herself in the small town of Kingdom, South Dakota, and tries to shut down the abusive practices of a pig slaughterhouse.






Ken Kuhlken, THE VAGABOND VIRGINS. Poisoned Pen, $24.95 (signed first edition). On the eve of the 1979 Mexican election, San Diego private investigator Alvaro Hickey starts hearing about apparitions of the Virgin Mary in Baja California, urging campesinos to vote against the PRI. Lourdes Shuler thinks the "Virgin" is her sister Lupe, and wants Alvaro to find her; something about her story doesn't sound right to Alvaro, but he agrees to take on the job.






Diane Wei Liang, THE EYE OF JADE. Simon & Schuster, $24.00 (signed first edition). The February Crime Club selection is a first novel and the beginning of a new series featuring Mei Wang, Beijing's first successful female private investigator. A family friend, "Uncle" Chen, hires her to track down a Han dynasty jade that disappeared during the Cultural Revolution. Now it's for sale on the black market, and Mei tracks it through back alleys, noodle bars and gambling dens. Along the way, she learns more than she wanted to know about her own family's history.






Peter May, THE CRITIC. Poisoned Pen Press, $24.95 (signed first edition). Scottish expatriate Enzo Macleod reopens a four-year-old investigation of a controversial wine critic's murder. Soon afterward, another victim is found murdered in the same way – drowned in wine.






Peter May, THE KILLING ROOM. St. Martin's Minotaur, $24.95 (signed first edition). American pathologist Margaret Campbell and Beijing detective Li Yan investigate a horrifying mass murder of women in Shanghai.






T. Jefferson Parker, L.A. OUTLAWS. Dutton, $25.95 (signed first edition) Murietta" is a modern-day Robin Hood who steals from the wealthy, donates much of her take to charity – and invites the media along for the ride. It's all fun and games until a heist ends with ten dead gangsters and half a million in diamonds missing. Sheriff's Deputy Charlie Hood investigates the case, taking a particular interest in an eyewitness named Suzanne Jones – who has secrets of her own. Linda picked this book as her February favorite, and says it's "fast and fun, and showcases Parker's love for Southern California, with all its dusty heat and history."






Cornelia Read, THE CRAZY SCHOOL. Grand Central Publishing, $23.99 (signed first edition). Bobby's February favorite is the sequel to 2006's acclaimed A FIELD OF DARKNESS. Madeline Dare and her husband have left Syracuse for western Massachusetts, but when Madeline's husband's job offer falls through, she has to scramble to find work. She takes a teaching job at the Santangelo Academy, a boarding school for disturbed teenagers, and finds that the school's most serious problems don't belong to the students.






April Smith, JUDAS HORSE. Knopf, $23.95 (signed first edition). FBI Agent Ana Grey makes her long-awaited return after the shattering events of GOOD MORNING, KILLER. Returning to the job, she learns that a group of radical animal-rights activists has assassinated one of her colleagues. Ana goes undercover to infiltrate a group that calls itself Free Animals Now, led by an unstable, charismatic leader who's planning one final, monstrous act of terrorism.






Louise Ure, THE FAULT TREE. St. Martin's Minotaur, $24.95 (signed first edition). Auto mechanic Cadence Moran was blinded in an accident eight years ago. As she walks home from work one night, a speeding car almost runs her down; Cadence thinks it's an accident, or road rage, but it proves to be something more sinister. She's the only witness to her elderly neighbor's murder, and the killer thinks that she saw the getaway car.






Betty Webb, DESERT CUT. Poisoned Pen, $24.95 (signed first edition). Private eye Lena Jones and her boyfriend, film director Warren Quinn, discover the mutilated body of a young girl in a shallow grave near Los Perdidos, Arizona. As Lena investigates, she runs up against local law enforcement, and discovers a small town torn apart by its opposition to illegal immigration.