Emily Arsenault

The Battle siblings are basically a mess. Sister Theresa - the book's narrator - writes ad copy for a scented candle company while "finishing" a PhD dissertation that will probably never get done. Her kindly and literal-genius brother, Jeff, has lost his job driving a school bus and morphed into a gentle do-nothing - at least until his new girlfriend gets murdered. It doesn't take long for police to arrest Jeff and, despite overwhelmingly incriminating evidence, Theresa sets out to figure out who and why might want to frame her brother. It's on the surface a damned good mystery. But Arsenault's sense of narrative and character development are unerring and quite witty. Too, she's just a masterful writer who sneaks up with bits of description or a turn of phrase that make you pause to smile and ponder her gift.

- RICK KOSTER