What’s new in bookstores

Here’s what is new in bookstores this week:

▪ Fifty Mice by Daniel Pyne (Blue Rider Press, $26.95) — The author is a screenwriter for film (the remake of The Manchurian Candidate) and TV (Alcatraz) and has written two novels (Twentynine Palms and A Hole in the Ground Owned by a Liar). His newest follows regular-guy Jay Johnson, who is whisked away into the witness protection program. His former life is erased and he has no idea what he’s supposed to know or what he supposedly saw, but one thing he does know: Trust no one.

▪ The Rosie Effect by Graeme Simsion (Simon & Schuster, $25.99) — In this sequel to the author’s bestselling The Rosie Project, Don Tillman — still sweet and still logical — and Rosie, “the world’s most perfect woman” and his bride of 10 months and 10 days, have relocated to New York for his job. When Rosie unexpectedly announces some life-changing news, it sends Don to his spreadsheets on a research mission as he’s forced to rethink all his plans for their life together. In fact, their life will never be the same again.

▪ The Brewer of Preston by Andrea Camilleri (Penguin, $15) — The bestselling author of the Inspector Montalbano mystery series offers a wacky historical comedy set in 19th-century Sicily about an opera. (It’s already a bestseller in Italy.) The production meets with a bit of resistance from the music-loving citizens of Vigàta, who aren’t ready to embrace The Brewer of Preston, an opera they’ve never heard of but one that the new prefect stubbornly wants to premiere in the town’s new theater. Forget the music. The diverse townsfolk bring plenty of their own drama.

— Celeste Williams

This story was originally published December 30, 2014 at 4:58 PM with the headline "What’s new in bookstores."