Napoleon's Pyramids

William Dietrich grounds this adventure tale with real historic detail. In post-revolutionary France an American expat is wrested from his dilettante life by a mysterious Egyptian medallion he wins in a card game. Forced to flee Paris, Ethan Gage joins Napoleon Bonaparte's 1798 army-cum-scientific expedition to Egypt. His reluctant quest to find the meaning of the medallion will pitch him against harrowing battles, cruel villains, unlikely allies, and, towering above them all, the ancient pyramids. Gage, resourceful but out of his depth, makes for an appealing hero and the historical characters are well-observed. Dietrich succeeds by keeping things believable, avoiding anachronistic dialogue and wildly implausible ancient technology. -- János

Request Napoleon's Pyramids or its sequel The Rosetta Key from the Saint Paul Public Library.

The Tenderness of Wolves

First-time novelist Stef Penney won the 2006 Costa Award (successor to the Whitbread) for this chilly adventure. It is 1867 in Canada's Northern Territory and the Hudson Bay Company's fur trading posts are the going concern. When a murder happens in the tiny settlement of Dove River, it is men from the Company who come to investigate. Woven into this murder is a love story and an avalanche of history.

Readalikes: The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje and The Master Butchers Singing Club and Louise Erdrich. --Jenny H.

Request The Tenderness of Wolves from the Saint Paul Public Library.

Midnight Mass

F. Paul Wilson, author of the popular Adversary and Repairman Jack series has written a what-if horror story to keep you awake at night. Vampires are real, their undead plague has overrun Europe and is invading America. In a small New Jersey coastal town an unlikely team gathers around a disgraced priest - a crucifix-wearing rabbi, a bomb-making nun, and a lesbian atheist – to battle against the vampires and their willing human thralls in a roller-coaster ride of violent action and suspenseful terror. -- GAK @ HH

Request Midnight Mass from the Saint Paul Public Library.