The shocking discovery of a woman's body naked and headlessDalong the shores of the Silver River in Sierra County, Calif., sets off a series of interrelated events that will have readers guessing about the killer's identity until the final pages of this thriller. The small-town suspects are many, including the victim's husband, Professor Grant Parkington, who has a reputation for fooling around with his students; Bass Paxton, whoDalong with girlfriend Faye Everett (with whom Parkington once had an affair) found the body; and Merton LeRoy, a gay ex-convict who sells drugs and turns tricks inside a van parked down by the river. At the center of the investigation are Sheriff Rusty Hodges and his hotshot female deputy and daughter-in-law, Mary, nicknamed "Pac" because of her father's allegiance to football's Green Bay Packers. The murder occurs almost immediately, and Laymon (Bite, etc.) devotes the rest of his book to the search for the killer, rarely detouring from his primary aim except to throw in an occasional provocative story twist or a bit of gratuitous sex and gore. Outside of Hodges, few characters are worth rooting for, as all of them display despicable qualities. But such flaws make Laymon's one-track story more intriguing and more realistic. (Nov.)

Melanie Conway is a pale and lovely violinist who has strange visions of death. When she crashes to the floor during a concert her boyfriend, Bodie, is at hand to hear her fearful premonition of disaster... Penelope Conway is even more stunning than her sister but her looks frequently get her into trouble. Although she takes herself seriously as a writer, men only seem impressed by her beauty. The last thing she needs is a series of obscene phone calls... Captivated by these two alluring sisters, Bodie finds himself drawn deep into a strange mystery that is fired by sex and haunted by blood.

A marathon: 26 miles and 385 yards. The greatest running test. Just finishing the race is enough for most runners. But not for Rod Claymore. He's out to win---whatever the cost.

From Publishers WeeklyHere's another Halloween offering from Cemetery Dance, which, with last year's anthology October Dreams and the forthcoming anthology Trick or Treat, plus last year's Richard Laymon novel, Once Upon a Halloween, is emerging as a notable publisher of Halloween-related fiction. This is a slight tale, suitable for all ages but of primary interest to kids, about the adventures of one Timothy Maywood Usher Mouse. Timothy lives in a public library and yearns for the sort of adventure he's read about in the books that surround him. One day he works up his courage and leaves his shelter through a window, only to encounter a snake (that he fools with a piece of candy corn), trick-or-treaters and a cat, which he escapes by taking refuge in a jack-o'-lantern that rolls into a local river. When last seen, Timothy is sailing to unknown shores, enjoying the world from his perch atop the jack-o'-lantern's nose. Laymon, who died in February, is known for his meandering, you-are-there plots and tight, sensual writing. Here, though, the meandering seems almost arbitrary, offering just one obstacle after another thrown in the path of the intrepid mouse, and the prose lacks Laymon's usual punch and precision. Much more effective are Clark's full-color illustrations, which capture the mystery, magic and delicious terror of Halloween via bold, intense colors and dramatic angles of view. While it's not a major addition to Halloweeniana, this volume will appeal to Laymon completists, Clark fans and anyone who can't get enough of America's second-favorite holiday. Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

SUMMARY: DARKNESS, TELL US It starts at an end-of-term party. Six college kids and a Ouija board. The board that Professor Coreen Dalton had hidden at the back of a cupboard and sworn never to touch again - not after Jake's death. And now here are these kids falling for the revelations of a spirit called Butler, swallowing it's promise of a fortune hidden in the mountains. Not that Corie believes they would be stupid enough to head off in to the wilderness on the say-so of a child's plaything. To embark on a two-day hike into the unknown where any foul danger may lie in wait to cut and slice and tear them limb from limb. But then, professor or not, Corie could be wrong... ONE RAINY NIGHT The water drops like a shroud on the town of Bixby. Warm, viscous and unnatural, it coats the inhabitants in an unending torrent - and turns them into crazy, hate-filled maniacs. A helpful stranger at a gas station shoves a petrol pump down a customer's throat and squeezes the trigger. A soaking-wet queue of cinema-goers smashes its way inside the movie house to slice up the dry people within. A loving wife attacks her husband, bouncing the back of his head on the marble floor until it sounds like sloppy wet meat...

It's Halloween night. The old Witherspoon house stands all alone in the dark, the last house on a dead-end street. Its only neighbors are thick woods and a moonlit graveyard. Not long ago, a grisly murder/suicide took place in the house. Now, it is said to be haunted. Haunted but no longer abandoned. Three years ago, Laura and Shannon moved in. They're young, pretty, friendly... and, best of all, generous with candy on Halloween. Tonight, they're getting ready for a costume party. Shannon is upstairs getting dressed and Laura is downstairs handing out candy to trick-or-treaters. It's a perfect Halloween night until Laura opens the door and finds herself facing a lone teenaged boy... a terrified boy who says: "Let me in! They're gonna get me!" And, for Laura and Shannon, the party begins. It's Halloween night and there are ghosts and goblins in the streets. And something much worse in the graveyard.*** From Publishers Weekly Laymon and Halloween. That sounds like a perfect mix, with the author of the gleefully malevolent The Traveling Vampire Show (Forecasts, Apr. 24) taking on the spookiest night of the year. But his fans know that Laymon can be erratic, sometimes delivering shocking yet emotionally astute entertainments, at other times turning in tangled terrors drenched in sex and gore. The latter, unfortunately, more closely describes his new novel, despite its fast, smart start, in which horror descends like a howling banshee on two young women dispensing candy to trick-or-treaters. A teen boy, Hunter, comes banging on Shannon and Laura's door, claiming he's being chased by a pack of naked adults-witches? Soon the house is under attack by nude sword- and axe-wielding maniacs. A local dad escorting a bunch of kids gets caught in the ensuing mayhem, which features numerous cuttings and, in time, the spectacle of Shannon and Laura stripped and trussed together in the local graveyard as the villains prepare for human sacrifice. Laymon ups the ante to supernatural horror by tossing in a homicidal spirit who's haunting Shannon and Laura's house, but that element only adds to the confusion already made rampant through frenzied racing and chasing by too many characters who don't grow from beginning to end, despite their ordeals. Laymon boasts an intensely loyal following, so this novel will likely sell out its limited print run, but while his fans will love the richly depicted seasonal setting and Laymon's ability to make pages riffle as if in high wind, they'll also sense that, ultimately, this is one sputtering jack o'lantern.

Blake Douglas was a smart undercover cop. He knew he had only one chance to bust this group of terrorists. He'd have to become the Cobra---their top assassin. But he couldn't have known how attracted he'd be to one of the terrorists. What was he going to do about Lana?