Need some tasty fiction to distract you from gray spring days? Here are a half-dozen recent paperbacks worth a look:
"Magpie Murders" by Anthony Horowitz (HarperCollins, $16.99). One of my favorite mysteries of last year, Horowitz's book is part classic-English-village-whodunit and part sly satire of publishing.
"A Separation" by Katie Kitamura (Penguin, $16). In her review, Melinda Bargreen described Kitamura's book, about a wife searching for her estranged husband in Greece, as "a taut little novel with disquieting observations about secrets, lies, and the ways in which we all are impenetrable to each other."
"The Night Ocean" by Paul La Farge (Penguin, $17). Reviewer Michael Upchurch called this novel, which explores a labyrinthine, elusive chapter in the life of horror writer H.P. Lovecraft, "a heady masterpiece."
"House of Names" by Colm Toibin (Scribner, $16). Toibin draws from Greek myth to create this novel, providing, as reviewer David Wright wrote last year, "a stunning and intensely satisfying immersion in bloody vengeance that would do Aeschylus proud."
"No One Is Coming To Save Us" by Stephanie Powell Watts (Ecco, $16.99). The inaugural pick for the American Library Association's Book Club Central last year, Watts' book is inspired by "The Great Gatsby," but finds its own gentle Southern music.
"The Force" by Don Winslow (HarperCollins, $16.99). Last year, I wrote "this tale of a once-good now-dirty NYPD detective played out in my head like the best cop movie I'd ever seen." Better read it soon, as that movie's on the way: Oscar nominee Scott Frank ("Logan") is at work on the screenplay.