New crime-fiction roundup

Summer's here, at least officially, and where better to look for a beach read than damp old Ireland?

Tana French, a ridiculously talented writer living in Dublin, snagged an Edgar Award with her 2007 debut, "In the Woods." "The Likeness" (Viking, 497 pp., $24.95) is equally stunning — a mesmerizing blend of cop story, character study and psychological suspense.

Dublin police detective Cassie Maddox is summoned to a murder scene. The victim is Lexie Madison, university student. She's also Cassie's near double — and was using an identity Cassie created when working undercover. Perplexed but willing to take the opportunity, Cassie's boss concocts a story that Lexie survived, and — despite misgivings — Cassie goes undercover again.

The victim lived in the country with four other students, all best friends. Cassie plays her part convincingly, and at first they're delighted to see "Lexie" again.

Then hardheaded Cassie, longing for close friendship in real life, starts to weaken. Why not leave her harsh world behind and live in a shabby country mansion with four chums forever? But a disturbing secret threatens the group's closeness, and the distinctions between real and not-real begin to blur. The results are shattering.

From another Irish author — Man Booker Prize winner John Banville, writing as Benjamin Black — comes a short, sharp piece of work, originally a newspaper serial: "The Lemur" (Picador, 132 pp., $13 paper).

John Glass is a failed journalist, living in New York and unhappily married to wealth. His zillionaire father-in-law hires Glass to write a biography of him. Glass engages a researcher — who is then murdered, perhaps because of what he uncovers about the great man's life.

Need more cool summer reading? Try "The Dawn Patrol" (Knopf, 320 pp., $23.95), from the criminally underappreciated Californian Don Winslow.

Boone Daniels, a private eye who lives to surf, reluctantly turns landlubber to help a bossy female lawyer find a missing client, and his eccentric fellow beach rats help out. The result is a tasty combo plate of laid-back surfing, Southern California weirdness and motley ethnic groups — plus passionate love songs to monster ocean waves and bitchin' fish tacos.

For the record: I totally agree with Boone. Everything does taste better on a tortilla.

Another swell summer book, this one in the Guilty Pleasure Department, is Duane Swierczynski's "Severance Package" (St. Martin's, 264 pp., $13.95 paper). It's as gleefully crude, cartoonishly violent and as thoroughly addictive as the best (or worst) of Tarantino and Spillane.

Plus, it's got a great hook: Your bosses really are out to get you.

The bigwigs of Murphy, Knox & Associates in Philadelphia have called a corporate meeting. Bad enough that it's a miserably hot Saturday; worse that the meeting's purpose is to kill the staff.

The company, it seems, is a front for some supersecret agency — and is being dismantled. The body count climbs fast, as do the rapid-fire, darkly funny crosses and double-crosses.

And more, from three seasoned pros:

Lee Child's "Nothing to Lose" (Delacorte, 407 pp., $27) continues the adventures of Jack Reacher, still the thinking man's (and woman's) action hero; here, the brilliant and wry superman stubbornly insists on unlocking the secrets behind the twin towns of Hope and Despair, Colo.

Fashion-challenged bounty hunter Stephanie Plum returns in "Fearless Fourteen" (St. Martin's, 320 pp., $27.95) by Janet Evanovich, a scattered but funny mash-up about stolen money, sullen teens, kidnapping and improbable wedding plans.

And Robert B. Parker's "Resolution" (Putnam, 304 pp., $25.95) is another of his scrappy, laconic Old West tales, with the free-riding protagonists from "Appaloosa" returning in a story of evil mine owners and loosely established law.

Finally: Congratulations and best of luck to Seattle's J. Kingston Pierce, whose totally cool mystery/thriller Web site, The Rap Sheet, is up for a 2008 Anthony Award. Remember, Jeff: It's an honor just to be nominated. Winners of the prestigious awards will be announced in October; find all the nominees at www.charmedtodeath.com/anthonys.html.

Seattle writer Adam Woog's column on crime fiction appears on the second Sunday of the month in The Seattle Times.