Local offerings

"Night Falls on Damascus" by Frederick Highland (Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's Minotaur, $24.95). The Bellingham writer's latest thriller is set in 1930s Syria and features a French-Syrian police inspector investigating the murder of "a beautiful and controversial woman from a prominent Damascus family."

"National Park, City Playground: Mount Rainier in the Twentieth Century" by Theodore Catton (University of Washington Press, $18.95). A Montana writer argues that "from the late 1890s, when the Pacific Forest Preserve became Mount Rainier National Park, the evolving relationship between the mountain and its surrounding residents has told a history of the region itself."

"Ocean Duets" by Barbara Sleeper, photographs by Michele Westmorland (Fulcrum, $12.95). Striking color photographs by Mill Creek resident Westmorland are matched with informative text by Bothell writer Sleeper in this photo essay about marine life. With an introduction by Dr. Sylvia A. Earle.

"No Sweeter Fat" by Nancy Pagh (Autumn House, $14.95, www.autumnhouse.org). A collection of verse by a Bellingham poet, including a number of "fat lady" poems about "obesity and body consciousness," as well as a number that draw inspiration from Pacific Northwest sights and sounds. Winner of the 2006 Autumn House Press poetry prize.

"Killing Spree" by Kevin O'Brien (Pinnacle, $6.99). The Seattle writer's new crime novel focuses on a series of murders "so bizarre, so random, no one would think to connect them, except Seattle writer Gillian McBride."

"Renton: From Coal to Jets" by Morda C. Slauson (Renton Historical Society, $15, www.rentonhistory.org). A revised edition of Slauson's 1976 history of the town on the southern end of Lake Washington.

Michael Upchurch, Seattle Times book critic