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Specialty bookshelf, January 18

By Jane Dickinson, Mark Graham, Jennifer Miller, Peter Mergendahl, Special to the Rocky

Published January 18, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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MYSTERY

Blue Heaven

C.J. Box. St. Martin's Minotaur, $24.95. Grade: A

Here's some perfect reading for the National Western Stock Show: Wyoming writer Box has quickly established himself as one of the top U.S. mystery authors, a terrific new voice who lives just up the road near Cheyenne. It doesn't hurt a bit that he's a good-lookin' cowboy, either (see for yourself when he makes an appearance at noon, Jan. 26, at Murder By The Book, 1574 S. Pearl St.).

In Blue Heaven, he departs from his six-book series featuring beloved game warden Joe Pickett to pen a stand-alone thriller about two children who witness a murder in North Idaho. In a world of betrayals, it's the old-fashioned ranching West, personified by struggling rancher Jess Rawlings, that saves them.

Each of Box's books highlights Western issues: In Blue Heaven, he delineates the tensions between eager newcomers and established residents, the New and Old Wests, in a desirable retirement area.

Final word: If you've somehow missed reading Box, don't miss Blue Heaven.

Jane Dickinson

HORROR

I Am Legend (Movie Tie-In Collection)

By Richard Matheson. Tor, $14.95, trade paperback; $7.99, mass-market paperback. Grade: A

This is a new edition of a horror classic. As you may know by now from the movie inspired by the 160-page title story, nearly every man, woman and child on Earth either has died or been infected with a virus that causes the victims to become vampires. Robert Neville is, or thinks he is, the last uninfected man on Earth. This isolated individual makes Robinson Crusoe look like a socialite.

The cover of the new edition with Will Smith walking out of a cityscape makes no mention that this is a collection of stories. Consider the additional tales a bonus, and each one worthy in its own right.

Final word: When I first read I Am Legend, I thought it was one of the scariest books I ever read. Every time I reread it, I feel that same sense of dread.

Mark Graham

CHILDREN

DOWN You Were Loved Before You Were Born

By Eve Bunting and Karen Barbour. The Blue Sky Press, $16.99, ages 4-8. Grade: B

Barbour's paintings are as magical as fairy dust in this lovingly told story by Caldecott-winner Bunting (Smoky Night) about a family preparing for a baby's birth. Written to the reader and told by a mother, Bunting's story expresses how instantly parents feel love for their child - blossoming even before birth, as a rainbow of dots adorning Barbour's abstract trees seems to suggest.

She then describes how each family member and friend celebrates the baby's arrival: Your grandmother plants a rosebush that grows as you grow; your aunt paints a sweeping constellation of stars and moons across your nursery walls; the boys and girls from your mom's dance class paint a welcoming banner so big they have to edge it through the door.

Final word: Bunting's message isn't original, but accompanied by Barbour's art, it will swell the heart of any new parent.

Jennifer Miller

THRILLER

The Painter of Battles

By Arturo Perez-Reverte. Random House, $24.95. Grade: A

As this compelling tale opens, a famous war photographer has put down his cameras and picked up a paintbrush. Andres Faulques is painting a gigantic mural on the inside of a tower, one that will depict the greatest battles in history. Faulques is engaged in his solitary pursuit one night when a stranger comes to kill him. The arrival of Faulques' ostensible assassin isn't about the killing of Faulques so much as it's about why his killer has tracked him down. The painter's motives in his paintings and the killer's in his purpose are of the same canvas, and they prove intertwined.

Final word: A much more sedate and meditative story than this brief description might imply, The Painter of Battles is nonetheless a gripping and wrenching view of the motives of men and women, both in war and love through the ages.

Peter Mergendahl