Best Fiction Books

7 In Pursuit of the Proper Sinner Elizabeth George (Bantam, $25.95)

Two grisly murders were committed in the remote Derbyshire moors, and it's up to Det. Thomas Lynley and his recently disgraced partner, Barbara Havers, to figure out what went down. In her latest thoroughly British thriller (book 10 of the wildly popular series), American author George serves up a smashing mix of pitch-perfect Brit dialogue, a meticulously researched sense of place, and impeccably drawn characters. Some may call it too graphic and — clocking in at 594 pages — too long. We call it bloody marvelous.

8 Cruddy Lynda Barry (Simon & Schuster, $23)

The cartoonist proves she can write beyond comic-strip confines in this hilariously macabre novel. Framed as a suicide note written by a teenager named Roberta, Cruddy interweaves two narratives: one of Roberta at 11, the other of her five years later. The drug-hazed tale is all the more impressive because it depicts the horror of a mangled family without a shred of self-pity.

9 Headlong Michael Frayn (Metropolitan Books, $26)

"Many of the world's great treasures are known to be lost...I believe I may have found one of them." Thus begins the deliciously tragicomic story of Martin Clay, a philosopher who's convinced he's discovered a long-lost Brueghel. In witty, wicked prose, Frayn details the lengths Clay will go to obtain the painting--and offers a gleefully sharp picture of irrational obsession.

10 Dutch: A Memoir of Ronald Reagan Edmund Morris (Random House, $35)

With all the ruckus surrounding Reagan biographer Morris' conceit — inserting himself into the narrative as a fictional character who interacts with the former President—we're all forgetting that truth is relative. Especially when it's as gracefully written and imaginative as this. With its believable, re-created dialogue and lovely descriptions of what could (conceivably) have been, the 14-years-in-the-making Dutch is surely one of the most thoroughly researched novels ever.