OUT OF DARKNESS, SHINING LIGHT by Petina Gappah (Scribner). “This is how we carried out of Africa the poor broken body of Bwana Daudi, the Doctor, David Livingstone, so that he could be borne across the sea and buried in his own land.” That is the first sentence of this not only atmospheric, also adventurous, sad and wise historical novel of the great Livingstone's last journey, by one of its two narrators (historical characters, too, but Gappah's characters, now). Petina Gappah is Zimbabwean, an award-winning literary writer—writes, our first sentence may convince you by itself, in seemingly effortless command of a style at once gentle and powerful. This is yet another thrilling and downright commandingly enjoyable novel from today's (and tomorrow's) continent that we once thought it meaningful to call “dark.”

RIGHT AFTER THE WEATHER by Carol Anshaw (Atria). And another beautifully told novel peopled with characters some of us might find exotic. This is theater people, now—in Chicago, not New York, but the same world: just as in New York, nobody was born here, anyway. A startlingly wide variety of domestic lives are taken for granted as fine for them, so fine. (Nobody ever delivers a line like that; it's just the basic assumption, here.) And even though few of the usual rules of life apply, there are, it becomes clear, values here; tolerance for each other and loyalty to each other are both high on that scale. The sharp-eyed, sweet-natured central character is a pushing-middle-age lesbian in a seemingly unpromising relationship—and with her not comically but seriously near-psychotic ex-husband occupying a spare room in her apartment. And that's just to start with. I love this writer and these people; some of you will, too.

THE LAST SÉANCE by Agatha Christie (Morrow). I had read none of these tales of the supernatural (I'm pretty sure), and hadn't read anything of hers for years, but it was a pleasure to come across them. They're good fun and full of surprisingly strong chills. Dame Agatha had only one level of skill and concentration, ever, in whatever she was writing, over that whole great career. This is a generous collection, just in time for Halloween: twenty full-sized short stories, not snippets or stunts and not just tossed off. Oh, and Miss Marple and Inspector Poirot show up now and again.

THE CHESTNUT MAN by Søren Sveistrup (Harper). Very strong first crime novel, tense on just about every page, honestly scary violence, even a touch of real horror (not supernatural but violent). But what sets it apart is the level of depth, intelligence, of the sort we've come to expect of the rich subvariety of noir that we call Nordic (if the author's name wasn't clue enough). So, it's part police procedural: big city (Copenhagen) cops including an uncomfortable pair of partners. But also a serial/thrill killer novel; and un-put-down-able on all counts.