Having ranged from the Pulitzer Prize-winning A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain to the wicked fun of Hell, Butler tries something completely different: a thriller. Christopher Marlowe ("Kit") Cobb, an early 20th-century American war correspondent reporting on Mexico's civil war, witnesses the attempted assassination of a priest and the arrival of strange ships bearing German officials—and that's just the beginning. Especially promising for your smart thriller readers; with a 12-city tour.

Pulitzer Prize-winner Butler is a restless, questing writer whose topics and style vary widely from book to book. His 13th novel (after A Small Hotel) is his first spy thriller, and it's good. When crack reporter Christopher Marlowe Cobb lands in Vera Cruz, Mexico, in April 1914, he finds no war to report on. American troops are on the ground, but President Woodrow Wilson seems reluctant to move them. The Germans, sensing an advantage in the Mexican resentment of Americans, dispatch a secret emissary to woo Pancho Villa to their side. Can Kit stop him? VERDICT The plot clips along, and Kit is an attractive hero. But Butler writes action scenes almost too well: the stream-of-consciousness tone doesn't mesh with the novel's punchy prose style and Kit's ironic asides. But this is a minor criticism in an otherwise enjoyable novel that should attract devotees of espionage and historical fiction. Let's hope we see more of Kit Cobb, reluctant hero. [See Prepub Alert, 4/30/12.]—David Keymer, Modesto CA

Pulitzer Prize–winner Butler's ambitious first crime novel introduces Christopher Marlowe "Kit" Cobb, an American war correspondent who has come to Vera Cruz, Mexico, in 1914 to cover the country's civil war. A passionate believer in the power of a free press and the moral superiority of the United States, Kit is no mere observer. He assumes a false identity to pursue German diplomat Friedrich von Mensinger en route to a meeting with revolutionary leader Pancho Villa, and the correspondent soon finds himself up to his neck in political intrigue. The large cast includes laundress Luisa Morales, a pretty señorita with whom Kit becomes romantically involved; Gerhard Vogel, an American-born German soldier; and a resourceful pickpocket, Diego, who acts as Kit's eyes and ears. A fine stylist, Butler (A Small Hotel) renders the time and place in perfect detail, though readers should be prepared for a sluggish plot that lingers over the minutiae of the political machinations. Agent: Warren Frazier, John Hawkins & Associates. (Oct.)