Ooops! Books are due at the library and I haven’t told you about them yet. This calls for a few quickies.

A Kiss Before the Apocalypse: A Remy Chandler Novel by Thomas E. Sniegoski (Roc, 2008, mass market paperback, $6.99): The basic concept behind this book is interesting: an angel chooses to live as a human, trying to figure out why God so loves these creatures, and finding his answer in such things as his love for his wife and the taste of a good cup of coffee. Boston private investigator Remy Chandler is actually Remiel, one of the Seraphim. While it may seem like a fall of epic proportions to give up a position in heaven in order to spy on a cheating husband, Remy doesn’t see it that way. But one such case is very strange indeed: a man shoots his lover in the head and chest, and then turns the gun on himself, but neither of them dies. In fact, no one in the world is dying. It soon becomes apparent that the Angel of Death has given up taking souls – perhaps because, like Remy, he has experienced what it is to be human, and can no longer bear to do the job. Other celestial forces see their chance to bring God’s great experiment to an end by unleashing the apocalypse, restoring the angels to what they see as their rightful place as God’s favorites. Despite this promising premise, however, A Kiss Before the Apocalypse: A Remy Chandler Novel is not as good as it should be. Although Sniegoski is plainly trying for a classic bit of noir, his writing is not good enough to pull it off. The plotting is hindered by too many dead ends and too many characters. I would have guessed that this was a first novel and been likely to excuse the problems, but the “About the Author” section indicates that Sniegoski has quite a few books under his belt already. Maybe the next in this series will work better, now that the characters have been introduced and the essential conceit already explained. The idea behind this one is good enough that I’m willing to give the series a second chance.

The Women of Nell Gwynne's by Kage Baker (Subterranean Press, 2009, hardcover, $35.00): This steampunk novella about the very, very smart employees of an upscale whorehouse is slight but fun. The ladies of the night are actually spies for the government, servicing diplomats and politicians in order to preserve early-Victorian England from its enemies. They are outfitted with gadgets that would make James Bond drool. In this adventure, they are assigned to uncover the secrets behind what appears to be an antigravity device that an English peer is auctioning off to the highest bidder, no matter what country he is from. Naturally, murder ensues; naturally, the women must figure out whodunit. It’s quite the romp. (Sadly, Kage Baker died this morning of cancer, as reported in Greenman Review. I will miss her witty, smart writing very much.)

The Murderers' Club by P.D. Martin (Mira Books, 2007, mass market paperback reprint, $6.99): I picked this book up because the premise seemed so interesting to me: a club of serial killers have banded together, assembling a group of victims and watching one another’s exploits with glee. I wish that Martin’s heroine and first person narrator, Sophie Anderson, weren’t burdened with psychic powers as well as intelligence and good looks; the gimmick is completely unnecessary, and detracts from the story of how law enforcement personnel track down these murderers. The writing is not as tight and sharp as it should be to build a proper degree of suspense, and I found myself wishing I were watching “Criminal Minds” instead of reading this novel. If you need something to read on your next flight, you’d probably do better to pick up the most recent Jack Reacher novel by Lee Child – but if you’ve read them all, this will do in a pinch.