The Convictions of John Delahunt, by Andrew Hughes (Pegasus), sweeps readers confidently--and on the wings of some elegant prose--into the poverty-encumbered world of 1840s Dublin, where a young paid informant for the British government awaits hanging for the brutal murder of a small boy. Based on historical events, Hughes’ debut novel finds former Trinity College student John Delahunt reflecting in his prison cell on his clandestine activities, the romance he’d enjoyed with the sister of a rebellious friend, and the ways in which he betrayed others ... and was in turn betrayed. Charlie Martz and Other Stories (Morrow) finds Elmore Leonard--who died in 2013--back in bookstores with a collection of 15 short tales from his early career, most of them previously unpublished. As Edward A. Grainger notes in Criminal Element, the offerings here range from Westerns (such as “Charlie Martz” and “First Western Siesta in Paloverde”) to criminal yarns (including “One, Horizontal,” about “an older brother looking for revenge for his younger sibling who had been maimed by a mobster and wisely isn’t looking for retribution himself”).
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