"The Spare Wife" by Alex Witchel (Knopf, $23.95)

Ponce Morris is the title character of Alex Witchel's new novel, but she is no boring third wheel.

She is a gorgeous 40-something who befriends both wives and husbands in the glittering world of the Manhattan literati.

Everyone assumes that Ponce, who is divorced and so rich that she does volunteer legal work, doesn't have a romantic bone in her body -- until Babette Steele, a ferociously ambitious aspiring journalist, finds out that Ponce is having an affair with a renowned fertility doctor.

Witchel, a New York Times reporter, writes with insider's insight about a high-powered world where the personal trainer has replaced the bartender as confidante, and where aging women look warily over their shoulders at young beauties.

But, if she has the mannerisms right in this breezy book, Witchel misses with an over-the-top ending as Ponce tries to save her hide and bring down the evil young Babette.

As morality plays go, it is hard to muster much sympathy for Ponce, a philandering former model, or the other characters inhabiting this shallow world.

-- By Cristina Rouvalis, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

"Lady Killer" by Lisa Scottoline (Harper, $25.95)

The latest thriller from the prolific Lisa Scottoline features the reappearance of lawyer Mary DiNunzio, a tough South Philadelphian who usually handles small-time neighborhood disputes.

Mary is approached by a former "mean girl" from her high school past who's looking for her assistance in ditching a mob-connected boyfriend. Still smarting from old slights, Mary gives her less than enthusiastic legal help.

When the old friend disappears, she faces intense pressure to solve the case. Along the way, Mary is forced to confront dark forces in the neighborhood and her own past as well.

"Lady Killer" isn't going to win any prizes for literature, and the resolution to this mystery is pretty unbelievable, even by the standards of the genre.

But if you're already a fan of Scottoline's best sellers or are simply looking for a pleasant way to get through a long plane ride, this tome will give you more of the same.

-- By Gretchen McKay, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

(Lisa Scottoline stops at the Oakmont Public Library Thursday at 7 p.m. in a Mystery Lovers Bookshop event. Tickets are $5. Call 412-828-4877. )

"The Anatomy of Deception" by Lawrence Goldstone (Delacorte Press, $24)

In 1889 Philadelphia, the physicians at University Hospital are learning to take medicine out of the bloody dark ages under the teaching of Canadian William Osler, one of several real people in this overheated murder mystery.

Another is painter Thomas Eakins, whose realistic work, "The Agnew Clinic," decorates the book jacket.

Dr. Ephraim Carroll is one of the fictional characters who finds himself in the middle of a series of strange deaths in the city's rough district.

Unfortunately, the clues lead back to Osler and his colleagues, Dr. William Halsted, another historical -- and controversial -- figure.

Conjuring up a prescription of history and fiction requires a delicate hand, something Goldsmith is still working on. The dialogue is hackneyed, the plot is bumpier than Philly's cobblestones and the characters, real and imagined, wooden.

-- By Bob Hoover, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette