Now that we've been assured that a new Pirate dynasty will begin in the spring (as team president Frank Coonelly said here), we can relax, maybe take time to anticipate other magic that the season will bring, such as new novels.

"Solar" by Ian McEwan (Nan Talese/Doubleday, $26.95)

The English author's latest goes on sale March 30 -- 10 days after spring arrives. Its concept is intriguing:

A Nobel physicist, long gone to seed, is handed the opportunity to solve the energy crisis. However, with Mr. McEwan calling the shots, nothing's for certain.

Among his 13 books are "Atonement," "Amsterdam" (a Man Booker Prize winner) and "Saturday." Mr. McEwan also will do an American press tour, with a stop at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., April 7.

"Fragile Beasts" by Tawni O'Dell (Shaye Areheart Books, $25)

Family turmoil in Tawni O'Dell's backyard of Indiana County continues to power her turbulent yet touching fiction in this, her fourth novel.

Ms. O'Dell, now a State College resident, first rocketed to fame when her first novel, "Back Roads," caught Oprah Winfrey's fancy. Her latest will be in stores March 23.

"Innocent" by Scott Turow (Grand Central, $27.99)

It was 20 years ago when a young lawyer who had worked in the U.S. attorney's office in Chicago burst on the crime-fiction scene with "Presumed Innocent."

It was the beginning of a solid writing career for Scott Turow, whose knowledge of the justice system in Chicago fueled his superbly written fiction.

Now Mr. Turow brings back his original protagonists -- Rusty Sabich, now a judge, and prosecutor Tommy Molto -- battle each other again over a murdered woman, Sabich's second wife.

The publishing date is May 4. In the local angle department, Mr. Turow underwrites a student writing prize for the University of Pittsburgh-Greensburg.

"What Is Left the Daughter" by Howard Norman (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $25).

"The Bird Artist," Howard Norman's debut, was a winning, warm story set in Canada. Now, for his ninth book, he returns to the north with a historical plot unfolding in Nova Scotia that includes German submarines. July 6 is the on-sale date.

"The Four Fingers of Death" by Rick Moody (Little, Brown, $25.99).

In what is his longest fiction effort to date (736 pages), Rick Moody, the author of "The Ice Storm" and "Purple America," takes on the science-fiction genre with his usual off-kilter approach.

It's the story of a lone arm with four fingers left on its hand as a symbol of a nation gone awry by 2025. The narrator is one of those quirky Moody creations, Montese Crandall, writer and baseball card collector. Look for it July 28.

"Bob Hoover's Book Club" is available exclusively at PG+, a members-only web site of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.