Charles Jessold, Considered as a Murderer  By Wesley Stace
(Picador)  The composer Charles Jessold is murdered just before
the debut of his operatic masterpiece in 1923—along with his
wife and her lover. Wesley Stace's dazzling book is the slowly
unfolding account of what led to the dire event and what
followed upon it. As our reviewer noted, the "book is full of
marvelous scenes and memorable set pieces," and the "prose is
itself musical—and rich with erudition and wordplay."  The
Forgotten Waltz  By Anne Enright (Norton)  For centuries,
fiction writers have found adultery a productive subject. In
"The Forgotten Waltz," Anne Enright strips away the romance and
gives a full and rueful accounting of the personal costs of Gina
Moynihan's libidinous fixation on Seán, a married man and
father. Our reviewer called it "a beautiful, subtle examination
of intimacy, of family life, and of the enduring connection
between father and daughter, a bond that wayward adult passion
cannot override."  Leaving the Atocha Statio