Leisure reading

'Angelica'

By Arthur Phillips

Random House, $25.95

"I want to give you a child," the wife says. Later the husband comes to believe his wife wanted a child for her own reasons.

Her transformation from wife to mother was "so thorough, so magically comprehensive, it was as if she were acting out some myth. She dedicated herself to the child to the detriment of all wifely responsibility, even of simple preference or affection for her husband. She, who had once so exerted herself to be charming and agreeable to him, now had no conversation that did not flutter about the child's latest squawk or sneeze."

That's not how the wife sees it, of course. She feels dictated to by her husband. She feels that he is trying to come between her and her child. And for what purpose?

In "Angelica," set in Victorian London, Arthur Phillips tells a family's story from five perspectives. So accomplished is Phillips that we believe each person to be telling the truth.

At its heart, "Angelica" is a mystery, beautifully crafted. We come to see each character more fully as his or her dark side is reflected in the viewpoint of another. — Susan Whitney

'The Good Husband of Zebra Drive'

By Alexander McCall Smith

Pantheon, $21.95

Alexander McCall Smith has written several series of popular books since his retirement as a professor of medical law at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. This book set in Botswana is "The New Novel in the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Series."

Mma Ramotswe, the No. 1 lady detective, must decide whether J.L.B. Matekona should be in charge of a case of an errant husband because he, too, is a man.

Then she is asked to take a couple of "tricky cases" — one about unexpected deaths at the nearby hospital and another about missing office supplies.

Whatever. Mma Ramotswe knows that she can count on Mr. Matekona because he is always so dependable — besides, he was her own husband. But Matekona has difficulties when he talks to the woman who accused her husband of philandering — when he asks her how she knew he was not being true, she says, "Women just know these things."