The Purity of Vengeance: A Department Q Novel, By Jussi Adler-Olsen

In this Department Q novel, Detective Carl Mørck is presented the case of a brothel owner, Rita, who went missing in the 1980s.  His assistants, Assad and Rose uncover evidence that several people went missing during the same weekend, which arouses Carl's interest in the case. Like peeling an onion, the uncover layer upon layer of evidence, and the case brings them closer and closer to Curt Wad, who was once a young surgeon involved in a movement to sterilize young women, and who is now leader of a political movement calling for racial purity.  It is an intriguing case that nearly costs Assad and Carl their own lives.
528 pages, translated from Danish

"Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything" by Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner

I'd heard a lot about this book over the years but had never picked it up before now.  I've always found economics boring or incomprehensible, and some of the topics covered here were both (such as cheating in sumo wrestling!).  Lots of statistics were reported to back up the findings and could be a bit mind-numbing but there were some results that really surprised me, especially about teaching and child rearing.  The most interesting part dealt with the unusual names that African-Americans have given their children over the last couple of decades, why they do it, and the consequences for doing so.  Levitt is an economist, and Dubner is a journalist.  320 pages; about 6 hours on CD.

The Cider House Rules by John Irving

I visited Maine for the first time in September, and looked for some books with Maine as the setting.  Irving wrote this in 1985, and it's a pithy character study of the eccentric Dr. Wilbur Larch, obstetrician, founder and director of the orphanage in St. Cloud's.  The orphanage is populated almost exclusively by babies left there after their mothers give birth.  Or, if they find Dr. Larch early in their pregnancy, he will provide an abortion.  He also trains one of the orphans, once he is grown, who doesn't seem to want to leave the orphanage.  The story is really about how complex our choices and our relationships can be, how hard it can be to find love in our lives, and how we have to be prepared to live with the consequences of our actions.  552 pages