Editor’s Note: Maine Bound is a column featuring new books written by Maine authors, set in the Pine Tree State or that have other local ties.

BODY DOUBLE, by Tess Gerritsen, Ballantine, New York, 339 pages, hardcover, $24.95.

Camden’s mistress of the medical thriller returns to familiar characters and backdrops in her latest effort, but, my, she does it with flair.

“Body Double” is Gerritsen’s fourth novel featuring Boston medical examiner Maura Isles and homicide detective Jane Rizzoli. The riveting new mystery takes Isles, often derided as “The Queen of the Dead,” and by extension the very pregnant Rizzoli, into the minds of serial killers.

Isles returns from a trip abroad to discover police cars in front of her house. And things go downhill from there, as the adopted coroner discovers some very nasty secrets about her family tree, in a journey that takes her to Maine and back again.

Gerritsen does a masterful job of ratcheting up the suspense while juggling several seemingly disparate subplots, before weaving them all together in the end. The culprit turns out to be unexpected and, at the same time, logical.

“Body Double,” sure to win Gerritsen new converts, is like a refreshing visit with old friends, who really need to leave work behind for a while.

– Dale McGarrigle

“STUNG!” by Mighty John Marshall, Spring Point Press, Portland, 2004, paperback, 373 pages, $12.95.

For many growing up in Maine in the 1970s and ’80s, his was the voice behind the soundtrack of their young lives. Now veteran disc jockey Mighty John Marshall has turned his talents to a new challenge: writing fiction.

Of course, rock music still plays in the background of “Stung!” But the novel itself is in part a love story, in part a coming-of-age tale, but like those written by his one-time employer, Stephen King, it’s largely a book of horror.

In the novel, history teacher Charlie Sullivan, living in California, starts seeing news reports about a series of murders in his hometown of Portland, in the cemetery where he and his best friend, Jimmy Peters, used to play baseball. It was also there that he met the love of his life, Cindy, who he knew for one tumultuous summer as a teen. He ends up being dragged back to Portland as part of the investigation of the cemetery murders.

In his first novel, Marshall does an admirable job of building suspense and creating believable characters. He could have used more rigorous editing, as a number of typos and spelling errors slipped through, enough to be distracting.

Although it has its preposterous moments, “Stung!” is an enjoyable read. Marshall has a vivid imagination, and that’s reflected in this promising debut.

“Stung!” is available at Betts Bookstore in Bangor or at MightyJohnMarshall.com.

– Dale McGarrigle

Dale McGarrigle can be reached at 990-8028 and dmcgarrigle@bangordailynews.net.