New releases

“The Enemy Never Came: The Civil War in the Pacific Northwest” by Scott McArthur (Caxton Press, $18.95). The Pacific Northwest is in the opposite corner of the country from where the Civil War battles took place, but the area was not unaffected. Scott McArthur, who lives in Monmouth, Ore., tells about pioneers choosing sides, battling Native American renegades and worrying about the arrival of invaders.

“This Is What We Do” by Tom Hansen (Emergency Press, $16). Seattle’s Tom Hansen follows his 2010 memoir “American Junkie” with a novel thriller about the crumbling life of James Nethery and his relationship with a blacklisted Ukranian model named Lily.

“Fatal Friends, Deadly Neighbors and Other True Cases: Vol. 16” by Ann Rule (Pocket Books, $7.99). Prolific crime author and former Seattle police officer Ann Rule is out with another novel. This time she focuses on doomed relationships, and the reality that most murder victims are killed not by strangers, but by someone familiar.

“Instructions for My Mother’s Funeral” by Laura Read (University of Pittsburgh Press, $15.95). This debut poetry collection from Spokane Falls Community College professor Laura Read has already earned the 2011 Donald Hall Prize in Poetry from the Association of Writers & Writing Programs. The collection looks at how the death of a parent at a young age can affect the way a child sees the world.