Shepherd has played off the work of a literary giant before. In her debut novel, “Murder at Mansfield Park,” she placed Jane Austen characters at the center of a murder mystery. In the case of “The Solitary House,” Dickens’ own “Bleak House” is the touchstone, its scheming lawyer Tulkinghorn and police inspector Bucket both pivotal characters in the brutal and bloody story Shepherd unfolds.

Charles Maddox is a “thief taker,” the colorful term for a private detective in 1850. An ex-policeman who had been pushed out of the force, he is following in the footsteps of his great-uncle — and caring for the former detective, now beset with what today would be called dementia. Maddox is hired by the devious Tulkinghorn to determine who has been sending blackmail threats to a leading banker. Unknown to Maddox — but known to readers thanks to a Dickensian narrator who sees all — Tulkinghorn has other plans that could threaten the young detective if he uncovers the whole truth.

Maddox is trying to resolve another case, too, still searching for a young woman born in a workhouse. It’s a nearly impossible task in a day of incredible poverty and flimsy social contracts. Meanwhile, a young ward narrates her own story, its connection to the mystery unclear at first but tantalizing in its obvious purpose — to collide somewhere with the overall narrative.

Those unfamiliar with Dickens’ “Bleak House” need not worry that they won’t enjoy Shepherd’s “The Solitary House.” At its core, Shepherd’s book is a historical mystery with a flavor and character all its own. Her suspenseful story and winning prose ably serve her literary conceit. Fans of Dickens, meanwhile, will find it a treat.

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Online:

http://www.lynn-shepherd.com/

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Douglass K. Daniel is the author of “Tough as Nails: The Life and Films of Richard Brooks” (University of Wisconsin Press).

Retreat matriarch Mary Bayly is dying in the family mansion in the late summer of 1920, a circumstance she hardly would have imagined years earlier when she was eager to flee the Eastern Shore. A visit from a distant relative to whom she is considering bequeathing the Retreat leads to a series of recollections about Mary and her parents, Wyatt and Ophelia Bayly, and her younger brother, Thomas, as well as Beal and her brother, Randall.

Tilghman, who directs the creative writing program at the University of Virginia, is a short story writer as well as a novelist. Many chapters in his new book could nearly stand on their own as captivating glimpses into the relationships — white and black, owner and workman, man and woman, parent and child — that revolve around the Retreat.

Those relationships are central to the personal histories that cannot leave the Retreat any more than the land itself. Everything exists in the shadow that fell on that day in 1857 when Mary’s father sold nearly all his slaves because the coming war would free them anyway. Families were broken apart and some considered the Retreat forever cursed.

Then there’s Wyatt Bayly’s quiet fanaticism for planting peach trees, guided by his confidence that science would overwhelm any opposition from nature. And the doomed innocence of Thomas and Randall’s friendship and their in-tandem education, an experiment that Wyatt Bayly oversees without regard for the blight that society is likely to attach to it.

Tilghman’s skill at presenting the clashing points of view for his characters is matched by his ability to evoke their place and time, whether it’s a Catholic girls school in Paris or a black village on the peninsula called Tuckertown. There’s never a false note, either, only poignant and surprising ones that linger long after the last page.

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Douglass K. Daniel is the author of “Tough as Nails: The Life and Films of Richard Brooks” (University of Wisconsin Press).

DELEGATE UPDATE: Mitt Romney won nearly all the convention delegates available in a three-primary sweep Tuesday, adding to a lead that will be insurmountable without a dramatic shift in the race for the Republican nomination for president. How dramatic? He would have to drop out of the race not to win it. With 95 delegates at stake Tuesday, the former Massachusetts governor picked up 86 delegates in Maryland, Wisconsin and the District of Columbia. His chief rival, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, won the other nine delegates, all in Wisconsin. Romney has won 58 percent of the primary and caucus delegates so far. That puts him on pace to reach the 1,144 delegates needed to clinch the GOP nomination on June 5, when voters go to the polls in five states, including delegate-rich California and New Jersey. Although he vows to stay in the race, Santorum would need 80 percent of the remaining delegates to win the nomination before the party’s national convention in August. That won’t happen as long as Romney stays in the race because most upcoming primaries use some type of proportional system to award delegates, making it hard to win large numbers of delegates in individual states.

THANKS, BUT NO THANKS: Republicans considered to be up-and-comers in the GOP are scrambling to declare a lack of interest in becoming Mitt Romney’s running mate. With Romney poised to win the GOP nomination in June, if not earlier, speculation is growing over who would be offered the No. 2 spot on the ticket. No one is rushing forward and many of the top prospects are trying to shut down the conversation before it begins. Among those declaring they aren’t interested: Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez. However, part of the dance is trying to appear uninterested in the role of designated attack dog and potential GOP front-runner for 2016 if Romney falls short in November. Resisting the veep talk is also a way of preserving a personal brand. After all, campaigning for the second slot and coming up short is embarrassing, as Pawlenty remembers from his unsuccessful effort to become Sen. John McCain’s running mate in 2008.

McCAIN OPENS DOOR FOR SANTORUM: Speaking of endings, Sen. John McCain says Rick Santorum should recognize “it’s time for a graceful exit” from the Republican presidential campaign. McCain also told “CBS This Morning” that there’s a strong field of Republicans who could be the vice presidential candidate. When asked to suggest some names, the Arizona Republican said with a grin: “I think it should be Sarah Palin.” Pressed to elaborate, he said, “I think we have some very qualified candidates,” then cited Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida and Govs. Mitch Daniels of Indiana, Chris Christie of New Jersey and Bobby Jindal of Louisiana. Palin, the former governor of Alaska, was McCain’s running mate in his unsuccessful bid for the presidency four years ago.

DELEGATE COUNT

—Romney: 658

—Santorum: 281

—Gingrich: 135

—Paul: 51

WHERE THEY’LL BE THURSDAY

Romney: Pennsylvania

Santorum: off the trail

Gingrich: Delaware

Ron Paul: California

THEY SAID IT, VEEP EDITION

—”I’m not going to be the vice president.” — Rubio.

—”If offered any position by Gov. Romney, I would say no.” — Haley.

—”I’ve taken myself off the list.” — Pawlenty.

—”It’s humbling, but I’m not interested.” — Martinez.

Verrilli did indeed interrupt his opening remarks to take a drink of water and he did stumble over his words at times in the first two minutes of his presentation, according to the audio released by the Supreme Court. However, the audio in the RNC ad combines and compresses those moments, which makes Verrilli sounds as though he interrupted his opening comments twice in a matter of seconds and stumbled over his words in quick succession.

An email sent to the RNC for comment was not immediately answered Thursday night.

Verrilli is identified in the ad as “Obama’s lawyer” rather than solicitor general, the administration official who represents the U.S. government in litigation before the Supreme Court.

In the RNC ad, Chief Justice John Roberts is heard introducing the case and calling on Verrilli to speak. “For more than 80 percent of Americans, the insurance system does provide effective access.” Verrilli stops speaking, then a tinkling sound is heard as he takes a drink of water from a glass. “Excuse me,” he says before clearing his throat and continuing: “Uh, it, uh, the, b-because the, uh, the, uh, the …” The sound of another drink of water comes and Verrilli again says, “Excuse me.”

The audio posted by the court contains the first “Excuse me,” but the verbal stumbling comes about 40 seconds later after he has resumed speaking. There is no second drink of water, at least for the next five minutes, only Verrilli presenting his argument and answering questions from the justices.

“It seems that Obama’s lawyer hit a bit of a snag trying to defend the constitutionality of Obama’s health care takeover,” the RNC says in a statement issued with the web ad. “Maybe he’s beginning to realize something the American people already know: It’s hard to defend a law that is indefensible.”

The news service Bloomberg first reported on the edited audio.

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Online:

RNC: www.gop.com

Supreme Court audio: http://apne.ws/Hft6z3

LABORING FOR WISCONSIN: The fight over labor unions that is fueling a bitter recall effort aimed at Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is having an impact on the Republican presidential campaign. Front-runner Mitt Romney is attacking rival Rick Santorum as a friend of “big labor” while Santorum is aligning himself with the embattled Republican governor, a play for a party base that Santorum hopes will carry him to victory in Wisconsin’s presidential primary next Tuesday. With help from a well-funded allied group, Romney is pointing to union-friendly votes by Santorum. His swing back from confronting President Barack Obama to attacking his main GOP rival comes as a Marquette University poll shows him overtaking Santorum in Wisconsin, now leading by an 8-point margin, 39-31. In rejecting Romney’s charge that he’s a friend of labor, Santorum says that he supports a national right-to-work bill and that he opposed it while a senator because he didn’t want to undermine Pennsylvania’s opposition to the policy. Santorum represented southwestern Pennsylvania in the House for two terms and then won two terms in the Senate from the strong union state. Romney supports national right-to-work legislation.

DROPOUT REUNION: Two guys who hit dead-ends in the last White House race reunited in Wisconsin. Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani was in Milwaukee to raise money for former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson, a fellow Republican who is seeking an open Senate seat. Both waged short-lived 2008 campaigns for president and neither seemed particularly eager to pick sides this year. Giuliani said he hadn’t “even thought about it much yet” whether he’ll endorse one of the finalists, saying Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich all have a plausible case to stay in the hunt. Thompson played statistician in declaring Romney the odds-on favorite to get the nomination. But Thompson rebuffed a suggestion he was hinting at who he’ll endorse. Thompson, a popular ex-governor who won four statewide races, said he “probably will” endorse before Tuesday’s primary. — Contributed by Associated Press writer Brian Bakst in Milwaukee.

SPENDTORUM: Romney’s campaign has a new nickname for Santorum: Rick “Spendtorum.” In an effort to cast the former Massachusetts governor as someone who’d be more of a tightwad with the people’s money, the campaign alleged in a statement that Santorum was part of the problem on fiscal issues during his time in Congress. The release noted millions in federal money that Santorum directed to his home state of Pennsylvania and his multiple votes to raise the government’s borrowing limit. It also cited recent comments by Santorum that the economy isn’t the issue in the GOP race and that he doesn’t care about the unemployment rate. “During his time in Washington, Sen. Spendtorum was part of the problem when it came to fiscal issues,” the statement says.

WOE IS RICK: He complains that GOP presidential rival Mitt Romney and his allies are outspending him. He laments that he doesn’t have as beefy an organization as Romney. He insists Romney is trying to change the rules of the campaign in the middle of it, and is running unfair ads. Being Rick Santorum isn’t easy — and he’s telling everyone who’ll listen. “I’m not complaining. I’m not going to be whining about this,” Santorum insists. Yet lately, as the party’s nomination slips further out of his reach, Santorum has seemed to do just that. He has peppered his remarks with what he considers to be the injustices and inconveniences of being the unlikely challenger in the Republican presidential fight. It may be part ploy. The public tends to love an underdog, and Santorum often plays to that notion. It also may be a side effect of fatigue and frustration as the GOP race heads toward its fourth month and Santorum refuses to drop out despite badly trailing Romney in the hunt for delegates to the party’s nominating convention in August. Or, as the case has been for nearly every presidential candidate at one point or another, it may just be Santorum longing for a simpler time when he wasn’t always in the media spotlight.

PIPELINE PIQUE: The American Energy Alliance, which has ties to conservative causes, launched a $3.6 million ad buy lashing out at President Barack Obama’s energy record. The group blames Obama for rising gas prices and his decision to delay the Keystone XL pipeline project. The ad, which will air in eight states, seeks to undercut Obama’s message that he has increased oil drilling and pushed to develop renewable energy sources. The ad criticizes Obama’s opposition to oil drilling in Alaska, his effort to block the pipeline and the administration’s decision to provide more than $500 million in federal loans to solar company Solyndra, which later went bankrupt. The ads are running in New Mexico, Colorado, Nevada, Iowa, Florida, Ohio, Virginia, and Michigan, all considered crucial to the 2012 presidential campaign. The American Energy Alliance’s president is Thomas Pyle, a former lobbyist for Koch Industries. The industrial firm’s top executives are Charles and David Koch, who have been prominent supporters of conservative causes.

THE TAB: OBAMA CAMPAIGN OPERATIONS

In January and February, the Obama re-election campaign spent $29.5 million on operational costs, about a fourth of it on fundraising-related expenses like postage, printing and telemarketing. Other expenses gleaned from filings with the Federal Election Commission include:

—$6.3 million: payroll for 500-plus staff members

—$1.1 million: computer equipment

—$435,000: rent and utilities

—$305,000: telephones

—$19,000: office supplies

IN THEIR OWN WORDS

—”When they point to the fact about how many people they’ve got hired and how many offices they’ve got, they’re just trying to distract people from the reality of (how) they’re going to have a heck of a time finding people to get out and vote for him.” — Rich Beeson, Mitt Romney’s political director, dismissing the size of the Obama re-election machine.

—”Calling Rick Santorum a friend of labor is like calling Mitt Romney a conservative. Neither are true.” — Santorum.

—”People either love or hate Obama, and those in the middle, who are going to decide the 2012 election, haven’t tuned in yet. … Do you think they’ll be moved more by ads or by realities like the economy?” — Ken Goldstein, of Kantar Media/Campaign Media Analysis Group, which tracks political advertising.

—”The quicker we can get this campaign on that focus — focused on the president’s record, on the alternative that we offer — the better off we’re going to be as a movement but also the better off the country’s going to be.” — Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., while endorsing Mitt Romney.