Publishers Weekly articles from April 2008

Publishers Weekly archives from April 2008

Amazon: friend or foe? New moves have publishers grumbling more than ever about one of their biggest customers.(Amazon Bookstore Coop.)
April 28, 2008... Along with discussions of hot books and high prices at this month's London Book Fair, another major topic of conversation in the aisles was Amazon. The immediate flashpoint was the e-tailer's new policy of making publishers who use...

Store sales up in February.(bookstores)(Brief article)
April 28, 2008... Bookstore sales jumped 11.3% in February, to $1.13 billion, bringing the two-month total to $3.40 billion, a 6.7% increase over the comparable period in 2007. Total retail sales were up 7.3% in February and ahead 5.9% for the two months,...

Back to the garden.(Ang Lee's plan of movie adaptation of Taking Woodstock)(Brief article)
April 28, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Filmmaker Ang Lee with Focus Features COE James Schamus at Yasgur's farm, site of the Woodstock Festival in 1969. The two have signed a deal with Square One Publishers to produce a movie about the event based on...

Cuts at Nelson.(Thomas Nelson Inc.'s downsizing)(Brief article)
April 28, 2008... A companywide downsizing resulted in the elimination of about 60 positions at Thomas Nelson, slightly less than 10% of its total staff. The religious house is reducing its list by 50%.

Fighting trim.(Thomas Nelson Inc.)
April 28, 2008... Like the man said, "Be careful what you wish for." Over the past couple of months, Thomas Nelson, the $250 million Nashville- and faith-based publisher, has been quietly trimming its list. Now planning to produce 50% as many titles as in...

Fast start for Penguin, Quarto.(Penguin Books Inc. and Quarto Publishing's sales)(Brief article)
April 28, 2008... Penguin and Quarto have both had good starts to the year. Penguin parent Pearson said the house has made a strong start to the year and is on track to achieve double-digit profit margins in 2008, its stated goal for the year. A New Earth has...

RLPG buys Bernan.(Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Inc. acquires Bernan Associates)(Brief article)
April 28, 2008... Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group has acquired Bernan Associates, a publisher and distributor of U.S. government publications, as well as Bernan's UNIPUB division, a distributor for international organizations. Bernan also has its own...

Travel book market in neutral.
April 28, 2008... Despite challenges from the Internet and other digital options, the market for travel books grew slightly last year, according to a new study released by travel industry analyst Stephen Mesquita. The former managing director of the publishing...

Harlequin inks Libre deal.(Harlequin Ltd., LibreDigital)(Brief article)
April 28, 2008... Harlequin has become the latest publisher to reach an agreement with LibreDigital under which Libre will handle all of Harlequin's digital book projects, including its e.books, as well as online browsing capabilities.

NetGalley pilot ready.(ventures of St. Martin's Press Inc., Hachette Book Group USA, Bloomsbury USA and Sourcebooks Inc.)(Brief article)
April 28, 2008... St. Martin's, Hachette Book Group, Bloomsbury USA and Sourcebooks have agreed to take part in a pilot program with PW to submit selected galleys to the magazine through NetGalley, the new service that offers electronic galleys as well as...

S&S wins Wall Street tale.(book rights)(Brief article)
April 28, 2008... S&S senior editor Colin Fox bested four other houses in an auction for Duff McDonald's untitled book on Jamie Dimon; David Kuhn sold world rights. Derived from a cover piece McDonald wrote for New York magazine last month, the book will look...

Spiegel takes debut.(Spiegel & Grau's American Rust rights)(Brief article)
April 28, 2008... Cindy Spiegel preempted U.S. rights for her Spiegel & Grau imprint to Philipp Meyer's debut novel, American Rust, via Esther Newberg at ICM. Told from several alternating perspectives, the book is a tale of redemption and survival in...

Two for LB.(Little Brown Books's licenscing agreements with two works)(Brief article)
April 28, 2008... Jennifer Hunt and Julie Scheina at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers won an auction for the first two books in the Caster Chronicles, a paranormal romance set against the gothic backdrop of an isolated Southern town, by debut authors Kami...

Giffin again to SMP.(Emily Giffin's american rights at St. Martin's Press Inc.)(Brief article)
April 28, 2008... St. Martin's executive editor Jennifer Enderlin bought two more novels by Emily Giffin via Theresa Park, who sold North American rights. Giffin's first three novels, all published by SMP, were New York Times bestsellers; her fourth book, Love...

Fantasy winners.(HarperCollins Publishers Inc.'s won book rights)(Brief article)
April 28, 2008... Diana Gill at HarperCollins's Eos imprint won North American rights to the first three books in a supernatural series by Richard Kadrey in an auction conducted by Ginger Clark at Curtis Brown; Clark made the sale on the strength of 100 pages...

Correction.(Deals)(Correction notice)
April 28, 2008... Correction: S&S is the publisher of Robert Crais's forthcoming Chasing Darkness, not Putnam, as this column reported last week.

A win for comic book defense.(Gordon Lee's case dismissal)(Brief article)
April 28, 2008... After a legal fight lasting more than three years, Georgia prosecutors have dismissed all charges against Gordon Lee, the Rome, Ga., comics retailer originally charged with a felony after a minor picked up a free comic book containing nudity....

Scoring some points.(Herschel Walker's Breaking Free)(Photograph)
April 28, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] On April 19 former football star Herschel Walker stopped by the Statesboro, Ga., Wal-Mart to sign copies of his new book, Breaking Free (Touchstone). Walker is pictured here with a young fan.

Partners switch roles in PowerHouse reorg.(powerHouse Books's Daniel Power and Craig Cohen)
April 28, 2008... After 11 years running PowerHouse Books--a publisher of illustrated books on art, fashion, street and popular culture--PHB founder Dan Power will cease running day-to-day operations of the book division and become CEO of PowerHouse Cultural...

Anne Holman, King's English, Salt Lake City, Utah.(Sun Going Down)(Brief article)
April 28, 2008... In the sprawling family saga Sun Going Down (Touchstone, May), Jack Todd reminds us that life in the west during the late 1800s was more difficult and unhappy than we'd like to remember. People were hurt (physically and emotionally), and not...

Book sales flat at Hastings.(Hastings Entertainment Inc.)(Brief article)
April 28, 2008... Book sales at Hastings Entertainment held even at approximately $120 million, the retailer reported in its 10-k filing made to the Securities & Exchange Commission for the year ended January 31, 2008. Books accounted for 22% of Hastings's...

Calendar: May 5-10.(Brief article)(Calendar)
April 28, 2008... 5/5 Chris BohJallan's 12th novel, Skeletons at the Feast (Shaye Areheart), was inspired by the unpublished diary of a Prussian woman who fled west in 1945 Nazi Germany. 5/6 Barbara Waiters reflects on her life (and 46 years on...

Books slip at Books-A-Million.(Books-A-Million Inc.'s sales)(Brief article)
April 28, 2008... Sales in Books-A-Million's core book operation were "down slightly" in the year ended February 2, 2008, the company said in its annual report. Total revenue at BAM rose 2.9% in the year, to $535.1 million. Commercial fiction was one of BAM's...

Anarchy reigns at AK Press.
April 28, 2008... In the past few years, publishers have been looking to nontraditional book outlets and direct sales for growth. But One Bay Area house, AK Press in Oakland, has been mining both from the start. The 18-year-old publisher/distributor was...

After big deal, Morrow readies 'Lace Reader'.
April 28, 2008... In an unusual move last October, Morrow picked a self-published , novel, The Lace Reader, to be one of its big summer books, and is now sending out thousands of slick-looking ARCs, boasting a letter from senior v-p and publisher Lisa...

Graphic novel breakfast at BEA.(BookExpo America)
April 28, 2008... In a first for BookExpo America, this year's show will hold a breakfast panel featuring four acclaimed comics creators offering their insights into the growth of the graphic novel category. Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Art Spiegelman,...

Romero joins Bloomberg.(Yvette Romero joins Bloomberg Press )(Brief article)
April 28, 2008... Yvette Romero has joined Bloomberg Press as director of marketing and sales. She's held various marketing posts at such companies as Kaplan, and Scholastic.

Huck to SMP.(St. Martin's Press Inc.'s Kathy Huck)(Brief article)
April 28, 2008... Kathy Huck has been named executive editor at St. Martin's Press. Huck arrives from HarperCollins. At SMP Huckwill work on lifestyle, health and how-to books as well as politics, memoir and narrative nonfiction. Also at SMP, Keith Kahla has...

Publisher & Author.(Desmond Tutu's deal with Mark Tauber )(Photograph)
April 28, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Mark Tauber with archibishop Desmond Tutu, whom Tauber signed last week to a new book deal. Becoming Like God, to be released in 2010, will be coauthored by Tutu's daughter, Mpho Tutu, an Episcopal priest in...

Hardcover bestsellers/fiction.(Table)
April 28, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "Parents will find this compulsive page-turner from Edgar-winner Coben (The Woods) particularly unnerving.... A pair of brutal, seemingly senseless killings punctuate the unfolding domestic troubles that ratchet up...

Hardcover bestsellers/nonfiction.
April 28, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Time's 10 Questions column in the April 21 issue featured Randy Pausch. Some queries were simple, such as what music he listens to for comfort--"When you are going through chemotherapy, you can't listen to the...

Paperback bestsellers/mass market.
April 28, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Baldacci continues to hold the lead for the fourth week in a row with Simple Genius, with 1,274,000 copies in print after two printings On April 22, The Whole Truth hit the stores with 656,000 hardcover copies...

Paperback bestsellers/trade.
April 28, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Richard Dawkins's The God Delusion went back on the charts, and the credit for the jump in sales can be given to his appearance on Real Time with Bill Maher on HBO on April 11. Mariner reports 270,000 books in...

Children's series and tie-ins bestsellers.(Table)
April 28, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Lisa Harrison's Clique series has nine titles to date, and this month the Clique Summer Collection debuts, with Massie. One novella a month, from April to August (one for each member of the Pretty Committee), will...

Audio bestsellers/fiction.
April 28, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Change of Heart is the 11th Picoult novel produced by Recorded Books. "We've produced all of Jodi's books since the early 2000s and then went back and recorded her backlist, too," said executive producer Claudia...

Audio bestsellers/nonfiction.
April 28, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "Surprisingly, the audiobook doesn't include the reading of Pausch 's actual 'Last Lecture,' which he gave on September 18, 2007, a month after being diagnosed. Erik Singer provides an excellent inflective voice...

Lance Fensterman: energetic BEA manager likes to stir things up.
April 28, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Like the tall, bespectacled storybook character hidden in plain sight in the Where's Waldo? books, Lance Fensterman's lanky 6'5" frame can be spotted with Blackberry in hand in a variety of tableaux at BookExpo...

BEA back to L.A: California, here we come!(BookExpo America 2008)(Brief article)
April 28, 2008... Green and black are the colors of this year's BookExpo America, returning to Los Angeles for the first time since 2003. A large chunk of Friday's educational programming is devoted to going green--specifically how bookstores, publishing house...

Play it as L. A.: Hollywood's rabid raconteur devours L.A.'s daily bread.(Los Angeles)
April 28, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Of course you've already heard that the Hollywood sign and the entire mountain it resides on is for sale. Maybe you didn't. It was ironic news a few months ago. No one who lives here cares, and why should they. ...

PW Rep of the Year: Roy Schonfeld: he's a Midwestern mensch.
April 28, 2008... Stu Abraham, head of Abraham Associates, the Midwest commission publishers' rep group, praises Roy Schonfeld as a "quiet and modest" man, "a mensch," who supports his colleagues, serves his publishers and advocates for his accounts to the...

Vroman's Bookstore: PW's Bookseller of the Year.(Bookseller of the Year)(Company overview)
April 28, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] It's 9:30 a.m. on a Monday morning in April, and Olive Kemp is shopping at Vroman's Bookstore--PW's Bookseller of the Year--just as she has done nearly every day since she was a little girl. "She's such a regular...

Galleys to grab at BEA.(ARCs to Watch Out For)(Book Expo America)(Recommended readings)
April 28, 2008... Fiction usually rides high at BEA, but the mood this year may be conservative, as the presidential election threatens to suck up all the media oxygen. Overall, there are fewer big-name giveaways, but as many promising debuts as ever. To find...

Kids' galleys to grab: here are just some of the hotly anticipated titles that publishers will be touting at BEA this year.(ARCs to Watch Out For)(Book Expo America)(Recommended readings)
April 28, 2008... DEBUTS TO WATCH The Cabinet of Wonders by Marie Rutkowski (FSG). Won at auction, this novel follows a 12-year-old's quest to rescue her father's stolen, enchanted eyes. Creepers by Jeanne Dahme (Running Press Teen). Dahme's story of...

PW's select guide to BEA exhibitors.(A-K)(Publishers Weekly)(Book Expo America)(List)
April 28, 2008... PW's guide supplements BEA's 600-plus-page exhibitor handbook. While that guide lists booth numbers, personnel, and autographings, this is the only listing that highlights titles and products being promoted at each booth, as well as giveaways...

PW's select guide to BEA exhibitors.(L-Z)(Directory)
April 28, 2008... L Landauer Corp. Featured: titles on crafts, hobbies, how-to and creative home arts. Booths: 746, 748. Langenscheidt Publishing Group Featured from Hammond World Atlas: Timeless Earth; Atlas of World Religions; Book of the...

BEA's convention & education schedule.(Educational Programming)(Book Expo America)(Conference news)
April 28, 2008... The ABA's Day of Education is being held on Thursday, May 29, at the Hotel ABA (the Renaissance Hollywood). Over at the convention center on Friday morning, room 403AB is going to be bustling. First up, from 8-9:15 a.m., will be the always...

My Dinner with Andre.(Author Profile)(Andre Dubus III)(Interview)
April 28, 2008... "If you're going out with Andre, don't plan on being home before dawn," Bill Rusin, Norton's head of sales tells me. I'm intrigued. Anticipation for Dubus III's new novel, The Garden of Last Days, is running high. I've seen Dubus in action,...

A Week in October.(Brief article)(Book review)
April 28, 2008... A Week in October Elizabeth Subercaseaux, trans, from the Spanish by Marina Harss. Other Press, $22.95 (224p) ISBN 978-1-59051-288-3 Chilean author Subercaseaux's intense and engrossing novel (the first one to be translated into...

All the Tea in China.(Brief article)(Book review)
April 28, 2008... All the Tea in China Kyril Bonfiglioli. Overlook, $23.95 (272p) ISBN 978-1-59020-072-8 Bonfiglioli (1928-1985), author of the offbeat Mortdecai trilogy, offers a surfeit of delights in this historical romp, first published in 1978....

A Sun for the Dying.(Brief article)(Book review)
April 28, 2008... A Sun for the Dying Jean-Claude Izzo, trans, from the French by Howard Curtis. Europa (Penguin, dist.), $16.95 paper (224p) ISBN 978-1-933372-59-4 Izzo (1945-2000) returns to Marseille (setting of Total Chaos and other of his books)...

Brida.(Brief article)(Book review)
April 28, 2008... Brida Paulo Coelho, trans, from the Portuguese by Margaret Jull Costa. Harper, $24.95 .(224p) ISBN 978-0-06-157893-9 A young Dublin woman searches for her soul mate in this murky spiritual quest from popular bestselling Brazilian...

Oxygen.(Brief article)(Book review)
April 28, 2008... Oxygen Carol Cassella. Simon & Schuster, $25 (304p) ISBN 978-1-4165-5610-7 Powered by Cassella's 25 years in the medical field, this nicely wrought debut follows the travails of an experienced Seattle anesthesiologist after an...

The Sinner's Guide to Confession.(Brief article)(Book review)
April 28, 2008... The Sinner's Guide to Confession Phyllis Schieber. Berkley, $14 paper (384p) ISBN 978-0-425-22153-2 As they navigate midlife in Manhattan, 50-somethings Kaye, Barbara and Ellen are not shrinking violets: Kaye, her children grown, is...

The Map Thief.(Brief article)(Book review)
April 28, 2008... The Map Thief Heather Terrell. Ballantine, $25 (272p) ISBN 978-0-345-49468-9 Attorney Terrell follows The Chrysalis with an uneven sequel that reprises art-sleuth heroine Mara Coyne and spans six centuries and five continents. Coyne,...

PW talks with Alan Furst: history is the best novelist.(Q&A)(Publishers Weekly)(Interview)
April 28, 2008... Alan Furst has published 10 acclaimed espionage novels set in the years just before and during the Second World War, most recently The Spies of Warsaw (Reviews, Apr. 14). When did you decide to focus on this period in history? In...

Death and Honor.(Brief article)(Book review)
April 28, 2008... Death and Honor W.E.B. Griffin and William E. Butterworth IV. Putnam, $26.95 (480p) ISBN 978-0-399-15498-0 The solid fourth Honor Bound thriller from bestseller Griffin and son Butterworth picks up where 2000's Secret Honor left off,...

July and August.(Brief article)(Book review)
April 28, 2008... July and August Nancy Clark. Pantheon, $25 (336p) ISBN 978-0-375-42329-1 In Clark's muted third installment to the Hill family saga, the clan gathers in Towne, Mass., for the summer. At the center of the story is Lily, the quiet...

This Charming Man.(Brief article)(Book review)
April 28, 2008... This Charming Man Marian Keyes. Morrow, $24.95 (576p) ISBN 978-0-06-112402-0 In her densest, most ambitious work yet, chick lit specialist Keyes (Sushi for Beginners) pushes into dark territory, exploring alcoholism, depression and...

Fearless.(Brief article)(Book review)
April 28, 2008... Fearless Diana Palmer. Harlequin, $24.95 (400p) ISBN 978-0-373-77300-8 After a convoluted setup, romance master Palmer settles into her sizzling story about drug smuggling in Texas. Central to the tale is tiny, unpretentious...

The Dawn Patrol.(Brief article)(Book review)
April 28, 2008... * The Dawn Patrol Don Winslow. Knopf, $23.95 (320p) ISBN 978-0-307-26620-0 Ex-cop turned PI Boone Daniels lives to surf, as do the rest of the Dawn Patrol, who gather every morning on the beach just north of San Diego, Calif.--Hang...

Blue Smoke and Murder.(Brief article)(Book review)
April 28, 2008... Blue Smoke and Murder Elizabeth Lowell. Morrow, $24.95 (416p) ISBN 978-0-06-082985-8 An art scandal enlivens this au-so-courant novel of romantic suspense from bestseller Lowell (Innocent as Sin), set in various locales around the...

The Beach House.(Brief article)(Book review)
April 28, 2008... The Beach House Jane Green. Viking, $24.95 (352p) ISBN 978-0-670-01885-7 What begins as edgy and smart gets stuck in the sand in popular chick lit author Green's (Second Chance) soggy beach read. Richard and Daff separate after...

The James Boys: A Novel Account of Four Desperate Brothers.(Brief article)(Book review)
April 28, 2008... The James Boys: A Novel Account of Four Desperate Brothers Richard Liebmann-Smith. Random, $25 (288p) ISBN 978-0-345-47078-2 Former Basic Books editor Liebmann-Smith, who cocreated Comedy Central's The Tick, takes "what's in a name?"...

Made in the U.S.A.(Brief article)(Book review)
April 28, 2008... * Made in the U.S.A. Billie Letts. Grand Central, $24.99 (368p) ISBN 978-0-446-52901-3 In a second Letts title where a pivotal event occurs at a Wal-Mart (the first was the author's bestseller Where the Heart Is), two long-neglected...

The Three Junes.('Dearest Anne', 'The Treatment and the Cure' and 'A Proper Knowledge')(Book review)
April 28, 2008... Three June titles from independent presses take on discovery... and recovery Dearest Anne Judith Katzir. Feminist, $15.95 paper (344p) ISBN 978-1-55861-575-5; $55 cloth ISBN 978-1-55861-579-3 As Rivi Shenhar comes of age in...

The Reapers.(Brief article)(Book review)
April 28, 2008... The Reapers John Connolly. Atria, $26 (368p) ISBN 978-1-4165-6952-7 The past comes back with a vengeance in bestseller Connolly's unsettling eighth novel to feature ex-NYPD detective turned disgraced PI Charlie "Bird" Parker (after...

Chernobyl Murders.(Brief article)(Book review)
April 28, 2008... Chernobyl Murders Michael Beres. Medallion, $25.95 (512p) ISBN 978-1-933836-29-4 Beres's new thriller toys with the intriguing if implausible notion that the horrific meltdown at the Chernobyl nuclear reactor, near Kiev, was no...

Love Today.(Brief article)(Book review)
April 28, 2008... Love Today Maxim Biller, trans. from the German by Anthea Bell. Simon & Schuster, $23 (224p) ISBN 978-1-4165-7265-7 In the 27 brief stories in German author Biller's collection (his first to be published in the States, and...

Savage Night.(Brief article)(Book review)
April 28, 2008... * Savage Night Allan Guthrie. Harcourt, $25 (320p) ISBN 978-0-15-101301-2 Set in Edinburgh, this gutsy crime novel from Edgar-finalist Guthrie (Hard Man) tweaks the tired conventions of the genre in refreshing ways. Seasoned ex-con...

Mexican High.(Brief article)(Book review)
April 28, 2008... Mexican High Liza Monroy. Spiegel & Grau, $21.95 (352p) ISBN 978-0-385-52359-2 Monroy's spirited, overreaching debut tracks a rocky coming-of-age. Milagro Marquez's father is a wealthy, powerful Mexico City native, but her mother, a...

Phantom in the Night.(Brief article)(Book review)
April 28, 2008... Phantom in the Night Sherrilyn Kenyon with Dianna Love. Pocket, $15 paper (416p) ISBN 978-1-4165-0357-6 All hell breaks loose in this over-the-top romantic thriller from bestseller Kenyon (BAD Attitude) and Love (aka Dianna Love...

The Hidden Man.(Brief article)(Book review)
April 28, 2008... The Hidden Man Anthony Flacco. Random/Mortalis, $14 paper (304p) ISBN 978-0-8129-7758-5 The trio of unusual characters forged into a family unit in Flacco's The Last Nightingale--Det. Randall Blackburn and his two adopted children,...

The Evil That Men Do.(Brief article)(Book review)
April 28, 2008... The Evil That Men Do Dave White. Three Rivers, $13.95 paper (288p) ISBN 978-0-307-38279-5 White's stunning second crime novel to feature ex-cop and ex-PI Jackson Donne fulfills the promise of his debut, When One Man Dies (2007)....

Outtakes from a Marriage.(Brief article)(Book review)
April 28, 2008... Outtakes from a Marriage Ann Leary. Crown/Shaye Areheart, $23 (272p) ISBN 978-0-307-40587-6 Memoirist Leary (An Innocent, a Broad) follows in her fiction debut the unraveling of Julia Ferraro after she accidentally discovers a racy...

The Spirit of the Place.(Brief article)(Book review)
April 28, 2008... The Spirit of the Place Samuel Shem. Kent State Univ., $28.95 (344p) ISBN 978-0-87338-942-6 The latest novel from Shem (The House of God) is the funny and wrenching account of Dr. Orville Rose's return to his hometown, Columbia,...

Lots of buzz for a Little Book.(Brief article)(Book review)
April 28, 2008... A major BEA galley to grab, this debut from retired California private school headmaster Edwards pulls a Back to the Future on the Vienna that produced The Interpretation of Dreams and, eventually, Mein Kampf--with a little Bill & Ted thrown...

Sacrifice.(Brief article)(Book review)
April 28, 2008... Sacrifice S.J. Bolto. St. Martin's Minotaur, $24.95 (384p) ISBN 978-0-312-38113-4 Set in the Shetland Islands, Bolton's compelling debut pits young obstetrician Tora Hamilton, newly arrived from London, against local Nordic...

I Am Death: Two Novellas.(Brief article)(Book review)
April 28, 2008... I Am Death: Two Novellas Gary Amdahl. Milkweed, $15 paper (216p) ISBN 978-1-57131-071-2 Two nihilistic novellas from Amdahl (Visigoths) are at once crude, funny and insightful on the lengths to which a desperate (or bored) man will...

Rabbit in the Moon.(Brief article)(Book review)
April 28, 2008... Rabbit in the Moon Deborah and Joel Shlian. Oceanview (www.oceanviewpub.com), $24.95 (376p) ISBN 978-1-933515-14-4 At the start of this routine political thriller from the Shlians (Double Illusion), Dr. Ni-Fu Cheng arranges for his...

The Almost True Story of Ryan Fisher.(Brief article)(Book review)
April 28, 2008... The Almost True Story of Ryan Fisher Rob Stennett. Zondervan, $12.99 paper (352p) ISBN 978-0-310-27706-4 Screenwriter Stennett offers a satirical look at a non-Christian's ascent to pastor of a megachurch in this engaging, highly...

Mr. Fooster Traveling on a Whim.(Brief article)(Book review)
April 28, 2008... Mr. Fooster Traveling on a Whim Tom Corwin, illus, by Craig Frazier. Doubleday/Flying Dolphin, $14.95 paper (112p) ISBN 978-0-385-52340-0 This slender, graceful allegory from Mostly Bob author Corwin embraces creation, humor and joy....

Siren of the Waters.(Brief article)(Book review)
April 28, 2008... Siren of the Waters Michael Genelin. Soho Crime, $24 (336p) ISBN 978-1-56947-484-6 When seven women die in a van that skids off an icy highway and bursts into flames near Bratislava, Slovakia, at the start of Genelin's chilling...

This Night's Foul Work.(Brief article)(Book review)
April 28, 2008... This Night's Foul Work Fred Vargas, trans, from the French by Sign Reynolds. Penguin, $14 paper (416p)ISBN 978-0-14-311359-1 The outstanding fourth whodunit to be made available in the U.S. from Vargas (Wash This Blood Clean from My...

Mind's Eye: An Inspector Van Veeteren Mystery.(Brief article)(Book review)
April 28, 2008... Mind's Eye: An Inspector Van Veeteren Mystery Hakan Nesser, trans, from the Swedish by Laurie Thompson. Pantheon, $22.95 (288p) ISBN 978-0-375-42503-5 World-weariness in a detective is well and good--but what if it ends up costing...