Publishers Weekly articles from August 2005

Publishers Weekly archives from August 2005

Not your father's art book publisher: Abrams looks to youth for new energy.(Foreword)(Harry N. Abrams)
August 1, 2005... At a time when small, youth-oriented houses are redefining the market for art book publishing, Harry N. Abrams, for years positioned as an elite publisher of coffee-table books, is reshaping itself for a new generation of readers. Under...

'Potter' a wash for Amazon.(Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... Despite advance orders for 1.5 million copies of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, Amazon will only break even on the title. The company discounted the book heavily, reducing the book very close to its break-even price and, later,...

Not Biden his time.(Joseph Biden)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... Joseph Biden, the longtime Delaware senator and recently announced candidate for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, has signed with Will Murphy at Random House to publish a memoir, sources say. Though the book is expected to touch on...

The news today, oh boy.(Foreword)(Melville House)
August 1, 2005... When you're a tiny publisher, with less than a handful of employees, none of whom is a publicist, and it comes time to think about promoting your fall books, you pretty much have to hope for a miracle. New Jersey's Melville House is about to...

Kids spur Meredith sales.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... Meredith Corp. reported last week that its Meredith Books division had record profits in the fiscal year ended June 30, led by a strong fourth quarter. In addition to its usual adult lifestyle books, the company published 60 children's books...

Bookworld adds Spanish books.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... After a six-month test, book distributor Bookworld is rolling out a Spanish-language book division and catalogue. Francisco Longoria will head the unit from Brownsville, Tex. Bookworld has 500 accounts.

New group prez at M-H.(Hendrik Kranenburg)(McGraw-Hill Inc.)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... Hendrik Kranenburg has been named group president of McGraw-Hill's higher education, professional and international unit, replacing Brian Heer, who has left the company. Kranenburg has been with M-H's Standard & Poor's division. Ed Stanford of...

What are you reading?(Foreword)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... Kaitlin Dunn, 22 Legal assistant, San Francisco * What are you reading? Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi * Where did you get it? The library. * What prompted you to get it? I heard about it from a friend....

Ashmead back in game?(The Agent and the Editor)(Larry Ashmead)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... The venerable Larry Ashmead, who retired from HarperCollins two years ago, could be getting back into the publishing biz. Several sources say he will be joining Inkwell Management, the powerhouse agency run by Richard Pine, on a part-time...

Six-month scorecard ($ in millions).(Foreword)(Illustration)
August 1, 2005... Six-Month Scorecard ($ in millions) Penguin Group Sales Profits % Chg. Solid gains at Penguin UK and at Dorling Kindersley Sales ...

Digital audio player to debut.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... A new digital audio player that comes with a preloaded audiobook will be released this fall. The Playaway is being developed by Findaway World, and each player will sport a cover that mirrors a traditional audiobook's packaging and can be...

Cleaving from the U.K.(Chris Cleave )(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... Knopf is reacting differently to the publication of Chris Cleave's Incendiary than Random U.K. did. That house quieted its marketing machine for the novel about an attack in the London underground after the attacks, but Knopf has pushed ahead,...

John Ashcroft may not be Hollywood's biggest fan, but soon there could be a film in the works that even the crusading ex-attorney general might turn up to see.(Hollywood Reader)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... John Ashcroft may not be Hollywood's biggest fan, but soon there could be a film in the works that even the crusading ex attorney general might turn up to see. In The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Obey the Bible as...

Most of us would just as soon forget our adolescent days, but Freaks and Geeks creator Paul Feig has no such qualms about revisiting his awkward youth.(Hollywood Reader)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... Most of us would just as soon forget our adolescent days, but Freaks and Geeks creator Paul Feig has no such qualms about revisiting his awkward youth. Feig goes back to school again with Superstud: Or How I Became a 24-Year-Old Virgin (Three...

Bad-boy director Gregg Araki (The Living End; Doom) has been called many things: nihilist, provocateur, etc.(Hollywood Reader)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... Bad-boy director Gregg Araki (The Living End; Doom) has been called many things: nihilist, provocateur, etc. Muse, however, is not one of them. But that's exactly the role he played to Scott Helm, author of 1995's Mysterious Skin...

Pity Roman Polanski.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... Pity Roman Polanski. Having just won a libel lawsuit against Vanity Fair for an article the magazine published about the Manson killings, the Academy Award-winning director may have to relive those dark days again courtesy of Hollywood. Scott...

A Godoff hire.(People)(Ann Godoff)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... Inigo Thomas, formerly a columnist at Slate magazine, has been hired as an editor at the Penguin Press, reporting to Ann Godoff.

Wells rises at Abrams.(People)(Jason M. Wells)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... Jason M. Wells, formerly marketing and publicity manager for Abrams's children's imprints, has been promoted to director, marketing and publicity.

Schmidt, Johnson rise at Penguin.(People)(Kathleen Schmidt)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... Kathleen Schmidt, formerly associate director of publicity, has been promoted to director of publicity for Dutron and Gotham Books. Lisa Johnson, v-p, executive director of publicity, has added responsibilities as director of marketing for...

Hires and promotions at CUP.(People)(Columbia University Press)
August 1, 2005... Patrick Fitzgerald, fnrmerly with John Wiley, has joined Columbia University Press as publisher for the life sciences. Jennifer Crewe, formerly editorial director, will add duties as associate director. Clare Wellnitz, formerly director of...

Price by the numbers.(Foreword)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... Hardcover Fiction $25.95: Price of John Grisham's The Rainmaker in 1995 $27.95: Price of Grisham's The Brethren in 2000 $27.95: Price of Grisham's The Broker in 2005 Hardcover Nonfiction $23: Price of John Gray's Men Are...

Gupta hired at UCP.(People)(Nawin Gupta)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... Nawin Gupta, who previously worked with Reed Elsevier, has been named journals manager at the University of California Press.

Kenney to run 'School Library Journal'.(Promotion)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... Library Journal executive editor Brian Kenney has been named editor-in-chief of School Library Journal. Kenney succeeds Evan St. Lifer, who recently left for a top post at Scholastic. At LJ, Kenney oversaw coverage of technology and the...

On hoping the Pink Panther returns.(Deals)(Surrey Books)
August 1, 2005... When it comes to book and licensing deals, sometimes the tail can wag the dog--or the cat. That's the lesson Susan Schwartz is learning, one sauntering step at a time. Schwartz is the founder of, and dynamo behind, Surrey Books, a Chicago...

Them: the shopping-it-around manual?(Deals)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... You." The Owner's Manual authors Michael Roizen and Mehmet Oz reportedly are shopping a new book via agent Charlotte Gusay. Collins published the quirky compendium of health facts and tips that's now a phenomenon. It's thought to have an option...

Fans of the cult show Freaks and Geeks will recognize Paul Feig's name--and now, hopes Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, many will know his YA book.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... Fans of the cult show Freaks and Geeks will recognize Paul Feig's name--and now, hopes Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, many will know his YA book. The house will do two YA titles, the first, Ignatious MacFarland. Frequenant, a...

When critics become novelists: Entertainment Weekly's Gillian Flynn has sold a thriller and a second novel to Sally Kim at Crown.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... When critics become novelists: Entertainment Weekly's Gillian Flynn has sold a thriller and a second novel to Sally Kim at Crown. Flynn's a TV critic; she'll write in the first book, Sharp Objects, about a reporter who returns home to report on...

Speaking of sharp things, David Cashion at Viking has signed The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... Speaking of sharp things, David Cashion at Viking has signed The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry, about "a journalist-turned-corporate exec who falls in love, gets downsized, cashes in her savings and heads to France to pursue her lifelong...

Those with ambitions of "control[ling] and respond[ing] to any marketplace environment" might pick up a book from business guru Alan Kelly, whom Dutton has just signed.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... Those with ambitions of "control[ling] and respond[ing] to any marketplace environment" might pick up a book from business guru Alan Kelly, whom Dutton has just signed. The book was sold by new agent Jeremy Katz; the Sanford Greenburger was...

Calendar: Aug. 7-Aug. 13.(Calendar)
August 1, 2005... 8/7 The first lesbian pulp novel, Tereska Torres's 1950 guilty pleasure, Women's Barracks (Feminist Press), is back in print. It originally sold four million copies in the U.S. 8/8 Bill Maher will be on Today and Charlie Ra;e...

Will New York shrug at Michelin?(Dining Out)
August 1, 2005... When undercover inspectors from Michelin turned up in New York restaurants earlier this year to prepare the French company's Guide to New York City 2006, it sent shock waves through the city's most prominent chefs. But when Michelin publishes...

Is Tuttle ready for fall? Absolutely.(Cheers)(Absolut Sequel: The Absolut Advertising Story Continues)(Tuttle Publishing)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2005... Tuttle Publishing is preparing for the fall publication of the follow-up to the bestselling book in the company's history. Absolut Sequel: The Absolut Advertising Story Continues by Richard W. Lewis will come out nearly a decade after Tuttle...

Correction.(Foreword)(Correction Notice)
August 1, 2005... In the feature "As If! Marketing to Older Teens" (July 18), Kira Glass's title was incorrect. She's executive director, special markets 8: the Internet. Andrew Porter is Harcourt's associate director of Internet marketing.

Hardcover bestsellers/fiction.
August 1, 2005... Hardcover Bestsellers/Fiction BY DAISY MARYLES Last Weeks August 1, 2005 week on list (1) Lifeguard. James Patterson and 1 ...

Hardcover bestsellers/nonfiction.
August 1, 2005... Hardcover Bestsellers/Nonfiction BY DAISY MARYLES Last Weeks August 1, 2005 week on list (1) Natural Cures "They" Don't Want ...

Paperback bestsellers/mass market.
August 1, 2005... Paperback Bestsellers/Mass Market BY DAISY MARYLES Last Weeks August 1, 2005 week on list (1) Trace. Patricia Cornwell. ...

Paperback bestsellers/trade.
August 1, 2005... Paperback Bestsellers/Trade BY DAISY MARYLES Last Weeks August 1, 2005 week on list (1) The Kite Runner. ...

Audio bestsellers/fiction.
August 1, 2005... Audio Bestsellers/Fiction BY SHANNON MAUGHAN August (1) Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (unabridged, CD). J.K. Rowling. Read by Jim Dale. Random House Audio/Listening Library. 17 CDs, 19 hours, $75 ISBN...

Audio bestsellers/nonfiction.
August 1, 2005... Audio Bestsellers/Nonfiction BY SHANNON MAUGHAN August (1) 1776 (unabr. CD). David McCullough. Read by the author. Simon & Schuster Audio. 10 CDs, 12 hours, $49.95 ISBN 0-7435-4423-4 (2) Your Best Life Now...

The price of admissions: advice to the college-bound: read our books.(College Prowler)(Cover Story)
August 1, 2005... As a high school senior trying to pick a college eight years ago, Luke Skurman needed to know more. "There just wasn't enough good, honest information for me to feel confident about where I was going to spend the next four years of my life. I...

Audio gets down.(The New Cult)
August 1, 2005... Audiofile magazine hosts a clambake in Boothbay Harbor, Maine, every July for people who make a living, more or less, in audiobooks. "Exploding" is a word I heard three times during the party this year--as in "the business is exploding." Of...

Tuning in to fall audio.
August 1, 2005... Heard any good books lately? If you haven't, you're missing out. By all accounts, the audio industry continues its upward momentum. According to the Audio Publishers Association's most recent figures, sales, library circulation and digital...

Children's fall audio/video.
August 1, 2005... BERIATZ Berlitz DJ series by Howard Beckerman, performed by various artists. Titles: French; Italian; Spanish; and Ingles. Each, One CD plus listener's guide, one hour, $12.95, ages 8-12, Oct. BLACKSTONE AUDIOBOOKS The Legend of...

Liberation.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
August 1, 2005... Liberation JOANNA SCOTT. Little, Brown, $23.95 (240p) ISBN 0-316-01053-7 The morning after her 70th birthday party attended by her dutiful husband and children, Adriana Rundel takes a commuter train from suburban New Jersey to Manhattan,...

The Scorpion's Gate.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
August 1, 2005... The Scorpion's Gate RICHARD A. CLARKE. Putnam, $24.95 (352p) ISBN 0-399-15294-6 It's 2010, and the newly established Republic of Islamyah--the former Saudi Arabia--is trying to destabilize Bahrain: the Diplomat Hotel has been bombed, and,...

The Shroud of the Thwacker.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
August 1, 2005... The Shroud of the Thwacker CHRIS ELLIOTT. Miramax/Hyperion, $22.95 (368p) ISBN 1-4013-5245-6 The book debut from the Get a Life and Cabin Boy star is billed as a parody, but this murder mystery wrapped in laughter is simply straight-up...

Sleep with Me.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
August 1, 2005... Sleep with Me JOANNA BRISCOE. Bloomsbury, $23.95 (320p) ISBN 1-59691-012-7 The smart, suspenseful U.S. debut of Brit Briscoe (Skin; Mothers and Other Lovers) begins between the sheets as 30-somethings Lelia and Richard unknowingly conceive...

Veronica.(Book Review)
August 1, 2005... * Veronica MARY GAITSKILL. Knopf, $23 (240p) ISBN 0-37542145-9 Imagine that Edie Sedgwick penned a roman a clef in her 50s, and that she discovered, in her ugly, diseased decrepitude, that celebrities and downtown loft spaces and skuzzy...

Waterloo.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
August 1, 2005... Waterloo KAREN OLSSON, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $24 (320p) ISBN 0-374-28626-4 In Olsson's intricate, ambitious debut novel, the titular setting, an undisguised Austin, Tex., figures just as vividly as her sympathetic slacker protagonist,...

In the Fold.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
August 1, 2005... In the Fold RACHEL CUSK. Little, Brown, $23.95 (272p) ISBN 0-316-05827-0 Real estate trumps true love in this often hilarious, British black comedy of manners and property values. After the second-story balcony of London lawyer Michael's...

The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
August 1, 2005... * The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear WALTER MOERS, TRANS. FROM THE GERMAN BY JOHN BROWNJOHN. Overlook, $26.95 (704p) ISBN 1-58567-724-8 Nine-lived cats have nothing on the "bluebear," who, according to German author and illustrator Moers,...

The Amphora Project.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
August 1, 2005... The Amphora Project WILLIAM KOTZWINKLE. Grove, $23 (352p) ISBN 0-8021-1803-8 Kotzwinkle's first adult novel since The Bear Went Over the Mountain (1996) is a rollicking old-school space opera complete with sensitive robots, wily space...

The Oxford Murders.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
August 1, 2005... The Oxford Murders GUILLERMO MARTINEZ. MacAdam/Cage, $23 (200p) ISBN 1-59692-150-1 Math and murder mingle in this intriguingly cerebral mystery. When an Argentine math student at Oxford discovers the smothered body of his landlady,...

Mozart and Leadbelly: Stories and Essays.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
August 1, 2005... Mozart and Leadbelly: Stories and Essays ERNEST J. GAINES, COMPILED AND EDITED BY MARCIA GAUDET AND REGINALD YOUNG. Knopf, $22.95 (192p) ISBN 1-4000-4472-3 The artist "must deal with both God and the Devil," notes Gaines in this...

A Primitive Heart.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
August 1, 2005... A Primitive Heart DAVID RABE. Grove, $23 (304p) ISBN 0-8021-1807-0 Playwright Rabe (Hurlyburly, etc.), in this collection, navigates the troubled lives of men set adrift by economic hopelessness, traumatic childhoods and their own inability...

Human Oddities: Stories.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
August 1, 2005... Human Oddities NORIA JABLONSKI. Shoemaker & Hoard, $15 paper (176p) ISBN 1-59376-084-1 In her stark, startling first book, Jablonski gestures toward the abject and the sublime. These nine stories hinge on the damaged contemporary...

PopCo.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
August 1, 2005... PopCo SCARLETT THOMAS. Harcourt, $14 paper (512p) ISBN 0-15-603137-X The code-breaking and -making heroine of Thomas's latest smart, engaging novel (after Going Out) takes a critical view of the corporate marketing of cool, an exploit she...

The Grace That Keeps This World.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
August 1, 2005... The Grace That Keeps This World TOM BAILEY. Shaye Areheart, $24 (288p) ISBN 0-307-23801-6 This accomplished, moving first novel (after Bailey's collection Crow Man) is about fathers and sons, tough love and compassion, the bonds of...

Maybe a Miracle.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
August 1, 2005... Maybe a Miracle BRIAN STRAUSE. Ballantine, $21.95 (368p) ISBN 1-4000-6464-3 Strause juxtaposes the caustic and the poignant in his first novel, a pitch-perfect teenage take on human failings and superhuman spectacle in central Ohio. Monroe...

Seven Lies.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
August 1, 2005... Seven Lies JAMES LASDUN. Norton, $23.95 (224p) ISBN 0-393-05754-2 Lasdun's acclaimed first novel, The Horned Man, followed three short story collections and several books of poems. This second full-length outing seductively and stylishly...

Golfing with God.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
August 1, 2005... Golfing with God ROLAND MERULLO. Algonquin, $23.95 (288p) ISBN 1-56523-502-0 Merullo (Passion for Golf) blends knowledge of the game with glimpses into his spiritual journey in this engaging story of golf, the after-life and "the spiritual...

The Diviners.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
August 1, 2005... The Diviners RICK MOODY. Little, Brown, $25.95 (512p) ISBN 0-316-08539-1 Let it be said that Moody never suffered for want of ambition. Ostensibly about the exploits of Vanessa "Minivan" Meandro--an overweight, pathologically cruel...

On Beauty.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
August 1, 2005... * On Beauty ZADIE SMITH. Penguin Press, $25.95 (320p) ISBN 1-59420-063-7 "Truly human, fully ourselves, beautiful," muses a character in Smith's third novel, an intrepid attempt to explore the sad stuff of adult life, 21st century--style:...

The Man from Beyond.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
August 1, 2005... The Man from Beyond GABRIEL BROWNSTEIN. Norton, $23.95 (320p) ISBN 0-393-05152-8 Inspired by the complex relationship between Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the celebrated author and champion of spiritualism, and Harry Houdini, the famed magician...

The Usual Mistakes.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
August 1, 2005... The Usual Mistakes ERIN FLANAGAN. Univ. of Nebraska, $24.95 (192p) ISBN 0-8032-2029-4 This debut story collection from Prairie Schooner editorial assistant Flanagan is the second in Nebraska's Flyover Fiction series, named, with ironic...

The Three Incestuous Sisters.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
August 1, 2005... The Three Incestuous Sisters AUDREY NIFFENEGGER. Abrams, $27.95 (176p) ISBN 0-8109-5927-5 Niffenegger, author of the two-plus-million-copy bestseller The Time Traveler's Wife, showcases her artistic talent in an oversized "novel in...

Crossing the Lines.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
August 1, 2005... Crossing the Lines MELVYN BRAGG. Arcade, $26 (496p) ISBN 1-559v0-738-0 Bragg's massive trilogy of his hometown in Cumbria, northern England, steers to a close as the torch is passed from WWII hero Sam Richardson to his son Joe. In 1955,...

Coal Camp Justice.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
August 1, 2005... Coal Camp Justice RICARDO I. GARCIA. Univ. of New Mexico Press, $24.95 (328p) ISBN 0-8263-3697-3 Raymond "Swannie" Swanson, a black New Mexico laborer, has had trouble beating the bottle and finding work since returning from WWI service...

Contact Zero.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
August 1, 2005... Contact Zero DAVID WOLSTENCROFT. Dutton, $24.95 (400p) ISBN 0-525-94902-X A fast-paced, wide-ranging opening sequence introduces the characters--and their immediate fates--in this derivative second thriller (after 2004's Good News, Bad...

Diary of a Married Call Girl.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
August 1, 2005... Diary of a Married Call Girl TRACY QUAN. Three Rivers, $12.95 paper (320p) ISBN 1-4000-5354-4 In this unnecessary sequel to Diary of a Manhattan Call Girl, Nancy Chan--now 30-something and newly wed to WASP banker Matt--is still working....

You Deserved It.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
August 1, 2005... You Deserved It BOB FINGERMAN. Dark Horse, $9.99 paper (88p) ISBN 1-59307-390-9 Fingerman's previous work, Beg the Question, was a realistic black-and-white graphic novel about two young New Yorkers' troubled engagement. This volume is a...

The Push Man and Other Stories.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
August 1, 2005... * The Push Man and Other Stories YOSHIHIRO TATSUMI, TRANS. FROM THE JAPANESE BY YUJI ONIKI. Drawn & Quarterly, $19.95 (208p) ISBN 1-896597-85-8 Tatsumi's brief, disturbing stories, originally published in 1969, have a tone somewhere...

Identity Crisis.(Brief Article)(Young Adult Review)(Book Review)
August 1, 2005... Identity Crisis BRAD MELTZER, RAGS MORALES AND MIKE BAIR. DC Comics, $24.99 (288p) ISBN 1-4012-0688-3 This seven-issue miniseries by best-selling author Meltzer (The Zero Game) was both wildly popular and reviled, and the collection shows...

Genshiken Vol. 2.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
August 1, 2005... * Genshiken Vol. 2 Rio SHIMOKU, TRANS. FROM THE JAPANESE BY DAVID URY. Del Rey. $10.95 (185p) ISBN 0-345-48170-4 In volume one of this delightful manga we met Kanji Sassahara, a young Tokyo college student ashamed of his compulsive love of...

Capote in Kansas.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
August 1, 2005... Capote in Kansas ANDE PARKS AND CHRIS SAMNEE. Oni Press, $11.95 paper (136p) ISBN 1-932664-29-7 Ot's 1959 and Truman Capote is looking for a challenging project. A story about an unsolved crime in Kansas sends him and assistant Harper Lee...

San Francisco Noir.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
August 1, 2005... San Francisco Noir EDITED BY PETER MARAVELIS. Akashic, $14.95 paper (291p) ISBN 1-88845191-2 A roster of Bay Area authors lends solid street cred to 15 original stories, but few deliver on the elusive noir premise of this new series....

Eye of the Wolf.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
August 1, 2005... Eye of the Wolf MARGARET COEL. Berkley Prime Crime, $23.95 (336p) ISBN 0-425-20546-0 Bestseller Coel's descriptive artistry, as shown in her 11th whodunit (after 2004's Wife of Moon), surely makes her the James Lee Burke of Native American...

Gagged & Bound: A Trish Maguire Mystery.(Brief Article)(Children's Review)(Book Review)
August 1, 2005... Gagged & Bound: A Trish Maguire Mystery NATASHA COOPER. St. Martin's Minotaur, $24.95 (352p) ISBN 0-312-34921-9 In British author Cooper's suspenseful seventh Trish Maguire mystery (after 2004's Keep Me Alive), the London barrister agrees...

Sacred Cows.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
August 1, 2005... Sacred Cows KAREN E. OLSON. Mysterious, $21.95 (304p) ISBN 0-89296-022-1 A phone call summons New Haven, Conn., crime reporter Anne Seymour from a beer-fogged sleep to cover a breaking story at the start of Olson's spirited debut, the...

First Drop.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
August 1, 2005... * First Drop ZOE SHARP. St. Martin's Minotaur/Dunne, $23.95 (304p) ISBN 0-312-34169-5 Sharp's aim is dead on in her stunning U.S. debut, the fourth book to star ultra-cool biker chick Charlie Fox. The no-nonsense, 26-year-old Charlie, a...

The Egyptian Coffin.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
August 1, 2005... The Egyptian Coffin JANE JAKEMAN. Berkley Prime Crime, $13 paper (272p) ISBN 0-425-206541-X Set in 1830, Jakeman's engrossing second Lord Ambrose Malfine historical (after 2004's Let There Be Blood) evokes the classic 19th-century suspense...

Nervous Water: A Brady Coyne Novel.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
August 1, 2005... Nervous Water: A Brady Coyne Novel WILLIAM G. TAPPLY. St. Martin's Minotaur, $23.95 (288p) ISBN 0-312-33744-2 Boston lawyer Brady Coyne tackles family troubles past and present in his compelling if slightly wordy 21st solo outing (after...

Drive.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
August 1, 2005... * Drive JAMES SALLIS. Poisoned Pen, $19.95 (160p) ISBN 1-59058-181-4 I drive. That's what I do. All I do." So declares the enigmatic Driver in this masterfully convoluted neo-noir, which ranges from the dive bars and flyblown motels of Los...

Night Train to Rigel.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
August 1, 2005... Night Train to Rigel TIMOTHY ZAHN. Tor, $24.95 (352p) ISBN 0-765-30716-2 Hang on! Hugo-winner Zahn (Cascade Point) takes off on a rip-roaring interstellar train ride with hard-boiled hero Frank Compton, recently fired from Earth's Western...