Publishers Weekly articles from December 2005

Publishers Weekly archives from December 2005

Donor pledge returned to sender: how much is intellectual freedom worth? For one Texas school, it's priceless.(Foreword)(St. Andrew's Episcopal School)(Authors Supporting Intellectual Freedom)
December 5, 2005... When St. Andrew's Episcopal School in Austin, Tex., was faced with an ultimatum--pull Annie Proulx's short story "Brokeback Mountain" from its reading list or lose a $3-million donation to its building fund--school officials chose to give up...

Atria loses Loeber, Mender.(Atria Books, Justin Loeber and Karen Mender)(Brief Article)
December 5, 2005... In two job moves affecting Atria Books, Justin Loeber and Karen Mender will be leaving the S&S imprint. Loeber, who has been Atria's director of publicity, will take on the title of senior v-p, executive director of marketing and publicity, at...

Ziccardi goes to Pocket.(Anthony Ziccardi, Pocket Books Inc.)(Brief Article)
December 5, 2005... Anthony Ziccardi has been named deputy publisher at Pocket Books, filling the vacancy left by the recently departed Liate Stehlik, who now holds the top spot at Avon. Ziccardi had been publishing director of mass market and Del Ray at Random...

Living small.(Foreword)
December 5, 2005... "Books can be anything." Thus spoke Peter Workman, editor, iconoclast and all-around visionary founder of the eponymous publishing house when he received a Ben Award from the Small Press Center last week. The Ben (as in...

McDonald rises at Riverhead.(Sean McDonald, Riverhead Books)(Brief Article)
December 5, 2005... Following the departure of Riverhead copublishers Cindy Spiegel and Julie Grau for Random House, Sean McDonald has been named executive editor of the imprint. McDonald, who previously held the title senior editor and online creative director at...

Wiley to launch in Asia.(John Wiley & Sons Inc.)(Brief Article)
December 5, 2005... John Wiley & Sons is opening an editorial office in its Singapore headquarters to develop an Asian-Pacific publishing program for the professional market. Ann-Marie Halligan, currently an editorial director at Wiley's Chichester, England,...

Robert Tyson Cornell, director of publicity, Book Soup, West Hollywood, Calif.(GALLEY TALK)(Brief Article)
December 5, 2005... There's a particular kind of book that comes along maybe once or twice a year that defines the enthusiasm that our staff and customers share in reading. We can sell hundreds of copies by simple handselling alone. The Black Dahlia Files: The...

Small Press Center at 20.(Foreword)(Brief Article)
December 5, 2005... The Small Press Center celebrated its 20th anniversary with a party last week at its New York City headquarters. More than 100 guests saw Workman Publishing founder Peter Workman accept the 2005 Ben Award (below) for distinguished publishing by...

S&S to distribute Treasure Trove.(Simon & Schuster Inc.)(Brief Article)
December 5, 2005... Simon & Schuster has taken over worldwide distribution for the Treasure Trove Inc. publishing program. Launched last year by Michael Stadther, the company self-publishes A Treasure's Trove, which has sold more than 500,000 copies since it...

CDS lands Planeta; NBN adds three.(National Book Network)(Brief Article)
December 5, 2005... Perseus Books' CDS division will assume the warehousing and fulfillment functions for Spanish-language publisher Planeta beginning January 1. Planeta will continue to use its own sales force to sell its list. CDS competitor National Book...

Mapping retirement.(Deals)(Brief Article)
December 5, 2005... A year and a half ago, former Playboy editor Barry Golson published a piece in AARP, the Magazine, about the phenomenon of boomers retiring to Mexico, which resulted in a deal with Scribner for the forthcoming Gringos in Paradise. The book,...

In hunter's kitchen.(Deals)(Brief Article)
December 5, 2005... This isn't the first deal related to Hunter S. Thompson since his suicide in February, but it is the first book that promises to bring readers right into Thompson's living room--or kitchen, as it were. Woody Creek, Colo., sheriff Bob Braudis...

Behrendt on dating.(books)(Greg Behrendt)(Brief Article)
December 5, 2005... Now that he's clued readers in to deadbeat boyfriends and doomed relationships in the bestselling books He's Just Not That Into You (with Liz Tuccillo) and It's Called a Break-up Because It's Broken, Greg Behrendt will turn his attention to...

The Egegik diaries.(Dunow Carlson Lerner)(deals)(Brief Article)
December 5, 2005... Many readers may associate author and filmmaker Bill Carter primarily with the Balkans; his documentary Miss Sarajevo and the subsequent memoir Fools Rush In helped bring attention to the war-torn region. But Carter has recently spent more than...

Virgin's Kama Sutra.(Deals)(Virgin Books Ltd.)(Brief Article)
December 5, 2005... Following on the recent news that Virgin Books will launch in the U.S. market through an arrangement with Holtzbrinck, KT Forster, managing director of Virgin, has acquired world English rights to Deepak Chopra's Kama Sutra in a major...

Debut to Atria.(Atria Books acquires world rights of Chandra Prasad's novel, One of the Boys)(Brief Article)
December 5, 2005... Atria's Greet Hendricks has acquired world rights to Chandra Prasad's first novel, titled One of the Boys, from agent Rosalie Siegel. Set during the Depression, the novel tells the story of Adele, whose impoverished family pin all of their...

Holtzbrinck online for libraries.(Holtzbrinck Publishers' website, HoltzbrinckLibrary.com)(Brief Article)
December 5, 2005... Holtzbrinck has launched a new Web site dedicated to librarians and library patrons. HoltzbrinckLibrary.com features information on the house's current and forthcoming books, promotional details on authors' tour dates and online reading groups,...

McCain with kids in NYT.(New York Times)(John McCain)(Brief Article)
December 5, 2005... Though Random House has marketed Sen. John McCain's new book, Character Is Destiny, as an adult title, it landed on the New York Times children's bestseller list. According to RH, the book's placement isn't the result of a mistake but, rather,...

More chain stores on the drawing board.
December 5, 2005... The nation's three major bookstore chains plan to open roughly 80 new superstores in 2006, a bit more than the 70 outlets opened by Barnes & Noble, Borders and Books-A-Million in 2005. B&N has the most ambitious plans for next year, with 30...

Global warming takes the literary stage.(books on global warming)
December 5, 2005... With all the attention the media has given to global warming and its potential consequences for the earth, to date few books aimed at a general audience have been published on the topic. David Reay, a climatologist and author of Macmillan's...

Calendar: Dec. 11-Dec. 17.(Foreword)(Calendar)
December 5, 2005... 12/11 Soul singer Sam Cooke is shot and killed in 1964. PW's starred review called Peter Guralnick's Dream Boogie: The Triumph of Sam Cooke (Little, Brown) a "masterful biography." 12/12 PW's starred review of Daniel Benjamin and...

Nance in Orbit.(Hollywood Reader)(John J. Nance)(movie adaptations)(Brief Article)
December 5, 2005... Known for his aviation thrillers, author John J. Nance realized he would need to tweak his oeuvre post-9/11 and has of late applied his expertise of all things aerial to a variety of different situations (airborne firefighters in Fire Flight,...

A passport to love.(Hollywood Reader)(Brief Article)
December 5, 2005... Coming from a film background, former Disney studio exec--turned--writer Tamara Gregory knows a thing or two about getting a manuscript optioned. No wonder her debut novel, Passport Diaries (Amistad, Aug.)--about a career-driven L.A. lawyer who...

Two films based on book material made a respectable showing among this year's Independent Spirit Award nominations (indie American features made for $20 million or less), announced November 29 (airing March 4 on IFC).(Brief Article)
December 5, 2005... Two films based on book material made a respectable showing among this year's Independent Spirit Award nominations (indie American features made for $20 million or less), announced November 29 (airing March 4 on IFC): director Ang Lee's...

Religion scholars meeting biggest ever.(New Markets)
December 5, 2005... Last month's joint meeting of the American Academy of Religion and the Society of Biblical Literature drew 10,000 scholars, a record number. The strong turnout was attributed to the Philadelphia location and a more extensive educational...

Publishers stocks: November performances.(Brief Article)(Illustration)
December 5, 2005... Market Watch Publishers Stocks: November Performances Winners Company Oct.31 Nov. 30 % CHANGE Amazon.com 39.86 48.46 21.6% Advanced Marketing Svc. 3.90 ...

B&H hires.(Broadman & Holman Publishers appoint Craig Featherstone, David Webb and Tim Jordan)(Brief Article)
December 5, 2005... Broadman & Holman Publishers has hired three new staffers: Craig Featherstone, David Webb and Tim Jordan. Featherstone, who joins B&H from Integrity Publishers, is the new senior v-p of sales. Webb, most recently at Multnomah Publishers, is...

Passannante to Crown.(Donna Passannante appointed at Crown Group )(Brief Article)
December 5, 2005... Donna Passannante, formerly director of author promotions and special events at Barnes & Noble, is joining the Crown Group as marketing director. Passannante will oversee six Crown imprints.

Adkins joins S-T Lit.(Dana Adkins joins Santana-Tatsuuma Media International Literary Agency)(Brief Article)
December 5, 2005... Dana Adkins, formerly a book editor, has joined the Santana-Tatsuuma Media International Literary Agency. Adkins has worked at numerous houses during her 30-year editorial career--from Penguin to Houghton Mifflin--and with such authors as Ed...

Talk of the trade.(Foreword)
December 5, 2005... It's not often that bestselling crime novelist Patricia Cornwell takes time out of her schedule to blurb a book. But she's doing a lot more than that for James L. Swanson's Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer from Morrow, which lands...

S&S Children's hires.(People)(Karen Sargent, Orly Sigal and Christine Bryza joins Simon & Schuster Inc.'s Children's group)(Brief Article)
December 5, 2005... A flurry of new hires this week at Simon & Schuster's Children's group: Karen Sargent, formerly at Sesame Workshop, has been named executive editor of Simon Spotlight; Orly Sigal joins as marketing manager of Simon Spotlight Entertainment and...

Patterson and Lewey join Globe Pequot.(Michelle Lewey, Michelle Patterson and Jane Reilly, Globe Pequot Press Inc.)(Brief Article)
December 5, 2005... Michelle Lewey has been named director of trade sales at Globe Pequot Press. Lewey was most recently v-p of sales and marketing for the mass market division at Scholastic. Michelle Patterson has joined Globe as director of marketing; she...

New directions for sourcebooks.(Diversifying)(children's title released)(Brief Article)
December 5, 2005... After focusing on adult books since it was launched 18 years ago, last month Sourcebooks released its first children's title, Poetry Speaks to Children, edited by Elise Paschen. The anthology is a follow-up to the press's 2001 bestselling...

Penguin gets Coolman.(Marie Coolman, Penguin Group )(Brief Article)
December 5, 2005... Marie Coolman is going to the Penguin Group as director of marketing for Hudson Street Press and Plume. Coolman, who spent 16 years at Random House, most recently held the title director of publicity, West Coast.

Wilstermann to Integrity.(Dale Wilstermann, Integrity Publishers )(Brief Article)
December 5, 2005... Dale Wilstermann, previously head of his own consulting firm, has joined Integrity Publishers as v-p of sales for the general trade market.

McFall to Mira.(Linda McFall, Mira Books)(Brief Article)
December 5, 2005... Linda McFall has joined Mira Books as senior editor. McFall, who will focus on acquiring commercial literary fiction and thrillers for the Harlequin imprint, was previously an editor-at-large and publicity manager at St. Martin's Press.

Hardcover bestsellers/fiction.
December 5, 2005... Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader follows the transformation of young Anakin Skywalker into Darth Vader. Now horribly burned and deformed, and trapped in the lifesaving black uniform that Star Wars fans worldwide recognize, Vader must adjust...

Hardcover bestsellers/nonfiction.
December 5, 2005... Asked by PW whether Americans are prepared for the flat--i.e., connected--world he describes, Thomas Friedman said: "I think some of our major corporations are getting prepared, and ones like the Ciscos and Intels are at the cutting edge, and...

Paperback bestsellers/mass market.
December 5, 2005... At the 2005 Virginia Film Festival, John Grisham recalled that his break came when a manuscript of The Firm fell into the hands of a man who fraudulently claimed to represent the author. The ruse got the attention of the studios, and Grisham's...

Paperback bestsellers/trade.
December 5, 2005... At the beginning of its third year on Broadway, Wicked was the top earner this past Thanksgiving weekend. It went over the $1.5 million mark and the capacity crowd paid an average ticket price of $105.11--both numbers were record breakers. ...

Audio bestsellers/fiction.
December 5, 2005... "Cornwell is our biggest author on audio by far," said Penguin Audio executive producer Patti Pirooz. And Reading, the frequent voice of Kay Scarpetta, is signed up to record Cornwell's next foray, too--a departure called At Risk, a slim...

Audio bestsellers/nonfiction.
December 5, 2005... Truth be told Franken rustled up a supporting player for his newest recording. "Al, who does a devastating imitation of Gore and Cheney, among others, had a little trouble with some foreign accents in the book, notably Scottish," according to...

Mystery booksellers--publish and perish: independent retailers say they know best what readers want.(Bookselling)(Cover Story)
December 5, 2005... The evidence shows that major publishers know how to churn out mystery blockbusters. Currently topping PW's fiction bestseller list is James Patterson's latest, Mary, Mary, from Little, Brown--his fourth #1 bestseller this year--while Patricia...

Uncovering new evidence: in the mystery game, breaking and entering is one tough caper.(Mystery Watch)
December 5, 2005... Writing a mystery can be murder, says Maggie Griffin, co-owner of New York City's Partners & Crime bookstore. "Readers demand more. Some novels can get away with a considerable amount of navel-gazing or a vague ending, but those won't hack it...

The Heretic: A Novel of the Inquisition.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
December 5, 2005... The Heretic: A Novel of the Inquisition MIGUEL DELIBES, TRANS. FROM THE SPANISH BY ALFRED MACADAM. Overlook, $24.95 (352p) ISBN 1-58567-570-9 Winner of the 1999 Spanish literary prize, the Premio Nacional de Narrative, Delibes's assured...

The Suitors.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
December 5, 2005... The Suitors BEN EHRENREICH. Counterpoint, $23 (288p) ISBN 1-58243-335-6 Explicitly comparing itself to The Odyssey, Ehrenreich's first novel owes less to Homer's epic than to Joyce's. With his linguistic acrobatics, caustic wit and...

The Tenth Circle.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
December 5, 2005... * The Tenth Circle JODI PICOULT. Atria, $26 (400p) ISBN 0-7434-9670-1 Some of Picoult's best storytelling distinguishes her twisting, metaphor-rich 13th novel (after Vanishing Acts) about parental vigilance gone haywire, inner demons and...

Conflict management: how it's done (darkly, this time), romantic suspense-style.(Q & A: PW Talks to Jayne Ann Krentz)(Interview)
December 5, 2005... All Night Long's Senator Webb (Reviews, Nov. 28) turns out to be a pretty bad guy. Channeling any political demons? This book was a little unusual for me. I usually steer clear of politics, and I usually "write toward the light," as it...

Second Honeymoon.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
December 5, 2005... Second Honeymoon JOANNA TROLLOPE. Bloomsbury, $23.95 (320p) ISBN 1-59691-038-0 Over 16 novels, Trollope has explored a plethora of the modern family's permutations; her 17th is a tender, funny ode to empty nest syndrome. Edie Boyd is a...

Philosophy Made Simple.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
December 5, 2005... Philosophy Made Simple ROBERT HELLENGA. Little, Brown, $23.95 (288p) ISBN 0-316-05826-2 Riffing off his charming 1994 debut, The Sixteen Pleasures, Hellenga shifts perspective from father to daughter, detailing the former's postmarital...

Intuition.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
December 5, 2005... * Intuition ALLEGRA GOODMAN. Dial, $25 (416p) ISBN 0-385-33612-8 In another quiet but powerful novel from Goodman (Kaaterskill Falls), a struggling cancer lab at Boston's Philpott Institute becomes the stage for its researchers'...

Nowhere Is a Place.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
December 5, 2005... Nowhere Is a Place BERNICE L. MCFADDEN. Dutton, $24.95 (304p) ISBN 0-525-94875-9 McFadden's Sugar and other titles remain key recent novels of black women's search for, and claiming of, origins; this flawed but engrossing multigenerational...

Twilight of the Superheroes.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
December 5, 2005... * Twilight of the Superheroes DEBORAH EISENBERG. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $23 (224p) ISBN 0-374-29941-2 Short-story master Eisenberg delivers, with signature intelligence and humor, six elegant, soulful new tales in her fifth book of...

The Tree-Sitter.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
December 5, 2005... The Tree-Sitter SUZANNE MATSON. Norton, $23.95 (224p) ISBN 0-393-06046-2 At the start of Matson's third novel (after A Trick of Nature), Julie Prince faces the end of her junior year at Wellesley and the expectations of her highly...

Strivers Row.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
December 5, 2005... * Strivers Row KEVIN BAKER. HarperCollins, $26.95 (560p) ISBN 0-06-019583-5 Played out against the backdrop of Harlem in 1943, this generally engaging, sometimes dense third novel from Baker (following the bestselling Dreamland and...

Bedtime Eyes.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
December 5, 2005... Bedtime Eyes AMY YAMADA, TRANS. FROM THE JAPANESE BY YUMO GUNJI AND MARC JARDINE. St. Martin's, $23.95 (240p) ISBN 0-312-35226-3 Originally published in Japan in the mid-1980s (before Trash), the three novellas in this harsh, vivid...

Out There in the Dark.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
December 5, 2005... Out There in the Dark WESLEY STRICK. St. Martin's/Dunne, $23.95 (336p) ISBN 0-312-34381-7 Strick captures the freewheeling but edgy atmosphere of WWII-era Hollywood. Harley Hayden, a handsome but limited actor a la Ronald Reagan, is...

The Space Between Us.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
December 5, 2005... The Space Between Us THRITY UMRIGAR. Morrow, $24.95 (320p) ISBN 0-06-079155-1 Umrigar's schematic novel (after Bombay Time) illustrates the intimacy, and the irreconcilable class divide, between two women in contemporary Bombay. Bhima, a...

The Fugitive Wife.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
December 5, 2005... The Fugitive Wife PETER C. BROWN. Norton, $24.95 (406p) ISBN 0-393-06110-8 The 1900 gold rush to Nome, Alaska, sweeps up Esther (Essie) Crummey, the resilient and pragmatic title character of this evocative historical novel, Brown's...

Mr. Murder: A Sally Harrington Novel.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
December 5, 2005... Mr. Murder: A Sally Harrington Novel LAURA VAN WORMER. Mira, $24.95 (352p) ISBN 0-7783-2177-0 In Van Wormer's sixth novel to feature rich, beautiful TV reporter Sally Harrington (after The Kill Fee), a killer known as Mr. Murder targets a...

Seasons of Change.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
December 5, 2005... Seasons of Change JULIAN JAY SAVARIN. Severn, $27.95 (224p) ISBN 0-7287-6296-0 If Savarin weren't a writer of entertaining, old-fashioned international thrillers, he could probably be a maker of fine watches. His series about a pair of...

Tremor.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
December 5, 2005... Tremor CRAIG DIRGO. Berkley, $14 paper (320p) ISBN 0-425-20750-1 Dirgo, coauthor of Clive Cussler's Oregon Files series (Sacred Stone; Golden Buddha) follows his solo effort, The Einstein Papers, featuring National Intelligence Agency...

Embracing Family.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
December 5, 2005... Embracing Family NOBUO KOJIMA, TRANS. FROM THE JAPANESE BY YUKIKO TANAKA. Dalkey Archive, $21.95 (161p) ISBN 1-56478-405-3 Set during the post-WWII American occupation of Japan, this sometimes disjointed novel (the first English-language...

Charlie P.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
December 5, 2005... Charlie P RICHARD KALICH. Green Integer (SPD, dist.), $12.95 paper (242p) ISBN 1-933382-05-8 In this zany, episodic picaresque, anxiety and erections rule the life of the title Charlie, a priapic, Woody Allen-style flaneur, "Peckerhead and...

After.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
December 5, 2005... After JANE HIRSHFIELD. HarperCollins, $23.95 (112p) ISBN 0-06-077916-0 Serious, prayerful and governed by quietly sweeping abstract lines, Hirshfield's sixth collection of verse continues the meditative direction established in 2001's...

Sono.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
December 5, 2005... Sono SARAH ARVIO. Knopf, $23 (80p) ISBN 0-307-26323-1 Arvio's sophomore follow-up to Visits from the Seventh (2002), reckons with the "Interior Ostracism" fostered by a life's disappointments and regrets--almost all relationship-based....

The Days of Good Looks: Prose and Poetry, 1980 to 2005.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
December 5, 2005... The Days of Good Looks: Prose and Poetry, 1980 to 2005 CHERYL CLARKE. Carroll & Graf, $15.95 paper (432p) ISBN 0-7867-1675-4 Among the first and most prominent outspoken African-American lesbian feminists of the late 1970s and early 1980s,...

Marabou.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
December 5, 2005... Marabou JANE YEH. Carcanet (IPG, dist.), $12.95 paper (52p) ISBN 1-8575-4788-8 Yeh creates spectacular, lyrical costume dramas of yearning, existential fears and loneliness, casting herself as Ook the Owl from the Harry Potter films...

Morning Prayer.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
December 5, 2005... Morning Prayer EVE GRUBIN. Sheep Meadow (UPNE, dist.), $12.95 paper (96p) ISBN 1-931357-28-5 In her strong, spare debut, Grubin writes from, and about, her Jewish faith, exploring and justifying it in careful images from modern city life,...

Interrogation Palace: New and Selected Poems, 1982-2004.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
December 5, 2005... Interrogation Palace: New and Selected Poems, 1982-2004 DAVID WOJAHN. Univ. of Pittsburgh, $14 paper (208p) ISBN 0-8229-5917-8 Adding nine new poems (one of them a massive sequence) to selections from his six previous books, this mid-career...

American Tatts.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
December 5, 2005... American Tatts LINH DINH. Chax (SPD, dist.), $16 paper (96p) ISBN 0-925904-47-3 The second effort in verse from this rising star of the small-press world turns his considerable powers to the depiction of acrid ironies, unmitigated disgust...

Petroleum Hat.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
December 5, 2005... Petroleum Hat DREW GARDNER. Roof (SPD, dist.), $12.95 paper (96p) ISBN 1-931824-17-7 The most salient form of "Google poetry"--or the collaging and strategic search-and-replacing of text from Web searches--has come to be called "Flarf" by...

Downspooky.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
December 5, 2005... Downspooky SHANNA COMPTON. Winnow (winnowpress.com), $14 paper (52p) ISBN 0-9764726-4-3 Vigorous, winningly smart and consistently hip, Compton's debut follows a horde of quick-witted alter egos through a decidedly American, youth-oriented...

The Thorn.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
December 5, 2005... The Thorn DAVID LARSEN. Faux (SPD, dist.), $15 paper (88p) ISBN 0-9765211-0-5 Larsen is one the two most important practitioners of an emerging form that might be called the "graphic poem"--basically, verse comics. (The other is Gary...

Murder in Montmartre: An Aimee Leduc Investigation.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
December 5, 2005... Murder in Montmartre: An Aimee Leduc Investigation CARA BLACK. Soho, $23 (307p) ISBN 1-56947-410-9 Intrepid Aimee Leduc strives to clear the name of a childhood friend, policewoman Laure Rousseau, who's charged with shooting her partner to...

Terror Town: An Abe Lieberman Mystery.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
December 5, 2005... * Terror Town: An Abe Lieberman Mystery STUART M. KAMINSKY. Forge, $23.95 (256p) ISBN 0-765-31164-X Edgar-winner Kaminsky writes four ongoing mystery series, but his books about close-to-retirement Chicago police detective Abe Lieberman...

Nails: A Montana Mystery Featuring Gabriel Du Pre.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
December 5, 2005... Nails: A Montana Mystery Featuring Gabriel Du Pre PETER BOWEN. St. Martin's Minotaur, $23.95 (224p) ISBN 0-312-31207-5 The 13th entry in Bowen's admirable, highly original Gabriel Du Pre series (after 2005's Stewball) features his most...

D.C. Noir.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
December 5, 2005... D.C. Noir EDITED BY GEORGE PELECANOS. Akashic, $14.95 paper (308p) ISBN 1-888451-90-0 While only a few of the contributors, such as editor Pelecanos, will be familiar to most readers, every story in this all-original noir anthology set in...

Murder in Byzantium.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
December 5, 2005... Murder in Byzantium JULIA KRISTEVA, TRANS. FROM THE FRENCH BY C. JON DELOGU. Columbia Univ., $29.50 (288p) ISBN 0-231-13636-6 In renowned French critic Kristeva's rambling historical mystery, Stephanie Delacour, a Paris journalist, goes to...

Troubled Midnight.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
December 5, 2005... Troubled Midnight JOHN GARDNER. St. Martin's Minotaur/Dunne, $23.95 (272p) ISBN 0-312-33721-3 Prolific British author Gardner, in the introduction to his predictable fourth Suzie Mountford mystery (after 2004's Angels Dining at the Ritz),...

Cue the Easter Bunny.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
December 5, 2005... Cue the Easter Bunny LIZ EVANS. Orion (Trafalgar Square, dist.), $29.99 (272p) ISBN 0-75285-983-8 It's not easy being a slick-chick PI while attired in an Easter Bunny costume, but for Grace Smith, in her madcap sixth outing from British...

The Adventure of the Missing Detective and 25 of the Year's Finest Crime and Mystery Stories!(Brief Article)(Book Review)
December 5, 2005... The Adventure of the Missing Detective and 25 of the Year's Finest Crime and Mystery Stories! EDITED BY ED GORMAN AND MARTIN H. GREENBERG. Carroll & Graf, $16.95 paper (336p) ISBN 0-7867-1643-6 The editors of The World's Finest Mystery and...

Titan.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
December 5, 2005... Titan BEN BOVA. Tor, $24.95 (464p) ISBN 0-765-30413-9 In the latest planetary saga from Hugo-winner Bova (Mercury, etc.), the solidly hypothesized science enthralls, especially down on the surface of Saturn's largest moon, Titan. On...

Sebastian.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
December 5, 2005... * Sebastian ANNE BISHOP. Roc, $23.95 (448p) ISBN 0-451-46073-1 Sweeping onto the scene with flair and grace, this latest page-turner from bestseller Bishop (Dreams Made Flesh) flutters its eyelashes at you like a shy country maid and then...