Publishers Weekly articles from December 2008

Publishers Weekly archives from December 2008

The Baptism of Billy Bean.(Pick of the week: Murder in Appalachia)(Brief article)(Book review)
December 22, 2008... * The Baptism of Billy Bean Roger Alan Skipper. Counterpoint (PGW, dist.), $15.95 paper (384p) ISBN 978-1-58243-460-5 Lane Hollar, the manly hero of Skipper's riveting second novel (after Tear Down the Mountain), feels right at home...

Publishers respond to difficult, changing market: cost cutting, restructuring continue throughout industry.(Foreword)
December 22, 2008... There were more examples last week of how publishers are adapting to a book market going through a severe sales downturn as well as tremendous transition in its sales channels and formats. After working on a new operational plan for...

Making the list.(books as gift this holiday)
December 22, 2008... In years past, I have to admit, I gave few books as holiday presents. Since friends and family know I'm in "the business," they assumed--often, but not always correctly--that I was simply passing on to them books I'd gotten for...

Kamil named editor-in-chief.(Susan Kamil of Random House)(Brief article)
December 22, 2008... Susan Kamil has been named senior v-p and editor-in-chief of the Random House imprint of the Random House Publishing Group. Kamil, who will report to RHPG president Gina Centrello, will continue as editorial director of the Dial Press, which...

NAIPR upgrades Frontlist Plus.(National Association of Independent Publishers Representatives)(Brief article)
December 22, 2008... In January, the National Association of Independent Publishers Representatives will launch Frontlist Plus Universal, the first major upgrade of the Frontlist Plus program it began 15 years ago. Fplus will provide reps with Web- tools to...

Small presses turn to subscriptions.(Models)
December 22, 2008... The way Chad Post described it, subscriptions were always part of the business model for his nonprofit press, Open Letter. Post, the publisher of Open Letter, launched a number of subscription options in April, because he felt that the...

Graywolf plans instant book.(Graywolf Press on Elizabeth Alexander's poem )(Brief article)
December 22, 2008... Graywolf Press will publish an instant book of Elizabeth Alexander's poem composed for Barack Obama's inauguration. The commemorative chapbook will be released on January 20 with a 100,000 print run. Graywolf will also reprint Alexander's...

Done deal.(Sourcebooks Inc. and Cumberland House deal)(Brief article)
December 22, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Sourcebooks president Dominique Raccah with Cumberland House founder Ron Pitkin after the two signed the deal in which Sourcebooks acquired 90 titles from the Nashville publisher. Pitkin will join Sourcebooks as...

Two bookstores test the publishing waters.(Commonwealth Books' Black Widow Press and Busboys and Poets publishing companies)
December 22, 2008... City Lights Publishers is one of the few successful publishing houses to emerge from a bookstore. Now two stores, Commonwealth Books in Boston and Busboys and Poets in Washington, D.C., are trying to emulate the model City Lights created 53...

Correction.(Correction notice)
December 22, 2008... Last week's article about children's books with origins in self-publishing incorrectly identified the author of On the Night You Were Born. Nancy Tillman wrote and illustrated the book.

The Galaxy Bookshop turns 20.(Brief article)
December 22, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Linda Ramsdell, owner of the Galaxy Bookshop, celebrated the 20th anniversary of the Hardwick, Vt., bookstore with Bill Andrews (left), former Random House sales rep, and Michael Katzenbach (center), former owner...

New favorites in nonfiction.(bestsellers in Spain, Sweden, and France)
December 22, 2008... The top nonfiction spots in France, Spain and Sweden are all occupied by new titles. In Spain, The Queen in Person, which reveals the private opinions of the usually very private Queen Sofia, has caused some controversy in the country,...

Calendar: Dec. 28-Jan. 7.(sales promotion for books)(Calendar)
December 22, 2008... 12/28 Robin McGraw will be on husband Dr. Phil's show this week, promoting What's Age Got to Do with It?: Living Your Healthiest and Happiest Life (Thomas Nelson). 1/1 She ought to know: Joan Rivers releases Men Are Stupid......

Hat trick for Sullivan.(Basic Books executive editor Tim Sullivan)
December 22, 2008... Basic executive editor Tim Sullivan, who joined the house in September from Portfolio, made several buys last week. First, he acquired world rights to Grant McCracken's Chief Culture Officer via Kate Lee at ICM. Anthropologist and consultant...

Trifecta for Fairbank.(literary agent Sorche Elizabeth Fairbank)(Brief article)
December 22, 2008... It was also a productive week for agent Sorche Elizabeth Fairbank, who negotiated three new deals. First, she sold four books in a new series by Matthew Frederick to Rick Wolff at Grand Central, who preempted world rights with a six-figure...

Inside Goldman.(Henry Goldman's biography Money Is Always in Fashion)(Brief article)
December 22, 2008... Palgrave publisher Airie Stuart bought world rights to Money Is Always in Fashion by June Breton Fisher, Henry Goldman's granddaughter and one of only two surviving Goldmans. Fisher's account of Henry Goldman's life and financial empire will...

Wiley legends.(Stephen Power and Hana Lane)
December 22, 2008... Stephen Power at John Wiley has acquired the 12th book by Jack Nicklaus, Putting My Way, to be written with Ken Bowden; Bob Diforio made the North American rights sale. This hardcover how-to, fully illustrated by Jim McQueen, will cover every...

Talley retiring.(St. Martin's Press editor Truman Talley )(Brief article)
December 22, 2008... Veteran St. Martin's Press editor Truman Talley is retiring. The 84-year-old has been in the publishing industry for some 60 years, the last 11 at St. Martin's. Talley's worked with such authors as Isaac Asimov, Jack Kerouac and Ian Fleming....

Additions at Tupelo.(Tupelo Press' book editors Jim Schley, Cassandra Cleghorn, and Grace Dane Mazur)(Brief article)
December 22, 2008... Tupelo Press in Vermont has hired Jim Schley as managing editor. Schley, a widely published poet, was most recently executive director of the Frost Place, a museum and education center dedicated to poet Robert Frost. Also joining Tupelo are...

Boyett's follow-up.(Steven R. Boyett's sequel to Ariel, acquired by Ace Books)(Brief article)
December 22, 2008... Ace editor Anne Sowards has acquired a new novel by Steven R. Boyett, a sequel to his 1983 debut, Ariel, published when Boyett was 19. Richard Curtis negotiated the North American rights sale. The new fantasy, Elegy Beach, takes place in...

Paul Ingram, Prairie Lights, Iowa City, Iowa.(Flannery: A Life of Flannery O'Connor)(Brief article)(Book review)
December 22, 2008... In what I believe must be the first full biography of Flannery O'Connor, Brad Gooch's Flannery [Little, Brown, Feb. 25] has created a fascinating portrayal of one of the greatest short story writers of our century. Gooch is a terrific writer...

Hardcover bestsellers/fiction.(Stephenie Meyer and David Wroblewski's The Story of Edgar Sawtelle)
December 22, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Stephenie Meyer rules the children's bestseller charts with her vampire novels. She's not doing badly on the adult side, either, with The Host, her first book for the older set; Little, Brown reports 1.3 million...

Hardcover bestsellers/nonfiction.
December 22, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "Too many people go through life complaining about their problems. I've always believed that if you took one-tenth the energy you put into complaining and applied it to solving the problem, you'd be surprised by...

Paperback bestsellers/mass market.
December 22, 2008... The economy has changed. The message remains the same. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Marley & Me was released in hardcover in November 2005 and, unlike the titular pooch, the book learned to "sit and stay" on PW's hardcover, trade and mass...

Paperback bestsellers/trade.
December 22, 2008... Rich Dad Poor Dad #1 Best Selling Personal Finance Book of All Time [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Barack Obama is a fan of Team of Rivals, Goodwin's book about Lincoln's cabinet choices. So far, he's chosen three of the seven Democrats who...

Children's series and tie-ins bestsellers.(The Tale of Despereaux, 39 Clues, and The Tales of Beedle the Bard )
December 22, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The Tales of Beedle the Bard has been called the fastest-selling book of 2008, selling at an estimated rate of two copies per second. The book, a collection of bedtime tales for young wizards, pubbed on December 4;...

Audio bestsellers/fiction.
December 22, 2008... "Using a different narrator for each story works well. King himself reads the introduction, one story and the end notes about each story. While not necessarily of the same caliber as his co-narrators (including Jill Eikenberry, Holter Graham,...

Audio bestsellers/nonfiction.
December 22, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "Read by a small cast of exuberant personalities including the Reverend Bob Levy, Gary Dell'abate, Jim Florentine and, of course, Lange himself, the recording is one of the funniest and most touching readings audio...

Happy holidays for Sony Reader: Sony digital reading president Steve Haber is confident about the future.(Digital Publishing)(Bookrix)
December 22, 2008... In early December, Steve Haber, president of Sony's Digital Reading Business division, told the Wall Street Journal that the company has sold more than 300,000 of its Reader Digital Book devices to date. The news was a revelation not only...

Catching up with some rising stars: what's new with some of PW's 50 Under 40.(Publishers Weekly)
December 22, 2008... The "50 Under 40" feature that wrapped up last week was one of the most popular columns published by PW in many years. Many of those profiled have added new milestones, both professionally and personally, since they appeared in our pages;...

Comics in the classroom: thanks to a new generation of educators, the school and library markets keep on growing.(Cover story)
December 22, 2008... Long ghettoized--even demonized--in North America as puerile and pulpy, both "comic books" (traditional comics periodicals) and book-format graphic novels are now being used in both k-12 and higher education classrooms as everything from...

Fall flying starts.(Children's Books)(Kristin Cashore, Marie Rutkoski, Donna Freitas)(Interview)
December 22, 2008... This past season saw a bumper crop of first novels. We spoke with the authors of three standouts: a riveting fantasy about a girl "graced" with the skill of killing, a tale of a 16th-century clockmaker's daughter who attempts to retrieve her...

Who's afraid of Jan Wong?(Author Profile)(Interview)
December 22, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] A lunch invitation from Jan Wong was not one you wanted to get when the Toronto Globe and Mail's highest-paid and most notorious columnist was writing her eponymous "Lunch with Jan Wong." The column ran from 1996...

The Lost Quilter: An Elm Creek Quilts Novel.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 22, 2008... The Lost Quilter: An Elm Creek Quilts Novel Jennifer Chiaverini. Simon & Schuster, $24 (352p) ISBN 978-1-4165-3316-0 In her 14th series installment, Chiaverini picks up the threads from The Runaway Quilt to spin another tale of...

Admission.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 22, 2008... Admission Jean Hanff Korelitz. Grand Central, $24.99 (460p) ISBN 978-0-446-54070-4 Portia Nathan, the overly dedicated 38-year-old Princeton admissions officer, narrator of Korelitz's overthought fourth novel, finds purpose in her...

Secret Son.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 22, 2008... Secret Son Laila Lalami.Algonquin, $23.95 (304p) ISBN 978-1-56512-594-3 Lalami's unpolished first novel (after story collection Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits) follows Youssef El Mekki, a 19-year-old living in the slums of...

Heart and Soul.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 22, 2008... Heart and Soul Maeve Binchy. Knopf, $26.95 (432p) ISBN 978-0-307-26579-1 Binchy delivers another delightful Binchyesque amalgamation of intersecting lives, this time centering on Clara Casey, a cardiologist whose marriage and career...

Therapy.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 22, 2008... * Therapy Sebastian Fitzek, trans, from the German by Sally-Ann Spencer. St. Martin's, $24.95 (288p) ISBN 978-0-312-38200-1 Extreme grief permeates Fitzek's brilliant psychological thriller, a bestseller in his native Germany. When TV...

Robert Masello's Blood and Ice (Reviews, Nov. 10) blends Victorian-era romance, an Antarctic adventure set in the present-day and a science-based horror story: PW talks with Robert Masello: an Antarctic chiller.(Q&A)(Interview)
December 22, 2008... What audience are you hoping to reach with Blood and Ice? I hope it will appeal to people who read authors as diverse as Anne Rice, James Rollins, and Preston and Child. But secretly? I would also like to reach women who might be drawn in...

Fault Line.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 22, 2008... Fault Line Barry Eisler. Ballantine, $25 (320p) ISBN 978-1-345-50508-8 Eisler fans may miss the sleek, moody tone that distinguished his John Rain thrillers (Requiem for an Assassin, etc.) in this highly readable first in a new...

Infinity in the Palm of Her Hand.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 22, 2008... Infinity in the Palm of Her Hand Gioconda Belli. Harper, $23.95 (244p) ISBN 978-0-06-167364-1 Belli's poetry and politics meld in this lyrical retelling of Adam and Eve. Here, the Serpent tempts Eve with freedom equal to that of...

The Act of Love.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 22, 2008... * The Act of Love Howard Jacobson. Simon & Schuster, $25 (352p) ISBN 978-1-4165-9423-9 In his naughtily erudite 10th novel, British author Jacobson (Kalooki Nights) explores the nature of the erotic with a wicked twist. Narrator...

Night and Day.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 22, 2008... Night and Day Robert B. Parker. Putnam, $25.95 (304p) ISBN 978-0-399-15541-3 In bestseller Parker's fluffy eighth Jesse Stone novel (after Stranger in Paradise), the Paradise, Mass., police chief almost effortlessly performs his...

Blood and Bone.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 22, 2008... Blood and Bone William Lashner. Morrow, $24.95 (400p) ISBN 978-0-06-114348-9 Bestseller Lashner's first stand-alone, a contemporary thriller, falls short of the standard set by his acclaimed Victor Carl series (A Killer's Kiss,...

Bloodprint.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 22, 2008... Bloodprint Kitty Sewell. Touchstone, $24.99 (368p) ISBN 978-1-4165-8514-5 Sewell's unwieldy second novel of psychological suspense may disappoint fans of her 2008 debut, Ice Trap. After Madeleine Frank's husband is killed during a...

A Darker Domain.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 22, 2008... A Darker Domain Val McDermid. Harper, $24.95 (336p) ISBN 978-0-06-168898-0 When Michelle Gibson reports her father, Mick Prentice, missing at the start of McDermid's intricate but underwhelming stand-alone psychological thriller,...

Shannon.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 22, 2008... Shannon Frank Delaney. Random, $26 (432p) ISBN 978-1-4000-6525-7 Delaney's meandering novel follows an American priest as he travels along Ireland's Shannon River in search of his family roots, and while it's peace he seeks, trouble...

Dark of Night.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 22, 2008... Dark of Night Suzanne Brockmann. Ballantine, $25 (400p) ISBN 978-0-345-50155-4 The spy games seldom interfere with the love games of the assorted couples in bestseller Brockmann's 14th Troubleshooters Inc. romantic thriller (after...

The Conqueror.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 22, 2008... The Conqueror Jan Kjaerstad, trans, from the Norwegian by Barbara Haveland. Open Letter (Univ. of Neb., dist.), $17.95 (481p) ISBN 978-1-934824-03-0 In Kjaerstad's second installment to the Wergeland trilogy (after The Seducer),...

Almost Single.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 22, 2008... Almost Single Advaita Kala. Bantam, $12 paper (273p) ISBN 978-0-553-38610-3 In this amusing though flawed novel, Kala introduces the Bridget Jones of India. Aisha Bathia is an independent 29-year-old single woman living in New Delhi...

Love on the Line.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 22, 2008... Love on the Line Laura Castoro. Avon A, $13.95 (359p) ISBN 978-0-06-154276-3 Laura Castoro's newest explores blended family relationships. Thea Morgan had a brief fling with Xavier Thornton when she was 16 but then Xavier went on to...

Ghosts.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 22, 2008... Ghosts Cesar Aira, trans, from the Spanish by Chris Andrews. New Directions, $14.95 paper (144p) ISBN 978-0-8112-1742-2 Aira, an unusual Argentinean author (How I Became a Nun), writes a compelling novel about a migrant Chilean...

Instant Attraction.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 22, 2008... Instant Attraction Jill Shalvis. Kensington, $14 paper (320p) ISBN 978-0-7582-3123-9 The first in a new series by veteran romance author Shalvis hits the ground running. After Katie Kramer survives a devastating accident, she...

The Horse Tamer's Challenge.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 22, 2008... The Horse Tamer's Challenge G.K. Aalborg. Five Star, $25.95 (298p) ISBN 978-1-59414-742-5 Before Rebecca Bennett's father dies, he makes her swear to do two things: find his lost gold mine and find her sister, Amy, who was kidnapped...

Dying Unfinished.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 22, 2008... Dying Unfinished Maria Espinosa. Wings (IPG, dist.), $16.95 paper (192p) ISBN 978-0-916727-45-1 A turbulent mother-daughter relationship concerns Espinosa's plodding new novel. Both women tell their side of the story: Eleanor, the...

Finding Me.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 22, 2008... Finding Me Darnella Ford. Kensington/Dafina, $14 paper (304p) ISBN 978-0-7582-1676-2 Ford's newest is a Southern coming-of-age involving an estranged twin waking to sexuality and love. Eleven-year-old Blaze James lives in the shadow...

Word Gets Around.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 22, 2008... Word Gets Around Lisa Wingate. Bethany House, $13.99 paper (352p) ISBN 978-0-7642-0491-3 Evangelical Christian novelist Wingate introduced readers to the delightfully homespun what-you-see-is-what-you-get town of Daily, Tex., in...

Newport Summer.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 22, 2008... Newport Summer Nikki Poppen. Avalon, $23.95 (208p) ISBN 978-0-8034-9936-2 Poppen's latest historical romance, first in a new series, features Gannon Maddox, a handsome, broke English nobleman, who needs to marry an American heiress...

The Mechanics of Falling and Other Stories.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 22, 2008... The Mechanics of Falling and Other Stories Catherine Brady. Univ. of Nevada, $25 (227p) ISBN 978-0-87417-763-3 In the exemplary title story of Brady's third collection of closely observed San Fran-centric stories (following Curled in...

Tender Grace.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 22, 2008... Tender Grace Jackina Stark. Bethany House, $13.99 paper (320p) ISBN 978-0-7642-0575-0 The literature of widowhood is compelling--Joan Didion's A Year of Magical Thinking had an impact well beyond her usual readership. Novelist...

Rules of Contact.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 22, 2008... Rules of Contact Kristen Heitzmann. WaterBrook, $13.99 paper (400p) ISBN 978-1-4000-7308-5 Christy Award-winner Heitzmann leaves the vineyard landscapes of the Secrets series and goes subterranean for a gutsy departure from romance...

Versed.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 22, 2008... * Versed Rae Armantrout. Wesleyan, $22.95 (136p) ISBN 978-0-8195-6879-3 In recent years, Armantrout's reputation has soared--she began in the '70s as an obscure, early practitioner of language poetry, and now her poems regularly...

Delivered.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 22, 2008... * Delivered Sarah Gambito. Persea (Norton, dist.), $14 (80p) ISBN 978-0-89255-346-4 "I play on my america xylophone/and the kids drop peach hat by aching peach hat," says Gambito midway through one of the giddy, fragment-filled,...

Petals of Zero, Petals of One.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 22, 2008... Petals of Zero, Petals of One Andrew Zawacki. Talisman (SPD, dist.), $13.95 (83p) ISBN 978-1-58498-064-3 Zawacki may be the younger poet most interested in continuing the poetic work begun by high modernist and postmodernist writers...

Skirmish.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 22, 2008... Skirmish Dobby Gibson. Graywolf, $15 (99p) ISBN 978-1-55597-515-9 A noirish current runs through Gibson's second collection, which finds fascination in dark, abandoned urban or suburban spaces and unsolvable everyday mysteries:...

Bestiary.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 22, 2008... Bestiary Elise Paschen. Red Hen (CDC, dist.), $16.95 (80p) ISBN 978-1-56709-131-2 The passionate, yet controlled, third volume from Paschen (Infidelities) pursues the likenesses between human beings and other sorts of beasts:...

Bending the Mind Around the Dream's Blown Fuse.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 22, 2008... Bending the Mind Around the Dream's Blown Fuse Timothy Liu. Talisman (SPD, dist.), $13.95 (84p) ISBN 978-1-58498-065-0 Known since the 1990s for his harsh blend of gay eroticism and visionary fervor, Liu (Of Thee I Sing) continues to...

Love Belongs to Those Who Do the Feeling: New and Selected Poems.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 22, 2008... Love Belongs to Those Who Do the Feeling: New and Selected Poems Judy Grahn. Red Hen (CDC, dist.), $21.95 (272p) ISBN 978-1-59709-121-3 One of the first American poets to celebrate radical feminism and lesbian desire without apology...

Action Kylie.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 22, 2008... Action Kylie Kevin Killian. Ingirumimusnocteetconsumimurigni (SPD, dist.), $15 paper (128p) ISBN 978-1-934639-00-9 Far more than a joke--and yet plenty of fun--this compilation of exciting poems (and some prose) from prolific Bay...

Stepping Stones: Interviews with Seamus Heaney.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 22, 2008... Stepping Stones: Interviews with Seamus Heaney Dennis O'Driscoll. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $26 (352p) ISBN 978-0-374-26983-8 There is no shortage of writing by or about Nobel Prize-winning Irish poet Heaney. Yet this big book is a...

Schemers: A Nameless Detective Novel.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 22, 2008... Schemers: A Nameless Detective Novel Bill Pronzini. Forge, $24.95 (304p) ISBN 978-0-7653-1819-0 In MWA Grand Master Pronzini's 34th Nameless Detective novel (after 2008's Fever), his series sleuth takes on a challenging locked-room...

Murder in the Latin Quarter.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 22, 2008... Murder in the Latin Quarter Cara Black. Soho Crime, $24 (336p) ISBN 978-1-56947-541-6 Two weeks after Princess Diana's death in Paris in 1997, an illegal Haitian immigrant named Mireille walks into Aimee Leduc's office, claiming that...

Dog on It: A Chet and Bernie Mystery.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 22, 2008... * Dog on It: A Chet and Bernie Mystery Spencer Quinn. Atria, $25 (320p) ISBN 978-1-4165-8583-1 Set in the Valley of an unnamed Western state, Quinn's winning debut introduces one smart canine detective and his partner, PI Bernie...

Kingdom of Silence.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 22, 2008... Kingdom of Silence Lee Wood. Minotaur, $24.95 (336p) ISBN 978-0-312-34031-5 Set in early 2001, Wood's solid second mystery to feature Yorkshire Det. Sgt. Keen Dunliffe (after 2005's Kingdom of Lies) opens with a bang. Kim Prescott, a...

The Samaritan's Secret: An Omar Yussef Mystery.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 22, 2008... The Samaritan's Secret: An Omar Yussef Mystery Matt Beynon Rees. Soho Crime, $24 (320p) ISBN 978-1-56947-545-4 No crime, whether a theft or murder, is an isolated event in Palestine; it's an intersection of religious, cultural and...

A Haunt of Murder.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 22, 2008... A Haunt of Murder P.C. Doherty. Minotaur, $24.95 (320p) ISBN 978-0-312-35961-4 In 1381, a series of inexplicable murders pits the impoverished peasants of Maldon, Essex, against the upper-class residents of Ravenscroft Castle in...

Valley of the Lost.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 22, 2008... Valley of the Lost Vicki Delany. Poisoned Pen, $24.95 (300p) ISBN 978-1-59058-595-5 At the start of Delany's engaging second mystery to feature Constable Molly Smith (after 2007's In the Shadow of the Glacier), Molly's mother is...

Fed Up.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 22, 2008... Fed Up Jessica Conant-Park and Susan Conant. Berkley Prime Crime, $23.95 (304p) ISBN 978-0-425-22598-1 In Conant-Park and Conant's cute fourth Gourmet Girl mystery to feature Chloe Carter (after 2008's Turn Up the Heat), Josh...

Dragon in Chains.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 22, 2008... * Dragon in Chains Daniel Fox. Del Rey, $15 paper (416p) ISBN 978-0-345-50305-3 Fox captures the foggy mysteries of feudal China in exquisite style with this rich fantasy series opener. Pirate captain Li Ton needs a new ship's boy,...

Harsh Oases.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 22, 2008... Harsh Oases Paul Di Filippo, PS Publishing (www.pspublishing.co.uk), $40 (319p) ISBN 978-1-905834-34-9 Di Filippo's 13th collection shows off his knack for intelligently developing imaginative concepts. The previously unpublished "A...

The Valley of Shadows.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 22, 2008... The Valley of Shadows Brian Cullen. Tor, $25.95 (368p) ISBN 978-0-7653-1474-1 Cullen continues his fantasy quest trilogy (begun with 2008's Seekers of the Chalice) with this predictable central installment. Bricriu Poisontongue has...

A Cold Day in Hell.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 22, 2008... A Cold Day in Hell Ken Rand. Norilana (www.norilana.com), $24.95 (300p) ISBN 978-1-934648-89-6 Prolific author Rand (Pax Dakota) fails to merge magical realism with conventional mystery in this disjointed novel. Speech-impaired...

Flight into Darkness: Book Two of the Alchymist's Legacy.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 22, 2008... Flight into Darkness: Book Two of the Alchymist's Legacy Sarah Ash. Bantam, $24 (468p) ISBN 978-0553-80520-8 Singer and spy Celestine de Joyeuse must finally come to terms with her father's legacy in this complex sequel to 2008's...

Bone Crossed.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 22, 2008... Bone Crossed Patricia Briggs. Ace, $24.95 (320p) ISBN 978-0-441-01676-1 Briggs makes a well-deserved move into hardcover with the rousing fourth adventure for kick-ass were-coyote auto mechanic Mercedes Thompson. Healing in body and...