Publishers Weekly articles from February 2009

Publishers Weekly archives from February 2009

Correction.(Deals)(Correction notice)
February 23, 2009... On February 9, we reported a deal between Crown and Sen. Christopher Dodd on the senator's role during the financial crisis last fall. Dodd and Crown do not yet have a signed agreement, and the proposed book will chronicle how Congress and the...

Hardcover bestsellers/fiction.
February 23, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] William Monahan, who won an Oscar and an Edgar for his film adaptation of 2006's The Departed, has been signed by Paramount to adapt The Associate as a star vehicle for Shia LaBeouf. Monahan's most recent writing credit...

Hardcover bestsellers/nonfiction.
February 23, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Torre's book looks like it's settling in for a long (home) run on PW's charts. In its first week on sale, The Yankee Years sold just about 60,000 copies at the three major chains (B&N, Borders and Walden); those...

Paperback bestsellers/mass market.
February 23, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Lora Leigh's getting RAW--and for a good cause. Over the September 25 weekend, the Coyote's Mate author will be conducting "Sinners & Saints: Readers' Appreciation Weekend" at the Pullman Plaza Hotel in Huntington,...

Paperback bestsellers/trade.
February 23, 2009... Can you say, "Best Actress, Kate Winslet?" (She's this writer's fave for an Academy Award.) Regardless of how many Oscars The Reader takes home--at press time, the ceremony was two days away--the folks at Vintage won't be wringing their hands:...

High hopes for new fiction: Abingdon enters Christian fiction field.(Cover story)
February 23, 2009... In these tough economic times, it's a rare publisher who's expanding. But after doing due diligence, strategic planning and careful acquiring, Abingdon Press will launch a Christian fiction line in late summer. In recent years, the market for...

The Others.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 23, 2009... The Others Siba al-Harez, trans. from the Arabic by Marilyn Booth. Seven Stories, $24.95 (272p) ISBN 978-1-58322-871-5 A rare, mesmerizing journey into the cloistered consciousness of a pious Shi'a university student in Qatif, Saudia...

A Thousand Deaths Plus One.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 23, 2009... A Thousand Deaths Plus One Sergio Ramirez, trans. from the Spanish by Leland H. Chambers. McPherson & Co., $25 (295p) ISBN 978-0-929701-87-5 Nicaraguan author Sergio Ramirez's fragmented, multinarrated--and at times frustrating--novel...

Carpentaria.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 23, 2009... * Carpentaria Alexis Wright. Atria, $26 (528p) ISBN 978-1-4165-9310-2 This 2007 Miles Franklin award-winning novel is the latest masterpiece from Wright, an indigenous Australian author and land rights activist. In the town of Desperance,...

The Wandering Heart.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 23, 2009... The Wandering Heart Mary Malloy. Leapfrog (Consortium, dist.), $14.95 paper (396p) ISBN 978-0-9815148-5-7 Maritime historian Malloy (Devil on the Deep Blue Sea) makes an impressive fiction debut with this first installment of a planned...

A Leap.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 23, 2009... A Leap Anna Enquist, trans. from the Dutch by Jeannette K. Ringold. Toby, $22.95 paper (84p) ISBN 978-1-59264-258-8 An award-winning poet and novelist, Enquist (The Secret) presents a slim volume of dramatic monologues. In the first piece,...

The Ocean Inside.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 23, 2009... The Ocean Inside Janna McMahan. Kensington, $15 paper (336p) ISBN 978-0-7582-2197-1 McMahan's debut novel is a vividly drawn but uneven love letter to coastal South Carolina. Emmett and Lauren Sullivan's lifestyle has never matched their...

Lords of Corruption.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 23, 2009... Lords of Corruption Kyle Mills Perseus/Vanguard, $25.95 (320p) ISBN 978-1-59315-499-8 In this lackluster suspense novel from bestseller Mills (Darkness Falls), ex-con Josh Hagarty, who's just earned an M.B.A., but fears his tainted past is...

Playing Dirty.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 23, 2009... Playing Dirty Kiki Swinson. Kensington/Dafina, $15 paper (320p) ISBN 978-0-7582-2835-2 Miami defense attorney Yoshi Lomax bribes, manipulates, blackmails and uses her body to win cases and a promotion at her firm, but her physical assets...

The Withdrawal Method: Stories.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 23, 2009... The Withdrawal Method: Stories Pasha Malla. Counterpoint/Soft Skull, $14.95 paper (328p) ISBN 978-1-59376-238-4 This debut story collection from Canadian poet Malla (All Our Grandfathers Are Ghosts) is a disappointing assemblage of pieces...

Straight Lies.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 23, 2009... Straight Lies Rob Byrnes. Kensington, $15 paper (336p) ISBN 978-0-7582-2857-4 A pair of petty crooks think they've lucked into the ultimate blackmail material in Byrnes's unwieldy latest. Chase LaMarca and Grant Lambert get information...

The Wind Comes Sweeping.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 23, 2009... The Wind Comes Sweeping Marcia Preston. Mira, $13.95 paper (336p) ISBN 978-0-7783-2630-4 Despite a laconic style that helps temper some of the more disturbing content, Preston's tale of a woman struggling to stay afloat on a contemporary...

Sherlock Holmes and the King's Evil and Other New Tales Featuring the World's Greatest Detective.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 23, 2009... Sherlock Holmes and the King's Evil and Other New Tales Featuring the World's Greatest Detective Donald Thomas Pegasus (Norton, dist.), $25 (336p) ISBN 978-1-60598-043-0 While not up to the high standard of Sherlock Holmes and the Voice...

About Face.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 23, 2009... About Face Donna Leon Atlantic Monthly, $24 (288p) ISBN 978-0-8021-1896-7 The 18th installment of Leon's wickedly entertaining series featuring Commissario Guido Brunetti (after 2008's The Girl of His Dreams) focuses on garbage,...

Hothouse Flower and the Nine Plants of Desire.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 16, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] * Hothouse Flower and the Nine Plants of Desire Margot Berwin. Pantheon, $24 (288p) ISBN 978-0-307-37784-5 Berwin delivers a bangup debut packed with adventure, betrayal, love and, naturally, rare plants....

BEA changes get qualified support: hotel expenses draw the greatest concern.(Foreword)(Book-Expo America )
February 16, 2009... The news last week from Book-Expo America that it would be keeping the industry trade show in New York City for an extended period starting in 2010 and bumping it from the weekend to mid-week, drew both jeers and cheers from attendees. Some...

Kindle 2 debuts.(Brief article)
February 16, 2009... Amazon will begin shipping its upgraded e-book reader, Kindle 2, February 24. The new device is significantly slimmer than the original, has a text-to-speech function that can read the book out loud, and easier and improved navigation. ...

Guild questions Kindle speech.(Authors Guild on Kindle 2's text-to-speech function)(Brief article)
February 16, 2009... The Authors Guild is warning its members that Kindle 2's text-to-speech function is an unauthorized use of audio rights and may be "undermining" publishers' audio markets. In an alert sent last week, the guild told its members that it was...

HarperCollins downshifts.(Restructured)
February 16, 2009... With sales down 16% and profits off 75% at the midpoint of its fiscal year, HarperCollins took dramatic steps last week to, according to CEO Brian Murray, "align our cost basis with expected revenues." The restructuring eliminated the positions...

New Rubin role.(Steve Rubin as executive vice-president for Random House)(Brief article)
February 16, 2009... Steve Rubin, former publisher and president of Doubleday Broadway, has been named executive v-p and publisher at large for Random House, reporting to Random chairman Markus Dohle. His responsibilities will include acquiring books for Random...

Minotaur in nonfiction deal.(St. Martin's Minotaur)(Brief article)
February 16, 2009... St. Martin's Minotaur, which has until now published only fiction, last week acquired a book by Edgar-winner Daniel Stashower about a plot to assassinate president-elect Abraham Lincoln, Minotaur said it will continue to look for well-written...

The economics of behavior.(Deals)("Moneylab: Lab-Tested Wisdom From the New Science of Business" by Kay-Yut Chen and Marina Krakovsky)(Brief article)
February 16, 2009... David Moldawer at Portfolio beat three other bidders in a two-day auction for Moneylab: Lab-Tested Wisdom from the New Science of Business by Kay-Yut Chen and Marina Krakovsky; Ted Weinstein made the well-into-six-figure world rights sale. In...

Cryer's debut to SMP.(Deals)(Dan Cryer and St. Martin's Press book deal)(Brief article)
February 16, 2009... Former Newsday critic and Pulitzer finalist Dan Cryer has sold his first book, on the life of Rev. Forrest Church, to George Witte at St. Martin's; Betsy Lerner at Dunow, Carlson & Lerner sold North American rights. A preacher, political...

Cohen tells it.(Deals)(Elizabeth Cohen's "What Your Doctor Doesn't Tell You")(Brief article)
February 16, 2009... CNN senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen just signed with Jill Schwartzman at Random for her first book, tentatively titled What Your Doctor Doesn't Tell You; Lynn Johnston sold North American rights. Cohen signed a new agreement with...

Lancaster reups with NAL.(Deals)(Jen Lancaster and New American Library's book deal)(Brief article)
February 16, 2009... Jen Lancaster has signed a major deal for two more books with Kara Cesare at NAL via Kate Garrick at DeFiore & Co. In the first book, tentatively titled My Fair Lazy, Lancaster gives herself the Pygmalion treatment, researching literature...

Barnes back to Knopf.(Deals)(Kim Barnes and Knopf's book deal)(Brief article)
February 16, 2009... Jenny Jackson has acquired U.S. rights to Kim Barnes's third novel, American Mecca, via Sally Wofford-Girand at Brick House. The book tells the story of a young woman, raised in Oklahoma, who follows her husband to the oilfields of Saudi Arabia...

The briefing.(Deals)(Brief article)
February 16, 2009... Dan Halpern and Ginny Smith at Ecco bought North American rights to Danyelle Freeman's Gourmet Glossary, in which the founder and editor of restaurantgirl.com will explain everything you need to know about the way we dine today; Jennifer Joel at...

Hachette USA ends strong.(Hachette Book Group USA)(Brief article)
February 16, 2009... Hachette Book Group USA had a strong fourth quarter, parent company Lagardere reported last week, led by sales of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series, which sold eight million copies in December alone. For its entire book publishing operation,...

Commerce dept. extends helping hand to publishers.(International Service)
February 16, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] With American publishers tightening their marketing budgets, the U.S. Commerce Department is stepping up its efforts to help promote U.S. books abroad. The department's U.S. Commercial Service office recently held its...

Bookstores finish 2008 on down note.(2008 Results)(Brief article)
February 16, 2009... With bookstore sales falling the last four months of 2008, total sales for the year fell 0.5%, to $16.93 billion, according to preliminary estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. Bookstore sales were off 4.7% in December, an improvement over the...

Publishers' sales off for year.(2008 Results)(Brief article)
February 16, 2009... Sales for the 81 publishers that report their revenue to the Association of American Publishers fell 2.4%, to $10.6 billion, in 2008. Declines came in nine of the 14 (including other) segments tracked by the association. The decline in...

Agents and artists.(Foreword)(New York Comic-Con )(Photograph)
February 16, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Caption: New York Comic-Con drew huge crowds, including (l. to r.) literary agent Judy Hansen, who reps cartoonists Raina Telegemeier (The Baby-sitters Club) and Dave Roman (Astronaut Elementary), who are co-scripting a...

NYCIP faces uncertain future.(Crunch Time)(New York Center for Independent Publishing)
February 16, 2009... As the fallout from the abrupt departure of Karin Taylor as executive director of the New York Center for Independent Publishing continues to spread, it is clear there is lots of work to be done if the center is to survive into 2010. While Clive...

Digital books to stores, via Symtio.(New Channels)(Brief article)
February 16, 2009... Retailers are obviously concerned about the loss of traffic to online stores," said Verne Kenny, president of Symtio, a division of HarperCollins that is enabling brick and mortar stores to sell digital books. "I thought, what could the consumer...

Obituary: Jean Smecz.(People)(Obituary)(Brief article)
February 16, 2009... Jean Srnecz, a 33-year veteran of Baker & Taylor and most recently senior v-p of merchandising, died Thursday night in the crash of Continental Connection Flight 3407 near Buffalo. Srnecz was a highly regarded and well-known member of the...

Hardcover bestsellers/fiction.
February 16, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] A January 30 Huffington Post article noted that officials at Pittsburgh's Duquesne University were "upset that Grisham mentions the school in connection with a fictional gang rape in The Associate, which deals with a...

Hardcover bestsellers/nonfiction.
February 16, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Play ball, indeed. New Yorkers--and the media-have been lining up big time for Joe Torre's Yankee chronicles. Despite the book's embargo, the New York Post broke the news 10 days ahead of the February 3 on-sale date;...

Paperback bestsellers/mass market.
February 16, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] St. Martin's reports that Dream Warrior, with a 600,000-copy first printing, is Kenyon's fifth #1 debut on PW's bestseller list in the past 15 months; the previous four titles have an in-print total of just over two...

Paperback bestsellers/trade.
February 16, 2009... Good Morning America's Robin Roberts interviewed Shack author William Paul Young on February 10, noting that the book had climbed from a meager first printing ("he made just 15 copies, for friends, at the local Office Depot") to a whopping 6.1...

Children's picture book bestsellers.
February 16, 2009... He's done pigeons, pigs, and elephants. Mo Willems now adds Wilbur, a buck-toothed naked mole rat. Children's Bookshelf recently asked Willems the obvious question: why a naked mole rat? "Unfortunately, the answer to most questions I get is,...

Tools of change 2009: redefining the book: CEOS say non-authors and social networks are the future of books.(Digital Publishing)(O'Reilly Tools of Change for Publishing conference)
February 16, 2009... Redefining traditional notions of the book was a recurring theme throughout this year's O'Reilly Tools of Change for Publishing conference, held last week in New York City. The panelists of the CEO roundtable--which brought together the heads of...

David Ulin: L.A. Times book editor balances Web, print criticism.(CHANGE MAKERS)(Interview)
February 16, 2009... David L. Ulin, book editor of the Los Angeles Times, favors a quote from the father of general semantics, Alfred Korzybski, to describe his perspective on the current state of book reviewing: "It's not a matter of either/or. It's a matter of...

Taking steps into the digital future.(Children's Books)
February 16, 2009... E-books may date from the early 1970s, when Michael Hart launched Project Gutenberg, but the revolution in e-books for kids has only just begun. True, three novels from Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series were library distributor Overdrive's three...

New imprints stake a claim.(Children's Books)(Beach Lane Books, Balzer & Bray and Templar Books)
February 16, 2009... Lately, the word of the day in publishing has been "reduction," be it in head counts or acquisitions. And while several children's imprints have been lost in recent months due to restructuring, retirements, etc., 2009 will see the arrival of a...

The good old days.(Children's Books)
February 16, 2009... Carbon copies, pre-separated art, the "circulating file." Modern-day technology may have rendered these terms obsolete, but they speak to an era in publishing that had its own virtues and charms. We asked some industry veterans to share a memory...

Children's books for spring.(ABBEVILLE KIDS-HMH/SANDPIPER)
February 16, 2009... ABBEVILLE KIDS Series Turn-the-Wheel by Peter Lawson introduces four board books with steering wheels ($5.95 each, boxed set $22.95, 3-up). [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ABRAMS Budgie & Boo ($15.95) by David McPhail tells oftwo...

Children's books for spring.(HMH/HOUGHTON MIFFLIN-ZONDERVAN)
February 16, 2009... HMH/HOUGHTON MIFFLIN Erika-San ($17) by Allen Say. An American girl seeking adventure in Japan discovers more than she imagined. (4-8) Most Loved in All the World ($17) by Tonya Cherie Hegamin, illus, by Cozbi Cabrera. A woman who helps...

White Is for Witching.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 16, 2009... * White Is for Witching Helen Oyeyemi. Doubleday/Talese, $24.95 (240p) ISBN 978-0-385-52605-0 Oyeyemi delivers her third passionate and unusual book, a neo-gothic tale revolving around Miranda and Eliot Silver, fraternal twins of...

Real Life & Liars.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 16, 2009... Real Life & Liars Kristina Riggle. Avon, $13.99 paper (352p) ISBN 978-0-06-170628-8 The Zielinskis, the dysfunctional family of Riggle's delightful debut, have some problems, even if things at Mirabelle and Max's 35th anniversary...

The Stalin Epigram.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 16, 2009... * The Stalin Epigram Robert Littell. Simon & Schuster, $26 (384p) ISBN 978-1-4165-9864-0 Veteran espionage novelist Littell (Vicious Circle; The Company; etc.) trades cold war spies for interwar Russian poets in his wonderful new...

Blue Boy.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 16, 2009... Blue Boy Rakesh Satyal. Kensington, $15 paper (288p) ISBN 978-0-7582-3136-9 Satyal's lovely coming-of-age debut charts an Indian-American boy's transformation from mere mortal to Krishnaji, the blue-skinned Hindu deity. Twelve-year-old...

Assegai.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 16, 2009... Assegai Wilbur Smith. St. Martin's/Dunne, $27.95 (480p) ISBN 978-0-312-56724-8 Smith continues the saga of the Courtney family of Africa begun in 1964 with When the Lion Feeds. In this installment, Leon Courtney, ladies' man and former...

Far Bright Star.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 16, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] * Far Bright Star Robert Olmstead. Algonquin, $23.95 (224p) ISBN 978-1-56512-592-6 In his seventh novel, Olmstead (Coal Black Horse) delivers another richly characterized, tightly woven story of nature,...

The Pig Comes to Dinner.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 16, 2009... The Pig Comes to Dinner Joseph Caldwell. Delphinium (HarperCollins, dist.), $22.99 (260p) ISBN 978-1-8832-8533-3 In Caldwell's fun second installment to his Pig Trilogy (after The Pig Did It), Irish writer Kitty McCloud and husband...

Valeria's Last Stand.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 16, 2009... Valeria's Last Stand Marc Fitten. Bloomsbury, $24 (272p) ISBN 978-1-59691-620-3 Life in an isolated Hungarian village is turned upside down by an unusual love affair in Fitten's promising debut. In the small hamlet of Zivatar,...

Yankee Invasion: A Novel of Mexico City.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 16, 2009... Yankee Invasion: A Novel of Mexico City Ignacio Solares, trans, from the Spanish by Timothy G. Compton. Scarletta (PGW, dist.), $14.95 paper (300p) ISBN 978-0-9798249-4-4 The psychological effects of invasion and occupation...

Look Again.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 16, 2009... * Look Again Lisa Scottoline. St. Martin's, $26.95 (352p) ISBN 978-0-312-38072-4 Bestseller Scottoline (Lady Killer) scores another bull's-eye with this terrifying thriller about an adoptive parent's worst fear--the threat of an...

The Geometry of Sisters.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 16, 2009... The Geometry of Sisters Luanne Rice. Bantam, $25 (400p) ISBN 978-0-553-80513-0 The prolific Rice contemplates class, family and math in this disappointing outing. After her husband dies and her eldest daughter, Carrie, runs away, Maggie...

Lavender Morning.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 16, 2009... Lavender Morning Jude Deveraux. Atria, $25.95 (320p) ISBN 978-0-7434-3720-2 Family ties, smalltown values and unexpected love in picturesque settings have made Deverattx a longtime bestselling author, so it's no surprise she again...

Shadow and Light.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 16, 2009... * Shadow and Light Jonathan Rabb. Sarah Crichton/Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $26 (384p) ISBN 978-0-374-26194-8 Set in 1927 Germany, Rabb's superb sequel to Rosa correlates the advent of talking movies with the rise of Nazism. When...

Shadows Still Remain.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 16, 2009... Shadows Still Remain Peter de Jonge. Harper, $25.99 (288p) ISBN 978-0-06-137354-1 De Jonge, a James Patterson coauthor (Beach Road), delivers his first solo effort, a routine crime thriller set in New York City. NYPD Det. Darlene...

The feminine mystique: PW talks with Charlotte Roche.(Q&A)(Interview)
February 16, 2009... In her German-bestselling debut, Wetlands (Reviews, Jan. 12), German television presenter turned novelist Roche courts controversy with the very private, very peculiar sexual and grooming habits of her 18-year-old protagonist, Helen Memel. ...

The Last Secret.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 16, 2009... The Last Secret Mary McGarry Morris. Crown/Shaye Areheart, $25 (288p) ISBN 978-0-307-45127-9 Keeping secrets leads to calamitous consequences in Morris's disturbing domestic thriller. At age 17, Nora Trimble has a dangerous eight-day...

Follow Me.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 16, 2009... Follow Me Joanna Scott. Little, Brown, $24.99 (400p) ISBN 978-0-316-05165-1 A granddaughter sifts through her grandmother's rich and mysterious life in Pulitzer finalist Scott's latest. As a teenager in 1946, Sally Werner experiences...

Very Mercenary.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 16, 2009... Very Mercenary Rayo Casablanca. Kensington, $15 paper (288p) ISBN 978-0-7582-2284-8 Fans of Casablanca's 2008 debut, the urban farce 6 Sick Hipsters, will best appreciate this uneven satire. The high-profile kidnapping of Leigh Tiller,...

Mrs. Somebody Somebody.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 16, 2009... * Mrs. Somebody Somebody Tracy Winn. Southern Methodist Univ., $22.50 (204p) ISBN 978-0-87074-554-6 Winn's excellent debut collection centers on Lowell, Mass., as it evolves from a booming mid-century mill town to its scrappy...

Plea of Insanity.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 16, 2009... Plea of Insanity Jilliane Hoffman. Perseus/Vanguard, $25.95 (432p) ISBN 978-1-59315-507-0 In this gripping legal thriller from Hoffman (Retribution), Julia Vacanti, a 28-year-old Miami assistant state attorney, helps to prosecute David...

Face of Betrayal: A Triple Threat Novel.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 16, 2009... Face of Betrayal: A Triple Threat Novel Lis Wiehl and April Henry. Thomas Nelson, $24.99 (320p) ISBN 978-1-59-554705-7 Wiehl, a Fox News commentator and legal analyst, teams with mystery veteran Henry (Buried Diamonds) on a sizzling...

The Venetian Judgment.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 16, 2009... The Venetian Judgment David Stone. Putnam, $25.95 (432p) ISBN 978-0-399-15573-4 At the start of bestseller Stone's formulaic third thriller to feature CIA "cleaner" Micah Dalton (after The Orpheus Deception), Dalton takes revenge late...

Show Me the Sky.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 16, 2009... Show Me the Sky Nicholas Hogg. Canongate, $15 paper (320p) ISBN 978-1-84767-189-9 British author Hogg's elaborate debut centers on the hunt for self-destructive rock star Billy K, "who vanished into thin air on a Cornish cliff top."...

News from the Empire.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 16, 2009... * News from the Empire Fernando del Paso, trans, from the Spanish by Alfonso Gonzalez and Stella T. Clark. Dalkey Archive, $18.95 paper (716p) ISBN 978-1-56478-533-6 Operatic and beautiful, del Paso's lush cautionary tale of...

Microfictions.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 16, 2009... Microfictions Ana Maria Shua, trans, from the Spanish by Steven J. Stewart. Univ. of Nebraska, $50 (210p) ISBN 978-0-8032-1376-0; $19.95 paper ISBN 978-0-8032-2090-4 Argentinean poet Shua is a master of the bon mot. Each of these...

In Tongues of the Dead.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 16, 2009... In Tongues of the Dead Brad Kelln. ECW (IPG, dist.), $24.95 (264p) ISBN 978-1-55022-830-4 At the start of this flawed thriller from Canadian author Kelln (Method of Madness), an autistic boy appears to be able to read the real-life...

The Protector.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 16, 2009... The Protector Duncan Falconer. Sphere (IPG, dist.), $19.95 (384p) ISBN 978-1-84744-010-5 Despite an impressive biography that includes stints with Britain's Special Boat Service and private security, Falconer (The Hostage) delivers a...

Busy Woman Seeks Wife.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 16, 2009... Busy Woman Seeks Wife Annie Sanders. Grand Central/5 Spot, $13.99 paper (272p) ISBN 978-0-446-50544-4 Its title alone should win this frothy fantasy a following among harried gals juggling craven ambition and goddess-like domesticity....

Pushin' Up Daisies.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 16, 2009... Pushin' Up Daisies Carolyn Brown. Avalon, $23.95 (240p) ISBN 978-0-8034-9946-1 Quincy Massey, the detective star of Brown's bland latest, rolls into Huttig, Ark., intending to find out what happened to the missing Ralph Contiello....

The Reluctant Cowgirl.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 16, 2009... The Reluctant Cowgirl Christine Lynxwiler. Barbour (Anchor, dist., $10.97 paper (288p) ISBN 978-1-60260-150-5 Romance author Lynxwiler (Along Came a Cowboy) tries to set up a city girl/country boy attraction of opposites in this tale of...

In the United States of Africa.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 16, 2009... In the United States of Africa Abdourahman A. Waberi, trans, from the French by David and Nicole Ball. Univ. of Nebraska, $45 (134p) ISBN 978-0-8032-1391-3; $19.95 paper ISBN 978-0-8032-2262-5 Djibouti-born Waberi's brief and...

Selected Poems.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 16, 2009... Selected Poems Michael Hofmann. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $25 (192p) ISBN 978-0-374-25882-5 Hofmann, internationally famous translator and editor of the anthology Twentieth-Century German Poetry, deservedly won attention in Britain...