Publishers Weekly articles from February 2009

Publishers Weekly archives from February 2009

Power Rules: How Common Sense Can Rescue American Foreign Policy.(Pick of the week: Secrets of Statecraft)(Brief article)(Book review)
February 2, 2009... * Power Rules: How Common Sense Can Rescue American Foreign Policy Leslie H. Gelb. HarperCollins, $27.99 (320p) ISBN 978-0-06-171454-2 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Gelb, Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for the New York Times, sets...

Obama wins in book sales, too.(Foreword)(Barack Obama)(Brief article)
February 2, 2009... While President Obama works on a stimulus package to jump start the American economy, his January 20 inauguration gave a boost to Obama-related books--particularly his own. The president's Dreams of My Father reigned; it was the top-selling...

Indigo's holidays up.(Indigo Books & Music)(Brief article)
February 2, 2009... Indigo Books & Music reported that revenue for the third quarter ended December 27 rose 2.3%, to C$330 million. Same-store sales at the Canadian chain rose 2.2% at its superstores, while comp sales increased 3.2% at Coles. Revenue at its online...

HC offers buyout.(HarperCollins)(retirement packages)(Brief article)
February 2, 2009... HarperCollins is offering voluntary retirement packages to employees over age 55 and with at least five years' tenure. The company would like to hear back by February 3 from those who are interested in the buyout, and wouldn't rule out the...

RD cuts 280.(Reader's Digest)(Brief article)
February 2, 2009... Reader's Digest has eliminated about 8% of its worldwide workforce, or about 280 positions. The publisher is not closing any businesses. Other cost-saving measures include unpaid time off in both fiscal 2009 and 2010 and a suspension of...

'Book World' closing.(Washington Post book review column)(Brief article)
February 2, 2009... Rumors that the Washington Post might close its Sunday standalone book review, Book World, proved correct--the Post announced that the last issue of Book World will appear February 15. Re views will run in an online Book World, while print book...

Media sales up 16% at Amazon.(Brief article)
February 2, 2009... Revenue at Amazon's North America media segment, home to books, rose 16%, in 2008, to $5.35 billion. The increase was much faster than any book-related competitors, but was slower than the overall increase for the company, which posted a 29%...

Changes at 'PW': departures, new duties; Kenney is editorial director.(Foreword)(Publishers Weekly)(Brian Kenney)
February 2, 2009... In response to the all-too-familiar crises in the U.S. economy as well as the continuing downtrend in advertising revenue afflicting media properties, four editors at Publishers Weekly, including editor-in-chief Sara Nelson and longtime...

Jill Owens, Politics & Prose, Washington, D.C.(Galley Talk)(A Fortunate Age)(Brief article)(Book review)
February 2, 2009... Joanna Smith Rakoff's first novel, A Fortunate Age [Scribner, Apr. 7], is a delight. Rakoff chronicles the sometimes ludicrous, maddeningly funny and often moving adventures of a gifted group of friends in New York City just after college...

Pittman preempted.(Deals)(Kyran Pittman)(Brief article)
February 2, 2009... Riverhead's Sarah McGrath preempted Ring of Fire: Marriage, Kids and Other Acts of Reckless Abandon by Good Housekeeping contributing editor and blogger Kyran Pittman; Sally Wofford-Girand at Brick House sold world rights. Through essays on...

Auction to Areheart.(Deals)(Shaye Areheart)(Keeping Time)(Brief article)
February 2, 2009... Shaye Areheart won an auction for Stacey McGlynn's first novel, Keeping Time, for her imprint at Harmony, via Adam Chromy and Jamie Brenner at Artists and Artisans. The book tells the story of a British septuagenarian whose quest to return an...

Bantam takes series.(Deals)(Bantam Books)(Flavia de Luce)(Brief article)
February 2, 2009... Bantam editorial director Kate Miciak has acquired U.S. rights to the three remaining titles in Alan Bradley's Flavia de Luce whodunit series via Denise Bukowski. The series is centered on an 11-year-old pigtailed detective with a passion for...

The four seasons.(Deals)(The Rags of Time)(Brief article)
February 2, 2009... Viking publisher Paul Slovak has acquired North American rights to the fourth and concluding volume in Maureen Howard's quartet of novels inspired by the four seasons; Gloria Loomis made the sale. Titled The Rags of Time, the novel will explore...

HarperPerennial takes two.(Deals)(Kapitoil and The Beekeeper's Lament)(Brief article)
February 2, 2009... Jeanette Perez at Harper Perennial bested two other bidders for North American rights to Teddy Wayne's first novel, Kapitoil, via Rosalie Siegel. The book tells the story of a young Middle Eastern man who comes to America to work in a Wall...

The briefing.(Deals)(Lauren McKenna)(Brief article)
February 2, 2009... Pocket executive editor Lauren McKenna acquired North American rights to three books in a new historical romance series by Teresa Medeiros; Andrea Cirillo at the Jane Rotrosen Agency made the sale and the first book will pub in summer 2010.

Gaiman, Krommes take kids' awards.(Nell Gaiman and Beth Krommes wins literary prizes)(Brief article)
February 2, 2009... Nell Gaiman won the 2009 Newbery Medal for The Graveyard Book (HarperCollins), while Beth Krommes won the 2009 Randolph Caldecott Medal for The House in the Night (Houghton Mifflin), written by Susan Marie Swanson.

MHE results down.(McGraw-Hill Education )(Brief article)
February 2, 2009... A 5.4% decline in sales in its school education group led to a 2.5% decline in total revenue at McGraw-Hill Education in 2008. Total MHE revenue fell to $2.64 billion, while school group sales declined to $1.4 billion. Revenue in its higher...

Rodale up.(Rodale Books )(Brief article)
February 2, 2009... Sales at Rodale Books rose 3.5% in 2008 across the trade and direct channels, parent company Rodale said. Sales for all of Rodale slipped 0.5%. Revenue from books sold online increased 47.1%.

Serving up a new chicken soup.(Re-energized)(Chicken Soup for the Soul)
February 2, 2009... As part of their due diligence when they were thinking about making an offer to acquire the Chicken Soup for the Soul franchise, partners Bill Rouhana Jr. and Bob Jacobs checked if customers still remembered a name that began in 1993. Their...

Calendar: Feb. 8-14.(Calendar)
February 2, 2009... 2/8 PW called Christopher Moore's Fool (HarperCollins) "a cheeky and ribald romp... winning, wild and something today's groundlings will applaud." 2/9 Dan Simmons explores the mysteries of Charles Dickens's final years in Drood...

Jerusalem book fair on track.(Undeterred)(Brief article)
February 2, 2009... After the recent fighting in Gaza, Americans planning to travel to the biennial Jerusalem Book Fair, taking place February 15-20, might be reconsidering their plans. The peace seems fragile, but fair director Yoel Mako said all events remain in...

Steal this painting.(Hot Topic)(The Gardner Heist: The True Story of the World's Largest Unsolved Art Theft)(The Art of the Heist: Confessions of a Master Art Thief, Rock-and-Roller, and Prodigal Son)(The Crimes of Paris: A True Story of Murder, Theft, and Detection)(Vanished Smile: The Mysterious Theft of Mona Lisa)(Book review)
February 2, 2009... Every so often, high-profile art theft makes headlines, and every so often, a slew of books on a similar subject are published within months of each other. This spring will see both, when four nonfiction works about art thefts are published....

Nachbaur to Fordham U Press.(People)(Brief article)
February 2, 2009... Frederic Nachbaur has been named director of Fordham University Press. Nachbaur spent the past 10 years working with scholarly books; most recently he was marketing and sales director at NYU Press. He has also worked at Routledge and John...

Saletan to Riverhead.(People)(Becky Saletan)(Riverhead Books)(Brief article)
February 2, 2009... Former Houghton Mifflin Harcourt trade & reference publisher Becky Saletan has been named editorial director of Riverhead Books. Saletan, who left HMH following news that the division had stopped acquiring books, will start her new job at the...

Promos at Sterling.(People)(promotions)(Sharmilla Sinanan)(Brief article)
February 2, 2009... At Sterling, Sharmilla Sinanan, who was in the ad/promo department, has been promoted to the newly created position of senior manager, marketing services; Simon Gibbs has been bumped up to marketing coordinator; and Megan Perritt has been...

Web site and author rescue a forgotten book.(Back in Print)(Moonflower Vine)(NeglectedBooks.com)(Jane Smiley)
February 2, 2009... Books fall into obscurity all the time. If they're lucky, someone rescues them and reintroduces them to a new audience--which is exactly what happened with The Moonflower Vine, a 1962 novel by Jetta Carleton, a one-hit wonder from Missouri who...

Willkens up at Jeff Herman.(People)(Tom Willkens)(Jeff Herman Literary Agency)(Brief article)
February 2, 2009... Tom Willkens has been promoted to agent at the Jeff Herman Literary Agency.

McHugh up at Da Capo.(People)(Katie McHugh )(Brief article)
February 2, 2009... Katie McHugh has been promoted from editor to senior editor at Da Capo Press. McHugh started her career at New-market in 2001 and also worked at Marlowe & Company; she's worked on a range of books including Isa Moskowitz's Veganomicon.

Seaver memorial set.(People)(Richard Seaver)(Brief article)
February 2, 2009... A memorial service for Richard Seaver, who founded Arcade, has been scheduled for February 12 at 5 p.m. at All Souls Unitarian Church, Lexington Avenue between 79th and 80th Streets in New York City.

Hardcover bestsellers/fiction.
February 2, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Even pre-Oprah, Edgar Sawtelle was fast out of the gate, widely lauded and garnering terrific word-of-mouth. And a mere four weeks after its publication came another sort of validation (a singular distinction for a...

Hardcover bestsellers/nonfiction.
February 2, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] According to GCP executive publicity director Matthew Ballast, a deal is in the works for New Line to obtain film rights to Dewey, with Meryl Streep attached to play Vicki Myron. In addition, Myron and her coauthor,...

Paperback bestsellers/mass market.
February 2, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Evidently Janet Evanovich isn't leery of competition--one of her 2006 books starred not Stephanie Plum and not Metro Girl Alex Barnaby, but Evanovich herself--it was a St. Martin's tome entitled How I Write: Secrets...

Paperback bestsellers/trade.
February 2, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Speaking of reviews from notable sources (cf. our Fiction column), check this out: "Three Cups of Tea is one of the most remarkable adventure stories of our time. Greg Mortenson's dangerous and difficult quest to...

Comics bestsellers.
February 2, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] After dominating the #1 spot on the comics list for most of 2008, Wimpy Kid author/illustrator Jeff Kinney handed the spot over to--himself. The Last Straw, the newest volume in Kinney's Diary of a Wimpy Kid series...

Web ads bring revenue to reference: new ad-supported sites for Moon Travel Guides and For Dummies books.(Digital Publishing)(Dummies.com and Moon.com )
February 2, 2009... John Wiley's Dummies.com and Avalon Travel's Moon.com recently underwent major overhauls that included the addition of targeted banner ads, a move that has created important new revenue streams for each company. While these kinds of books lend...

Follett and Adobe part ways.(Follett Publishing Co.)(Adobe Systems Inc.)(Brief article)
February 2, 2009... On January 21, Follett, the leading distributor of book content to k-12 libraries, announced it is launching its own e-reader software. On its new Web site, Follett claims, "Adobe has announced that sometime in March it will discontinue support...

Alex Clark: keeping a venerable literary mag vital.(CHANGE MAKERS)
February 2, 2009... These days, we expect news to travel nearly as fast as it happens. But if, as Ezra Pound said, "literature is news that stays news," where does the old-fashioned literary quarterly fit in with our fast-paced world, where even literature is...

Spring 2009 Audio.(Spring Audio)(Cover story)
February 2, 2009... Although most of us are still experiencing weather that allows us to see our breath in front of our faces, it's time to look hopefully toward spring. We're highlighting the upcoming audiobooks of that season. Familiar authors, narrators and...

Ugly Man.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 2, 2009... Ugly Man Dennis Cooper. Harper Perennial, $13.99 paper (256p) ISBN 978-0-06-171544-0 The cult novelist's collection of short stories plumbs veins of dark humor amid the sex and gore his fans have come to expect. The contents range...

The New Valley.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 2, 2009... * The New Valley Josh Weil. Grove, $24 (352p) ISBN 978-0-8021-1891-2 Weil's debut is a stark and haunting triptych of novellas set in the rusted-out hills straddling the border between the Virginias. In "Ridge Weather," Osby, a...

Love and Obstacles.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 2, 2009... * Love and Obstacles Aleksandar Hereon. Riverhead, $25.95 (224p) ISBN 978-1-59448-864-1 Bosnian-born Hemon (The Lazarus Project) again beautifully twists the language in this collection of eight powerful and disquieting stories. The...

The Great Perhaps.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 2, 2009... The Great Perhaps Joe Meno. Norton, $24.95 (400p) ISBN 978-0-393-06796-5 Meno (Hairstyles of the Damned) continues to employ his keen observations of human nature, this time exploring the tumultuous landscapes of a contemporary Chicago...

In the Dark.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 2, 2009... * In the Dark Brian Freeman. Minotaur, $24.95 (368p) ISBN 978-0-312-36329-1 Edgar-finalist Freeman's fourth thriller to feature Duluth, Minn., police lieutenant Jonathan Stride (after Stalked) may be his most ambitious--and...

The Secret Keeper.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 2, 2009... The Secret Keeper Paul Harris. Dutton, $24.95 (336p) ISBN 978-0-525-95102-5 Sierra Leone's decades-long civil war and its tragic legacy of "lost boy" soldiers serve as the backdrop for Harris's journeyman debut. When Danny Kellerman, a...

Perfect Fifths.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 2, 2009... Perfect Fifths Megan McCafferty. Crown, $21.95 (304p) ISBN 978-0-307-34652-0 McCafferty's mixed follow-up to Fourth Comings begins with Jessica Darling running through an airport to catch a flight to her friend's wedding, only to trip...

PW talks with William Dietrich: a likable cad: William Dietrich delivers his third historical, The Dakota Cipher (Reviews, Jan. 12), about American adventurer Ethan Gage.(Q&A)(Publishers Weekly)(Interview)
February 2, 2009... Who was your inspiration for Ethan Gage? I enjoyed the twist on the conventional British imperial hero represented by George MacDonald Fraser's Flashman, about a likable cad. I thought an irreverent American from an infant nation could...

Smooth Talking Stranger.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 2, 2009... Smooth Talking Stranger Lisa Kleypas. St, Martin's, $24.95 (352p) ISBN 978-0-312-35166-3 Ella Varner grew up with a trouble-some mother and an insecure sister, but she has managed to come out of it reasonably sane, with a good (if...

The Perfect Poison.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 2, 2009... The Perfect Poison Amanda Quick. Putnam, $24.95 (352p) ISBN 978-0-399-15580-2 Quick (aka Jayne Ann Krentz) delivers her reliable blend of sex and suspense in her latest Arcane Society novel. In Victorian London, spinster botanist and...

Triple Cross.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 2, 2009... Triple Cross Mark T. Sullivan. St. Martin's, $24.95 (400p) ISBN 978-0-312-37850-9 Bestseller Sullivan's first thriller since 2003's The Serpent's Kiss displays his usual knack for setting and scenario. On New Year's Eve during a...

All Other Nights.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 2, 2009... * All Other Nights Dara Horn. Norton, $24.95 (384p) ISBN 978-0-393-06492-6 A Civil War spy page-turner meets an exploration of race and religion in 19th-century America in Horn's enthralling latest. Jacob Rappaport, the 19-year-old...

Nightwalker.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 2, 2009... Nightwalker Heather Graham. Mira, $24.95 (320p) ISBN 978-0-7783-2637-3 Past and present converge in Las Vegas and ghost town Indigo, Nev., the site of a long-ago gunfight, in this engrossing paranormal romance from bestseller Graham...

Songs My Mother Never Taught Me.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 2, 2009... Songs My Mother Never Taught Me Selcuk Altun, trans. from the Turkish by Ruth Christie and Selcuk Berilgen. Telegram (Consortium, dist.), $13.95 paper (212p) ISBN 978-1-84659-053-5 This intelligent thriller from Altun, his...

English.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 2, 2009... English Wang Gang, trans. from the Chinese by Martin Merz and Jane Weizhen Pan. Viking, $24.95 (320p) ISBN 978-0-670-02059-1 For 12-year-old Love Liu, foreign languages are a way of life: he lives in gossipy Xinjiang in far northwest...

Liars Anonymous.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 2, 2009... * Liars Anonymous Louise Ure. Minotaur, $25.95 (352p) ISBN 978-0-312-37586-7 At the start of this taut crime novel from Shamus Award--winner Ure (The Fault Tree), Jessie Dancing, an operator for a roadside emergency service in Phoenix,...

The World Beneath.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 2, 2009... The World Beneath Aaron Gwyn. Norton, $23.95 (192p) ISBN 978-0-393-06723-1 Two mysterious occurrences anchor Gwyn's uneven first novel (after a collection, Dog on the Cross): an outcast half Chickasaw/half Mexican boy named J.T. goes...

The Sacred Blood.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 2, 2009... The Sacred Blood Michael Byrnes. Morrow, $24.95 (272p) ISBN 978-0-06-134069-7 Jesus Christ's mortal remains turned up in a secret crypt below Jerusalem's Temple Mount in Byrnes's 2007 debut, The Sacred Bones. Now DNA extracted from...

Wrongful Death.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 2, 2009... Wrongful Death Robert Dugoni. Touchstone, $25 (366p) ISBN 978-1-4165-9100-9 At the start of bestseller Dugoni's fast-paced second legal thriller to feature Seattle attorney David Sloane (after The Jury Master), the plaintiff's lawyer,...

The Hunted.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 2, 2009... The Hunted Wayne Barcomb, Minotaur/Dunne, $24.95 (320p) ISBN 978-0-312-37075-6 An overly convoluted plot and stilted dialogue mar Barcomb's third crime novel (after Blood Tide and Undercurrent), the first in a projected series. The...

Once the Shore.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 2, 2009... * Once the Shore Paul Yoon. Sarabande (Consortium, dist.), $15.95 (280p) ISBN 978-1-932511-70-3 Yoon's collection of eight richly textured stories explore the themes of family, lost love, silence, alienation and the effects of the...

The Cardboard Universe.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 2, 2009... The Cardboard Universe Christopher Miller. Harper Perennial, $14.99 paper (464p) ISSN 978-0-06-168636-8 Miller's follow-up to Sudden Noises from Inanimate Objects once again experiments with narrative, exploring the life and death of...

The Servants' Quarters.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 2, 2009... The Servants' Quarters Lynn Freed. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $24 (256p) ISBN 978-0-15-101288-6 Freed's sixth novel, a moving and unconventional romance spanning 20 years, blossoms in post-WWII South Africa, where Cressida, a...

Hold Love Strong.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 2, 2009... Hold Love Strong Matthew Aaron Goodman. Touchstone, $24.99 (384p) ISBN 978-1-4165-6203-0 Goodman delivers a commanding investigation of love, family and freedom set in a New York City housing project. Abraham Singelton, born in 1982...

Haunting Bombay.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 2, 2009... Haunting Bombay Shilpa Agarwal. Soho, $24 (368p) ISSN 978-1-56947-558-4 Agarwal's atmospheric if excessively detailed debut takes readers deep into the mysterious heart of Bombay in the 1960s. Thirteen-year-old Pinky Mittal lives with...

B as in Beauty.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 2, 2009... B as in Beauty Alberto Ferreras. Grand Central, $13.99 paper (338p) ISBN 978-0-446-69789-7 Move over, Ugly Betty; Fat B's in town and she's just as bewitching, bodacious and beautiful as the unconventional Latina TV star. In...

True Detectives.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 2, 2009... True Detectives Jonathan Kellerman. Ballantine, $27 (384p) ISBN 978-0-345-49514-3 PI Aaron Fox and L.A. cop Moe Reed, interracial half-brothers who played minor roles in 2008's Bones, take center stage in bestseller Kellerman's routine...

The Dark Volume.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 2, 2009... The Dark Volume Gordon Dahlquist. Bantam, $26 (528p) I$BN 978-0-385-34036-6 Readers unfamiliar with bestseller Dahlquist's 2006 debut, The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters, which is set in an alternate world similar to Victorian Europe,...

Windless Summer.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 2, 2009... Windless Summer Heather Sharfeddin. Bantam/Delta, $12 paper (384p) ISBN 978-0-385-34187-5 Sharfeddin revisits many of the themes from Blackbelly and Mineral Spirits--rural life, crime and punishment, the supernatural--while striking...

Devil's Food: A Corinna Chapman Mystery.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 2, 2009... Devil's Food: A Corinna Chapman Mystery Kerry Greenwood. Poisoned Pen, $24.95 (250p) ISBN 978-1-59058-428-6 A missing parent, a lethal herbal tea and a sinister cult are a few of the mysterious ingredients in Greenwood's lively third...

A Visible Darkness.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 2, 2009... * A Visible Darkness Michael Gregorio. Minotaur, $25,95 (464p) ISBN 978-0-312-54435-5 Set in 1808, the superb third whodunit from the pseudonymous Gregorio (the husband-wife team of Michael G. Jacob and Daniela De Gregorio) to feature...

Magnolias, Moonlight, and Murder.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 2, 2009... Magnolias, Moonlight, and Murder Sara Rosett. Kensington, $22 (256p) ISBN 978-0-7582-2681-0 Rosett's engaging fourth Morn Zone mystery (after 2008's Getting Away Is Deadly) finds super efficient crime-solver Ellie Avery living in a new...

The genuine article, and son.(Road Dogs by Elmore Leonard )(Trust Me by Peter Leonard)(Brief article)(Book review)
February 2, 2009... Father and son writers Elmore and Peter Leonard have new novels publishing this spring. Road Dogs Elmore Leonard. Morrow, $26.99 (272p) ISBN 978-0-06-173314-7 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Leonard launches three characters from...

A False Dawn.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 2, 2009... A False Dawn Tom Lowe. Minotaur, $24.95 (336p) ISBN 978-0-312-37917-9 Lowe's debut offers little suspense or surprise, though well-crafted prose suggests he's capable of better. Ex-Miami homicide cop Sean O'Brien, who's retreated to a...

Probable Claws.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 2, 2009... Probable Claws Clea Simon. Poisoned Pen, $24.95 (264p) ISBN 978-1-59058-564-1 Music journalist Theda Krakow once again proves a feisty and determined sleuth in Simon's lively fourth cat-themed mystery (after 2007's Cries and Whiskers)....

Flipping Out: A Lomax and Biggs Mystery.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 2, 2009... Flipping Out: A Lomax and Biggs Mystery Marshall Karp. Minotaur, $24.95 (320p) ISBN 978-0-312-37821-9 LAPD homicide detectives Michael Lomax and Terry Biggs take on a killer targeting a group of police officers' wives in Karp's...

Tainted: A Dr. Zol Szabo Medical Mystery.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 2, 2009... Tainted: A Dr. Zol Szabo Medical Mystery Ross Pennie. ECW (IPG, dist.), $24.95 (312p) ISBN 978-1-55022-860-1 Canadian physician Pennie's mystery debut introduces a winning protagonist, an Ontario public health doctor and former chef....

Docketful of Poesy: A Poetic Death Mystery.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 2, 2009... Docketful of Poesy: A Poetic Death Mystery Diana Killian. Perseverance (SCB, dist.), $14.95 paper (248p) ISBN 978-1-880284-97-1 Killian's entertaining fourth mystery to feature Grace Hollister (after 2006's Sonnet of the Sphinx) takes...

Krapp's Last Cassette.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 2, 2009... * Krapp's Last Cassette Anne Argula. Ballantine, $14 paper (272p) ISBN 978-0-345-49844-1 Smart prose, a compelling plot line and an original narrative voice mark Edgar-finalist Argula's third Quinn novel (after 2007's Walla Walla...

Oolong Dead: A Tea Shop Mystery.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 2, 2009... Oolong Dead: A Tea Shop Mystery Laura Childs. Berkley Prime Crime, $24.95 (336p) ISBN 978-0-425-22599-8 At the start of Childs's soothing 10th Tea Shop mystery (after 2008's The Silver Needle Murder), Indigo Tea Shop proprietor...

Hand of Isis.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 2, 2009... * Hand of Isis Jo Graham. Orbit, $14.99 paper (528p) ISBN 978-0-316-06802-4 Historical fantasist Graham (Black Ships) heads to Egypt with this elegant, engaging memoir of Charmian, half-sister and handmaiden to Cleopatra. The two young...

The Convent of the Pure.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 2, 2009... The Convent of the Pure Sara Harvey, Apex (www.apexbookcompany.com), $13.95 paper (137p) ISBN 978-0-9816390-9-3 Harvey (A Year and a Day) cobbles together gothic steampunk fantasy and fluffy lesbian erotica in this romantic,...

The Revolution Business: Book Five of the Merchant Princes.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 2, 2009... The Revolution Business: Book Five of the Merchant Princes Charles Stross. Tor, $24.95 (320p) ISBN 978-0-7653-1672-1 Stross's disorganized fifth Merchant Princes story (after 2007's The Merchants' War) continues the adventures of...

Kings and Assassins.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 2, 2009... Kings and Assassins Lane Robins. Del Rey, $15 paper (368p) ISBN 978-0-345-49574-7 This dark and gruesome sequel to 2007's Maledicte compellingly illustrates the endless variety of human venality. Janus Ixion, former starving commoner...

Edge of Hunger.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 2, 2009... Edge of Hunger Rhyannon Byrd, HQN, $6.99 (352p) ISBN 978-0-373-77367-1 Byrd (Last Wolf Watching) successfully combines a haunting love story with complex world-building in the first volume of her Primal Instinct urban fantasy romance...

When His Kiss Is Wicked.(Brief article)(Book review)
February 2, 2009... * When His Kiss Is Wicked Kaitlin O'Riley. Kensington, $6.99 (352p) ISBN 978-1-4201-0446-2 O'Riley (Secrets of a Duchess) smoothly ushers in a new historical series focusing on five beautiful sisters in Victorian England. Colette...