Publishers Weekly articles from June 2005

Publishers Weekly archives from June 2005

New York state of mind: Crystal wows 'em in BEA opener; buzzing about Woodward.(BookExpo America)(Billy Crystal)
June 6, 2005... Long lines for Billy Crystal's opening night performance, long waits for workers to set up booths and the revelation about a long-held secret were some of the highlights just before the official kickoff of BookExpo America in New York this past...

India added to RH fold.(Random House forms Random House India )(Brief Article)
June 6, 2005... Random House has formed Random House India and hopes to begin publishing original works by Indian writers by 2006. Vivek Ahuja, formerly director of UBS Publishers' Distributors, has been named general manager of the new company, which will...

Chi to Elsevier.(Y.S. Chi appointed)(Brief Article)
June 6, 2005... Y.S. Chi, who recently resigned as chairman of Random House Asia, has been appointed vice chairman of Elsevier, where he will be reunited with one-time Random House colleague Erik Engstrom. Engstrom took over as chairman of the scientific...

Cuts at Scholastic Library.(Scholastic Library Publishing cuts job positions)(Brief Article)
June 6, 2005... Scholastic Library Publishing has eliminated about 30 positions, included some unfilled posts at its Danbury, Conn., offices. Scholastic spokesperson Kyle Good said that the move of the library division's credit and collection function to the...

Follow the money.(Woodward Deep Throat)
June 6, 2005... The answer to the decades-old baby boomer question--Who was Deep Throat?--was answered last week when news broke that an article in Vanity Fair would confirm that Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward's ultimate anonymous source was W. Mark Felt,...

McCartney flies to Penguin.(Paul McCartney)(Dutton Children's Books)(Penguin Young Readers Group)(Brief Article)
June 6, 2005... Dutton Children's Books has acquired U.S. rights for a picture book by Paul McCartney. High in the Clouds: An Urban Furry Tale will be published this October with a 500,000-copy first printing. Doug Whiteman, president of Penguin Young Readers...

Harlequin in tech pacts.(Brief Article)
June 6, 2005... Pressed to find new delivery channels, Harlequin recently signed agreements with Vocel and Audible. The deal with Vocel, the publisher of mobile phone applications, will enable Harlequin to deliver its content, arranged in such forms as cover...

Hollywood loves to imagine big historical icons in their pimply adolescent youth (the WB's Jack & Bobby is one recent example), so it's no surprise that producers immediately sparked to Robert J. Harris's Leonardo and the Death Machine, out now from Curtis Brown's Holly Frederick.(Brief Article)
June 6, 2005... Hollywood loves to imagine big historical icons in their pimply adolescent youth (the WB's Jack & Bobby is one recent example), so it's no surprise that producers immediately sparked to Robert J. Harris's Leonardo and the Death Machine, out now...

Movie types looking for the perfect beach read for Memorial Day got an assist from William Morris's Alicia Gordon.(Brief Article)
June 6, 2005... Movie types looking for the perfect beach read for Memorial Day got an assist from William Morris's Alicia Gordon. Just before the long holiday weekend, Gordon gave directors, writers and producers John Berendt's The City of Falling Angels...

Addiction isn't funny but the cure can be.(A Life in Smoke)(Brief Article)
June 6, 2005... Addiction isn't funny but the cure can be. That's the message of A Life in Smoke, a highly amusing and surprisingly emotional memoir by Julia VanTine-Reichardt. Reichardt, a 20-year smoker and health book editor goes cold-turkey by locking...

Update: first-time author Thomas Mullen got a double-dose of immediate gratification last week courtesy of the publishing and film worlds.(Hollywood Reader)(Random House acquires novel)(Brief Article)
June 6, 2005... Update: First-time author Thomas Mullen got a double-dose of immediate gratification last week courtesy of the publishing and film worlds. Random House acquired Mullen's novel The Last Town on Earth the day after DreamWorks took the film rights...

Calendar: June 12-18.
June 6, 2005... 6/12 Robert Rodriguez wrote, directed, edited, scored and filmed the just-released Adventures of Shark Boy and Lava Girl in 3-D and his imprint, TroubleMaker Publishing, has five YA tie-ins. 6/13 Lisa Tucker's Book Sense...

Amistad's 'Bound for Canaan' revisits slavery.(Amistad Press)(Brief Article)
June 6, 2005... Although it's tempting, Amistad editorial director Dawn Davis doesn't want to compare Fergus M. Bordewich's Bound for Canaan, Amistad's just-published examination of the Underground Railroad and the American antislavery movement, with Edward...

Google by the numbers.(Brief Article)
June 6, 2005... $19.1 million: Total revenue in 2000 $3.2 billion: Total revenue in 2004 99: Percentage of revenue generated by advertising in 2004 3,021: Number of employees at end of 2004 1,003: Number of employees involved in research and...

S&S children's unit grows up.(Simon and Schuster)
June 6, 2005... When Simon & Schuster acquired Macmillan Publishing in 1994, headlines touted the deal as another step in the creation of the nation's largest college publisher. But the purchase also laid the groundwork for what has turned out to be a...

MapQuest adds print.(MapQuest.Com Inc. forms MapQuest Publishing)(Brief Article)
June 6, 2005... MapQuest, the popular online map site, has formed MapQuest Publishing, a new unit that will publish road atlases, specialty travel guides and street maps beginning this summer. MapQuest spokesperson Brian Hoyt explained that since MapQuest...

Bain buys School Specialty.(Bain Capital)(Brief Article)
June 6, 2005... In a deal valued at $1.5 billion, Bain Capital has agreed to acquire School Specialty Inc., a leading producer of supplemental learning materials. The company, which had sales for the nine-month period ended January 22 of $827 million, entered...

Woods exiting S&S Canada.(Deb Woods)(Simon and Schuster Canada)(Brief Article)
June 6, 2005... Deb Woods will step down as president of Simon & Schuster Canada on July 15. Woods, the former head of Distican, has led S&S Canada since 2002 following S&S's purchase of Distican. Earlier this spring, the Canadian division was placed under the...

Galley talk.(Foreword)(Brief Article)
June 6, 2005... Len Cowgill, adult book buyer, McLean & Eakin Booksellers, Petoskey, Mich.: I can't wait to start handselling Cormac McCarthy's terrific new book, No Country for Old Men [Random House, July], his first book in seven years. He's an amazing...

Foreword.(rites, ceremonies and celebrations)(Brief Article)
June 6, 2005... One of the first parties in last week's string of BEA bashes was thrown by PW Wednesday night at the Algonquin Hotel. PW publishing director Rob Goulding is happy to see IPG chief of Mark Suchomel. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Random House...

Hoenig to direct ESPN Books.(Gary Hoenig)(Brief Article)
June 6, 2005... Gary Hoenig, currently editor-in-chief of ESPN The Magazine, will manage ESPN Books. Hoenig continues to edit the magazine while adding responsibility for acquisitions, editing and production at the book imprint.

McConnell to head PGW Kids.(Susan McConnell)(Brief Article)
June 6, 2005... Susan McConnell, who has worked for S&S, Putnam, Children's Book Press and Random House, has been named director of children's sales for PGW and PGKids.

Pooley joins Van Tulleken.(Chris Pooley)(Brief Article)
June 6, 2005... Chris Pooley, formerly with Thomson Scientific and Healthcare, has been named a senior partner based at the company's New York City offices.

Sherrill rises at Harvest Books.(Barbara Sherrill)(Brief Article)
June 6, 2005... Barbara Sherrill, currently the editorial managing director, has been promoted to v-p, marketing, succeeding Julie McKinney.

Ingram promotes Stewart.(Jim Stewart)(Ingram Book Group Inc.)(Brief Article)
June 6, 2005... Jim Stewart, formerly v-p of e-commerce, has been promoted to v-p, business operations.

Oprah taps Faulkner.(William Faulkner)(Brief Article)
June 6, 2005... William Faulkner got the nod last Friday from Oprah, who departed from the usual one-author, one-title format for her summer reading pick by selecting three paperbacks by the Nobel Prize-winning giant of American letters. Vintage has already...

Industry stocks: May performances.(Illustration)
June 6, 2005... Market Watch Industry Stocks: May Performances Winners Company April 29 May 31 % CHANGE Audible 12.75 16.59 30.1% Books-A-Million ...

Hardcover bestsellers/fiction.(Illustration)
June 6, 2005... Hardcover Bestsellers/Fiction BY DAISY MARYLES June 6, 2005 Last Weeks week on list (1) 4th of July. James Patterson and ...

Hardcover bestsellers/nonfiction.(Illustration)
June 6, 2005... Hardcover Bestsellers/Nonfiction BY DAISY MARYLES June 6, 2005 Last Weeks week on list (1) 1776. David McCullogh. ...

Paperback bestsellers/mass market.(Illustration)
June 6, 2005... Paperback Bestsellers/Mass Market BY DAISY MARYLES June 6, 2005 Last Weeks week on list (1) Angels & Demons. Dan Brown. ...

Paperback bestsellers/trade.(Illustration)
June 6, 2005... Paperback Bestsellers/Trade BY DAISY MARYLES June 6, 2005 Last Weeks week on list (1) The Kite Runner. ...

Audio bestsellers.(audiobooks)
June 6, 2005... Sure, the Cineplex experience includes Samuel L. Jackson, flashy visual effects and expensive popcorn. But fans can hear the Star Wars audiobook, based on the movie screenplay and featuring the movie score, in authentic Dolby Surround Sound--at...

Audio's best of the best.(All-Time Audio Bestsellers)
June 6, 2005... It looks like the habits of highly effective people are indeed hard to break--when it comes to audiobooks, that is. Back in 1996--the last time we compiled an all-time audiobook bestseller list--Stephen Covey's The 7 Habits of Highly Effective...

Navasky nation.(Victor Navasky)
June 6, 2005... Victor Navasky, longtime editor and now publisher of the Nation, can fool you. He looks, with his glasses, his faint stoop, his beard and his mildly benign expression, something like an Ed Koren cartoon character--one of those woolly vegan...

Cable news: books are hot.(television movies)(Cover Story)
June 6, 2005... When Richard Russo's Empire Falls aired as an HBO drama on Memorial Day weekend, it attracted 3.8 million viewers over its two nights, according to Variety. Although the number pales in comparison to the 25 million who viewed Zora Neale...

A tale of Twin Cities.(Literary North)(Minneapolis-St. Paul)
June 6, 2005... Jim Sitter, director of the national advocacy coalition Literary Network (LitNet), describes Minneapolis-St. Paul as "an oasis" for book lovers. "On a per capita basis, there's more literary activity going on in the Twin Cities than anywhere...

Out of Wonderland: A Saga.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 6, 2005... Out of Wonderland: A Saga DAVID ALLAN CATES. Steerforth, $19.95 (152p) ISBN 1-58642-095-X Set adrift by sudden unemployment, the Candide-like protagonist of this biting satire of modern capitalism encounters other denizens of a dystopian...

The Madonna of Las Vegas.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 6, 2005... The Madonna of Las Vegas GREGORY BLAKE SMITH. Three Rivers, $13 paper (288p) ISBN 1-4000-8186-6 With its faux Eiffel Tower, replica Gotham City and copycat Venice, Las Vegas is arguably the most postmodern city in the world. And in Gregory...

Willful Creatures.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 6, 2005... * Willful Creatures AIMEE BENDER. Doubleday, $22.95 (224p) ISBN 0-385-50113-7 Fifteen stories bursting with heart and marvel make up this daringly original collection by Bender (The Girl in the Flammable Skirt). Nameless characters lend...

Life Sentences.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 6, 2005... Life Sentences ALICE BLANCHARD. Warner, $24.95 (400p) ISBN 0-446-57672-7 Blanchard (The Breathtaker) again proves how research enriches detective fiction in this engrossing novel about a Boston scientist on the trail of a psychopath....

The Trudeau Vector.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 6, 2005... The Trudeau Vector JURIS JURJEVICS. Viking, $24.95 (416p) ISBN 0-670-03437-1 Soho Press cofounder and publisher Jurjevics gives a knowing nod to apocalyptic plot expectations for biohazard thrillers, but the real passion of his debut lies...

Weetzie checks in.(PW Talks with Francesca Lia Block)(Interview)
June 6, 2005... Weetzie first burst onto the YA scene in 1989 (in Weetzie Bat). What prompted you to return to her after all this time, and why in a book for adults [see Necklace of Kisses, reviewed on p. 36]? I chose to return because I wasn't feeling in...

Thirty-Three Teeth.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 6, 2005... Thirty-Three Teeth COLIN COTTERILL. Soho, $24 (272p) ISBN 1-56947-388-9 Dr. Siri Paiboun of Laos--"reluctant national coroner, confused psychic, {and} disheartened communist"--employs forensic skills and spiritual acumen to solve a series...

Necklace of Kisses.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 6, 2005... * Necklace of Kisses FRANCESCA LIA BLOCK. HarperCollins, $21.95 (240p) ISBN 0-06-077751-6 Readers who remember Weetzie Bat and My Secret Agent Lover Man's first kiss (a "kiss about apple pie a la mode with the vanilla creaminess melting in...

The Paris Review Book of People with Problems.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 6, 2005... The Paris Review Book of People with Problems EDITORS OF THE PARIS REVIEW. Picador, $15 paper (384p) ISBN 0-312-42241-5 All fiction concerns people with problems--without them, after all, where's the plot?--but the characters in these 17...

Until I Find You.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 6, 2005... Until I Find You JOHN IRVING. Random, $27.95 (848p) ISBN 1-4000-6383-3 Actor Jack Burns seeks a sense of identity and father figures while accommodating a host of overbearing and elaborately dysfunctional women in Irving's latest sprawling...

Trance.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 6, 2005... Trance CHRISTOPHER SORRENTINO. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $26 (528p) ISBN 0-374-27864-4 In much the same manner that Don DeLillo's White Noise reimagined the Kennedy assassination, Sorrentino (Sound and Sound) deftly blends history and...

Spies.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 6, 2005... Spies MARCEL BEYER, TRANS. FROM THE GERMAN BY BREON MITCHELL. Harcourt, $24 (288p) ISBN 0-15-100859-0 The nameless narrator of Beyer's (The Karnau Tapes) new novel has a fondness for peepholes: he relishes obscured glimpses and colors he's...

Belly.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 6, 2005... Belly LISA SELIN DAVIS. Little, Brown, $23.95 (288p) ISBN 0-316-15880-1 What if a man's narcissism were so complete that it defied time, thwarted prison and thrived on a diet of parenting crimes and other sins? Such is the story of William...

Hat Trick.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 6, 2005... Hat Trick LISA KUSEL. Hyperion, $22.95 (356p) ISBN 0-7868-6923-2 A love triangle finally gets resolved on the exotic island of Zanzibar. Successful magazine writer Peter Beckett is there to interview a movie star on location, but his real...

Origin in Death.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 6, 2005... Origin in Death NORA ROBERTS WRITING AS J.D. ROBB. Putnam, $23.95 (352p) ISBN 0-399-15289-X Set in the year 2059, this latest in Robb's long-running series (Naked Death, etc.) featuring acerbic Lt. Eve Dallas of the New York police is the...

The Architect.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 6, 2005... * The Architect KEITH ABLOW. St. Martin's, $24.95 (320p) ISBN 0-312-32392-1 The strong fifth entry in Ablow's well-received series about FBI forensic psychologist Frank Clevenger (after 2003's Psychopath) features an impressive and sharply...

The Burning Girl.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 6, 2005... The Burning Girl MARK BILLINGHAM. Morrow, $16.95 (368p) ISBN 0-060-74526-6 The engrossing fourth novel by British TV writer Billingham to feature London police detective Tom Thorne (after 2004's Lazybones) has a solid, traditional...

Homefront.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 6, 2005... Homefront CHUCK LOGAN. HarperCollins, $16.95 (368p) ISBN 0-06-057020-2 U.S. Army Maj. Nina Pryce and ex-undercover detective Phil Broker return from Logan's After the Rain in this follow-up thriller. After Pryce endures a debilitating...

False Testimony.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 6, 2005... False Testimony ROSE CONNORS. Scribner, $24 (256p) ISBN 0-7432-6197-6 Connors's latest trip to the courtroom (after Maximum Security) follows busy, resilient Cape Cod attorney Marty Nickerson and her partner in love and law Harry Madigan...

The Thing About Jane Spring.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 6, 2005... The Thing About Jane Spring SHARON KRUM. Viking, $21.95 (320p) ISBN 0-670-03417-7 One of the first things the reader learns about the leggy blonde heroine of Krum's sprightly, high-concept novel (after Walk of Fame) is that she can't keep...

Pounding the Pavement.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 6, 2005... Pounding the Pavement JENNIFER VAN DER KWAST. Broadway, $18.95 (288p) ISBN 0-7679-1953-X Van der Kwast casts a deliciously jaded eye on working--and not working--in the media industry in her likable debut. Her beset heroine, Sarah, joins...

Miss Bubbles Steals the Show.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 6, 2005... Miss Bubbles Steals the Show MELANIE MURRAY. Red Dress Ink, $12.95 paper (304p) ISBN 0-373-89527-5 Murray's energetic debut novel stars 25-year-old Stella Aurora a struggling actress in New York City whose sparkle may be dimming after...

Susie Bright Presents: Three Kinds of Asking for It.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 6, 2005... Susie Bright Presents: Three Kinds of Asking for It ERIC ALBERT, GRETA CHRISTINA AND JILL SOLOWAY. Touchstone, $14 paper (256p) ISBN 0-7452-4330-4 ho needs a beach for this summer treat? Bright's imprimatur guarantees heat sufficient to...

Blood of Angels.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 6, 2005... * Blood of Angels REED ARVIN. HarperCollins, $16.95 (320p) ISBN 0-06-059634-1 Thomas Dennehy, assistant DA of Davidson County, Tenn., is about to become famous. Unless he can figure a way out of it, he'll be certified as the first lawyer...

The Big over Easy: A Nursery Crime.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 6, 2005... The Big Over Easy: A Nursery Crime JASPER FFORDE. Viking, $23.95 (400p) ISBN 0-670-03423-1 Fforde's whimsical fifth novel, his first not to feature literary detective Thursday Next, is consistently witty, but its conceit--putting a...

Locked Doors.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 6, 2005... Locked Doors BLAKE CROUCH. St. Martin's Minotaur/Dunne, $23.95 (288p) ISBN 0312-31799-9 In Crouch's lurid, disappointing sequel to Desert Places (2004), horror writer Andrew Thomas has been hiding in a small Yukon town after being framed...

The Greatest Man in Cedar Hole.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 6, 2005... The Greatest Man in Cedar Hole STEPHANIE DOYON. Simon & Schuster, $24 (376p) ISBN 0-7432-7133-5 Doyon, the author of series books for teens, peoples her adult debut, a sprawling, bustling chronicle of smalltown life, with a passel of...

Cooperstown.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 6, 2005... Cooperstown EUGENA PILEK. Touchstone, $13 paper (256p) ISBN 0-7432-6694-3 Cooperstown, N.Y., home to the Baseball Hall of Fame, is also home to folks whose lives have been shaped (sometimes to their detriment) by America's favorite...

Bodies in Motion.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 6, 2005... Bodies in Motion MARY ANNE MOHANRAJ. HarperCollins, $22.95 (288p) ISBN 0-06-078118-1 Mohanraj's promising but uneven debut collection chronicles the lives of two linked Sri Lankan families over the course of 50 years. From politically...

Desertion.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 6, 2005... Desertion ABDULRAZAK GURNAH. Pantheon, $23 (272p) ISBN 0-375-42354-0 Against the backdrop of colonial Africa, Booker-nominated Gurnah (By the Sea; Paradise) crafts a dense, decade-straddling story of cross-cultural love and its...

The Tea-Olive Bird Watching Society.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 6, 2005... The Tea-Olive Bird Watching Society AUGUSTA TROBAUGH. Dutton, $24.95 (240p) ISBN 0-525-94879-1 Treading the familiar ground of women's friendship in the South, Trobaugh's sixth novel (after The River Jordan) exalts the bonds among Beulah,...

Zipporah, Wife of Moses.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 6, 2005... Zipporah, Wife of Moses MAREK HALTER, TRANS. FROM THE FRENCH BY HOWARD CURTIS. Crown, $23 (288p) ISBN 1-4000-5279-3 In his enjoyable but uneven second installment in the Canaan trilogy (Sarah), Halter takes his cue from the biblical story...

Dinner with a Perfect Stranger: An Invitation Worth Considering.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 6, 2005... Dinner with a Perfect Stranger: An Invitation Worth Considering DAVID GREGORY. WaterBrook, $12.99 (112p) ISBN 1-57856-905-2 In this didactic inspirational novella, Cincinnati workaholic Nick Cominsky accepts an invitation that he assumes is...

Grace at Low Tide.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 6, 2005... Grace at Low Tide BETH WEBB HART. WestBow, $13.99 paper (320p) ISBN 1-5955-4026-1 Critics of evangelical novels often talk about the dearth of literary fiction in the Christian market, but this debut from South Carolina native Hart comes...

Wonders Never Cease.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 6, 2005... Wonders Never Cease PHIL CALLAWAY. Harvest House, $11.99 paper (288p) ISBN 0-7369-0777-7 Terry Anderson, whom readers met in Calloway's first novel, Growing Up on the Edge of the World, returns six years older (he's 18) and not a whole lot...

AEIOU: An Easy Intimacy.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 6, 2005... AEIOU: An Easy Intimacy JEFFREY BROWN. Top Shelf, $12 paper (224p) ISBN 1-891830-71-6 Apparently, one of the side effects of dating Brown is that he draws a comics memoir about you after wards. This work, originally published in a limited...

Hawkman: Wings of Fury.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 6, 2005... Hawkman: Wings of Fury Geoff Johns, Rags Morales, Jose LUIS GARCIA LOPEZ ET AL. DC Comics, $17.99 paper (192p) ISBN 1-4012-0467-8 A costumed hero's identity crisis fuels the latest adventures of one of DC's less appreciated Golden Age...

The Red Badge of Courage: The Graphic Novel.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 6, 2005... The Red Badge of Courage: The Graphic Novel WAYNE VANSANT. Puffin Graphics, $9.99 paper (176p) ISBN 0-1424-0410-1 This 1895 tale of young soldier Henry Fleming's initial experiences in combat during the Civil War still startles. Artist...

The Assassin's Touch.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 6, 2005... The Assassin's Touch LAURA JOH ROWLAND. St. Martin's Minotaur, $24.95 (336p) ISBN 0-3123-1900-2 At the start of Rowland's assured 10th historical set in 17th-century Japan (after 2004's The Perfumed Sleeve), Sano Ichiro, now the shogun's...

Crusader's Cross: A Dave Robicheaux Novel.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 6, 2005... * Crusader's Cross: A Dave Robicheaux Novel JAMES LEE BURKE. Simon & Schuster, $25.95 (336p) ISBN 0-7432-7719-8 Superb writing and a throbbing pace lift two-time Edgar-winner Burke's powerful, many-layered 14th Dave Robicheaux novel (after...

Bloodless Shadow.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 6, 2005... Bloodless Shadow VICTORIA BLAKE. Berkley Prime Crime, $14.95 paper (304p) ISBN 0-42520309-3 In British author Blake's engaging debut, world judo champion Samantha Falconer, now a London PI, returns to Oxford, where she spent her painful...

The Tale of Holly How: The Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 6, 2005... The Tale of Holly How: The Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter SUSAN WITTIG ALBERT. Berkley Prime Crime, $23.95 (320p) ISBN 0-4252-0274-7 As in 2004's The Tale of Hill Top Farm, Albert skillfully blends fact and fiction in her second Beatrix...

The Old Buzzard Had It Coming: An Alafair Tucker Mystery.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 6, 2005... The Old Buzzard Had It Coming: An Alafair Tucker Mystery DONIS CASEY. Poisoned Pen, $24.95 (226p) ISBN 1-59058-149-0 Life on the Oklahoma frontier in 1912 was anything but easy, yet Casey's sweet-tempered debut manages to make readers...

July publications.(Book Review)
June 6, 2005... JULY PUBLICATIONS In Judgment of the Grave, Sarah Stewart Taylor's engaging third Sweeney St. George novel (after 2004's Mansions of the Dead), the art history professor is researching 18th-century gravestones in Concord, Mass., when the...

Settling Accounts: Drive to the East.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 6, 2005... Settling Accounts: Drive to the East HARRY TURTLEDOVE. Del Rey, $26.95 (608p) ISBN 0-345-45724-2 In Turtledove's engrossing second book in the alternate history master's Settling Accounts trilogy (after 2004's Return Engagement),...

The Dark Mirror: Book One of the Bridei Chronicles.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 6, 2005... * The Dark Mirror: Book One of the Bridei Chronicles JULIET MARILLIER. Tor, $27.95 (512p) ISBN 0-765-30995-5 Having given pre-Celtic Scotland a once-over in Wolfskin (2003) and Foxmask (2004), Australian author Marillier returns with a much...

Scattered Suns: The Saga of the Seven Suns: Book 4.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 6, 2005... Scattered Suns: The Saga of the Seven Suns: Book 4 KEVIN J. ANDERSON. Warner Aspect, $24.95 (496p) ISBN 0-446-57717-0 Bestseller Anderson delivers more on-the-edge-of-your-seat SF thrills in the fourth installment of his Seven Suns saga...

Academ's Fury: Book Two of the Codex Alera.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 6, 2005... Academ's Fury: Book Two of the Codex Alera JIM BUTCHER. Ace, $24.95 (480p) ISBN 0-441-01283-3 Best known for his Harry Dresden fantasy noir novels (DeadBeat, etc.), bestseller Butcher shows he's equally adept at epic fantasy in the second...