Publishers Weekly articles from March 2008, page 7

Publishers Weekly archives from March 2008

Spain and the World Table.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 17, 2008... Spain and the World Table THE CULINARY INSTITUTE OF AMERICA, WITH TEXT BY MARTHA ROSE SHULMAN. DK, $35 (272p) ISBN 978-0-7566-3387-5 In 2006, the Culinary Institute of America gathered chefs from Spain and around the world to attend a...

Screen Doors and Sweet Tea: Recipes and Tales from a Southern Cook.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 17, 2008... Screen Doors and Sweet Tea: Recipes and Tales from a Southern Cook MARTHA HALL FOOSE. Clarkson Potter, $32.50 (256p) ISBN 978-0-307-35140-1 The warm, languid air of the South filters through this engaging book, in which Foose shares the...

The Garden Primer.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 17, 2008... * The Garden Primer BARBARA DAMROSCH. Workman, $18.95 paper (720p) ISBN 078-0-7611-2275-3 This comprehensive compendium of gardening facts, helpful hints and earthy advice is an unusually readable, user-friendly gardening encyclopedia....

Recently reviewed online.(Bibliography)(Brief article)
March 17, 2008... NONFICTION Becoming Holyfield: A Fighter's Journey Evander Holyfield with Lee Gruenfeld. Atria, Feb. * Failure of Intelligence: The Decline and Fall of the CIA Melvyn A. Goodman. Rowman & Littlefield, Mar. I see Black People:...

Cool Daddy Rat.(Brief article)(Children's review)(Book review)
March 17, 2008... * Cool Daddy Rat KRISTYN CROW, ILLUS. BY MIKE LESTER. Putnam, $16.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-399-24375-2 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Debut author Crow's hip ode to jazz (and scat in particular) will sweep up its audience in its catchy beat as...

Amelia Makes a Movie.(Brief article)(Children's review)(Book review)
March 17, 2008... Amelia Makes a Movie DAVID MILGRIM. Putnam, $16.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-399-24670-8 Reaching out to the YouTube generation, Milgrim (Cows Can't Fly) introduces a highly organized young auteur. Amelia, her auburn hair in a nononsense...

Rosie and Buttercup.(Brief article)(Children's review)(Book review)
March 17, 2008... Rosie and Buttercup CHIERI UEGAKI, ILLUS. BY STEPHANE JORISCH. Kids Can, $17.95 (32p) ISBN 978-1-55337-997-3 Uegaki and Jorisch (previously paired for Suki's Kimono) bring poise and polish to a well-worn subject. At first Rosie's perfect...

Benny and Penny: in Just Pretend.(Brief article)(Children's review)(Book review)
March 17, 2008... * Benny and Penny: in Just Pretend GEOFFREY HAYES. RAW Junior/Toon, $12.95 (32p)ISBN 978-0-9799238-0-7 Hayes, creator of the Otto and Uncle Tooth mysteries, chooses mouse siblings as the subjects for this comic book cum easy reader, first...

Count on Culebra: Go from 1 to 10 in Spanish.(Brief article)(Children's review)(Book review)
March 17, 2008... Count on Culebra: Go from 1 to 10 in Spanish ANN WHITFORD PAUL, ILLUS. BY ETHAN LONG. Holiday House, $16.95 (32p) ISBN 978-0-8234-2124-4 A reptile rushes to the rescue to ensure that candy gets made in this companion to Manana, Iguana and...

Christopher Counting.(Brief article)(Children's review)(Book review)
March 17, 2008... Christopher Counting VALERI GORBACHEV. Philomel, $15.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-399-24629-6 Unlike many counting books that seem to stomp decisively through numbers one to 10, Gorbachev (Heron and Turtle) camouflages the concept in a story...

Silly Lilly: And the Four Seasons.(Children's review)(Book review)
March 17, 2008... * Silly Lilly: And the Four Seasons AGNES ROSENSTIEHL. RAW Junior/Toon, $12.95 (36p) ISBN 978-0-9799238-1-4 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] What is there about Comics that makes children like them so well?" An exasperated schoolteacher posed...

Dirt on My Shirt.(Brief article)(Children's review)(Book review)
March 17, 2008... Dirt on My Shirt JEFF FOXWORTHY, ILLUS. BY STEVE BJORKMAN. HarperCollins, $16.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-06-120846-1 The bestselling author of You Might a Redneck If... and the host of the TV show Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? turns his...

The Adventures of Isabel.(Brief article)(Children's review)(Book review)
March 17, 2008... The Adventures of Isabel OGDEN NASH, ILLUS. BY BRIDGET STARR TAYLOR. Sourcebooks Jabberwocky, $16.95 (32p with CD) ISBN 978-1-4022-1027-3 Nash's (1902-1971) invincible heroine, memorably incarnated in James Marshall's 1991 picture book...

Imaginary Menagerie: A Book of Curious Creatures.(Brief article)(Children's review)(Book review)
March 17, 2008... * Imaginary Menagerie: A Book of Curious Creatures JULIE LARIOS, ILLUS. BY JULIE PASCHKIS. Harcourt, $16 (32p) ISBN 978-0-15-206325-2 As in an illuminated manuscript, the artwork shimmers in this verse catalogue of creatures from...

Oops!(Brief article)(Children's review)(Book review)
March 17, 2008... Oops! ALAN KATZ, ILLUS. BY EDWARD KOREN. S&S/McElderry, $17.99 (176p) ISBN 978-1-4169-0204-1 Like Jack Prelutsky and Shel Silverstein, Katz (Take Me Out of the Bathtub) revels in the kind of schoolyard humor and wordplay relished by his...

America at War.(Brief article)(Children's review)(Book review)
March 17, 2008... America at War EDITED BY LEE BENNETT HOPKINS, ILLUS. BY STEPHEN ALCORN. S&S/ McElderry, $21.99 (96p) ISBN 978-1-4169-1832-5 As Hopkins (editor of Hand in Hand: An American History Through Poetry) takes pains to emphasize in his...

The Missing: Found.(Brief article)(Children's review)(Book review)
March 17, 2008... * The Missing: Found MARGARET PETERSON HADDIX. Simon & Shuster, $15.99 (192p) ISSN 978-1-4169-5417-0 In a tantalizing opener to a new series, Haddix (the Shadow Children series) taps into a common childhood fantasy--that you are really...

Elvis & Olive.(Brief article)(Children's review)(Book review)
March 17, 2008... Elvis & Olive STEPHANIE WATSON. Scholastic, $15.99 (240p)ISBN 978-0-545-03183-7 Natalie Wallis, the protagonist of this accomplished first novel, is leading a very buttoned-down life with her prim parents when, on the first day of...

Life Is Fine.(Young adult review)(Brief article)(Book review)
March 17, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Life Is Fine ALLISON WHITTENBERG. Delacorte, $15.99 (224p) ISBN 978-0-385-73480-6 The title of Whittenberg's (Sweet Thang) penetrating novel notwithstanding, life is not fine for 15-year-old Samara, who sees...

She could change her mind: I rendered my experience of another culture into fiction--why couldn't Margaret Seltzer?(Soapbox)
March 17, 2008... The furor over Margaret B. Jones's "memoir"--of life as a half-white, half-Native American girl who was abused as a child and then raised by a black foster mother, "Big Mom," in south-central Los Angeles, where she ran with gangs, watched her...

Can harsher contracts keep lying authors at bay? Some say it's time to take it to the courts.(Foreword)
March 10, 2008... Last week's deja vu publishing scandal--Margaret Seltzer's admission that her memoir, Love and Consequences (Riverhead), about growing up a biracial gang member in South-Central L.A., was wholesale fiction--has brought many now-familiar...

Rinaldi heading to Rodale.(Brief article)
March 10, 2008... Bloomsbury USA's publisher and president Karen Rinaldi is leaving the publisher to join Rodale, where she will be senior v-p, general manager and publishing director. Rinaldi starts at Rodale April I and will oversee editorial and publishing...

Octopus sets up in U.S.(Octopus Books)(Brief article)
March 10, 2008... Octopus Books has formed its own North American group. Octopus Books USA will begin publishing in January 2009. Previously, the Hachette-owned European publisher of illustrated books had sold co-editions of its titles to North American...

Reality check: can we afford not to do the diligence?(Foreword)(fabricated memoirs)
March 10, 2008... The journalist in me is a little embarrassed to admit that my first reaction upon hearing of the Margaret B. Jones Love and Consequences scandal last week was neither shock, nor surprise, nor, believe it or not, schadenfreude. No. My first...

Kensington adds imprint.(Kensington Publishing)(Brief article)
March 10, 2008... Kensington Publishing is once again expanding its presence in the African-American market with the launch of Souls of My Sisters, an imprint focused on inspirational books. The program is based on a bestselling title of the same name by Dawn...

New owners for Whitman.(Albert Whitman & Company)(Brief article)
March 10, 2008... The Morton Grove, Ill.-based children's book publisher Albert Whitman & Company has been acquired by John Quattrochi and Patrick McPartland. The two bought the 550-title house from Joe Boyd, who's been president since 1986, and Whitman...

Fixing it up.(Sellers Publishing)(Brief article)
March 10, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Maine publisher Sellers Publishing is putting the finishing touches on its new office/warehouse before the staff moves in later this month. Sellers moved all its inventory into the facility in January and began...

AAP keeps up the fight.(Foreword)(Association of American Publishers)(Brief article)
March 10, 2008... Before turning over last week's Association of American Publishers annual meeting to the featured speakers, Richard Sarnoff, AAP chairman and executive v-p of Random House, said that while the death of the book has been heralded for decades,...

Diaz and Danticat among 2007 NBCC winners.(Junot Diaz, National Book Critics Circle)(Brief article)
March 10, 2008... In his opening remarks, National Book Critics Circle president John Freeman described "enormous changes in the critical landscape," citing the proliferation of online venues for book criticism and shrinking review space in print publications...

Debut preempts.(Deals)(The Day the Falls Stood Still)(Brief article)
March 10, 2008... Ellen Archer and Pamela Dorman at Voice preempted Cathy Marie Buchanan's The Day the Falls Stood Still via Dorian Karchmar at William Morris, who sold North American rights. Set in Niagara Falls, Ontario, during WWI, this first novel focuses...

East and West.(Deals)(Alia Malek's Amreeka)(Brief article)
March 10, 2008... Amber Qureshi at the Free Press bought North American rights to Alia Malek's Amreeka via Anna Ghosh at Scovil Chichak Galen. Amreeka, the Arabic word for America, is the story of the past 42 years in the U.S. told through the eyes of...

Scout leader.(Deals)(Juliette Gordon Low biography)(Brief article)
March 10, 2008... Wendy Wolf at Viking has acquired a new biography of Girl Scout founder Juliette Gordon Low by Stacy Cordery; Sterling Lord sold world rights. Low lived through the Civil War and rebelled against a conventional upbringing by marrying an...

Biology at Houghton.(Deals)(The Homing Instinct: The Economics of How Animals (and Humans) Survive)(Brief article)
March 10, 2008... Deanne Urmy at the newly merged Houghton has acquired North American rights to Bernd Heinrich's The Homing Instinct: The Economics of How Animals (and Humans) Survive via Sandra Dijkstra. The author of Mind of the Raven and Winter World will...

YA auction.(Deals)(Ash)(Brief article)
March 10, 2008... Kate Sullivan at Little, Brown won out over four other houses for a debut YA novel by Malinda Lo titled Ash; Laura Langlie sold world rights (except Japan and U.K.) to two books. Ash is a retelling of Cinderella, only Ash doesn't fall for...

Calendar: March 16-20.(Calendar)
March 10, 2008... 3/16 The seven-part HBO miniseries of David McCullough's John Adams (S&S) begins tonight. It stars Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney and is produced by Tom Hanks. 3/17 James Patterson continues his Maximum Ride YA series with The...

Pearson Publishing sales top $7 billion.(Results 2007)
March 10, 2008... Total sales at Pearson's different publishing groups--Penguin, education and professional--rose 2.7% in 2007, to 3.53 billion [pounds sterling] ($7.06 billion), while adjusted operating profits increased 6.4%, to 478 million [pounds sterling]...

Pike to Plume.(People)(Signe Pike)(Brief article)
March 10, 2008... Signe Pike has been named editor at Plume. Pike arrives from Ballantine, where she acquired Tom DeHaven's It's Superman! and Alexandra Potter's Me and Mr. Darcy. At Plume she will focus on literary, historical and mainstream fiction, as well...

B&N's Skagerlind explains 'Studio'.(Online Retailing)(Barnes & Noble Studio)
March 10, 2008... Last week, B&N.com debuted Barnes & Noble Studio, a new multimedia section and two weekly video series, at www.bn.com/studio. The section's goal, said Mike Skagerlind, v-p and head of digital media for Barnes & Noble.com, is to give visitors...

Simon & Schuster springs green kids' line.(New Imprint)(Little Green Books)(Brief article)
March 10, 2008... Little Simon is launching Little Green Books, an eco-friendly line of children's books aimed at parents and children who want to learn more about the environment. The first four books will pub this fall; Little Monkey and Little Panda will be...

Weinstein Books wins Burana memoir.(Signed)(Lily Burana's I Love a Man in Uniform)(Brief article)
March 10, 2008... Weinstein Books president Rob Weisbach beat five other publishers for North American rights to Lily Burana's I Love a Man in Uniform. Tina Bennett at Janklow & Nesbit conducted the auction. In this new memoir, Burana, the author of the 2001...

Senor Potter.(Foreword)(Harry Potter y las reliquas de la muerte)(Brief article)
March 10, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Scholastic parenting expert Alejandra Schmidt held an audience spellbound late last month when she read from the Spanish edition of the seventh and final Harry Potter book, Harry Potter y las reliquas de la muerte,...

Industry stocks: February performances.(Market Watch)(Table)(Brief article)
March 10, 2008... Industry Stocks: February Performances February was the second consecutive month in which the Publishers Weekly Stock Index fell significantly faster than the Dow Jones Industrial Average. After falling 7.3% in January, the PWSI...

Tipton to IDW.(People)(Denton J. Tipton, IDW Publishing)(Brief article)
March 10, 2008... Denton J. Tipton has joined IDW Publishing as an editor. Tipton, a former journalist and comics retailer, was most recently an editor at the San Diego Union-Tribune. At IDW he will, among other things, oversee the house's Transformers line of...

Washam up at Penguin.(People)(Alexis Washam)(Brief article)
March 10, 2008... Alexis Washam has been promoted to editor at Penguin Books. Washam, who started at the publisher in 2004 as an assistant, has edited books by, among others, J.M. Coetzee, Julia Alvarez and Sebastian Barry.

Hardcover bestsellers/fiction.
March 10, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "Shopaholic powerhouse Kinsella delights again with her latest, a winning if unoriginal tale of amnesia striking an ambitious shrew and changing her life for the better.... Amnesia tales may be old hat, but...

Hardcover bestsellers/nonfiction.
March 10, 2008... Valerie Bertinelli knocked The Secret off its top perch with Losing It--and Gaining My Life Back One Pound at a Time. Free Press reports a 300,000-copy first printing and has gone back for an additional 25,000. On the book's February 25...

Paperback bestsellers/mass market.
March 10, 2008... "Since the first book in the Legacy of the Force series in June 2006, we have seen a stunning increase in sales," says Scott Shannon, Del Key associate publisher. Revelation is the eighth in the nine-book, three-author series, which comes to...

Paperback bestsellers/trade.
March 10, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] While the race for the Democratic presidential nomination is still going on, Barack Obama is winning the bestseller competition--both of his books are on all the national charts. Dreams from My Father, the memoir...

Children's fiction bestsellers.
March 10, 2008... CHILDREN'S NONFICTION "I have always written through my pain, you know, and written through my experiences. And even in my lowest of low, when I was out on the street and I was shooting drugs, I was always writing." [ILLUSTRATION...

New York Comic-Con 2008: this year's show features a big outreach effort to kids.(Comic)
March 10, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The third annual New York Comic-Con, to be held April 18-20 at the Jacob Javits Convention Center, opens next month with a record of impressive growth (a 60% increase in exhibition floor space over last year) that...

Toward a greener future: new industry study puts carbon footprint at 12.4 million tons and outlines measures to reduce publishing's environmental impact.(Green Publishing)(Table)
March 10, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Most industry members expected that when the "Environmental Trends and Climate Impacts: Findings from the U.S. Book Industry" survey was released, it would show that, of all the activities connected with book...

Manufacturers working to meet demand for green alternatives: despite difficult market conditions, suppliers see new opportunities.(Green Printing)
March 10, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Efforts by North American book manufacturers and papermakers to adopt environmentally responsible practices come at an inconvenient time. The strong Canadian dollar is causing higher prices for pulp and paper just...

Booksellers adopt green measures: retailers see chance to do well while doing good.(Green Retailing)
March 10, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Seeing it as a way to appeal to customers while also acting in a more socially responsible way, both independent bookseller and the major chains are increasing their investments in green projects. Recycling,...

Author finds the green in green: author and "CE-Yo" Gary Hirshberg practices what he preaches, and profitably.(Green Author Profile)
March 10, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Helping the environment is all well and good, but Gary Hirshberg has another reason for companies to maintain environmentally sound businesses. "Going green is not just the right thing to do morally. It's by far...

Green titles 2008.(Green Books)
March 10, 2008... ABRAMS Worldchanging: A User's Guide for the 21st Century (Apr., $19.95 paper), edited by Alex Steffen, designed by Sagmeister Inc., presents information, resources, reviews and ideas that give readers access to the tools needed to build...

Green books for kids.(Green Books)
March 10, 2008... ABRAMS 50 Ways to Save the Earth (Apr., $17.95) by Anne Jankeliowitch, photos by Philippe Bourseiller, suggests ways children can reduce their carbon footprints. (8-14) BLACK DOG & LEVENTHAL A Child's Introduction to the...

Tyson Miller: Green Press Initiative founder is greening publishing one house at a time.(Green 50 Under 40)(Brief biography)
March 10, 2008... It was in the tissue aisle at the grocery store that Tyson Miller realized his calling. There, amid boxes of Puffs and Kleenex, Miller, a longtime environmental activist, had a knee-jerk reaction to what he saw as an incredible waste of...

Steps to reduce publishing's environmental impact.(Green Glossary)(Glossary)
March 10, 2008... Maximize recycled content in papers. Each ton of postconsumer recycled freesheet that replaces a ton of virgin fiber saves 24 trees and reduces greenhouse gas emission by 37%, Using recycled fiber to make paper reduces pressure on forests and...

Requiem, Mass.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 10, 2008... Requiem, Mass. JOHN DUFRESNE. Norton, $24.95 (352p) ISBN 978-0-393-05790-4 In the latest from Dufresne (Love Warps the Mind a Little) novelist John's newest manuscript doesn't impress his girlfriend, Annick, who thinks "it doesn't...

Queen of Babble Gets Hitched.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 10, 2008... Queen of Babble Gets Hitched MEG CABOT. Morrow, $22.95 (288p) ISBN 978-0-06-085202-3 When last seen, the irrepressible Lizzie Nichols was canoodling with Chaz after she and Luke, Chaz's best friend, broke up (Queen of Babble in the Big...

Undiscovered Country.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 10, 2008... Undiscovered Country LIN ENGER. Little, Brown, $23.99 (320p) ISBN 978-0-316-00694-1 With flashes of prose as crisp and haunting as the frozen Minnesota setting, Enger's debut opens 10 years after Jesse Matson's father's alleged suicide,...

Out Backward.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 10, 2008... Out Backward Ross RAISIN. Harper Perennial, $13.95 paper (256p) ISBN 978-0-06-144875-1 In this creepy, lyrical debut, Raisin explores the fine line between sanity and insanity with Sam Marsdyke, an awkward late teenager who was thrown...

How Perfect Is That.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 10, 2008... How Perfect Is That SARAH BIRD. Knopf, $23.95 (320p) ISBN 978-0-307-26828-0 In the latest from seasoned Texan social satirist Bird (The Flamenco Academy, etc.), Blythe Young's recent divorce from Trey nix has left her outside the...

Promise of the Wolves.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 10, 2008... Promise of the Wolves DOROTHY HEARST. Simon & Schuster, $25 (352p) ISBN 978-1-4165-6998-5 The debut of former Jossey-Bass senior editor Hayes is a crackling foray into a dangerous past, the first of a projected trilogy. On Wide Valley...

A Gentleman's Guide to Graceful Living.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 10, 2008... A Gentleman's Guide to Graceful Living MICHAEL DAHLIE. Norton, $23.95 (256p) ISBN 978-0-393-06617-3 In Dahlie's entertaining debut, Arthur Camden is a fly fisherman, devoted husband and father, and minor Manhattan socialite who would...

Escape from Amsterdam.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 10, 2008... Escape from Amsterdam BARRIE SHERWOOD. St. Martin's Minotaur/Dunne, $23.95 (256p) ISBN 978-0-312-38040-3 Sherwood peeks into the seedier side of Japan in his U.S. debut, a clever, fast-paced noir. Aozora Fujiwara, an apathetic student at...

Careless in Red.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 10, 2008... * Careless in Red ELIZABETH GEORGE. Harper, $27.95 (640p) ISBN 978-0-06-116087-5 At the start of bestseller George's stellar new suspense novel, the grieving Thomas Lynley, a Scotland Yard detective who left the force after the murder of...

Bulls Island.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 10, 2008... Bulls Island DOROTHEA BENTON FRANK. Morrow, $24.95 (352p) ISBN 978-0-06-143843-1 Will romance triumph over the feud between the aristocratic Langleys and the slightly lower-in-social-pecking-order McGees in Frank's latest Southern...

Gregorius.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 10, 2008... Gregorius BENGT OHLSSON, TRANS. FROM THE SWEDISH BY SILVESTER MAZZARELLA. Norton, $26.95 (432p) ISBN 978-0-393-06652-4 Swede Ohlsson draws a secondary character from Hjalmar Soderberg's classic Doctor Glas out to center stage, where his...

HomeSpun.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 10, 2008... HomeSpun NILITA VACHANI. Other Press, $24.95 (376p) ISBN 978-1-59051-285-2 Told largely in retrospect, this ambitious debut by Indian emigre filmmaker Vachani is narrated by Sweta, who presides over her family history with equal parts...

The Eye of the Leopard.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 10, 2008... * The Eye of the Leopard HENNING MANKELL, TRANS. FROM THE SWEDISH BY STEVEN Z. MURRAY. New Press, $26.95 (320p) ISBN 978-1-59558-077-1 Best known for his Kurt Wallander mysteries (Firewall, etc.), Mankell alternates between the...

Quiver.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 10, 2008... Quiver PETER LEONARD. St. Martin's Minotaur/Dunne, $23.95 (288p) ISBN 978-0-312-37902-5 A fatal hunting accident propels this disappointing debut set in Detroit and environs from Leonard, the son of legendary crime writer Elmore Leonard....

The Marriage of True Minds.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 10, 2008... The Marriage of True Minds STEPHEN EVANS. Unbridled, $14.95 paper (192p) ISBN 978-1-932961-46-1 Evans demonstrates his playwright's mastery of dialogue and tension in his accomplished and whimsical first novel about love and the bizarre...

Rubicon.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 10, 2008... Rubicon LAWRENCE ALEXANDER. Morrow, $24.95 (304p) ISBN 978-0-06-145640-4 Alexander's mildly entertaining debut, a political thriller, gets off to a fast start, but suffers from imagination fatigue as it settles into a predictable course....

Enlightenment.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 10, 2008... * Enlightenment MAAUREEN FREELY. Overlook, $24.95 (400p) ISBN 978-1-59020-074-2 At the start of Freely's complex, often riveting novel set in contemporary and Cold War Turkey, a journalist known only as "Miss M" returns to Istanbul in...

Happy Trails to You.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 10, 2008... Happy Trails to You JULIE HECHT. Simon & Schuster, $24 (224p) ISBN 978-1-4165-6425-6 Returning from the story collection Do the Windows Open? (1996) and novel, The Unprofessionals (2003), Hecht's married, childless photographer is still...

The Tenth Gift.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 10, 2008... The Tenth Gift JANE JOHNSON. Crown, $25.95 (400p) ISBN 978-0-307-40522-7 In an entertaining if uneven debut novel from a U.K. publishing executive, dual story lines feature spirited English heroines--a 17th-century country girl and a...

Phantom Prey.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 10, 2008... Phantom Prey JOHN SANDFORD. Putnam, $26.95 (384p) 188N 978-0-399-15500-0 In bestseller Sandford's solid 18th Prey novel (after Invisible Prey), Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension agent Lucas Davenport, who's received numerous...

The Angel.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 10, 2008... The Angel CARLA NEGGERS. Mira, $24.95 (336p) ISBN 978-0-7783-2483-6 This fanciful thriller from bestseller Neggers (The Widow) starts slowly, but picks up steam once the action moves to Ireland. When Keira Sullivan, a young Boston...

President Lincoln's Spy.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 10, 2008... President Lincoln's Spy STEVEN WILSON. Kensington, $14 paper (336p) ISBN 978-0-7582-2514-6 This Civil War thriller from Wilson (Armada) fails to deliver on the promise of its gripping opening scene at the first battle of Bull Run in July...

Comfort Food.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 10, 2008... Comfort Food KATE JACOBS. Putnam, $24.95 (352p) ISBN 978-0-399-15465-2 Jacobs follows The Friday Night Knitting Club with another multigenerational tale, this time on the foodie circuit. Popular Cooking with Gusto! host Augusta "Gus"...

The Ring.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 10, 2008... The Ring JORGE MOLIST. Atria, $14 paper (400p) ISBN 978-0-7432-9751-6 Cristina Wilson, the heroine of Molist's subpar adventure novel, receives two rings on her 27th birthday: one an engagement solitaire from her longtime boyfriend, the...

Rosewater and Soda Bread.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 10, 2008... Rosewater and Soda Bread MARSHA MEHRAN. Random, $14 paper (320p) ISBN 978-0-8129-7249-8 Mehran's second novel (after Pomegranate Soup) resumes the story of three Iranian sisters making their lives anew in smalltown Ireland. Beautiful and...

She Always Wore Red.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 10, 2008... She Always Wore Red ANGELA HUNT. Tyndale, $13.99 paper (350p) ISBN 978-1-4143-1170-8 In her sequel to Doesn't She Look Natural, Hunt's story moves into heavier themes as Jennifer Graham attempts to rebuild her life after her divorce....