Publishers Weekly articles from March 2008

Publishers Weekly archives from March 2008

Shadow Country.(Book review)
March 31, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] * Shadow Country Peter Matthiessen. Modern Library, $35 (960p) ISBN 978-0-679-64019-6 Matthiessen's Watson trilogy is a touchstone of modern American literature, and yet, as the author writes in a foreword of...

Handicapping a B&N takeover of Borders: though publishers discount deal, the merger could get government approval.(Foreword)
March 31, 2008... It may in part be wishful thinking, but most publishers do not believe Barnes & Noble will move ahead with an acquisition of Borders. Too much overlap among stores and too expensive to integrate the back-office and physical infrastructure,...

Amazon forcing POD titles to BookSurge.(print-on-demand )(Brief article)
March 31, 2008... Amazon has told publishers--both traditional and online print-on-demand houses-that their POD titles will only be sold through the e-tailer's site if the books are printed by its BookSurge subsidiary. According to several publishers,...

Used books up at Hastings.(Hastings Entertainment )(Brief article)
March 31, 2008... Same-store sales of books rose 2.1% at Hastings Entertainment for the year ended January 31, led by strong sales of used books plus Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Total Hastings revenue in 2007 fell slightly, to $547.7 million...

Harcourt San Diego's fate.(Brief article)
March 31, 2008... Last week, staffers in the Harcourt San Diego office, which is set to close June 30, were told their fates. According to an insider, only a few of the of rice's 65 employees were offered relocation packages to the East Coast. Any San...

Writedown impacts Scholastic.(Brief article)
March 31, 2008... A $72.7-million writedown associated with Scholastic's decision to sell its home continuity business resulted in a net loss of $82.1 million in the third quarter ended February 29. Revenue rose 2.2%, to $458.4 million. Excluding the...

Here today, here tomorrow.(Foreword)
March 31, 2008... No sooner does a bit of news hit the airwaves than publishers scramble to sign up books on the topic du jour. Stock market slides? A wise publisher not only goes into the archives to dust off some how-to invest-in-bad-times tomes but he also...

Audible goes after kids.(Brief article)
March 31, 2008... Audible has launched a site dedicated exclusively to downloadable children's audio titles. AudibleKids.com, which went live this week, features 4,000 titles, ranging from early readers to YA, from 75 publishers. Prices start at 99 cents....

Chain sales rise slightly in 2007.(Weekness)(Table)
March 31, 2008... Total sales for the nation's three major bookstore Chains rose 2.7% in the fiscal year ended February 2, to $9.77 billion. The figures were somewhat skewed because the previous year contained 53 weeks--14 in the fourth quarter--which drove...

The lives of Jefferson's slaves documented.(DIY Scholarship)
March 31, 2008... Though she initially planned only to document her family history, B. Bernetiae Reed, a retired nurse and amateur genealogist, eventually ended up producing an impressive two-volume genealogical study of Thomas Jefferson's slaves that's...

It's Storey time.(At 25)
March 31, 2008... To help market Storey Publishing's line of gardening books this spring, staffers have just finished fitting removable book displays into wheelbarrows that booksellers can reuse in their own gardens. While the displays, which feature a 15-copy...

Calendar: April 6-12.(Calendar)
March 31, 2008... 4/6 Mary Roach follows Stiff and Spook with Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex (Norton), her entertaining study of sexual physiology. 4/7 Joshua Ferris's Then We Came to the End is released as a Back Bay paperback....

Dutton wins recall.(Deals)(Brief article)
March 31, 2008... Dutton executive editor Stephen Morrow won world English rights to Total Recall: The Astonishing, Imminent and Inevitable Ability to Remember Your Entire Life by Gordon Bell and Jim Gemmell; James Levine at Levine Greenberg took the project...

Bergreen on Columbus.(Deals)(Laurence Bergreen, Columbus: The Four Voyages)(Brief article)
March 31, 2008... Viking editorial director of nonfiction Wendy Wolf bought world rights to Laurence Bergreen's Columbus: The Four Voyages via Suzanne Gluck. In the first major biography of the explorer in more then 60 years, Bergreen will use the perspectives...

Throwaway culture.(Deals)(Brief article)
March 31, 2008... Houghton senior editor Amanda Cook preempted American Chestnut author Susan Freinkel's Plastics: A Natural History of Our Unnatural World via Michelle Tessler. Freinkel will investigate the ubiquity of plastic and its effects on the broader...

McHugh nabs Hughes.(Deals)(Katie McHugh, Patrick Henry Hughes )(Brief article)
March 31, 2008... Da Capo Lifelong senior editor Katie McHugh won an auction for I Am Potential, by Patrick Henry Hughes and his father, Patrick John Hughes, via Amy Hughes at McCormick & Williams, who sold world rights. The father and son were featured on...

More from Rozan.(Deals)(S. J. Rozan)(Brief article)
March 31, 2008... Two-time Edgar winner S. J. Rozan has signed again with St. Martin's Minotaur for two new books in her series featuring Bill Smith and Lydia Chin; Andrew Martin acquired North American rights from Steve Axelrod, and senior editor Keith Kahla...

The briefing.(Deals)(Brief article)
March 31, 2008... Little, Brown executive editor Michael L. Sand has acquired an untitled cookbook by Michael Psilakis, Esquire's 2007 "Chef of the Year" and owner of the New York restaurants Anthos and Kefi, via Michael Psaltis at the Culinary...

E-tailers' market share grows.(Channels)
March 31, 2008... Online booksellers could become the largest channel for book sales by 2009, a new survey of consumer book-buying habits found. The online survey of 2,924 adults showed that chain bookstores maintained their market share lead in 2007 and...

RWA fights illegal downloads of romance novels.(Piracy)(Romance Writers of America)
March 31, 2008... To help fight the growing problem of the online piracy of romance novels, the Romance Writers of America has established a database on its Web site that lists sites where romance novels are available for illegal downloading. The database,...

Queen to McCormick and Williams.(People)(Pilar Queen )(Brief article)
March 31, 2008... Pilar Queen has joined McCormick and Williams as an agent. She arrives from Inkwell Management, where she was an agent and an associate in the foreign rights department. She will continue to rep narrative and practical nonfiction and women's...

Nelson adds Buckingham, keeps McGraw.(Dealing)(Thomas Nelson, Marcus Buckingham, Robin McGraw )
March 31, 2008... In the past few weeks, Thomas Nelson has added a bestselling author to its roster, while keeping one of its hottest authors. Nelson signed bestselling business author Marcus Buckingham (First, Break All the Rules; Now, Discover Your...

Promo, hire at Crown.(People)(Brief article)
March 31, 2008... Donna Passannante has been named marketing director for Clarkson Potter, Potter Craft, Potter Style and Three Rivers Press. Passannante joined Crown in 2005 as marketing director for Crown, Crown Business, Crown Forum, Harmony and Shaye...

Smith to Spring Arbor.(People)(Christopher T. Smith, Spring Arbor Distributors)(Brief article)
March 31, 2008... Christopher T. Smith has been promoted to director of sales at the Ingram-owned Spring Arbor Distributors. Smith joined Ingram in 2007 as sales manager.

Hardcover bestsellers/fiction.
March 31, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Tyndale's initial printing for Dead Heat, the fifth and final installment in the series featuring Jon Bennett and Erin McCoy, was 100,000 copies; two additional printings bring the total to 145,000. This is the...

Hardcover bestsellers/nonfiction.
March 31, 2008... Robert Shemin's bio notes that while he was once considered the "least likely to succeed," he is now a multimillionaire who speaks to hundreds of thousands of people yearly, regularly sharing the podium with such financial luminaries as...

Paperback bestsellers/mass market.
March 31, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "I play guitar... and I collect vintage guitars and other fretted instruments. I've been drawing and painting since the age of four and try to get to the studio when there's any creative energy left over.... I...

Paperback bestsellers/trade.
March 31, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] According to CNN, in 2006, presidential hopeful Senator Barack Obama received nearly $507,000 in royalties for The Audacity of Hope and Dreams from My Father. That accounted for more than half of the $991,000 that...

Audio bestsellers/fiction.
March 31, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "With a variety of tones and dialects on her palette, Rosenblat creates a colorful cast of characters (with even a little singing thrown in). While her omnipresent narrator is somewhat overbearing at times, this is...

Audio bestsellers/nonfiction.
March 31, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Obama's stirring Philadelphia speech on race seems to have reminded people of his auditory skills: both of his Grammy Award-winning audio-books are back on the bestseller list. Given such impressive sales (Dreams...

At 50, Mad Libs continues to (-- verb).(Children's Book)(Company overview)
March 31, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] What began as nothing more than a party game for adults has, over time, become a household name and a publishing sensation. For 50 years, kids and adults have mined their imaginations, throwing out nouns,...

A lighter (up)load: random and others equip staff with Sony Readers.(TECHNOLOGY)(Random House)
March 31, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] At its national sales meeting in Bermuda this past weekend, Random House told its field sales reps that they'll soon be receiving a fancy gift: a Sony Reader. According to RH spokesman Stuart Applebaum, "We have...

Amazon promises more kindles soon.(TECHNOLOGY)(Amazon Kindle)(Brief article)
March 31, 2008... If you're planning to buy an Amazon Kindle, or if you've already ordered one and are waiting for it, chances are you won't get it tomorrow, but, according to Amazon, you won't be Kindle-less for long. Heather Huntoon, Amazon's PR manager in...

Karen Thomas: dream job includes long hours, lots of meetings and great books.(50 UNDER 40)(Brief biography)
March 31, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] When Karen Thomas, executive editor at Grand Central Publishing, started in the book industry 16 years ago as an editorial assistant at Berkley, publishing was very different. "Editors had a lot more time to sit...

Speed Racer returns: indies bet new movie will sell new comics.(Independent Publishing)
March 31, 2008... From the X-Men and Superman to the forthcoming Iron Man and Dark Knight movies, Hollywood has taken a keen interest in the comics game. Now comics publishers are taking a cue from the studios and their comic book-inspired films--and their...

Music as memoir: life stories with a backbeat.(Cover story)
March 31, 2008... [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] In a poem set to music by his lover Benjamin Britten, W.H. Auden implored the patron saint of music, "Blessed Cecilia, appear in visions/To all musicians, appear and inspire." [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Or as...

Odd job: Sebastian Faulks, in a departure, channels Ian Fleming.(Author Profile)
March 31, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] In the United Kingdom, Sebastian Faulks is a household name. His novel Birdsong, a WWI saga of combat and love, has sold more than two million copies in the U.K. and Commonwealth alone, and in Great Britain it's...

The Seamstress.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 31, 2008... The Seamstress Frances de Pontes Peebles. Harper, $25.95 (656p) ISBN 978-0-06-073887-7 This lavishly detailed if overlong debut novel set in 1920s and '30s Brazil follows two sisters who share excellent sewing skills, but take divergent...

Inside Out Girl.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 31, 2008... Inside Out Girl Tish Cohen. Harper Perennial, $13.95 paper (352p) ISBN 978-0-06-145295-6 Cohen throws every imaginable obstacle at her protagonists in this thoughtful but overly dramatic tale of two single parents turned lovers. Rachel...

Some Assembly Required.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 31, 2008... Some Assembly Required Lynn Kiele Bonasia. Touchstone, $14 paper (336p) ISBN 978-1-4165-5059-4 After her relationship sours, Rose Nowak heads to the small town of Nauset on Cape Cod in this enjoyable debut novel. She quickly finds her...

Rebecca Horowitz, Puerto Rican Sex Freak.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 31, 2008... Rebecca Horowitz, Puerto Rican Sex Freak Edgardo Vega Yunque. Overlook, $24.95 (368p) ISBN 978-1-59020-064-3 A rainbow of contradictions and a master of guises, Rebecca Horewitz is Yunque's wise-cracking, 34-year-old narrator who...

Resolution.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 31, 2008... Resolution Robert B. Parker. Putnam, $25.95 (304p) ISBN 978-0-399-15504-8 Parker applies his customary vigor to this sequel to Appaloosa (2005), in a sparse, bullet-riddled rumination on law and order, friendship and honor. Narrator and...

The Secret Scripture.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 31, 2008... The Secret Scripture Sebastian Barry. Viking, $24.95 (304p) ISBN 978-0-670-01940-3 The latest from Barry (whose A Long Way was shortlisted for the 2005 Booker) pits two contradictory narratives against each other in an attempt to solve...

Broccoli and Other Tales of Food and Love.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 31, 2008... Broccoli and Other Tales of Food and Love Lara Vapnyar. Pantheon, $20 (160p) ISBN 978-0-375-42487-8 The third book from Vapnyar (following There Are Jews in My House and Memoirs of a Muse) links food to lonely, loveless dating among...

Lists, wishes and a little help from a reader: Dorothea Benton Frank talks with Debbie Macomber.(Q&A)(Interview)
March 31, 2008... Recently I had the great pleasure of reading an advance copy of Twenty Wishes by Debbie Macomber. She agreed to join me for a chat about her work, her life and her own wishes. I wondered how a magnolia writer from the Lowcountry of South...

Secrets of a Shoe Addict.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 31, 2008... Secrets of a Shoe Addict Beth Harbison. St. Martin's, $22.95 (352p) ISBN 978-0-312-34826-7 Harbison's witty, fast-paced follow-up to last year's Shoe Addicts Anonymous chronicles the foibles of four women brought together by--in this...

Black & White.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 31, 2008... Black & White Lewis Shiner. Subterranean (www.subterraneanpress.com), $25 (368p) ISBN 978-1-59606-171-2 Set in Durham, N.C., Shiner's powerful and affecting sixth novel (after 1999's Say Goodbye) explores civil rights, race relations and...

The Pisstown Chaos.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 31, 2008... The Pisstown Chaos David Ohle. Counterpoint/Soft Skull, $14.95 paper (208p) ISBN 978-0-9796636-7-3 Ohle's 1972 classic, Motorman, and its sequel, The Age of Sinatra (2004), made him a legend. Fans will rejoice--in their own dystopian...

The Writing Class.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 31, 2008... The Writing Class Jincy Willett. St. Martins/Dunne, $24.95 (336p) ISBN 978-0-312-33066-8 Can a class of wannabe novelists solve a murder in their midst? That's the premise of this dark comedy of the absurd from Willett (Winner of the...

The Boat.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 31, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] * The Boat Nam Le. Knopf, $22.95 (272p) ISBN 978-0-307-26808-2 From a Colombian slum to the streets of Tehran, seven characters in seven stories struggle with very particular Swords of Damocles in Pushcart...

Blind Rage.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 31, 2008... Blind Rage Terri Persons. Doubleday, $24.95 (352p) ISBN 978-0-385-51875-8 In Persons's by-the-numbers second novel to feature psychic FBI agent Bernadette Saint Clare (after Blind Spot), Saint Clare, who's based in St. Paul, Minn.,...

Belong to Me.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 31, 2008... Belong to Me Marisa de los Santos. Morrow, $24.95 (400p) ISBN 978-0-06-124027-0 Cornelia Brown, heroine of de los Santos's bestselling Love Walked In, returns in a gracefully written if formulaic sophomore effort. Cornelia and her...

The Moonpool.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 31, 2008... The Moonpool P.T. Deutermann. St. Martin's, $24.95 (320p) ISBN 978-0-312-37159-3 At the start of Deutermann's exciting third suspense novel to feature Cameron Richter, a retired cop who runs Hide and Seek Investigations, a PI firm...

There a Petal Silently Falls: Three Stories by Ch'oe Yun.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 31, 2008... * There a Petal Silently Falls: Three Stories by Ch'oe Yun Ch'oe Yun, trans, from the Korean by Bruce and Ju-Chan Fulton. Columbia Univ., $24.50 (208p) ISBN 978-0-231-14296-0 Stories within stories unfold in the title novella: a brother...

The Pathseeker.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 31, 2008... The Pathseeker Imre Kertesz, trans, from the Hungarian by Tim Wilkinson. Melville House, $13 paper (120p) ISBN 978-1-933633-53-4 Hungarian Nobel Prize-winner (2002) Kertesz delivers a taut, grim allegory of man in the face of oppression....

Diary of a Blood Donor.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 31, 2008... Diary of a Blood Donor Mati Unt, trans, from the Estonian by Ants Eert. Dalkey Archive, $12.95 paper (216p) ISBN 978-1-56478-496-4 Estonian novelist Unt (1944-2005) gets a bang out of remixing Dracula as a postmodern fable and a metaphor...

A Dangerous Age.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 31, 2008... A Dangerous Age Ellen Gilchrist. Algonquin, $23.95 (256p) ISBN 978-1-56512-542-1 In the latest from Gilchrist--who won the National BookAward for the 1984 story collection Victory over Japan--the grand Raleigh, N.C., wedding between...

The Steel Wave.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 31, 2008... * The Steel Wave Jeff Shaara. Ballantine, $28 (576p) ISBN 978-0-345-46142-1 This keystone of the bestselling WWII trilogy dramatizes D-Day and ups the bar for military historicals, demonstrating that Shaara (The Rising Tide) has hit full...

The Best Day of Someone Else's Life.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 31, 2008... The Best Day of Someone Else's Life Kerry Reichs. Avon, $13.95 paper (464p) ISBN 978-0-06-143857-8 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Reichs is the daughter of bestselling thriller writer Kathy Reichs, and her cute romantic comedy debut makes...

Girl Factory.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 31, 2008... Girl Factory Jim Krusoe. Tin House, $14.95 paper (200p) ISBN 978-0-9794198-2-9 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] In the basement of a Southern California yogurt shop one hot summer night, Jonathan, a down-on-his-luck fro-yo slinger, discovers...

Gorilla Black.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 31, 2008... Gorilla Black Seven. One World, $14 paper (384p) ISBN 978-0-345-50052-6 Gorilla Black, ne Bilal Cunningham, is born into the Richmond, Va., projects, but poverty does not stop him from becoming a voracious reader. His mother constantly...

Banana Heart Summer.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 31, 2008... Banana Heart Summer Merlinda Bobis. Delta, $12 paper (272p) ISBN 978-0-385-34112-7 Poet Bobis serves up compassion and tenderness in generous portions in her fiction debut. Twelve-year-old Nenita is the first of six children born to her...

Love and Biology at the Center of the Universe.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 31, 2008... Love and Biology at the Center of the Universe Jennie Shortridge. NAL Accent, $14 paper (400p) ISBN 978-0-451-22388-3 An award-winning high school science teacher who juggles marriage, motherhood and massive traditional Italian meals,...

Twisted.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 31, 2008... Twisted Tracy Brown. St Martin's Griffin, $14.95 paper (352p) ISBN 978-0-312-33650-9 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Brown (Criminal Minded) packs her latest New York street fable with titillation, betrayals, violence, sex, histrionics and an...

The Sorceress of Belmair.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 31, 2008... The Sorceress of Belmair Bertrice Small. Harlequin, $13.95 paper (496p) ISBN 978-0-373-77295-7 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Cinnia, daughter of the king of Belmair, is a sorceress with a problem: she wants to rule her father's kingdom as a...

The Courtesan's Secret.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 31, 2008... The Courtesan's Secret Claudia Dain. Berkeley Sensation, $14 paper (336p) ISBN 978-0-425-22136-5 The latest entertaining Edwardian from Dain (The Courtesan's Daughter) aims from the start at putting fiery and beautiful Lady Louisa...

The Answer Is Always Yes.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 31, 2008... The Answer Is Always Yes Monica Ferrell. Dial, $24 (384p) ISBN 978-0-385-33929-2 With a Stegner Fellowship and some bigname poetry publications under her belt, it's not surprising that Ferrell delivers a stylized and exuberantly written...

Gather Together in My Name.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 31, 2008... Gather Together in My Name Tracy Price-Thompson. Atria, $15 paper (256p) ISBN 978-1-4165-3304-7 Price-Thompson (Chocolate Sangria) offers a raw, sometimes moving, but flawed novel of triplet boys--Gabriel (Shug), Isaiah (Shyne) and...

Senselessness.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 31, 2008... Senselessness Horacio Castellanos Moya, trans, from the Spanish by Katherine Silver. New Directions, $15.95 paper (160p) ISBN 978-0-8112-1707-1 The first of exiled Honduran novelist Moya's eight fictions to be translated in the U.S.,...

Shadow of Power: A Paul Madriani Novel.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 31, 2008... Shadow of Power: A Paul Madriani Novel Steve Martini. Morrow, $26.95 (400p) ISBN 978-0-06-123088-2 Bestseller Martini's entertaining ninth Paul Madriani legal thriller (after 2005's Double Tap) offers an improbable if intriguing premise....

Shadow Command.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 31, 2008... Shadow Command Dale Brown. Morrow, $25.95 (384p) ISBN 978-0-06-117311-0 The U.S. is still recovering from "the American Holocaust," a Russian air strike that killed and wounded thousands in 2004, at the start of this clunky...

Black Flies.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 31, 2008... * Black Flies Shannon Burke. Counterpoint/Soft Skull, $14.95 paper (192p) ISBN 978-1-59376-191-2 Gunshot wounds, crack pipes and rotting corpses abound in this raw and fascinating novel about Harlem paramedics in the mid-1990s, the...

Mrs. Perfect.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 31, 2008... Mrs. Perfect Jane Porter. Grand Central/5 Spot, $13.99 paper (420p) ISBN 978-0-446-69924-2 Just in time for summer, Porter (Flirting with Forty; Odd Mom Out) delivers another fine batch of mommy lit. Taylor Young has convinced the other...

No Blood, No Foul.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 31, 2008... No Blood, No Foul Charley Rosen. Seven Stories, $17.95 paper (2 72p) ISBN 978-1-58322-828-9 Foxsports.com pundit Rosen (Barney Polan's Game) hits the hardwood in this entertaining sports novel. Pearl Harbor makes Jason Lewis, a promising...

Milt & Marty.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 31, 2008... Milt & Marty Tom Leopold & Bob Sand. Virgin, $22.95 (224p) ISBN 978-1-905264-18-6 TV writers Leopold (Seinfeld, Cheers) and Sand (Laverne and Shirley, Full House) reimagine themselves in their wonderfully repugnant fiction debut. By...

Queen of the Flowers: A Phryne Fisher Mystery.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 31, 2008... Queen of the Flowers: A Phryne Fisher Mystery Kerry Greenwood. Poisoned Pen, $24.95 (260p) ISBN 978-1-59058-171-1 Crime strikes close to home in this latest installment of Greenwood's charming series (The Castlemaine Murders, etc.)...

Mouths of Babes.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 31, 2008... Mouths of Babes Stella Duffy. Bywater/Bloody Brits (www.bywaterbooks.com), $14.95 paper (280p) ISBN 978-1-932859-53-9 Repercussions from a teen prank turned deadly fuel the U.S. debut of Duffy's popular U. K. series featuring lesbian...

The Triumph of Caesar: A Novel of Ancient Rome.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 31, 2008... * The Triumph of Caesar: A Novel of Ancient Rome Steven Saylor. St. Martin's Minotaur, $24.95 (320p) ISBN 978-0-312-35983-6 At the start of bestseller Saylor's stellar 10th novel in his Roma Sub Rosa series featuring Gordianus the Finder...

Mahu Fire: A Hawaiian Mystery.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 31, 2008... Mahu Fire: A Hawaiian Mystery Neil S. Plakcy. Alyson, $14.95 paper (320p) ISBN 978-1-59350-079-5 Hawaii's in a "hot wave" during a dry El Nino spring made hotter by protests against same-sex marriage advocated by the gay and lesbian...

The Host.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 31, 2008... The Host Stephenie Meyer. Little, Brown, $25.99 (640p) ISBN 978-0-316-06804-8 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] In this tantalizing SF thriller, planet-hopping parasites are inserting their silvery centipede selves into human brains, curing...

The Demon of Dakar.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 31, 2008... The Demon of Dakar Kjell Eriksson, trans, from the Swedish by Ebba Segerberg. St. Martin's Minotaur/Dunne, $24.95 (448p) ISBN 978-0-312-36669-8 Swedish author Eriksson's masterful ensemble procedural, the third available in the U. S....

Whiskey and Water: A Whiskey Mattimoe Mystery.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 31, 2008... Whiskey and Water: A Whiskey Mattimoe Mystery Nina Wright. Midnight Ink (www.midnightink. com), $14.95 paper (312p) ISBN 978-0-7387-1216-1 In Wright's sprightly fourth mystery to feature Magnet Springs, Mich., realtor and sleuth Whiskey...

Tell No Lies.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 31, 2008... Tell No Lies Julie Compton. St. Martin's Minotaur, $24.95 (368p) ISBN 978-0-312-37875-2 St. Louis ADA Jack Hilliard has it pretty easy in attorney Compton's less than assured debut. Jack is married to a beautiful and intelligent law...

The Big Both Ways.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 31, 2008... * The Big Both Ways John Straley. Alaska Northwest, $25.95 (352p) ISBN 978-0-88240-739-5; $16.95 paper ISBN 978-0-88240-732-6 In this gripping tale of survival, betrayal and murder set in the Pacific Northwest in 1935 from Straley (Cold...