Publishers Weekly articles from November 2005

Publishers Weekly archives from November 2005

Setting the stage: Random, Amazon, AOL plan for online opportunities.(Random House)(Amazon. com)
November 7, 2005... Last week's announcements by Random House and Amazon. com about their pay-per-page-view plans for books online were greeted with guarded support from the industry and are seen by many as only the first step in formulating how publishers and...

Mixed quarter for trade.(Simon & Schuster financial statements)(Time Warner financial statements )(Brief Article)
November 7, 2005... Sales at Simon & Schuster fell 6% in the third quarter and were slightly below last year's level for the first nine months of the year. The decline in the third period was attributed to a dip in adult sales and weak sales in the U.K. Time...

Random's movie venture.(Random House partnership with Focus Features )(Brief Article)
November 7, 2005... Random House has formed a partnership with NBC Universal subsidiary Focus Features to finance and produce films based on Random House books. Random's part of the venture will be overseen by Peter Gethers, who has been named president of the...

Nobody knows anything.(books and movie works analysis report)
November 7, 2005... When author and film maven William Goldman had his famous epiphany--"Nobody knows anything" he was writing about the film business and how moviemakers, clueless to what "works" on screen, took a what-the-hell attitude toward their creations....

Schrier new head of RD.(Eric Schrier)(Reader's Digest Association Inc.)(Brief Article)
November 7, 2005... After seven years as president and CEO of Reader's Digest, Tom Ryder will step down at the end of the year, and Eric Schrier, president of RD North America, will take over as the head of the company. Ryder, who will continue on as chairman...

Korda retires at 72.(Michael Korda)(Brief Article)
November 7, 2005... Legendary editor Michael Korda will retire as editor-in-chief of the Simon & Schuster trade imprint. Korda, who has spent 47 years at S&S, has worked with some of the biggest authors, celebrities and politicians during his lengthy career; the...

Handicapping the holidays.(Bookselling)
November 7, 2005... An informal sampling of more than two dozen booksellers across the country found that the vast majority were confident that Robert Sabuda's elaborate pop-up Winter's Tale (Little Simon, $26.95) would be the holiday title to beat this year....

Elhi soars in September.(AAP Sales Report)(Illustration)
November 7, 2005... AAP Sales Report Elhi Soars in September Category % Change % Change SEPT. YTD Adult Hardcover -9.9% -1.9% Adult Paperback 8.7 8.1 Adult Mass...

Solid second for Indigo.(Indigo Books & Music financial statements)(Brief Article)
November 7, 2005... Revenue rose 10.8%, to C$186.7 million ($158 million) in the second quarter at Canadian bookselling giant Indigo Books & Music, and the company reported a profit of C$1.1 million ($935,000), compared to a net loss of C$7.8 million in last...

Glusman leaving FSG.(John Glusman)(Farrar, Straus & Giroux)(Brief Article)
November 7, 2005... After more than a decade at Farrar, Straus & Giroux, v-p and editor-in-chief John Glusman is stepping down. Among the award-winning authors he has worked with at FSG are Jim Crace and Rose Tremain. FSG has not yet named a replacement for him.

Kensington shuffles Eds.(Kensington Publishing appoints Michaela Hamilton at Citadel Press)(Brief Article)
November 7, 2005... Michaela Hamilton has moved from her post as editor-in-chief of Kensington Publishing's Kensington Books imprint to the same spot at the house's Citadel Press. The move, which will fill the vacancy left by Gene Brissie (who decamped last month...

High school confidential.(Hollywood Reader)(movie rights to "Pretty Little Liars" by Sara Shepard)(Brief Article)
November 7, 2005... When scouts got wind last June of Sara Shepard's Pretty Little Liars, the latest teen entry from Alloy Entertainment, they ignored it at their own peril. Alloy, after all, is the incubator behind the seven-million+-copy Gossip Girls and The...

It's in the genes.(Hollywood Reader)(Brief Article)
November 7, 2005... With a pair of screenwriters for parents (mom Leora Barish wrote 1985's Desperately Seeking Susan, dad Henry Bean has the 1990 Richard Gere thriller Internal Affairs on his CV), it seems inevitable that author Paul Hond would follow. Little did...

Always a bridesmaid ...(Hollywood Reader)(Brief Article)
November 7, 2005... Can anyone blame Jenny Lee if she has commitment issues? Hollywood wooed the writer in a whirlwind courtship for her first book, I Do. I Did. Now What?! (Workman, 2002), a funny and candid memoir of the blissfully naive bride's first two years...

Locke-ing up Lamora.(Hollywood Reader)(Brief Article)
November 7, 2005... Ever since the uber-success of New Line's Lord of the Rings trilogy, studios have been scrambling to claim their own epic fantasy series. Witness: Disney's adaptation of C.S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the...

New firm buys XanEdu.(Brief Article)
November 7, 2005... National Archive Publishing Company, a new company formed by former executives at ProQuest's information and learning group, has acquired a number of the group's assets. The purchase included ProQuest's XanEdu custom publishing business as well...

Collins goes solo.(Collins Literary run by Collins McCormick)(Brief Article)
November 7, 2005... After the dissolution of Collins McCormick, her agency with one-time partner David McCormick, Nina Collins has set up shop on her own. Collins Literary, which currently has a staff of two (Matthew Elblonk, who was at CM, is on board), is housed...

NYCC bags Lee, Meltzer.(New York Comic-con)(Jim Lee)(Brad Meltzer)(Brief Article)
November 7, 2005... DC Comics star artist Jim Lee (All-Star Batman) and writer Brad Meltzer (Identity Crisis) will be guests of honor for the first New York Comic-con, slated for the Javits Center in February 2006. DC also announced that Meltzer, a bestselling...

Talk of the trade.(books)
November 7, 2005... Anchor Books has talk radio, the tabloids and hip-hop blogs aflame about Queens Reign Supreme: Fat Cat, 50 Cent and the Rise of the Hip-Hop Hustler by music journalist Ethan Browne, weeks before the 75,000-copy first printing arrives in stores...

The last Dumas.(Claiborne Hancock deals)(Brief Article)
November 7, 2005... Claiborne Hancock, publisher of fledgling Pegasus Books, has acquired world English rights to a previously unpublished, recently unearthed novel by Alexandre Dumas, said to be his last known major missing novel, titled The Last Cavalier: Being...

Cooke's time capsule.(Deals)(Alastair Cooke's The American Home Front 1941-1942)(Brief Article)
November 7, 2005... It's been a good week for lost manuscripts. Alistair Cooke's The American Home Front 1941-1942, rediscovered by the author just before his death in 2004, was acquired by Morgan Entrekin at Grove from Colin Webb at the U.K. agent and packager...

Asian economics, American politics.(Deals)(Brief Article)
November 7, 2005... In a significant auction involving five bidders, Maria Guarnaschelli at Norton acquired world rights to Robyn Meredith's The Elephant and the Dragon: India and China, the World's Winning Markets and What It Means for the Rest of Us from agent...

Ongoing investigation.(Thomas Dunne imprint deal)(Brief Article)
November 7, 2005... Thomas Dunne has acquired world English and German rights to former Daily News editor Russ Hoyle's tentatively titled Going to War for his eponymous imprint at St. Martin's from Michael Carlisle at Inkwell. Hoyle will investigate the White...

Sen. Edward Kennedy's new book, America Back on Track, which argues that America is at a critical crossroads, has been acquired by Viking president Clare Ferraro for publication in spring 2006.(The Briefing)(Brief Article)
November 7, 2005... Sen. Edward Kennedy's new book, America Back on Track, which argues that America is at a critical crossroads, has been acquired by Viking president Clare Ferraro for publication in spring 2006; Ferraro bought North American rights from Sterling...

Norton senior editor Angela von der Lippe's novel The Truth About Lou, based on the life of poet Lou Salome, was acquired by Elizabeth Maguire for Counterpoint.(The Briefing)(Brief Article)
November 7, 2005... Norton senior editor Angela von der Lippe's novel The Truth About Lou, based on the life of poet Lou Salome, was acquired by Elizabeth Maguire for Counterpoint. Agent Kim Witherspoon sold world rights; publication is expected in fall 2006.

Calendar: Nov. 13-19.(Foreword)(Brief Article)(Calendar)
November 7, 2005... 11/13 Moby-Dick was published on this date in 1851 by Harper & Brothers. The novel's first mate, Starbuck, was supposedly the inspiration for the name of the coffee chain. 11/14 James Patterson is on The Today Show promoting his...

Disinformation takes on Wal-Mart.(Disinformation Company)
November 7, 2005... In its latest collaboration with documentary filmmaker Robert Greenwald (whose DVD Outfoxed sold 200,000 copies), the Disinformation Company will do its first simultaneous book and DVD release next week--and could see its biggest sales in both...

CIROBE: a slowdown?(The Bargain Business)(Chicago Remainder and Overstock Book Exposition)
November 7, 2005... Reviews were mixed for the 15th annual Chicago Remainder and Overstock Book Exposition (CIROBE), held October 28-30 in its customary venue, the Chicago Hilton and Towers. As usual, order-writing dominated, but the show was not entirely the...

Daniel Goldin, Buyer, Harry Schwartz Bookshops, Milwaukee, Wis.(Galley Talk)(singer writes)(Brief Article)
November 7, 2005... Jennifer Trynin was an aspiring rock singer in the mid-'90s, hyped and then forgotten. I heard she'd quit the music industry to go to grad school. Actually, it was writing school, and Harcourt is publishing her memoir, Everything I'm Cracked Up...

Crown promos two editors.(Crown Books Corp.)(Brief Article)
November 7, 2005... Sally Kim has been promoted from editor to senior editor at Crown's Shaye Areheart Books imprint. At Crown's Harmony imprint, Julia Pastore has been bumped up from editor to senior editor.

Sullivan joins HC; Stier rises.(Elizabeth Sullivan)(HarperCollins Publishers Inc.)(Debbie Stier)(Brief Article)
November 7, 2005... At HarperCollins, Elizabeth Sullivan, previously a creative director of brand marketing at Jack Morton Worldwide, has joined Collins Design as senior editor. On the publicity side, Debbie Stier has been promoted to senior v-p, group publicity...

DiDio up at DC.(People)(Dan DiDio)(DC Universe)(Brief Article)
November 7, 2005... Dan DiDio has been promoted to senior v-p, executive editor, DC Universe. Previously v-p, editorial, DiDio will oversee a number of DC's franchises, including Superman and Batman, and will develop new titles and characters.

Bubbosh joins Disney Pub.(Lola Bubbosh)(Disney Publishing Worldwide)(Brief Article)
November 7, 2005... Lola Bubbosh has joined Disney Publishing Worldwide in the newly created position of executive editor, publishing and film. Bubbosh, who was most recently an exec at Miramax, will acquire book projects as well as material for screen adaptation...

Industry stocks, October performances.(Market Watch)(Brief Article)(Illustration)
November 7, 2005... Market Watch Industry Stocks: October Performances Winners Company Sept 30 Oct 31 % CHANGE Thomas Nelson 18.76 21.41 14.1% McGraw-Hill Cos. 48.04 ...

Howry to springboard.(Time Warner appoints Michelle Howry as senior editor)(Brief Article)
November 7, 2005... Michelle Howry has started at Time Warner's new boomer imprint, Springboard Press, as senior editor. Howry comes from Penguin's Perigee Books imprint, where she held the same title.

Jackson joins Crown.(Crown Books Corp.)(Heather Jackson)(Brief Article)
November 7, 2005... Heather Jackson has left her post at Rodale, where she held the title of executive editor overseeing the Women's Health Books line, for a same-titled position at Crown. Jackson, who will begin her new gig on December 1, will be reporting to...

Hardcover bestsellers/fiction.
November 7, 2005... Predator is Cornwell's 14th Kay Scarpetta mystery; it's up to 1,025,000 copies in print. Her first Scarpetta, Postmortem, was published in 1990 and is the only novel ever to win the Edgar, Creasey, Anthony, and Macavity awards and the French...

Hardcover bestsellers/nonfiction.
November 7, 2005... Goodwin's latest presidential biography is off to a great start. After an initial 400,000 printing, S&S went back to press three times, bringing the total to 475,000. The author will be visiting 21 cities through Christmas; so far crowds have...

Paperback bestsellers/mass market.
November 7, 2005... Just as the Mass market edition of Crichton's State of Fear went on sale, the author received the American Council on Science & Health's 2005 Sound Science Award for his "compelling critiques of 'junk science.' " Crichton's description of the...

Paperback bestsellers/trade.
November 7, 2005... There are now two editions of Hosseini's The Kite Runner in stores. The Essential Edition--with French flaps, high-quality paper and an embossed, textured cover--has over 100,000 copies in print and has been back to press five times since its...

The coup and the cost.(Ultimate Sacrifice: John and Robert Kennedy, the Plan for a Coup in Cuba, and the Murder of JFK by Thom Hartmann )(Book Review)
November 7, 2005... President Kennedy was assassinated 42 years ago this month, and still the debate rages as to who killed him and why. Now, a new book, Ultimate Sacrifice: John and Robert Kennedy, the Plan for a Coup in Cuba, and the Murder of JFK, claims to...

All the world's a multiplex.(Movies and Theater)
November 7, 2005... "I got hooked on movies at an early age... and I am still a child before a moving image," wrote the late film critic Pauline Kael in Hooked, her 11th book. She's not the only one. Movies are magical and mysterious, and the American fascination...

It's wonderful (movie) life.(Movies and Theater)(Time Out 1000 Films to Change Your Life)(1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 7, 2005... For couch potatoes undergoing existential crises, two new books each aim to lay out a syllabus of films that will make any life worth living. Time Out 1000 Films to Change Your Life, due in May of 2006, stands as a companion to the Time...

Porn again.(Movies and Theater)(books on erotic movies)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 7, 2005... "I never thought a book about porn would find decent distribution," says Quirk Books I editor Jason Rekulak. "Then I went into my neighborhood Borders and saw front-of-store promotions for Traci Lords, Jenna Jameson and the Vivid Girls. I...

The Sound of Music.(Movies and Theater)(musical theater)
November 7, 2005... The big bucks on Broadway, with very few exceptions, come--appropriately--from what's long been regarded as a uniquely American art form, the musical theater. In recent weeks, the top 10 grossers on the Great White Way have been musicals. Thus...

From the Horse's Mouths.(Movies and Theater)(Brief Article)
November 7, 2005... You can only learn so much in a classroom setting, as journalist and literary agent Kevin Conroy Scott of Conville & Walsh was reminded. After earning a masters degree in film history, he says, "When it came down to writing a screenplay, I...

Tops in flops.(Movies and Theater)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 7, 2005... In movies, says Wiley senior editor Eric Nelson, the only thing people love more than car chases and explosions is watching a major motion picture go down in flames. "When you catch sight of a turgid stinker like Battlefield Earth, you can't...

Good times, finally for printers.(U.S. Printing)(Industry Overview)
November 7, 2005... For the past four years, book manufacturers have gritted their teeth through one tough year after another, holding on to one wait until next year. This year--bolstered by a booming elhi marker and a strong second half in the trade segment--the...

The year in books.(Cover Story)
November 7, 2005... This isn't a bestseller list, though some of the books are bestsellers. Nor is it, for the most part, a list of what we consider to be the best books of the year, though we are taking the opportunity to mention some titles we think deserve...

Icebergs.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 7, 2005... Icebergs REBECCA JOHNSON. Bloomsbury, $23.95 (320p) ISBN 1-58234-498-1 A plane crash in a remote area of Newfoundland during WWII leaves Canadian gunner Walt Dunmore to endure the oppressive cold along with his navigator, Alister Clark....

Torch.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 7, 2005... Torch CHERYL STRAYED. Houghton Mifflin, $24 (336p) ISBN 0-618-47217-7 A family founders after a mother's death in Strayed's beautifully .observed debut. Teresa Rae Wood was a teen mother and an abused wife who escaped to Minnesota, fell in...

Brass Ankle Blues.(Brass Ankle Blues : A Novel )(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 7, 2005... Brass Ankle Blues RACHEL M. HARPER. Touchstone, $23 (286p) ISBN 0-7432-7680-9 Harper's thoughtful but heavy-handed coming-of-age debut tracks the summer of Nellie Kincaid's 15th year. Like many teenagers, Nellie is sullen and curious,...

Rose of No Man's Land.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 7, 2005... * Rose of No Man's Land MICHELLE TEA. MacAdam/Cage, $22 (308p) ISBN 1-59692-160-9 Tea follows up her Lambda Award-winning San Francisco prostitution memoir, Valencia (2000), her sporadically transcendent collected poems, The Beautiful...

PW talks with James Meek: love and war in 1919 Russia.(Q&A)(Publishers Weekly)(Interview)
November 7, 2005... Historical fiction has been on the upswing in recent years, but very little has been set in Russia, let alone Siberia. What gave you the confidence, as a Scotsman, to do it in The People's Act of Love? {see Reviews, Oct. 3} I did live in...

Rattled.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 7, 2005... Rattled DEBRA GALANT. St. Martin's, $21.95 (256p) ISBN 0-312-34931-9 Galant skewers the shallow, striving, McMansion-dwelling suburbanites in this engaging satire. Heather Peters is staring 35 in the face--though "depending on the light,...

The Insatiable Spider Man.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 7, 2005... The Insatiable Spider Man PEDRO JUAN GUTIERREZ, TRANS. FROM THE SPANISH BY JOHN KING. Carroll & Graf, $13.95 paper (176p) ISBN 0-7867-1665-7 Cuban writer Gutierrez has mined and loosely fictionalized his own life in creating Pedro Juan, a...

Arthur & George.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 7, 2005... * Arthur & George JULIAN BARNES. Knopf, $24.95 (384p) ISBN 0-307-26310-X Arthur is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, physician, sportsman, gentleman par excellence and the inventor of Sherlock Holmes; George is George Edalji, also a real, if less...

Swallowing Stones.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 7, 2005... Swallowing Stones LISA ST. AUBIN DE TERAN. Harper Perennial, $13.95 paper (528p) ISBN 0-06-078104-1 This fictional autobiography of one of the 20th century's more colorful, if obscure, revolutionaries presents a delightful ramble through...

The Berlin Conspiracy.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 7, 2005... The Berlin Conspiracy TOM GABBAY. Morrow, $24.95 (288p) ISBN 0-06-078785-6 Wallowing in a post-Bay of Pigs funk, ex-CIA agent Jack Teller is called out of retirement in 1963 and sent to Berlin to meet an East German agent with a message...

My Lucky Star.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 7, 2005... * My Lucky Star JOE KEENAN. Little, Brown, $24.95 (352p) ISBN 0-316-06019-4 In two earlier novels, Blue Heaven (1988) and Putting on the Ritz (1991), Keenan adapted and updated P.G. Wodehouse to his own original and side-splitting ends....

The Hostage: A Presidential Agent Novel.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 7, 2005... * The Hostage: A Presidential Agent Novel W.E.B. GRIFFIN. Putnam, $26.95 (496p) ISBN 0-399-15314-4 Is Griffin our Homer or Tacitus? Those military experts wrote about real soldiers--and what the world needs now is a real-life Charley...

Death Dance.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 7, 2005... Death Dance LINDA FAIRSTEIN. Scribner, $26 (416p) ISBN 0-7432-5489-9 Reunited with fellow Manhattan crime scene investigators Mike Chapman and Mercer Wallace, brazen, outspoken Alexandra Cooper, assistant DA for the sex crimes prosecution...

Got the Look.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 7, 2005... Got the Look JAMES GRIPPANDO. HarperCollins, $24.95 (400p) ISBN 0-06-056458-X Attorney Jack Swyteck and his jazz musician sidekick Theo Knight josh, joke and kid, but unfortunately the case they're working--the kidnapping of Jack's...

A Taxonomy of Barnacles.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 7, 2005... A Taxonomy of Barnacles GALT NIEDERHOFFER. St. Martin's, $24.95 (384p) ISBN 0-312-33483-4 In Niederhoffer's arch, alliterative debut, Bell, Bridget, Beth, Belinda, Beryl and Benita Barnacle, ranging in age from 10 to 29, plunge headlong...

Leaving Home.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 7, 2005... * Leaving Home ANITA BROOKNER. Random, $23.95 (224p) ISBN 1-4000-6414-7 Brookner's narrators often combine a Jamesian inner life with a deceptively blank external one, and Emma Roberts is a paragon of that type. An English doctoral student...

The Ernesto Che Guevara School for Wayward Girls.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 7, 2005... The Ernesto Che Guevara School for Wayward Girls WILLIAM F. GAVIN. St. Martin's/Dunne, $24.95 (304p) ISBN 0-312-33889-9 Former Nixon and Reagan speech-writer Gavin (One Hell of a Candidate) elicits chuckles but few belly laughs with his...

The Secret Trial of Robert E. Lee.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 7, 2005... The Secret Trial of Robert E. Lee THOMAS FLEMING. Forge, $24.95 (336p) ISBN 0-765-31352-9 Historian and bestselling author Fleming (The Officers' Wives; When This Cruel War Is Over) poses an intriguing question in his latest historical...

Larry Bond's First Team: Angels of Wrath.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 7, 2005... Larry Bond's First Team: Angels of Wrath LARRY BOND AND JIM DEFELICE. Forge, $25.95 (400p) ISBN 0-76530712-X In Bond and DeFelice's fast-paced, complex thriller, the team of elite operatives introduced in the authors' Larry Bond's First...

The Wall.(The Wall: A Thriller )(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 7, 2005... * The Wall JEFF LONG. Atria, $25 (304p) ISBN 0-7432-6616-1 A widowed geologist makes one final, perilous attempt to scale Yosemite's El Cap and winds up running for his life in Long's atmospheric, aggressive thriller (after The Reckoning)....

Point of Entry.(Point of Entry: A Novel )(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 7, 2005... Point of Entry PETER SCHECHTER. Rayo, $24.95 (336p) ISBN 0-06-084330-6 First-time novelist Schechter draws on his background as an international political and communications consultant for this tentative but promising international...

Stumbling and Raging: More Politically Inspired Fiction.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 7, 2005... Stumbling and Raging: More Politically Inspired Fiction EDITED BY STEPHEN ELLIOTT. MacAdam/Cage, $14 paper (331p) ISBN 1-59692-158-7 Elliott returns (after 2003's Politically Inspired) with another anthology of mostly unpublished fiction...

Dear Mr. Carson.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 7, 2005... Dear Mr. Carson ELIZABETH RIDLEY. Permanent, $26 (200p) ISBN 1-57962-125-2 Love, death and fat camp push an overweight teenager to a dramatic act of independence in Ridley's uplifting but unsophisticated fourth novel (after 1993's Throwing...

The Sea.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 7, 2005... * The Sea JOHN BANVILLE. Knopf, $23 (208p) ISBN 0-307-26311-8 Banville's magnificent new novel, which won this year's Man Booker Prize and is being rushed into print by Knopf, presents a man mourning his wife's recent death--and his...

Who is John Banville?
November 7, 2005... The name of Irish writer John Banville rings few bells for U.S. readers. Certainly he's not as well known as Ian McEwan, Julian Barnes, Zadie Smith or even his fellow countryman William Trevor. Yet Banville, this year's winner of the Man Booker...

The Remedy.(The Remedy : A Novel )(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 7, 2005... The Remedy MICHELLE LOVRIC. Regan, $25.95 (448p) ISBN 0-06-083703-9 Set in London and Venice during the late 18th century, Lovric's labyrinthine, grandly imagined second novel (after The Floating City) follows the dramatic vicissitudes of...

Forever Odd.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 7, 2005... * Forever Odd DEAN KOONTZ. Bantam, $27 (352p) ISBN 0-553-80416-2 Besides having an unusual moniker, 21-year-old Odd Thomas (whom readers first met in Koontz's 2003 novel of the same name) has some very unusual powers, chief among them his...

Holmes on the Range.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 7, 2005... Holmes on the Range STEVE HOCKENSMITH. St. Martin's Minotaur, $22.95 (304p) ISBN 0-312-34780-4 Sherlockians, western fans and mystery lovers who enjoy their whodunits leavened with humor should all be delighted by Hockensmith's captivating...

Thou Shalt Not Kill: Biblical Mystery Stories.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 7, 2005... Thou Shalt Not Kill: Biblical Mystery Stories EDITED BY ANNE PERRY. Carroll & Graf, $15.95 paper (320p) ISBN 0-7867-1575-8 Perry's impressive all-original anthology of 15 biblically based whodunits spans the ages from ancient times to the...

Strange Bedfellows.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 7, 2005... Strange Bedfellows: Charlotte Justice Novel PAULA L. WOODS. Ballantine/One World, $23.95 (272p) ISBN 0-34545702-1 In Woods's searing fourth Charlotte Justice novel (after 2003's Dirty Laundry), the troubled, hot-tempered LAPD detective...

Ticket to Ride.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 7, 2005... Ticket to Ride JANET NEEL. St. Martin's Minotaur, $24.95 (320p) ISBN 0-312-34923-8 Jules Carlisle, a freshly minted London solicitor with a troubled past, finds herself out of her depth when she becomes involved in a case involving illegal...

The Sempster's Tale: A Dame Frevisse Medieval Mystery.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 7, 2005... The Sempster's Tale: A Dame Frevisse Medieval Mystery MARGARET FRAZER. Berkley Prime Crime, $24.95 (352p) ISBN 0-425-20766-8 In Frazer's engrossing 15th historical (after 2005's The Widow's Tale), Dame Frevisse leaves her rural convent for...

Curiosity Killed the Cat Sitter: The First Dixie Hemingway Mystery.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 7, 2005... Curiosity Killed the Cat Sitter: The First Dixie Hemingway Mystery BLAISE CLEMENT. St. Martin's Minotaur/Dunne, $23.95 (240p) ISBN 0312-34056-7 Clement's assured cozy debut introduces an appealing heroine, 32-year-old Dixie Hemingway,...

Greatest Hits: Original Stories of Assassins, Hitmen, and Hired Guns.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
November 7, 2005... Greatest Hits: Original Stories of Assassins, Hitmen, and Hired Guns EDITED BY ROBERT J. RANDISI. Carroll & Graf, $26 (336p) ISBN 0-78671581-2 Veteran anthologist Randisi (Murder and All That Jazz) has gathered 15 memorable tales of...

December publications.(Mystery Notes)
November 7, 2005... Florist Bretta Solomon puts her home redecorating plans on hold in Janis Harrison's Bindweed: A Gardening Mystery--the sixth entry in this pleasing cozy series (Reap a Wicked Harvest, etc.) set in the Missouri Ozarks--after someone murders...