Publishers Weekly articles from October 1999

Publishers Weekly archives from October 1999

Frankfurt: No Big Books, But a Cheery Mood.(1999 Frankfurt Book Fair)
October 25, 1999... Despite German book woes and complaints about Agents Center, fair was upbeat EVERYBODY SEEMED TO BE smiling at the latest (October 13-18) Frankfurt Book Fair. Not that the living was easy or fish were jumping, for there was plenty of...

SMP Backs Off from Bush Book.(St. Martin's Press Inc. suspends publication ofFortunate Son: 'George W. Bush and the Making of an American President')(Brief Article)
October 25, 1999... ST. MARTIN'S PRESS thought it had a hot property in J.H. Hatfield's Fortunate Son: George W. Bush and the Making of an American President. When the manuscript arrived alleging the presidential candidate had covered up a 1972 cocaine arrest,...

Varsitybooks Looks to Raise $75 Million via Public Offering.(Brief Article)
October 25, 1999... ALTHOUGH IT HAS raised more than $41 million from private investors, Varsitybooks.com has filed a preliminary prospectus with the Securities & Exchange Commission outlining its plans to raise approximately $75 million through an initial...

Mixed August Sales.(August 1999 book sales)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
October 25, 1999... Mixed August Sales August Year to Date Juvenile Hardcover 35.7 18.9 Mail Order -41.5 -18.9 Professional 52.3 17.1 % Change % Change,...

Publishing Vets Launch Christian Distributor.(Christian Distribution Services)(Brief Article)
October 25, 1999... LOOKING TO BRING Christian publishing even further into the mainstream, several people with experience in both Christian and secular publishing have launched a full-service Christian distributor. Larry Carpenter, president of Spring Arbor...

EB Transformed into Free Web Reference Portal.(Encyclopaedia Britannica)(Brief Article)
October 25, 1999... AFTER MORE THAN 230 years as a distinguished print work and four or five shaky ones as a CD-ROM and online subscription service, the Encyclopaedia Britannica last week launched a free online reference service with access to the full text of...

Holtzbrinck Buys Out Macmillan Family.(Georg von Holtzbrinck buys remaining shares of Macmillan Ltd.)(Brief Article)
October 25, 1999... THE GERMAN PUBLISHER Georg von Holtzbrinck has bought the remaining Macmillan family shareholding in the U.K. publisher Macmillan Ltd. and is now the sole owner of one of Britain's most respected publishing houses. Holtzbrinck had acquired a...

HC to Handle Back Office for Scholastic.(HarperCollins)(Brief Article)
October 25, 1999... BEGINNING JULY 1, 2000, HarperCollins will take over the U.S. customer service, billing and credit functions for Scholastic's trade business under a new long-term agreement. Those functions are currently being handled by Penguin. ...

August Bookstore Sales Fall.(August 1999 sales)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
October 25, 1999... BOOKSTORE SALES FELL 3.7% in August to $1.32 billion, according to preliminary estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. The August report marked the first time this year that bookstore sales fell compared to the same month in 1998 and was in...

BIG DEAL FOR RUSHDIE.(deals for five books by Salman Rushdie signed at 1999 Frankfurt Book Fair)(Brief Article)
October 25, 1999... No fewer than five new books by Salman Rushdie were being shopped around at Frankfurt by agent Andrew Wylie, but a deal was not announced until after the fair ended. It's a big one, as might be expected, and involves no fewer than three...

WILD ABOUT HARRY.(Little, Brown to publish two books by Harry Evans)(Brief Article)
October 25, 1999... That's Harry Evans, former chief at Random Trade, who then went off to a newspapering job while his The American Century soared to best-sellerdom for Knopf. At 71, Evans is calling it quits in the press game and devoting himself full-time to...

A TIMELY REMINDER.(Picador associate editor buys rights to book by Noga Tarnopolsky)(Brief Article)
October 25, 1999... The current Pinochet extradition case has made a first purchase by Alicia Brooks in her new role as associate editor at Picador particularly timely. She had been keeping tabs on the work of journalist Noga Tarnopolsky, whose cousin Daniel won...

REICH ON THE REICH.(deals for two thrillers by Christopher Reich)(Brief Article)
October 25, 1999... Christopher Reich scored a very considerable success with his thriller Numbered Account, and now his agent, Richard Pine at Arthur Pine, has brokered a pair of high-velocity two-book deals he hopes will make his author "the next big...

NEW PLAYER, NEW WRITER.(Joelle Delbourgo negotiates two-book deal for Pamela Duncan)(Brief Article)
October 25, 1999... As noted in News last week, Joelle Delbourgo has emerged from her senior spot at HarperCollins to run her own agency, and her first sale was a big one, a two-book deal for a North Carolina first novelist named Pamela Duncan. Brought to her by...

FRANKFURT FUN & GAMES.(deals at 1999 Frankfurt Book Fair)(Brief Article)
October 25, 1999... Those who receive our e-mail newsletter "PW Rights Alert" (it's free for now; sign up via PW's Web page, www.puhlishersweekly.com/rightsalert) already know quite a bit about the books that caused a lot of buzz, and scored some strong foreign...

S&S Successfully Navigating Transition Year.(Simon & Schuster Inc.)(Brief Article)(Company Profile)
October 25, 1999... THE SPECULATION ABOUT what will become of Simon & Schuster when the merger of its parent company, Viacom, with CBS is completed has overshadowed the fact that what was once known as the S&S consumer division has successfully made the...

Aldor Dead at 89.(George Aldor, former president of Praeger and Phaidon Press)(Brief Article)(Obituary)
October 25, 1999... GEORGE ALDOR, who was president of Praeger and Phaidon Press for many years and later worked in Europe for Rizzoli in the U.S., died October 14 in Paris. He was 89. Born in Vienna, Aldor began his American life in the export-import...

O IS FOR OUTSTANDING.(sales for mystery "O" is for Outlaw)(Brief Article)
October 25, 1999... Very few authors of a long-running mystery series enjoy the kind of rave reviews and stellar sales that Sue Grafton is garnering for "O" is for Outlaw, her 15th Kinsey Millhone mystery. A PW starred review called it "one of the very best...

THIS NOVEL JUST SINGS.(Kent Haruf's 'Plainsong' is best-seller)(Brief Article)
October 25, 1999... Knopf's enthusiasm for Kent Haruf's Plainsong began last spring with the manuscript being passed around inhouse; for a while, it was the most photocopied manuscript on Knopf's fall list. Readers' editions were printed and distributed at BEA,...

A TRIUMPHANT FINALE.('A Man Named Dave: A Story of Triumph and Forgiveness' by Dave Pelzer)(Brief Article)
October 25, 1999... Back in fall 1998, Dave Pelzer went on Montel Williams for a full hour to talk about his two books, A Child Called "It" and The Lost Boy; the result was two trade paper bestsellers for Health Communications. Pelzer discussed his life--often...

A STELLAR DEBUT FOR DUNE PREQUEL.(Bantam Books releases 'Dune: House Atreides')(Brief Article)
October 25, 1999... According to Bantam, Dune (published 35 years ago) and its five sequels are "the undisputed heavyweight champions of science fiction literature"; there are more than 17 million copies of Frank Herbert's books in print. Now the first book in a...

Lethem's Leap.(Brief Article)
October 25, 1999... An indie bookseller favorite gets double the sell-in--and best sellerdom--with his fifth book LAST MONTH, Motherless Brooklyn debuted on the hardcover bestseller lists of the San Francisco Chronicle and the Los Angeles Times, confirming...

`All Century' Is All Rare Air.(Rare Air Media publishes 'Major League Baseball's All Century Team')(Brief Article)
October 25, 1999... PRIOR TO GAME 1 of baseball's World Series, sportscaster Bob Costas introduced the top 30 ballplayers of the century as chosen by fans in balloting this summer. And although once again, there is no Chicago team in the Fall Classic, at least...

Alternative Views of AIDS.('The Virus Within: A Coming Epidemic' by Nicholas Regush)(Brief Article)
October 25, 1999... WILDCAT PRESS AUTHOR Patricia Nell Warren decries both the lack of demand for AIDS titles and the dearth of big-publisher titles that challenge the conventional wisdom about AIDS. But the latter situation is about to change with Dutton's...

Grobel Gets the Spotlight.(interviewer and book author Lawrence Grobel gets publicity from Playboy interview with Jesse Ventura)(Brief Article)
October 25, 1999... IT WASN'T ONLY Jesse Ventura who got some heat thanks to that recent Playboy interview. Veteran interviewer and book author Lawrence Grobel told PW that since the article hit, he's received the "best publicity of my career." He's been...

GLBA Holds Celebratory Regional Show.(Great Lakes Booksellers Association holds its 10th anniversary meeting in Lansing, Michigan)(Brief Article)
October 25, 1999... Membership was down, but attendance and spirits were up with progressive group THE MOOD WAS CELEBRATORY and upbeat, as the Great Lakes Booksellers Association kicked off its 10-year anniversary at the Lansing Center in Lansing, Mich.,...

Seventh Annual Concord Festival of Authors.(Brief Article)
October 25, 1999... IN A BID TO PROVE that there is indeed literary life outside Rte. 128, the Boston suburb of Concord Once again hosted the Concord Festival of Authors. Now in its seventh year, this week-long event sponsored by the Concord Bookshop, Borders...

DAP PUBLISHES CULTURAL BOOK.('From AbFab to Zen')(Brief Article)
October 25, 1999... This month, DAP/Distributed Art Publishers is publishing From AbFab to Zen with Paper Magazine in New York. Sharon Gallagher, DAP executive director, described the book, compiled by Paper editors Kim Hastreiter and David Hershkovitsa with a...

B&T EXPANSION UNDERWAY.(Baker & Taylor increasing warehouse space)(Brief Article)
October 25, 1999... Baker & Taylor, which announced this spring that it was increasing warehouse space by 90%, has completed part of the expansion. The company's Reno, Nev., warehouse has moved and now occupies 250,000 square feet, double the old size, and...

BOOKSOURCE FOCUSES ON SCHOOLS, LIBRARIES.(Brief Article)
October 25, 1999... "With all the things going on in the retail side of the business," said Sandy Jaffe, president of The Booksource, a St. Louis--based wholesaler, "we re continuing to push our education and public library business." Since The Booksource...

BOOKWORLD, THOMAS MOORE DEAL.(BookWorld Services Inc.)(Brief Article)
October 25, 1999... BookWorld Services Inc. has doubled capacity in its South Florida warehouse to accommodate additional shipping and warehousing services in an exclusive agreement with Thomas Moore, the Roman Catholic publisher headquartered in Texas. ...

BOOKS INTERNATIONAL BUYS BRASSEY'S.(Brassey's Inc.)(Brief Article)
October 25, 1999... Last month, Books International, a fulfillment company based in Dulles, Va., purchased, for an undisclosed sum, Brassey's Inc., the American subsidiary of the British military history publisher Brassey's Ltd. Marketing and distribution...

PRIMA MOVES BACK DIST DEAL WITH S&S.(Prima Publishing Inc.; Simon and Schuster Inc.)(Brief Article)
October 25, 1999... The planned starting date for S&S's distribution of Prima titles has been pushed back from October 1 to December 1. Prima CEO Matt Carleson cited customer service and a smoother transition as reasons for the delay. When it goes into effect,...

Stocking Up on Stocking Stuffers.(publishing sideline products for holiday season)(Brief Article)
October 25, 1999... Getting in the holiday mood with seasonal sideline buys THE SIDELINES HOLIDAY SEASON is here. Calendars and cards hog display space, while shoppers mull purchases yet to be made. The wide variety of products for the close of 1999 reveals...

Getting Wired.(characters from licenses interactive products become book characters)
October 25, 1999... Properties from video games, computer software and the Internet move into publishing AS MORE U.S. HOUSEHOLDS buy computers and start using the Internet, a new crop of interactive-based licensed properties--those beginning life as...

AN ARK FULL OF TOYS.(toy production based on the book 'Nova's Ark')(Brief Article)
October 25, 1999... David Kirk was a toy maker for 15 years before entering the world of children's books as the author/illustrator of Miss Spider's Tea Party and subsequent Miss Spider books. His love of toys, especially robots, inspired last spring's Nova's...

POTTER PRODUCTS AHEAD.(many offers from hopeful licensees to the Harry Potter books, including a planned movie from Warner Bros.)(Brief Article)
October 25, 1999... Christopher Little, the London-based literary agent for J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter books published in the U.S. by Scholastic, reports that 30-40 potential licensees per day are contacting his office, with the number totaling...

SMOOTH SAILING.(children's books, based on the 'Sailor Moon' animation/comic book character)(Brief Article)
October 25, 1999... Sailor Moon, the Japanese comic book/animation property, is experiencing something of a resurgence, with publishing a key component. Mixx Entertainment released an original YA novel, Sailor Moon: A Scout Is Born, in July and has sold more...

STORY TIME FOR NODDY.(PBS Online offers information and exercises related to children's literature, such as 'Noddy and the Kite' by Enid Blyton)(Brief Article)
October 25, 1999... When the Noddy Web site went up last fall in conjunction with the debut of the PBS series based on Enid Blyton's stories (which have sold more than 200 million copies over the last 50 years), book-related activities were a big part of it. ...

POWERPUFF POWER.(books based on 'The Powderpuff Girls' animated cartoon to be published by Scholastic)(Brief Article)
October 25, 1999... The Powerpuff Gilrs, an original animated series that debuted on the Cartoon Network in November 1998, will make the move to bookstores in March 2000, in a line of licensed titles from Scholastic. Initial offerings will include two early...

A New Look For Bambi.(Simon and Schuster Inc. publishes 'Bambi: A Life in the Woods')(Brief Article)
October 25, 1999... MOVIE-GOERS FAMILIAR with the Disney movie Bambi may be in for a surprise this month, when Simon & Schuster's Anne Schwartz imprint releases a picture-book adaptation of Felix Salten's classic novel, Bambi: A Life in the Woods. The abridged...

Leo Lionni 1910-1999.(Brief Article)(Obituary)
October 25, 1999... GRAPHIC DESIGNER, sculptor and Caldecott Honor artist Leo Lionni died on October 12 at his home in Siena, Italy. He was 89. Born in Amsterdam, Lionni spent his childhood living in and traveling throughout Europe. Although he received no...

Blazing New Trails.(new books from computer publishers)
October 25, 1999... Computer publishers reach for a different, more mainstream audience THIS FALL, as the leaves change and the time changes, something else is changing...some very straightforward computer publishers are producing some very different books....

COMPUTER BESTSELLERS.(Brief Article)(Bibliography)
October 25, 1999... COMPUTER BESTSELLERS OPERATING SYSTEMS APPLICATIONS 1 Windows 98 for Dummies. Andy 1 Word 97 for Windows for Dummies. Dan Rathbone. IDG, $19.99 ISBN Gookin. IDG, $19.99 ISBN...

It's Not Whodunit, but How-Do-You-Do-It?(strategies for marketing mystery books)
October 25, 1999... Publishers are constantly seeking new solutions for breaking out fledgling authors and maintaining superstars' status quo The mysteries, these days, are not only in the many and varied books that crowd this category--it appears that...

Sara Paretsky: A Gun of One's Own.(mystery writer)(Interview)
October 25, 1999... V.I. WARSHAWSKI, Sara Paretsky's Chicago-based private investigator, is that classic American invention, the hardboiled private eye. The fact that she's also a woman has, to her creator's disbelief, changed the face of crime fiction. ...

IN THE GLOAMING.(Review)(Brief Article)
October 25, 1999... Alice Elliott Dark. Simon & Schuster, $23 (288p) ISBN 0-684-86521-1 The title story of Dark's second collection was a major 1994 hit, published in Best American Short Stories of the Century and made into a critically acclaimed HBO film...

A RECIPE FOR BEES.(Review)(Brief Article)
October 25, 1999... Gail Anderson-Dargatz. Harmony, $23 (320p) ISBN 0-609-60451-1 Already published in the U.K. and a bestseller in Canada, Anderson-Dargatz's (The Cure for Death by Lightning) latest is a warm and wise love story, an exploration of the...

HANDYMAN.(Review)(Brief Article)
October 25, 1999... Linda Nichols. Delacorte, $20 (304p) ISBN 0-385-33437-0 Nichols's contemporary romance debut is built around an engaging comedy of mistaken identity. When a weeping Maggie Ivey enters the San Francisco therapy office of Dr. Jason Golding,...

DES PAIR: And Other Stories of Ottawa.(Review)
October 25, 1999... Andre Alexis. Holt, $23 (2l2p) ISBN 0-8050-5979-2 Trinidadian-born Canadian author Alexis was shortlisted for a Commonwealth prize for this daring collection of eight dark, quixotic stories. Most feature a guileless, straightforward...

ALL OF ME.(Review)(Brief Article)
October 25, 1999... Venise Berry. Dutton, $23.95 (288p) ISBN 0-525-94463-X Berry's second novel (after her well-received debut So Good) explores the complexities of body-image, weight and self-esteem in the life of African-American TV news reporter...

COLD CASE.(Review)(Brief Article)
October 25, 1999... Stephen White. Dutton, $24.95 (368p) ISBN 0-525-94526-1 Crime-fighting psychologist Alan Gregory untangles a vexing unsolved case of double murder in the Colorado Rockies in this rousing page-turner by thriller specialist White. Gregory...

THE SUMMER AFTER JUNE.(Review)(Brief Article)
October 25, 1999... Ashley Warlick. Houghton Mifflin, $23 (272p) ISBN 0-395-92690-4 This strong second novel, the haunting tale of one woman's heartbreaking journey into the many realms of love, confirms Warlick's talent, first glimpsed in her debut The...

JAGUAR: A Story of Africans in America.(Review)(Brief Article)
October 25, 1999... Paul Stoller. Univ. of Chicago, $15 paper (214p) ISBN 0-226-77528-3 Drawing from decades of African experiences, Stoller, an anthropologist, delivers a complex novel that follows a pair of Nigerian newlyweds in the vicissitudes of life in...

ALL OR NOTHING.(Review)(Brief Article)
October 25, 1999... Elizabeth Adler. Delacorte, $23.95 (352p) ISBN 0-385-33380-3 Best-selling romantic thriller author Adler (Now or Never, Sooner or Later) trots out a pair of lovebirds on the trail of a serial killer in her 12th novel. Hollywood Hills...

THE DREAM MAKER.(Review)(Brief Article)
October 25, 1999... Alison McLeay. St Martin's, $24.95 (413p) ISBN 0-312-24423-1 On a rainy November day in 1819, as McLeay's (The Summer House) latest historical romance begins, Flora Elizabeth Louise de Montfort St. Serf is dashing down a London street...

HOW TO MURDER A MAN.(Review)(Brief Article)
October 25, 1999... Carlo Gebler. Marion Boyars (LPC/Inbook, dist.), $24.95 (373p) ISBN 0-7145-3058-1 In his ninth book of fiction, Gebler, the son of Irish novelist Edna O'Brien, illuminates a melancholy page of Irish history. In the 1850s Thomas French...

CHAMPEEN.(Review)(Brief Article)
October 25, 1999... Heather Ross Miller. SMU, $19.95 (296p) ISBN 0-87074-446-1 At the beginning of this appealing coming-of-age novel, narrator Titania Anne Gentry is a 43-year-old woman whose two grown daughters think she's a born loser. Determined to prove...

PANAMA.(Review)(Brief Article)
October 25, 1999... William Young Boyd II. Capital, $21.95 (192p) ISBN 1-892123-15-0 The U.S. hand-off of the Panama Canal on December 31, 1999, evidently drives the timely publication of Panamanian-born Boyd's (The Gentleman Infantryman) limping historical...

BOOK OF LIES.(Review)
October 25, 1999... Felice Picano. Alyson (Consortium, dist.), $24.95 (424p) ISBN 1-55583- 541-4 Things are not what they seem in Picano's (Like People in History) novel of academic intrigue. In the early 21st century, Ross Ohrenstedt is an ambitious...

DOLPHIN KEY.(Review)(Brief Article)
October 25, 1999... Jon Land. Forge, $17.95 (192p) ISBN 0-312-87249-6 Though he is better known for his international thrillers, in this slim paean to controversial dolphin therapy Land makes this second foray into softer terrain, following Hope Mountain....

SISTERS IN LOVE.(Review)(Brief Article)
October 25, 1999... Henriette Hampton Morris. Summerhouse, $20 (300p) ISBN 1-887714-49-9 First in a projected series called Women's Club Editions, Morris's sweeping debut novel aims for readers seeking a gentle, romantic epic that gleans its drama not from...

FROZEN MUSIC.(Review)(Brief Article)
October 25, 1999... Marika Cobbold. HarperCollins, $24 (384p) ISBN 0-06-019449-9 Star-crossed lovers Esther Fisher and Linus Stendal have never met, but they've known about each other since they were children. In this quirky, appealing romance by Swedish...

A RIDDLE OF STARS.(Review)(Brief Article)
October 25, 1999... Pierce Butler. Zoland, $13 paper (304p) ISBN 1-58195-007-1 Readers of Butler's debut novel will likely be torn between the desire to embrace its gloomy protagonist, Matt Quigley, and the desire to drop him from a great height. Having left...

SO VAST THE PRISON.(Review)(Brief Article)
October 25, 1999... Assia Djebar, trans. by Betsy Wing. Seven Stories, $24.95 (320p) ISBN 1- 58322-009-7 Writing becomes weapon and refuge for the oppressed in this fiercely intelligent, intricate novel set in a tragic, bewitching Algeria. Expressing the...

THE SOUTH & BENE.(Review)(Brief Article)
October 25, 1999... Adelaida Garcia Morales, trans. By Thomas G. Deveny. Univ. of Nebraska, $30 (104p) ISBN 0-8032-2178-9; paper $12 -7080-1 Since the 1985 publication of her first book, El Sur y Bene, Garcia Morales has emerged as an important literary...

THE ART OF THE STORY.(Review)(Brief Article)
October 25, 1999... Edited by Daniel Halpern. Viking, $40 (667p) ISBN 0-670-88761-7 A decade after Halpern's Art of the Tale anthology comes a hefty companion volume, this one collecting 78 international, contemporary authors, those born between 1938 and...

DONAINES VS. OBLIVION.(Review)
October 25, 1999... Ana Teresa Torres, trans. by Gregory Rabassa. Louisiana State Univ., $27.50 (243p) ISBN 0-8071-2476-1 Winner of the Mobil Pegasus Prize for Literature, this bold novel by Venezuelan writer Torres probes the effects of violence, corrupt...

A MIDNIGHT CAROL, A Novel of How Charles Dickens Saved Christmas.(Review)(Brief Article)
October 25, 1999... Patricia K Davis. St. Martin's, $16.95 (208p) ISBN 0-312-24523-8 In 1843, Charles Dickens has a pregnant wife and a wastrel father, and his most recent book, the ill-received Martin Chuzzlewit, has left the London writer with dwindling...

THE FORTUNES OF WANGRIN.(Review)(Brief Article)
October 25, 1999... Amadou Hampate Ba, trans. by Aina Pavolini Taylor. Indiana Univ., $39.95 (376p) ISBN 0-253-33429-2; paper $17.95-21226-X A searing fictional indictment of colonialism and its corruption of both its French citizens and African subjects,...

MONSIEUR RENE.(Review)(Brief Article)
October 25, 1999... Peter Ustinov. Prometheus, $24.95 (320p) ISBN 1-57392-740-6 Film director, Oscar-winning actor, fiction writer and playwright Ustinov delivers a lively tale of the misadventures of a Geneva retired concierge, Monsieur Rene. As the...

LILY NEVADA.(Review)(Brief Article)
October 25, 1999... Cecelia Holland. Forge/Doherty, $22.95 (224p) ISBN 0-312-86670-4 Once again, the charming Lily Viner (aka Lily Nevada) brings a distant world to life: in this adventure it's California of the 1870s. As in the prequel, Railroad Schemes,...

BROKEN WINGS.(Review)(Brief Article)
October 25, 1999... John Douglas and Mark Olshaker. Pocket/Drew, $24 (304p) ISBN 0-671-02391-8 After five nonfiction outings (including the best-selling Mindhunter), Douglas and Olshaker jump into the deep end of the thriller pool with a creditable series...

HOME ACROSS THE ROAD.(Review)(Brief Article)
October 25, 1999... Nancy Peacock. Longstreet, $18.95 (250p) ISBN 1-56352-509-7 The devastating legacy of slavery inexorably shapes the lives of two North Carolina families over a century of changing race relations in Peacock's second novel, after the...

HIGH TIDE.(Review)(Brief Article)
October 25, 1999... Jude Deveraux. Pocket, $24 (311p) ISBN 0-671-01416-1 "One night I went to bed and when I woke up, there was a dead man on top of me... "is only one of the problems faced by Fiona Burkenhalter, embattled heroine of Deveraux's latest novel....

THE SECRET OF SHAMBHALA: In Search of the Eleventh Insight.(Review)(Brief Article)
October 25, 1999... James Redfield. Warner, $23.95 (256p) ISBN 0-446-52308-9 The third book in the Celestine series, this slight fable begins with an appealing spiritual quest, but is soon burdened with Redfield's millennial concerns. Still, readers who made...

CORRECTION.(to Sep. 27, 1999 issue)(Brief Article)(Correction Notice)
October 25, 1999... Carroll and Graf has informed us that it owns North American rights to The Marriage at Antibes, by Carol Azadeh, (reviewed Sept. 27), and will issue the novel in February. Dufour Editions, which sent the galley for review under the impression...

ETON CROP.(Review)
October 25, 1999... Bill James. Norton, $22.95 (288p) ISBN 0-393-04761-X In its last half-dozen titles, James's Harpur and Iles series has turned darker, concentrating on drug-related murders and betrayals. When an undercover officer named Raymond Street was...

A CLUE FOR THE PUZZLE LADY.(Review)(Brief Article)
October 25, 1999... Parnell Hall. Bantam, $23.95 (304p) ISBN 0-553-80096-5 Hall, best known for his Edgar-nominated Stanley Hastings series, begins a new series with a heroine who provides an interesting variation on the older woman sleuth. Imagine Miss...

THE BODY IN THE BIG APPLE.(Review)(Brief Article)
October 25, 1999... Katherine Hall Page. Morrow, $22 (240p) ISBN 0-688-15748-3 It's the most wonderful time of the year: Fifth Avenue windows decorated for the season, holiday parties, Christmas shopping--and some blackmail and murder thrown in to spice...

BLOOD COUNTRY.(Review)(Brief Article)
October 25, 1999... Mary Logue. Walker, $23.95 (324p) ISBN 0-8027-3339-5 Set in the scenic bluff country along the Mississippi River of western Wisconsin, this first in a series launch introduces Claire Watkins, a deputy sheriff for the Pepin County Police...

SPQR V: Saturnalia.(Review)(Brief Article)
October 25, 1999... John Maddox Roberts. St. Martin's Minotaur, $23.95 (288p) ISBN 0-312-20582-1 Sporting an anachronistic, decidedly modern-day sensibility, the Roman senator Decius Caecilius Metellus the Younger returns to his native Rome from Rhodes at a...

A HIGHLAND CHRISTMAS.(Review)(Brief Article)
October 25, 1999... M.C. Beaton. Mysterious, $16.95 (144p) ISBN 0-89296-699-8 From the always sunny Beaton comes this Christmas special of a book featuring policeman Hamish Macbeth (Death of an Addict, etc.) and two minor Yuletide mysteries. In the fishing...

LaSTANZA: New Orleans Police Stories.(Review)(Brief Article)
October 25, 1999... O'Neil DeNoux. Pontalba (4417 Dryades St., New Orleans, La., 70115; 504-899-7970), $19.95 (326p) ISBN 1-891643-73-8 DeNoux's series character, New Orleans homicide detective Dino LaStanza, is featured in a collection of gritty noir short...