Publishers Weekly articles from September 2006

Publishers Weekly archives from September 2006

Indie publishers told to look beyond bookstores: special markets crucial to success, AAP panelists say.(Foreword)(Association of American Publishers)
September 25, 2006... More than 100 publishers turned out earlier this month for the Association of American Publishers' Small and Independent Publishers seminar, a daylong conference the AAP last held on the West Coast in 2001. The focus of the panels and...

Nelson to buy Integrity.(Brief article)
September 25, 2006... Thomas Nelson has signed an agreement to acquire Integrity Publishers, the Christian publishing house formed in 2001 by former Nelson/Word president Byron Williamson. Integrity Publishers, currently a division of Integrity Media, had...

Jaffe winners.(Rona Jaffe Foundation makes awards to women writers)(Brief article)
September 25, 2006... The Rona Jaffe Foundation presented its 2006 awards to six promising women writers earlier this month. With guest speaker Allegra Goodman (seated) are Melissa Range, Emily Rapp, Rita Mae Reese, Rivka Galchen, Ellen Litman and Sharifa...

And the winner isn't.(Foreword)(Sobol Awards)
September 25, 2006... Last week, technology entrepreneur Gur Shomron announced that he was starting up the Sobol Awards, for which fiction writers could submit manuscripts to a committee of publishing professionals, and--for the mere price of $85--might win cash...

Soft start for scholastic.(Foreword)(Brief article)
September 25, 2006... Total revenue at Scholastic fell to $334.9 million from $498.4 million in the first quarter ended August 31, and the net loss increased to $46.9 million from $21.2 million. The revenue decline was attributed mainly to the $185 million in...

Kintz to head Concordia.(Foreword)(Brief article)
September 25, 2006... Concordia Publishing House, the St. Louis-based publishing arm of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, has named Bruce Kintz its president. Kintz, who's been with Concordia for more than seven years, is being promoted from v-p and COO. Also...

Turning activist blogs into books.(Bloggers to Authors)(Ig Publishing)
September 25, 2006... Ig Publishing, citing titles like Chelsea Green's Crashing the Gate and its own Confessions of a Former Dittohead, believes it has found a niche in turning blog posts into books--it will publish three more blog-based activist titles next...

Kristen McLean, executive director, Association of Booksellers for Children.(Galley Talk)("Larklight" by Philip Reeve)(Brief article)(Children's review)(Book review)
September 25, 2006... Imagine what would have happened if Jules Verne had written a Jane Austen novel for the junior set, and you start to get an inkling of what Larklight by Philip Reeve (Bloomsbury, Oct.) has in store. It's a delicious blend of tongue-in-cheek...

Wright to Writers House.(Brief article)
September 25, 2006... Ken Wright has gone from the publishing side of the business to the agenting one, decamping from Scholastic for Writers House. Wright, who was v-p, associate publisher and editorial director for nonfiction and reference at Scholastic, will...

Perseus, PowerHouse in deal.(Brief article)
September 25, 2006... PowerHouse Books has signed on with Perseus Book Group and CDS for warehousing and fulfillment, effective January 2007. In addition, powerHouse and Perseus have entered into a partnership to develop future trade book projects that go beyond...

Rich to receive NBF honor.(Adrienne Rich)(Brief article)
September 25, 2006... Poet Adrienne Rich will receive the medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters at this year's National Book Awards dinner set for Nov. 15. Also at the dinner, New York Review of Books cofounders Robert Silvers and, posthumously,...

Big war books.(Deals)(Brief article)
September 25, 2006... Less than 48 hours after receiving the proposal, Houghton's Amanda Cook preempted North American rights to Oxford University historian Rana Mitter's The Enduring War: The Sino-Japanese War of 1937-45 and How It Changed the Course of Asian...

Book for all ages.(Deals)(Holt acquires rights to novel by Ying Chang Compestine)(Brief article)
September 25, 2006... Christy Ottaviano at Holt has acquired Revolution Is Not a Dinner Party, a debut novel by Ying Chang Compestine; Laura Rennert at the Andrea Brown Literary Agency did the world rights deal. Inspired by a true story and described as "Anne...

Doing business in China.(Deals)(Crown Business acquires rights to "Managing the Dragon")(Brief article)
September 25, 2006... John Mahaney at Crown Business has acquired Jack Perkowski's Managing the Dragon: Building a Billion Dollar Company in China; Wayne Kabak at William Morris sold world rights. Perkowski, who after a successful 20-year career on Wall Street...

Thrillers to Viking.(Deals)(Brief article)
September 25, 2006... Joshua Kendall at Viking has acquired U.S. rights to Tom Cain's The Accident Man in a two-book deal with Julian Alexander at Lucas Alexander Whitley in the U.K. The novel is the first in a series of books featuring Daniel Carver, who arranges...

Max to Simon Spotlight.(Deals)(Tucker Max)(Brief article)
September 25, 2006... Jeremie Ruby-Strauss at Simon Spotlight has acquired world rights to blogger Tucker Max's next book, A**holes Finish First; the deal was made directly with the author. This will be a collection of new stories about Max's debauched adventures;...

In a rare (for him) fiction buy, Random's David Ebershoff won North American rights to a debut by Charles Bock titled Beautiful Children in an auction conducted by Sterling Lord's Jim Rutman.(The Briefing)(Brief article)
September 25, 2006... In a rare (for him) fiction buy, Random's David Ebershoff won North American rights to a debut by Charles Bock titled Beautiful Children in an auction conducted by Sterling Lord's Jim Rutman. The book centers on the day a 12-year-old Las...

Calendar: Oct. 1-7.(Foreword)(Calendar)
September 25, 2006... 10/1 Showtime begins its 12-episode series Dexter, based on Jeff Lindsay's Darkly Dreaming Dexter (Vintage Crime/ Black Lizard). Michael C. Hall plays a serial killer stalking serial killers. 10/2 Scholastic/Orchard is...

Chelsea Green adds Kids' imprint.(Eco-Minded)(Brief article)
September 25, 2006... Although Chelsea Green has published a number of titles suitable for children over the past 22 years, its first dedicated children's list, Chelsea Green Kids, is making its debut this fall. A combination of the right books and the addition of...

A double dose of Crichton.(Resurrection)(Michael Chrichton)
September 25, 2006... HarperCollins is planning a big splash for Next, the Michael Crichton title set for release November 28. Meanwhile, on October 31, Hard Case Crime is reissuing John Lange's 1970 novel Grave Descend--and booksellers with long memories will...

Audiobooks by the numbers.(Foreword)(Brief article)
September 25, 2006... $871 million: Estimated spending on audiobooks, 2005 $832 million: Estimated spending on audiobooks, 2004 74: Percentage of audiobook spending on CDs, 2005 45: Percentage of audiobook spending on CDs, 2003 16: Percentage...

Pirates rule Sweden.(Selling Abroad)
September 25, 2006... Jinan Guillou, one of Sweden's most popular and outspoken novelists, shot straight to the top of the fiction list late August with Madame Terror, the most recent book in his series featuring hero Carl Hamilton. Terror is published by...

Horowitz to head Tarcher.(People)(Brief article)
September 25, 2006... Mitch Horowitz has been humped up from executive editor to editor-in-chief of Penguin's Tarcher imprint. Horowitz, who's been with the imprint for nine years, has brought in a range of authors, including bestselling religious scholar Jacob...

Keating to head Dutton.(People)(Brief article)
September 25, 2006... Trena Keating has been named editor in chief of Penguin's Dutton imprint. Most recently associate publisher of Plume books, Keating arrived at Penguin in 2001 as editor-in-chief of Plume.

Balow to Oasis.(People)(Brief article)
September 25, 2006... Oasis Audio, an audiobook publisher in the Christian market, has named Dan Balow associate publisher. Balow was most recently director of sales and marketing research and analysis at Tyndale House Publishers.

Lyons forms Skyhorse Publishing.(Starting Over)
September 25, 2006... Undeterred by predictions that most people will get their information in the future through digital means, Tony Lyons is taking another crack at book publishing. Lyons, who took over the helm of the Lyons Press from his father and was...

Books take root in Brooklyn.(Foreword)(Brief article)
September 25, 2006... Without a backward glance at Manhattan, Brooklyn proved its literary street cred as the first Brooklyn Book Festival drew an estimated 10,000 people to 35 author readings, seven panels and numerous exhibitor booths September 16. Organizers...

Murder in New York ...(Hollywood Reader)(movie deal for "The Interpretation of Murder")(Brief article)
September 25, 2006... The Interpretation of Murder, Holt's candidate for this fall's big book, got a strong vote of confidence from Warner Bros. last week. The studio, desperately in need of therapy after a rough summer of pricey underperformers (Poseidon,...

Fast Patterson.(Hollywood Reader)(James Patterson's "The Quickie")(Brief article)
September 25, 2006... James Patterson, he of the tiny chapters and big plot twists, stays tree to form with The Quickie, written with Michael Ledwidge (Little, Brown, July 2007), out now from CAA's Matt Snyder. The title refers not to the time it takes to digest a...

Always on the lookout for a good romantic comedy, film scouts got to work the moment they heard the story line for Beginner's Greek, a first novel by James Collins (Little, Brown, fall 2007).(Brief article)
September 25, 2006... Always on the lookout for a good romantic comedy, film scouts got to work the moment they heard the story line for Beginner's Greek, a first novel by James Collins (Little, Brown, fall 2007). A man meets a woman on a plane. Devastated when he...

Baggetta Hayes up at Goldberg McDuffie.(People)(Angela Baggetta Hayes appointed Director of Publicity at Goldberg McDuffie Communications)(Brief article)
September 25, 2006... Angela Baggetta Hayes has been promoted to director of publicity at Goldberg McDuffie Communications. Hayes has been with the firm for more than three years and has worked with such authors as Joseph Stiglitz, Blumenthal and Jane Green.

Hardcover bestsellers/fiction.
September 25, 2006... Setterfield's first novel, the gothic mystery The Thirteenth Tale, inspired a 10-day auction that resulted in huge advances worldwide, including $1 million in the U.S. In a prepub interview for Barnes & Noble (B&N is launching its Recommends...

Hardcover bestsellers/nonfiction.
September 25, 2006... Nonfiction's new leader, Inside My Heart, is the debut title by Robin McGraw, wife of bestselling author Dr. Phil (or Dr. Phillip, as she calls him). Nelson Books left no stone unturned to assure the book's success. Publisher Jonathan Merkh...

Paperback bestsellers/mass market.
September 25, 2006... "Adam was no longer thinking about his dead companions. His thoughts had pushed on, to a far greater glory that awaited him. If they succeeded, humanity would speak of it for generations to come in awed tones. Adnan al-Rimi was now officially...

Paperback bestsellers/trade.
September 25, 2006... The Fat Smash Diet is getting big play on the VH1 reality show Celebrity Fit Club. Rapper Bone Crusher broke the show's record--he lost 43 pounds in less than 100 days. The season four finale (airing Oct. 1) boasts the most overall weight...

Children's series and tie-ins bestsellers.(various news; includes listing)(Bibliography)
September 25, 2006... Eoin Colfer, live on stage? Yes, the bestselling author will open his one-man show, Fairies, Fiends and Flatulence, in the West End in October, and then he'll take the show on tour throughout the U.K. An earlier version of Fairies, Fiends...

The 3Rs of Indie chains: reinvent, retool, relocate: regional chains move quickly to seize opportunities, cut losses.(Retailing)(independents)
September 25, 2006... To withstand pressures from big box retailers and Amazon.com--not to mention high energy costs--independent regional chains have been forced to continually reinvent themselves. "We're a lot more mobile than the big guys are," said Lynda...

What's selling where.(WEB WATCH)(Brief article)
September 25, 2006... A look at what's selling at some of the nation's largest retailers finds The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards the top seller at Target as of September 18, followed by Nora Roberts's Morrigan's Cross. Walmart.com has Thomas Friedman's...

Scholastic rep turns bookseller.(WHAT'S NEW)(Vicki Erwin buys Main Street Books, St. Charles, Missouri)(Brief article)
September 25, 2006... Vicki Erwin, who early in her career was a buyer for the now-defunct City Books bookstore in St. Louis County, Mo., and was most recently a sales rep for Scholastic, has bought Main Street Books in St. Charles, Mo., a suburb of St. Louis....

Sourcebooks launches kids' imprint.(Children's Book)(Jabberwocky)(Brief article)
September 25, 2006... Buoyed by the success of its best-selling Poetry Speaks to Children, Sourcebooks plans to start a children's imprint called Sourcebooks Jabberwocky. The list will launch next spring with four titles in a fiction series for girls ages seven to...

Alex Rider: Riding High.(Children's Book)("Operation Stormbreaker" movie)(Anthony Horowitz)(Brief article)
September 25, 2006... If you're not a teenage boy or a children's bookseller, you may have never heard of Alex Rider, the 14-year-old super spy who stars in a series of novels by Anthony Horowitz. But Alex Rider may be poised for bigger things when Operation...

Narnia pops up.(RIGHTS REPORT)
September 25, 2006... HarperCollins has acquired rights to publish a pop-up version of The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. Bestselling pop-up creators Robert Sabuda and Matthew Reinhart will be the paper engineers. The book will consist of seven spreads, one...

Friedman finds preteen writer in China.(Jane Friedman, HarperCollins Publishers Inc.)(Nancy Yi Fan)(Brief article)
September 25, 2006... It pays to be young and fearless. Last September, HarperCollins CEO Jane Friedman received an e-mail from Nancy Yi Fan, a 12-year-old Chinese girl, asking if she would like to read her manuscript. Intrigued, Friedman passed the query along to...

New Directions at 70.(Independent Publishing)
September 25, 2006... Nude Erections was the rather purple homophone favored by Ezra Pound to refer to the publishing house he goaded into existence in 1936. Having agreed to meet the American James Laughlin, a wealthy heir to a steel fortune, Pound first savaged...

Publishing goes Asia: a preview of the 2006 Frankfurt Book Fair.(Book Fair Preview)(Conference news)
September 25, 2006... With India as the guest country and attendance from China double that of recent years--plus large growth in delegations from Thailand and Taiwan--the signal from the Frankfurt Book Fair is clear: in global publishing, Asia is a major force....

What's in your briefcase?(Book Fair Preview)(Frankfurt, Germany)
September 25, 2006... So what are New Yorkers bringing to Frankfurt (aside from their BlackBerrys and lots of euros)? PW spoke with three agents about what books they'll be pitching in the rights tent. Elaine Koster of her self-titled literary agency has high...

Of things past: illustrated gift books for the holidays.(Cover story)(Bibliography)
September 25, 2006... "A hundred years from now," wrote Graydon Carter in a note to his Spy magazine cofounder Kurt Andersen, "the graduate student sifting through the racks at the New-York Historical Society will, with relish, throw himself upon old copies of Spy...

The magic of Martin Gardner.(Author Profile)(Biography)
September 25, 2006... You've probably never heard of Martin Gardner. But if you enjoy magic tricks, mathematical games and puzzles, the philosophy of science and the debunking of bad science, he might just be your hero. To his fans, Martin Gardner, a...

You Don't Love Me Yet.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 25, 2006... You Don't Love Me Yet JONATHAN LETHEM. Doubleday, $24.95 (256p) ISBN 978-0-385-51218-3 Lethem (Fortress of Solitude; Motherless Brooklyn; etc.) strays from hometown Brooklyn to recount the near-fame experience of a Los Angeles...

Sugar Daddy.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 25, 2006... Sugar Daddy LISA KLEYVAS. St. Martin's, $19.95 (384p) ISBN 978-0-312-35162-5 Mass market bestseller Kleypas makes her hardcover debut with this entertaining chronicle of Liberty Jones's rise from the trailer park to life in a Texas...

B-mother.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 25, 2006... b-mother MAUREEN O'BRIEN. Harcourt, $24 (288p) ISBN 978-0-15-101398-2 Among the recent spate of adoption memoirs, the voices of birth mothers have been woefully underrepresented. O'Brien covers the territory in her debut novel spanning...

The Art of Losing.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 25, 2006... The Art of Losing KEITH DIXON. St. Martin's, $23.95 (256p) ISBN 978-0-312-35868-6 Michael Jacobs is an independent filmmaker in New York City whose just-released third film flopped like the first two. With no money and no prospects, he...

Returning to Earth.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 25, 2006... Returning to Earth JIM HARRISON. Grove, $24 (272p) ISBN 978-0-8021-1838-7 Dying at 45 of Lou Gehrig's disease, Donald, who is Chippewa-Finnish, dictates his family story to his wife, Cynthia, who records this headlong tale for their two...

Self Storage.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 25, 2006... Self Storage GAYLE BRANDEIS. Ballantine, $23.95 (288p) ISBN 978-0-345-49260-9 Flan Parker is floundering: her sweet but hapless husband, Shae, is procrastinating on finishing his dissertation, their young children are running wild, and...

The View from Castle Rock: Stories.(Book review)
September 25, 2006... The View from Castle Rock: Stories ALICE MUNRO. Knopf, $25.95 (352p) ISBN 978-1-4000-4282-1 Ten collections of stories and one novel have made Alice Munro one of the most praised fiction writers of our time. In The View from Castle Rock...

Cross.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 25, 2006... Cross JAMES PATTERSON. Little, Brown, $27.99 (400p) ISBN 978-0-316-15979-1 Forensic psychologist Alex Cross's storied career in private practice, with the FBI and as a Washington, D.C., cop has brought him into contact with all kinds of...

The Godfather's Revenge.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 25, 2006... The Godfather's Revenge MARK WINEGARDNER. Putnam, $25.95 (400p) ISBN 978-0-399-15384-6 In Winegardner's mediocre second sequel to Mario Puzo's classic (after 2004's bestselling The Godfather Returns), La Cosa Nostra gets involved in a...

Hollywood Station.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 25, 2006... * Hollywood Station JOSEPH WAMBAUGH. Little, Brown, $24.99 (352p) ISBN 978-0-316-06614-3 Wambaugh's outstanding new novel, his first in a decade, is not only a return to form but a return to his LAPD roots. Times have sure changed since...

Darkfever.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 25, 2006... Darkfever KAREN MARIE MONING. Delacorte, $20 (320p) ISBN 978-0-385-33915-5 Drawing on elements from the paranormal world that bestseller Moning (Spell of the Highlander) created in her earlier romances, this suspense novel takes readers...

Measuring the World.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 25, 2006... Measuring the World DANIEL KEHLMANN, TRANS. FROM THE GERMAN BY CAROL BROWN JANEWAY. Pantheon, $23 (272p) ISBN 0-375-42446-6 Loosely based on the lives of 19th-century explorer Alexander von Humboldt and a contemporary, mathematician Carl...

Born in Death.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 25, 2006... Born in Death NORA ROBERTS WRITING AS J.D. ROBB. Putnam, $24.95 (352p) ISBN 978-0-399-15347-1 Set in New York City in 2060, bestseller Roberts's latest police thriller under her Robb pseudonym in her Lt. Eve Dallas series (Naked in...

I, City.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 25, 2006... I, City PAVEL BRYCZ, TRANS. FROM THE CZECH BY JOSHUA COHEN AND MARKETA HOFMEISTEROVA. Twisted Spoon Press (SCB, dist.), $14.50 paper (152p) ISBN 80-86264-27-0 Brycz pays tribute to his native Bohemian city of Most in this dreamy,...

Zoia's Gold.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 25, 2006... * Zoia's Gold PHILIP SINGTON. Scribner, $26 (400p) ISBN 978-0-7432-9110-1 In this gorgeously written novel of suspense, which shifts between contemporary Sweden, czarist Russia and 1920s Paris, Sington uses the life of actual...

The Matchmaker.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 25, 2006... The Matchmaker JAMIE DENTON. Brava, $14 paper (336p) ISBN 978-0-7582-1012-8 In this well-constructed novel of romantic suspense from prolific bestseller Denton (Valentine Fantasy), former FBI profiler Greer Garson Lomax, who's recovering...

Zigzag Through the Bitter-Orange Trees.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 25, 2006... Zigzag Through the Bitter-Orange Trees ERSI SOTIROPOULOS, TRANS. FROM THE GREEK BY PETER GREEN. Interlink, $24.95 (288p) ISBN 978-1-56656-661-2 At the heart of this darkly comic story told in four quirky voices is a young woman named...

The Physician's Tale.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 25, 2006... The Physician's Tale ANN BENSON. Delacorte, $24 (528p) ISBN 978-0-385-33505-8 At the start of Benson's stirring fourth thriller to interweave past and near future (after 2002's The Thief of Souls), a bioterror attack by a cabal of...

PW talks with Kelly Braffet: hitching a ride to new possibilities.(Q&A)(Interview)
September 25, 2006... In Last Seen Leaving (Reviews, Sept. 11), Braffet's second novel, a young drifter named Miranda wrecks her car and abandons her life after accepting a ride from a dangerous stranger. Have you ever felt like leaving? I would certainly...

Saraya, the Ogre's Daughter: A Palestinian Fairy Tale.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 25, 2006... Saraya, the Ogre's Daughter: A Palestinian Fairy Tale EMILE HABIBY, TRANS. FROM THE ARABIC BY PETER THEROUX. Ibis Editions, $16.95 (210p) ISBN 978-965-90124-5-9 The final novel from Habiby (1921-1996), written in 1990, is an...

The Night Lawyer.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 25, 2006... The Night Lawyer MICHELLE SPRING. Ballantine, $24.95 (336p) ISBN 978-0-345-43746-4 London lawyer Eleanor Porter, who has a new job eliminating legal liabilities from tabloid stories, works at One Canada Square, a modern but haunted...

What You Sow.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 25, 2006... What You Sow WALLACE FORD. Dafina, $14 (256p) ISBN 0-7582-0954-1 In this sequel to The Pride (2005), evil financial genius Gordon Perkins and Ray Beard, his partner in crime, overdose on "cocaine, champagne and four of the freakiest...

The Wrong Abraham.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 25, 2006... The Wrong Abraham DAVID S. BRODY. Martin and Lawrence (martinandlawrencepress.com), $22.95 (380p) ISBN 978-0-9773898-0-3 In Brody's third Boston-based thriller (after 2003's Blood of the Tribe), Abraham Gottlieb, an elderly Holocaust...

Agamemnon's Daughter: A Novella & Stories.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 25, 2006... Agamemnon's Daughter: A Novella & Stories ISMAIL KADARE. Arcade, $24 (240p) ISBN 978-1-55970-788-6 Kadare won the Man Booker International Prize last year for his searing documentation in numerous works, of Albanian history and politics,...

The Blue Sky.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 25, 2006... The Blue Sky GALSAN TSCHINAG, TRANS. FROM THE GERMAN BY KATHARINA ROUT. Milkweed, $24 (187p) ISBN 978-1-571310-55-2 Galsan Tschinag is the German name taken by Irgit Shynykbaioglu Dshurukuwaa, a Tuvan born in Mongolia in the early 1940s....

Germ.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 25, 2006... Germ ROBERT LIPARULO. WestBow, $22.99 (496p) ISBN 0-7852-6178-8 In this doorstopper of a sophomore suspense novel, Liparulo (Comes a Horseman) explores the grim possibilities of germ warfare with an interesting twist: this Ebola virus can...

The Nativity Story.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 25, 2006... The Nativity Story ANGELA HUNT, DEVELOPED FROM THE SCREENPLAY BY MIKE RICH. Tyndale, $13.99 paper (250p) ISBN 1-4143-1462-0 It's a difficult task to retell the biblical nativity story in a flesh way--after all, it has been novelized,...

Erased from Memory.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 25, 2006... Erased from Memory DIANA O'HEHIR. Berkley Prime Crime, $23.95 (288p) ISBN 978-0-425-21216-5 A well-crafted plot and an engaging cast of characters headed by smart, plucky Carla Day and her gentle, 86-year-old Egyptologist father, who...

Murder 101.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 25, 2006... * Murder 101 MAGGIE BARBIERI. St. Martin's Minotaur, $23.95 (272p) ISBN 978-0-312-35537-1 At the start of Barbieri's sparkling debut, Alison Bergeron, a divorced English professor who teaches at St. Thomas, a small Catholic college in...

A Single Eye.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 25, 2006... A Single Eye SUSAN DUNLAP. Carroll & Graf, $24.95 (384p) ISBN 978-0-78671-850-4 Anthony-winner Dunlap, author of the Jill Smith mysteries (Sudden Exposure, etc.) and Kiernan O'Shaughnessy series (A Pious Deception, etc.), introduces...

The Devil's Only Friend.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 25, 2006... The Devil's Only Friend MITCHELL BARTOY. St. Martin's Minotaur, $23.95 (256p) ISBN 978-0-312-34089-6 Set in Detroit in 1944, Bartoy's gloomy, atmospheric successor to his hard-boiled debut, The Devil's Own Rag Doll (2005), finds former...

Miami Noir.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 25, 2006... Miami Noir EDITED BY LES STANDIFORD. Akashic, $15.95 paper (364p) ISBN 978-1-933354-13-2 Sixteen new, diverse and highly entertaining mystery stories pack Akashic's latest city-by-city tour of modern noir spotlighting the "Miami School,"...

Master of Souls: A Mystery of Ancient Ireland.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 25, 2006... Master of Souls: A Mystery of Ancient Ireland PETER TREMAYNE. St. Martin's Minotaur, $24.95 (320p)ISBN 978-0-312-34832-8 Set in A.D. 668, the pseudonymous Tremayne's pitch-perfect 16th mystery to feature Fidelma of Cashel (after...

Slay Bells.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 25, 2006... Slay Bells KATE KINGSBURY. Berkley Prime Crime, $13 paper (304p) ISBN 978-0-425-21200-4 At the start of Kingsbury's 14th Pennyfoot Hotel mystery, series heroine Cecily Baxter is looking forward to a peaceful Christmas without any of the...

The Sixth Man and Other Stories.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 25, 2006... The Sixth Man and Other Stories BILL JAMES. Severn, $27.95 (224p) ISBN 978-0-7278-6438-3 British author James (Wolves of Memories) creates such memorable characters in his full-length mystery novels about Det. Chief Constable Colin...

Rite.(Brief article)(Book review)
September 25, 2006... Rite TAD WILLIAMS. Subterranean (www.subterraneanpress.com), $40 (464p) ISBN 1-59606-066-2 Those who know prolific novelist Williams from his epic series (Shadowmarch, etc.) may be surprised by this collection of 15 short stories plus a...