One of my favorite authors is Charles Martin. I discovered him two years ago when I read THE DEAD DON'T DANCE in manuscript and said --- this is an author who can write and make me feel. His latest book, WHEN CRICKETS CRY, is just out this week. I read it, again in manuscript, last summer. I've been looking forward to sharing it with you. Our Marketing Manager, Wiley Saichek, read an advance copy last fall and told me it was one of his favorite books of 2005. And now our reviewer, Cindy Crosby, loves it too. Trust that reading Charles Martin will take you to another place and leave you looking for his next book once you're done. People tell me this over and over again after I share his work with them.

Last weekend I flew through 18 SECONDS in about 18 hours. What a ride that book was; Stuart Shiffman reviews it this week and loved it as much as me. This week I am well into Mary Higgins Clark's TWO LITTLE GIRLS IN BLUE, which I was going to just start and then save for the beach, but Mary Mary Mary, she does those chapter endings that hook me to turn the page --- every time. I keep saying, "I will stop here" and then...another hour goes by. This week we also have Eileen Zimmerman Nicol's review of MONEY: A MEMOIR by Liz Perle. I read this a few months ago and enjoyed it. AND...we have a terrific interview with Lisa Jackson and a review by Joe Hartlaub of SHIVER, which has an opening chapter that made us SHIVER. Read on to find out why.

This is National Library Week. Here are some interesting library statistics that I read the other morning on Shelf-Awareness.com. "More than 135 million adults visited American public libraries last year, and students made 1.5 billion visits to school libraries during the school year, according to the first-ever 'State of America's Libraries' report from the ALA, released during National Library Week. Almost 90% of Americans surveyed are satisfied with their public libraries. Some 62% of adult Americans have library cards, and circulation of public library materials has climbed every year since 1990. This week we were one of the sponsors of the Oregon Library Association's Readers Advisory PreConference, which we heard about from one of our librarian readers. How fitting it was that this program fell this week.

Each month on ReadingGroupGuides.com we'd like to feature interviews with librarians and booksellers from across the country in much the same way that we interview book groups each month. If you'd like to share your knowledge and opinions about book clubs with our readers, here are links to our distinct groups of interview questions for librarians, booksellers and readers. 

In honor of National Poetry Month our Quotes of the Day this month are all taken from poems. Thanks to Marisa Emralino, our Editorial Coordinator, for this poetic effort.

Also, Robert Dugoni, author of THE JURY MASTER, answers our readers' advance reader questions.

We've added some new bestseller lists to the site --- Booksense, the national list from the Independent Booksellers Association and a list from the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association. We plan to add more regional lists in the months to come as they give you a good picture of what people are reading cross-country.

We are off to the Outer Banks for Spring Break. We've rented the same house that we had over the holidays so at least we all know exactly what's there and thus will not have to spend half a day figuring out a new place! The boys are ready to shoot pool again in the rec room, I am ready to read and watch season one of "24," which I bought from Amazon and my husband is ready to play golf...lots of golf. I'll be sure to share what I read next week when I write you from the deck.

For our Jewish readers, have a wonderful Passover.

Carol Fitzgerald (Carol@bookreporter.com)

List of titles reviewed and featured on April 7th.

List of titles reviewed and featured on March 31st.

Bookreporter.com's Carol Fitzgerald, Joe Hartlaub and Wiley Saichek interviewed acclaimed suspense novelist Lisa Jackson about her latest release, SHIVER. Jackson describes how she creates such "chilly" atmospheres and explains why her protagonist, Detective Reuben Montoya, is one of her favorite characters. She also details how and why she chooses her novels' settings and shares her excitement over her #1 spot on the New York Times bestseller list.  

SHIVER by Lisa Jackson (Romantic Suspense)
Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
Detective Reuben "Diego" Montoya is back in New Orleans, where a serial killer is turning The Big Easy into his personal playground. The victims are killed in pairs --- no connection, no apparent motive, no real clues. Somebody is playing a sick game, and Montoya intends to beat him at it.

After working in law enforcement for 20 years, George Shuman has decided to pursue his lifelong interest in writing with the release of his debut novel, 18 SECONDS. In this interview, Shuman explains how his experience as a police officer has strengthened his voice as a writer and describes a childhood memory that inspired elements of his book. He also draws comparisons between the two sexes and gives his two cents on the crime-solving psychics he's encountered.

18 SECONDS by George Shuman (Mystery/Suspense)
Reviewed by Stuart Shiffman
Investigative consultant Sherry Moore is blind but has the extraordinary ability to "see" the deceased's last 18 seconds of memory by touching the corpse. She tries using this remarkable gift to help police lieutenant Kelly O'Shaughnessy discover the identity of a serial killer who's abducting young women for his gruesome games.

We are very excited to be featuring Naomi Hirahara as one of our two newest featured One to Watch Authors. In her newest book, SNAKESKIN SHAMISEN, which comes out April 25th, she showcases her unique blend of wit and suspense.

-Click here to see winners of the Advance Reader Copies.
-Click here to read an excerpt from SNAKESKIN SHAMISEN.
-Click here to read Naomi Hirahara's backlist.
-Click here to read critical praise for SNAKESKIN SHAMISEN

More about SNAKESKIN SHAMISEN:
From SUMMER OF THE BIG BACHI to GASA-GASA GIRL, Naomi Hirahara's acclaimed novels have featured one of mystery fiction's most unique heroes: Mas Arai, a curmudgeonly L.A. gardener, Hiroshima survivor, and inveterate gambler.

Few things get Mas more excited than gambling, so when he hears about a $500,000 win --- from a novelty slot machine! --- he's torn between admiration and derision. But the stakes are quickly raised when the winner, a friend of Mas's pal G. I. Hasuike, is found stabbed to death just days later. The last thing Mas wants to do is stick his nose in someone else's business, but at G.I.'s prodding he reluctantly agrees to follow the trail of a battered snakeskin shamisen (a traditional Okinawan musical instrument) left at the scene of the crime...and suddenly finds himself caught up in a dark mystery that reaches from the islands of Okinawa to the streets of L.A. --- a world of heartbreaking memories, deception, and murder.

Harley Jane Kozak is our newest featured Mystery Mayhem author. Her smart and funny novel DATING IS MURDER is coming out in paperback and we're excited to be spreading the word about this witty and suspenseful tale.

-Click here to read a new excerpt from DATING IS MURDER.
-Click here to see our Advance Copy Winners.
-Click here to see Harley Jane Kozak's backlist.
-Click here to read Fast Facts about Harley Jane Kozak.
-Click here to read Critical Praise for DATING IS MURDER.

More about DATING IS MURDER:
Wollie Shelley, the plucky amateur sleuth Kirkus Reviews called "funny, brave, smart, and altogether the fetchingest crime heroine since the early Stephanie Plum," returns to face suspect lovers and unlovable suspects in this hilarious sequel to DATING DEAD MEN.

Wollie Shelley is a greeting card artist struggling to keep afloat financially and to pursue --- despite a series of recent disasters --- the search for the love of her life. She reluctantly agrees to be a contestant on the reality television show Biological Clock. The show's premise: Six eligible singles date each other, and the audience votes on which couple would make the best parents. Alas, Wollie isn't having much luck finding a man she'd like to date "off the air," much less father her child. As her own biological clock ticks away, Wollie gets caught up in a much more pressing demand on her time. Her friend Annika has vanished into thin air, and Wollie is convinced that she's in grave danger.

On a frosty winter's day, Francis --- the sweet, generous, responsible eldest child of the Harrelson family --- dies in a car accident on an ice-covered highway, and Wolf Boy is born.

With warmth, humor, hope, and empathy, Evan Kuhlman's debut novel is truly unforgettable and signals a fresh new voice in today's fiction.

We have a very special contest currently running on ReadingGroupGuides.com --- Three lucky groups will receive 12 copies of BREATH AND BONES by Susann Cokal and the chance to chat with the author. We also have the following guides now available on ReadingGroupGuides.com:

ABOUT GRACE by Anthony Doerr
ALL THIS BELONGS TO ME by Ad Hudl
BEAUTIFUL INEZ by Bart Schneider
BELLA TUSCANY by Frances Mayes
BREATH AND BONES by Susann Cokal
THE BRIEF HISTORY OF THE DEAD by Kevin
Brockmeier
A BRIEF LUNACY by Cynthia Thayer
THE BRIGHT FOREVER by Lee Martin
DANIEL ISN'T TALKING by Marti Leimbach
EATING HEAVEN by Jennie Shortridge
EVIDENCE OF HARM by David Kirby
THE GEOGRAPHER'S LIBRARY by Jon Fasman
THE GILDED CHAMBER by Rebecca Kohn
IN THE COMPANY OF THE COURTESAN by Sarah
Dunant
IN THE SHADE OF THE JACARANDA by Nikki Arana
INTUITION by Allegra Goodman
KILL ME by Stephen White
THE LAST BOYLEN by Karen Harper
THE MEMORY OF RUNNING by Ron McLarty
METROPOLIS by Elizabeth Gaffney
MONEY, A MEMOIR by Liz Perle
THE PROBLEM WITH MURMUR LEE by Connie May
Fowler
SNOBS by Julian Fellowes
STOP THAT GIRL by Elizabeth McKenzie
THE TENTH CIRCLE by Jodi Picoult
WHAT I KNOW NOW by Ellyn Spragins
THE WINDS OF SONOMA by Nikki Arana
THE YEAR OF MAGICAL THINKING by Joan Didion


Please note that these titles, for which we already had guides when they appeared in hardcover, are now available in paperback:
THE DA VINCI CODE by Dan Brown
THE YEAR OF PLEASURES by Elizabeth Berg
THE WILD GIRL by Jim Fergus
ABOUT GRACE by Anthony Doerr
LIGHTHOUSEKEEPING by Jeanette Winterson
SATURDAY by Ian McEwan
YA-YAS IN BLOOM by Rebecca Wells
THE HIGHEST TIDE by Jim Lynch

Do you visit other websites devoted to books and authors? If so, which are some of your favorites?

Please note: Our question of the week will update on April 14th.

Tell us what books YOU are reading and loving --- or even those you don't.

This week we have two great prizes: FIVE readers each will win a copy of SAVANNAH BREEZE by Mary Kay Andrews and TWO LITTLE GIRLS IN BLUE by Mary Higgins Clark.

Please note that our next Word of Mouth update will be on April 14th.