June 24, 2005

It's Really Summer Now...

School finally ended at our house today. I have to say I am ready to lobby for a MUCH shorter school year. It seems like most of June is just a waste at school. My vote: Assign five extra books for required reading and wrap things up the first week in June and then reconvene right after Labor Day! My younger son won a prize for "Introducing His Teacher to the Most New Books and Authors." Needless to say, this award made me smile!

As I write this I am in Chicago at the American Library Association Conference. I have not attended this event before. I am speaking on a panel about teens and the Internet. I am looking forward to meeting librarians --- and authors. I also am trying to plan some "down time" in Chicago to see the city. I am known for flying into cities and like most business travelers seeing the airport, the hotel and the convention center. On my plan this time, a bike trip along the lake, a walking architecture tour and a visit to the Frank Lloyd Wright exhibit in Oak Park. If I accomplish one or two of these fun things, I will be thrilled.

Jennifer Krieger has updated our new Books Into Movies section. Looking for a movie based on a book? Click the Books Into Movies art above this letter. The other day I was thinking I wish that movies did a simultaneous release in both theatres and on DVD. I would pay extra just not to have to go to the movies on a schedule. I read the other day that there is discussion about this. I know I would see a lot more films if this happened. I stumbled onto the film of THE BONE COLLECTOR last Saturday night. I had not read this book, but I had read other Lincoln Rhyme tales. I enjoyed watching this. We have a review of the new Jeffery Deaver novel THE TWELFTH CARD this week. He is a class act and I love to read him.

Three robust interviews this week. In each instance the authors told us how much they enjoyed the questions. We hope you like the answers. When I read author replies to our questions I always consider it a treat.
 
This week we are announcing a new Mystery Mayhem author, Jacqueline Winspear. I have had the privilege to meet Winspear more than once and hear her speak. Her books are historical mysteries featuring an utterly captivating character named Maisie Dobbs. Interested in being one of our 20 advance readers of the third book in her Dobbs series, UNPARDONABLE LIES? Then sign up by sending your name and mailing address to [email protected] by Friday, July 8th. You're in for a treat with this one.
 
Have a wonderful week. The weather looks terrific across the country. Take some time to relax, with a book.
 
Carol Fitzgerald ([email protected])

xxx

Bookreporter.com Talks to Laurie R. King, Author of LOCKED ROOMS

Bookreporter.com Co-Founder Carol Fitzgerald and contributing writer Shannon McKenna interviewed Laurie R. King, author of LOCKED ROOMS. King discusses the personality traits of the characters who populate this latest installment in her Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes mystery series, as well as the varied settings of her novels. She also shares details of her writing process, her background as a storyteller, and juicy tidbits about her next book, which is "sort of halfway between a Kate Martinelli and a Mary Russell." 

Click here to read more about LOCKED ROOMS.
Click here to read our Advance Readers' Comments on LOCKED ROOMS.

Click here to read our interview with Laurie R. King.

Beach Bag Of Books: Spotlight on GOTHAM DIARIES by Tonya Lewis Lee and Crystal McCrary Anthony and Weekly Beach Bag Giveaway

Whether your "beach" is on sand, your backyard deck or a grassy meadow in the country, the summer months mean it's time for "beach reading." Bookreporter.com is celebrating the lazy days of summer reading with a special feature, Bookreporter.com Beach Bag of Books.

Every week from May 20th through August 19th a different title will be featured with a review and author interview, as well as a contest prize --- a beach bag stocked with that book, plus summertime essentials that tie in to its theme. Five FABULOUS beach bags will be given away each week, as well as five copies of the book to additional winners.

Click here to read more about Bookreporter.com's Beach Bag of Books feature.

Suspense/Thriller Author Spotlight: Jack Kerley, Author of THE DEATH COLLECTORS

Bookreporter.com's Suspense/Thriller Author Spotlight Team (Carol Fitzgerald, Joe Hartlaub and Wiley Saichek) interviewed Jack Kerley, author of THE DEATH COLLECTORS. Kerley explains why he wrote this novel, a good deal of which focuses on individuals obsessed with collecting memorabilia associated with serial murderers. He also talks about the creation of Marcella Baines, whose presence hovers in the background from the moment she is introduced, his decision to write to an art theme, and the direction in which he may take some of his characters in future projects.

THE DEATH COLLECTORS by Jack Kerley (Thriller)
Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
Homicide detectives Carson Ryder and Harry Nautilus discover that the murder of a suspected prostitute in a motel room (and others that follow) bears an eerie link to Marsden Hexcamp, who led a Mansonesque band of followers on a homicidal rampage through the Gulf Coast more than thirty years previously.

Click here to read our Advance Readers' Comments on THE DEATH COLLECTORS.

Bookreporter.com Talks to Adriana Trigiani, Author of ROCOCO

Bookreporter.com Co-Founder Carol Fitzgerald interviewed Adriana Trigiani, the New York Times bestselling author of the Big Stone Gap trilogy and LUCIA, LUCIA. Trigiani talks about the nuanced elements that make up her latest novel ROCOCO, such as her love of colorful names, her affinity for old churches, and her passion for design. She also shares with readers details of her upcoming projects, which includes a continuation of the Big Stone Gap series and film adaptations of her previous novels.

ROCOCO by Adriana Trigiani (Fiction)
Reviewed by Lourdes Orive
Bartolomeo di Crespi is the acclaimed interior decorator of Our Lady of Fatima, New Jersey. To date, he has hand-selected every chandelier, sconce, and ottoman in the church. So when its renovation is scheduled, Bartolomeo assumes there is only one man for the job. New York Times bestselling author Adriana Trigiani takes on love, lust, tricky family dynamics, and home decorating in this uproarious tale of a small Italian American town poised for a makeover it never expected.

Click here to read our interview with Adriana Trigiani and a review of ROCOCO.

Mystery Mayhem: Jacqueline Winspear, Author of PARDONABLE LIES

Click here to read more about Jacqueline Winspear and PARDONABLE LIES.

Mystery Mayhem: Mary Jane Clark, Author of DANCING IN THE DARK

Click here to read more about Mary Jane Clark and DANCING IN THE DARK.

Suspense/Thriller Author Spotlight: Perri O'Shaughnessy, Author of CASE OF LIES

Read more about Perri O'Shaughnessy and CASE OF LIES here.

One To Watch: John Ramsey Miller, author of UPSIDE DOWN and INSIDE OUT

Click here to read more about John Ramsey Miller and UPSIDE DOWN and INSIDE OUT.

New In Paperback

June's roundup of New in Paperback titles includes LITTLE EARTHQUAKES by Jennifer Weiner, an engaging story of love, marriage and new arrivals; THE DANGEROUS HOUR, Marcia Muller's 23rd mystery novel about San Francisco P.I. Sharon McCone; THE THINGS WE DO FOR LOVE by Kristin Hannah, which centers on two women whose paths cross in an incredibly important and heartbreakingly honest way; 'TIL DEATH DO US PART, the third installment in Kate White's series of mysteries featuring magazine writer-turned-sleuth Bailey Weggins; and THE DOG WALKER, Leslie Schnur's debut novel about a woman who falls in love with a man after snooping around his apartment when she picks up his dog for walks.

Among our nonfiction selections are baseball and golf books that fans of both sports will treasure, and page-turning memoirs like INSIDE THE KINGDOM, Carmen Bin Ladin's compelling story of life under the veiled oppression of Saudi society.

Read our New In Paperback Feature here.

This Week's Reviews and Features

ELEVEN ON TOP by Janet Evanovich (Mystery)
Reviewed by Roz Shea
Having been shot at, spat at, cussed at, fire-bombed, mooned, and attacked by dogs, Trenton's most celebrated bounty hunter, Stephanie Plum, decides to turn in her badge and gun in favor of civilian life. But trouble continues to follow Stephanie as her past comes back to haunt her.

THE TWELFTH CARD by Jeffery Deaver (Thriller)
Reviewed by Kate Ayers
Lincoln Rhyme encounters one of his toughest cases when a killer schooled in the art of deception sets his sights on a Harlem teen. Puzzling out the motive behind the attempted murder of the young scholar takes many twists and turns, some more than 140 years old.

SHADOWS by Edna Buchanan (Mystery)
Reviewed by Bernadette Davis
A young preservationist approaches the Miami Police Department's Cold Case Squad, asking them to help block a developer's plan to bulldoze the Shadows, a historic 1920s house where one of Miami's most prominent families resided. What the detectives find on the estate shocks the city, halts the development, and threatens to tarnish the Nolan family legacy.

THE TORMENT OF OTHERS by Val McDermid (Mystery)
Reviewed by Kathy Weissman
Award-winning Scottish writer Val McDermid has written another gritty, fearsomely compelling suspense novel. Her specialty is serial killers; her heroes are Detective Chief Inspector Carol Jordan and psychologist/criminal profiler Dr. Tony Hill, gifted sleuths and vulnerable people who can't quite act on their powerful attraction for one another. And McDermid plots as well as she writes: Whodunit is anything but obvious.

OBJECTION! by Nancy Grace, with Diane Clehane (Current Affairs/Law)
Reviewed by Amie Taylor
Nancy Grace --- former prosecuting attorney, host of Court TV's "Closing Arguments" and star of "Nancy Grace" on CNN's Headline News channel --- now puts the intense personality and plethora of opinions that she shares with viewers on a daily basis into book form as she weighs in on a variety of high-profile trials and public scandals.

THE SUGAR CAMP QUILT by Jennifer Chiaverini (Fiction)
Reviewed by Judy Gigstad
Set in Creek's Crossing, Pennsylvania in the years leading up to the Civil War, Jennifer Chiaverini's seventh entry in the Elm Creek Quilt series begins with friends and neighbors taking sides in the abolitionist debate. As events unfold, an extraordinary young heroine passes from innocence to wisdom against the harrowing backdrop of the American struggle over slavery.

TO DARKNESS AND TO DEATH by Julia Spencer-Fleming (Mystery)
Reviewed by Norah Piehl
The fourth installment in Julia Spencer-Fleming's award-winning mystery series featuring The Reverend Clare Fergusson and her husband, Chief of Police Russ Van Alstyne, continues to probe new depths into emotional anguish, moral ambiguities, and small-town politics.

LOSING MOSES ON THE FREEWAY: The 10 Commandments in America by Chris Hedges (Religion)
Reviewed by Robert Finn
The Ten Commandments are "news" these days --- more often when they are flouted than when they are followed. Chris Hedges ponders how these publicly revered but privately disregarded ideas can be applied in the age of the Internet. His conclusions may discomfit you --- at least he hopes so!

THE MYSTERIOUS FLAME OF QUEEN LOANA by Umberto Eco (Fiction)
Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman
Yambo, an aging Italian book dealer, has suffered a loss of his autobiographical memory; he doesn't recognize his wife or his daughters, and remembers nothing about his parents or his days as a youngster. In an effort to recapture his memory and retrieve his past, Yambo returns to his childhood home in Solara.

ANNUS MIRABILIS: 1905, Albert Einstein, and the Theory of Relativity by John Gribbin and Mary Gribbin (Biography)
Reviewed by Brandon M. Stickney
In 1905 Albert Einstein truly established his presence as one of the greatest minds in the history of humankind. Bestselling authors John Gribbin and Mary Gribbin present, for the 100th anniversary of that astounding year, the fascinating story of how one man's genius helped shape our world.

THE UNTELLING by Tayari Jones (Fiction)
Reviewed by Bernadette Adams Davis
Tayari Jones's second novel is told from the viewpoint of Aria, a woman in her twenties whose life was shaped by the death of her father and infant sister when she was a young girl. Now Aria believes that she can reinvent herself through her planned marriage, with all its promise of a family of her own.

Click here to read this week's reviews and features.

Bookreporter.com Blog

What book are you most looking forward to reading this summer?

Please note: Our question of the week will update July 15th

Answer the Question of the Week here.

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

This week we have some great prizes: FIVE readers each will win a copy of OVER HER DEAD BODY by Kate White and UNTIL I FIND YOU by John Irving. Please note that our next Word of Mouth update will be on July 15th.