TENSE SERIAL-KILLER THRILLER; well-realized 1985 setting adds dimension, interest to kids-in-jeopardy plot. B PLUS

DEEPER THAN THE DEAD
Penguin Group (USA)
2009

CONCISE, ELEGANT, highly readable look at Vladimir Nabokov’s art and life by a prominent scholar. B PLUS

SPEAK, NABOKOV
Verso Books
2010

TAUT, STYLISH crime caper focuses on the Scottish art world. Ian Rankin brilliant as ever, even without Rebus! A MINUS

DOORS OPEN
Reagan Arthur Books
2010

MARVELOUSLY WRITTEN memoir tells an engrossing inside story of search-and-rescue dogs and their human partners. A MINUS

SCENT OF THE MISSING: LOVE AND PARTNERSHIP WITH A SEARCH-AND-RESCUE DOG
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
2010

SPARE, ELOQUENT story of family dysfunction from a top young Brazilian novelist, here in deft translation. B PLUS

SYMPHONY IN WHITE
Texas Tech University Press
2010

MASTERFUL WESTERN with a noir sensibility and a memorable antihero from the always great Loren D. Estleman. A MINUS

THE BOOK OF MURDOCK (PAGE MURDOCK SERIES #8)
Doherty, Tom Associates, LLC
2010

TRUE TALE of a turn-of-the-20th-century Connecticut murderess who preyed on the elderly; fact-filled, creepy. SOLID B

THE DEVIL’S ROOMING HOUSE: THE TRUE STORY OF AMERICA’S DEADLIEST FEMALE SERIAL KILLER
Lyons Press
2010

DESMOND TUTU, Peace Nobelist and archbishop, writes simply and gracefully on ethics, religion, human goodness. B PLUS

MADE FOR GOODNESS: AND WHY THIS MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE
HarperOne
2010

EXPERTLY HANDLED chick lit tale of a woman’s choice to be her sister’s pregnancy surrogate. Touching, fun. B PLUS

GET LUCKY
Random House Publishing Group
2010

ENLIGHTENING TRUE STORIES of medical mysteries and the doctors and public health officials who solved them. SOLID B

THE DEADLY DINNER PARTY: AND OTHER MEDICAL DETECTIVE STORIES
Yale University Press
2009