GRIM, TENSE, BEAUTIFULLY crafted Japanese thriller captures multiple perspectives on a brutal crime. Chilling. A MINUS

VILLAIN
Pantheon Books
2010

JOKEY COZY MYSTERY, 25th in a series, never picks up steam despite its cross-country train trip setting. B MINUS

LOCO MOTIVE (BED-AND-BREAKFAST SERIES #25)
HarperCollins Publishers
2010

BITTERSWEET, MEDITATIVE NOVEL of a psychologist at midlife helping his clients, students, and himself. B PLUS

THE GOOD PSYCHOLOGIST
Henry Holt and Co.
2010

SURPRISING TRUE SAGA of the self-mythologizing Iowa native who popularized yoga in the early 20th-century US. B PLUS

THE GREAT OOM: THE IMPROBABLE BIRTH OF YOGA IN AMERICA
Penguin Group (USA)
2010

TALE OF A BRILLIANT woman’s life (1880s to 1940s) may be too good at capturing claustrophobia of her marriage. SOLID B

PRIVATE LIFE
Knopf Publishing Group
2010

QUEEN OF HISTORICAL novels Philippa Gregory is great as ever, but her heroine (Henry VII’s mum)? Unappealing! B PLUS

THE RED QUEEN (COUSINS’ WAR #02)
Touchstone Books
2010

LONELINESS, viewed through personal experience and scholarly research, is the topic. Interesting but choppy. B MINUS

LONELY: A MEMOIR
HarperCollins Publishers
2010

TRUE STORY of a headline-grabbing New York society murder in 1873 paints a vivid picture of the Gilded Age. B PLUS

THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF WALWORTH: A TALE OF MADNESS AND MURDER IN GILDED AGE AMERICA
Henry Holt & Company
2010

CORPORATE ESPIONAGE takes many a deadly twist in this latest William Gibson novel of the present future. B PLUS

ZERO HISTORY
Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated
2010

CANDID, SURPRISINGLY FUNNY memoir by a writer and comedian about living with a rare autoimmune disease. B PLUS

ARE YOU MY GURU?: HOW MEDICINE, MEDITATION & MADONNA SAVED MY LIFE
New American Library
2010