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HAVE YOU SEEN MARIE? by Sandra Cisneros and Ester Hernández

December 22, 2012

SWEET FABLE ABOUT love, loss, and neighborhood from Sandra Cisneros, with charming art by Ester Hernández.

Grade: SOLID B

HAVE YOU SEEN MARIE?
Knopf
2012

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SILENT HOUSE, by Orhan Pamuk

December 21, 2012

THE INTERTWINED LIVES of several generations in a small Turkish seaside town—luminous early Orhan Pamuk.

Grade: B PLUS

SILENT HOUSE
Knopf Doubleday
2012

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MUNSTER’S CASE, by Håkan Nesser

December 20, 2012

BLEAK, COMPLEX POLICE procedural from Swedish crime fiction star Håkan Nesser. Atmospheric, if dour, puzzler!

Grade: SOLID B

MUNSTER'S CASE (AN INSPECTOR VAN VEETEREN MYSTERY)
Pantheon
2012

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GOD CARLOS, by Anthony Winkler

December 19, 2012

THE CLASH OF CULTURES dramatized in this sharply witty picaresque novel of Spaniard vs. Arawak in 1520 Jamaica.

Grade: B PLUS

GOD CARLOS
Akashic Books
2012

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KILL DECISION, by Daniel Suarez

December 18, 2012

TOPICAL TECHNO-THRILLER FEATURES drones, hackers, “black ops”–ripped-from-the-headlines Crichtonesque chills!

Grade: SOLID B

KILL DECISION
Penguin
2012

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HEAVEN ON EARTH, by Sadakat Kadri

December 17, 2012

ENGAGING AND ENLIGHTENING HISTORY of Islam’s shari’a law, from its earliest days to the present moment.

Grade: A MINUS

HEAVEN ON EARTH: A JOURNEY THROUGH SHARI'A LAW FROM THE DESERTS OF ANCIENT ARABIA TO THE STREETS OF THE MODERN MUSLIM WORLD
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
2012

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KILLING THE POORMASTER, by Holly Metz

December 16, 2012

A GRIM MURDER TRIAL from 1938 New Jersey highlights the despair of the Depression and the impact of corruption.

Grade: B PLUS

KILLING THE POORMASTER: A SAGA OF POVERTY, CORRUPTION, AND MURDER IN THE GREAT DEPRESSION
Chicago Review Press
2012

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THE AFFAIR, by Alicia Clifford

December 15, 2012

AFTER HER DEATH, an English writer’s children and grandchildren discover her secrets. Well done family drama.

Grade: SOLID B

THE AFFAIR
St. Martin's Press
2012

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HAPPILY EVER MADDER, by Stephanie McAfee

December 14, 2012

ROLLICKING COMIC NOVEL about the misadventures of a larger-than-life country girl in a snooty beach resort.

Grade: SOLID B

HAPPILY EVER MADDER
Penguin
2012

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THE BUZZARD TABLE, by Margaret Maron

December 13, 2012

COMPLEX, SATISFYING MYSTERY set in Margaret Maron’s truer-than-life Colleton County, North Carolina. Absorbing!

Grade: B PLUS

THE BUZZARD TABLE: A DEBORAH KNOTT MYSTERY
Grand Central Publishing
2012

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