WILL EISNER, dean of American comic book arts, is profiled in this readable, meticulously researched biography. B PLUS

WILL EISNER: A DREAMER’S LIFE IN COMICS
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
2010

CHARLIE MUFFIN’S BACK as the shambling counterspy copes with crises at Moscow’s UK embassy, and in his own life. B PLUS

RED STAR RISING
St. Martin’s Press
2010

CRISP WRITING, CLARITY of focus distinguish memoir by a mother of her son’s complex neuro/psychological illness. B PLUS

THE BOY WHO LOVED TORNADOES
Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill
2010

GREECE IS THE VIVIDLY drawn setting for this latest World War II thriller from master of the genre Alan Furst. B PLUS

SPIES OF THE BALKANS
Random House
2010

PART WORLD WAR II SPY thriller, part proto-cyberpunk SF, part demon-haunted fantasy, completely fascinating. B PLUS

BITTER SEEDS
Tor Books
2010

POINTED SATIRE of celebrity scientists, jet-set environmentalists is blunted a bit by unappealing protagonist. B PLUS

SOLAR
Nan A. Talese
2010

EASY TO READ despite impressive breadth of research, this history of Prohibition in the US is smart and funny. B PLUS

LAST CALL: THE RISE AND FALL OF PROHIBITION
Scribner Book Company
2010

A SHELTERED WHITE SUBURBANITE gets 15 months in federal women’s prison: interesting, often insightful memoir. B PLUS

ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK: MY YEAR IN A WOMEN’S PRISON
Spiegel & Grau
2010

A RARE LITERARY CURIOSITY–an experimental meta-novel by Romain Gary–now in its first translation from French. B PLUS

HOCUS BOGUS (THE MARGELLOS WORLD REPUBLIC OF LETTERS SERIES)
Yale University Press
2010

ENGROSSING TRUE STORY of the 1800s’ Colt brothers: one a pioneer in gun design, one a notorious murderer. B PLUS

KILLER COLT: MURDER, DISGRACE, AND THE MAKING OF AN AMERICAN LEGEND
Random House Publishing Group
2010