WELL-CRAFTED COZY mystery in the great English tradition solves puzzle of deaths at an old-fashioned bookshop. B PLUS

A SPIDER ON THE STAIRS (PHILLIP BETHANCOURT AND JACK GIBBONS MYSTERIES)
Minotaur Books
2010

INSIGHTFUL LOOK at clothes and the people who love them; the star is an Auschwitz survivor turned fashionista. B PLUS

THE THOUGHTFUL DRESSER: THE ART OF ADORNMENT, THE PLEASURES OF SHOPPING, AND WHY CLOTHES MATTER
Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group
2010

HAPLESS PRIVATE EYE Stanley Hastings is back in rare form in this tautly plotted yarn. Plenty of plot twists! B PLUS

CAPER (STANLEY HASTINGS SERIES #17)
Pegasus Books
2010

CANDID AND EYE-OPENING but never voyeuristic look at the complicated life, loves of writer W. Somerset Maugham. B PLUS

THE SECRET LIVES OF SOMERSET MAUGHAM: A BIOGRAPHY
Random House Publishing Group
2010

MEGACHURCH SOAP OPERA, deftly handled and with precisely observed detail, as usual from Kimberla Lawson Roby. B PLUS

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU PRAY FOR
HarperCollins Publishers
2010

NINE FAMOUS HYPOCHONDRIACS, from Darwin to Nightingale to Proust to Warhol, illuminated in thoughtful essays. B PLUS

THE HYPOCHONDRIACS: NINE TORMENTED LIVES
Faber & Faber
2010

WELL-CRAFTED, if a bit fluffy, saga of a woman trying to cope with her indie musician husband’s sudden stardom. B PLUS

LAST NIGHT AT CHATEAU MARMONT
Atria Books
2010

INFORMATIVE, FUNNY, good-natured history of childbirth looks at changes in attitudes and technologies. B PLUS

GET ME OUT: A HISTORY OF CHILDBIRTH FROM THE GARDEN OF EDEN TO THE SPERM BANK
Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
2010

LIFE IN NORTH KOREA, revealed through chilling interviews with six defectors from the totalitarian regime. B PLUS

NOTHING TO ENVY: ORDINARY LIVES IN NORTH KOREA
Spiegel & Grau
2009

NINE SHORT STORIES from one of SF’s most innovative voices, most set in cyberspace and virtual worlds. Gripping! B PLUS

THE GREEN LEOPARD PLAGUE AND OTHER STORIES
Night Shade Books
2010