THE TRUE STORY of the 18th-century skulduggery that inspired Stevenson’s KIDNAPPED; well researched, well told. B PLUS

BIRTHRIGHT: THE TRUE STORY THAT INSPIRED "KIDNAPPED"
W. W. Norton & Company
2010

BOHO NEW YORK ca. 1990 is the true star of this novel, “broke ex-debutante finds murdered child” just the plot. B PLUS

INVISIBLE BOY (MADELINE DARE SERIES #3)
Grand Central Publishing
2010

QUIRKY TALE of Jefferson’s quest to send a giant moose to a French naturalist illuminates science, patriotism. B PLUS

MR. JEFFERSON AND THE GIANT MOOSE: NATURAL HISTORY IN EARLY AMERICA
The University of Chicago Press
2009

SARDONIC, TAUT LITERARY thriller centers on a has-been ghostwriter caught up in a notorious serial killer’s web. B PLUS

THE SERIALIST
Simon & Schuster
2010

GRIM, GRIPPING tale of diplomat Roger Casement’s 1912 human rights battle with abusive Peruvian rubber magnates. B PLUS

THE DEVIL AND MR. CASEMENT: ONE MAN’S BATTLE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS IN SOUTH AMERICA’S HEART OF DARKNESS
Farrar Straus Giroux
2010

SURPRISINGLY POETIC, gently suspenseful novel about a search for a man with dementia and the searchers’ secrets. B PLUS

LOST
Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group
2010

EVOCATIVE POLICE PROCEDURAL set in 1990s Shanghai features a poet/cop solving a mystery with Mao connections. B PLUS

THE MAO CASE
Minotaur Books
2009

EPIC FANTASY set in a world inspired by ancient China features dragons, magical jade, vividly drawn characters. B PLUS

JADE MAN’S SKIN
Random House Publishing Group
2010

CHARM, DEFT CHARACTERIZATION make this comedy of errors about a recovering spendaholic a fun, fluffy read. B PLUS

THE PENNY PINCHERS CLUB
Dutton Books
2009

CHATTY, THOROUGHLY researched group bio of Timothy Leary and other key players in 1960s Harvard LSD experiments. B PLUS

THE HARVARD PSYCHEDELIC CLUB: HOW TIMOTHY LEARY, RAM DASS, HUSTON SMITH, AND ANDREW WEIL KILLED THE FIFTIES AND USHERED IN A NEW AGE FOR AMERICA
HarperOne
2010