WARM-HEARTED, FUNNY, TOUCHING MEMOIR by writer whose life with a developmentally disabled sister sparked activism. B PLUS

THAT WENT WELL: ADVENTURES IN CARING FOR MY SISTER
Hyperion
2009

FAST-PACED MYSTERY is one of the best ever Sherlock Holmes pastiches AND one of the best Jack the Ripper stories. B PLUS

DUST AND SHADOW: AN ACCOUNT OF THE RIPPER KILLINGS BY DR. JOHN H. WATSON
Simon & Schuster
2009

HISTORY, MEMOIR BLEND APPEALINGLY in this look at Polynesian/Western relations by an American married to a Maori. B PLUS

COME ON SHORE AND WE WILL KILL AND EAT YOU ALL: A NEW ZEALAND STORY
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
2008

SCHOLARLY YET HIGHLY READABLE look at late 19th-century European terrorism and its impact on us today. Fascinating! B PLUS

THE DYNAMITE CLUB: HOW A BOMBING IN FIN-DE-SIECLE PARIS IGNITED THE AGE OF MODERN TERROR
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
2009

CHARMING MYSTERY continues Simon Brett’s witty post-cozy Fethering series; this time, it’s a death at the bookie’s. B PLUS

BLOOD AT THE BOOKIES: A FETHERING MYSTERY (FIVE STAR MYSTERY SERIES)
Five Star
2008

CRASS, BITTER, WICKEDLY WITTY novel takes on UK music business. Vivid anti-hero in pop-star freakshow. B PLUS #beachread

KILL YOUR FRIENDS (P.S. SERIES)
HarperCollins Publishers
2008

NEAR-FUTURE DYSTOPIA focuses on an isolated private school. Smart, insightful, chilling look at what could be. B PLUS

ENCLAVE
Tor Books
2009

MODERNIST NOVELIST JEAN RHYS and her work explored in a scholarly bio. Well-written but badly edited–typos abound. B PLUS

THE BLUE HOUR: A LIFE OF JEAN RHYS
W. W. Norton & Company
2009

JUICY TRUE STORY of a scandal and court case involving one of Queen Elizabeth’s 18th-century ancestors. B PLUS #beachread

WEDLOCK: THE TRUE STORY OF THE DISASTROUS MARRIAGE AND REMARKABLE DIVORCE OF MARY ELEANOR BOWES, COUNTESS OF STRATHMORE
Crown
2009

SARCASTIC, RUEFUL, ridiculous, sad memoir of a girlhood in a dysfunctional family of devoted Jehovah’s Witnesses. B PLUS

I’M PERFECT, YOU’RE DOOMED: TALES FROM A JEHOVAH’S WITNESS UPBRINGING
Touchstone Books
2009