SMART BUT NEVER HIGHFALUTIN book presents ten thought experiments in astrophysics. A must for SF writers! B PLUS

WHAT IF THE EARTH HAD TWO MOONS? by Neil F. Comins
New York: St. Martin’s Press
March, 2010

SOLID THRILLER gets extra pizzazz from its vividly-presented setting: a fancy New York fertility clinic. SOLID B

HUSH by Kate White
New York: HarperCollins
March, 2010

ENGAGING, CLEARLY WRITTEN bio is a love letter to activist Jane Jacobs’s fight vs. overdevelopment in NYC. SOLID B

WRESTLING WITH MOSES: HOW JANE JACOBS TOOK ON NEW YORK’S MASTER BUILDER AND TRANSFORMED THE AMERICAN CITY by Anthony Flint
New York: Random House
July 2009

ISTANBUL’S DRAG-QUEEN HOTSPOTS are the setting for a charming mystery with offbeat characters, Turkish flavor. SOLID B

THE GIGOLO MURDER
Penguin Books
2009

BLEAK, ELOQUENT police procedural follows an embattled inspector as she investigates a London school shooting. B PLUS

A THOUSAND CUTS
Penguin Group (USA)
2010

PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER that never quite takes off, despite a vividly imagined academic setting, characters. B MINUS

THE EXECUTOR
Putnam Adult
2010

SNARKY, THOUGHT-PROVOKING, insightful, well-researched history of conspiracy theories that just won’t die. B PLUS

VOODOO HISTORIES: THE ROLE OF THE CONSPIRACY THEORY IN SHAPING MODERN HISTORY
Penguin Group (USA)
2010

WELL-PRESENTED, well-researched true story of the family (and house) that inspired Waugh’s BRIDESHEAD REVISITED. B PLUS

MAD WORLD: EVELYN WAUGH AND THE SECRETS OF BRIDESHEAD
Harper
2010

CHARMING MYSTERY set in the earliest days of the US silent film industry has a wealth of historical detail. SOLID B

THE EDGE OF RUIN
St. Martin’s Press
2010

CRAZY-WONDERFUL post-Singularity Martian picaresque with a whiff of nuclear steampunk at last gets a US edition. B PLUS

ARES EXPRESS
Pyr
2010