NEW YORK’S CHINATOWN in 1976 is the setting for gripping, gritty police procedural with an Asian-American hero. B PLUS

SNAKES CAN’T RUN: A MYSTERY
Minotaur Books
2010

A HYPERVERBAL CHILDHOOD transformed by a love of debate is at the heart of this perhaps too detailed memoir. B MINUS

WISENHEIMER: A CHILDHOOD SUBJECT TO DEBATE
Free Press
2010

THRILLING, IF BLEAK, true stories of 19th century Arctic exploration. Meticulously researched, well told. B PLUS

THE MAN WHO ATE HIS BOOTS: THE TRAGIC HISTORY OF THE SEARCH FOR THE NORTHWEST PASSAGE
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
2010

SNARKY, DIVERTING MEMOIR by a former blackjack card counter and poker player takes readers behind the hype. SOLID B

REPEAT UNTIL RICH: A PROFESSIONAL CARD COUNTER’S CHRONICLE OF THE BLACKJACK WARS
Penguin Press
2010

ROLLICKING STEAMPUNKY prequel to her “Company” time travel books shows the (alas!) late Kage Baker in fine form. B PLUS

NOT LESS THAN GODS
Doherty, Tom Associates, LLC
2010

CHATTY YET INFORMATIVE, thoroughly researched look at the history of Shakespearian authorship controversies. B PLUS

CONTESTED WILL: WHO WROTE SHAKESPEARE?
Simon & Schuster
2010

FAST-PACED WALL STREET thriller is good over-the-top fun, with lots of topical twists and turns. SOLID B

MONEY TO BURN
HarperCollins Publishers
2010

ABOVE-AVERAGE CHICK-LIT romp features a team of cosmetics-company commandos saving the world with style. Fun! SOLID B

BULLETPROOF MASCARA
Atria Books
2010

SCIENCE BROUGHT TO LIFE as a reporter tracks a leading–and controversial–neurobiologist’s memory research. B PLUS

101 THEORY DRIVE: A NEUROSCIENTIST’S QUEST FOR MEMORY
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
2010

TOUCHING, GRACEFUL memoir by a veteran writer who became a live-in grandparent after his daughter’s death. A MINUS

MAKING TOAST
Ecco
2010