QUIRKY, OFTEN POETIC memoir of art, nature, family, and Native culture from Leslie Marmon Silko.

SCIENCE WRITER’S MEMOIR of her daughter’s recovery from anorexia is a tough read, but a helpful resource.

LESBIAN SLEUTH/RESTAURATEUR Jane Lawless’s 18th outing offers tensely plotted scenes, but too much backstory.

QUEEN OF SPIES (spy thrillers, anyway) Gayle Lynds’s tensely plotted adventure focuses on a legendary library.

BREEZY FIELD GUIDE to collecting and enjoying wild mushrooms focuses on New England varieties. Yummy recipes!

STANDARD LAD-LIT schlub’s breakup ‘n’ makeover story told crisply, engagingly, but nothing new here. SOLID B

THE EX-BOYFRIEND’S HANDBOOK
Sourcebooks Landmark
2010

CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT new Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries? If so, Jill Paton Walsh’s continuations will delight. SOLID B

ATTENBURY EMERALDS
Minotaur Books
2011

TRUE CRIME SUPERSTAR Ann Rule details a family’s quest to have a suspicious death declared murder, not suicide. SOLID B

IN THE STILL OF THE NIGHT: THE STRANGE DEATH OF RONDA REYNOLDS AND HER MOTHER’S UNCEASING QUEST FOR THE TRUTH
Free Press
2010

SHERLOCK HOLMES CONTINUED in another fine set of pastiches; includes a solution to “The Turn of the Screw”! SOLID B

SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE GHOSTS OF BLY: AND OTHER NEW ADVENTURES OF THE GREAT DETECTIVE
Pegasus Books
2010

CHATTY COMPENDIUM of unusual case histories from a distinguished psychiatrist offers insight, entertainment. SOLID B

THE NAKED LADY WHO STOOD ON HER HEAD: A PSYCHIATRIST’S STORIES OF HIS MOST BIZARRE CASES
William Morrow & Company
2010