FASCINATING, IF FLAWED, historical thriller features author Charlotte Bronte as an unlikely spy and sleuth. SOLID B

BEDLAM: THE FURTHER SECRET ADVENTURES OF CHARLOTTE BRONTE
Overlook Press, The
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

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

TRUE TALE of a turn-of-the-20th-century Connecticut murderess who preyed on the elderly; fact-filled, creepy. SOLID B

THE DEVIL’S ROOMING HOUSE: THE TRUE STORY OF AMERICA’S DEADLIEST FEMALE SERIAL KILLER
Lyons Press
2010

ENLIGHTENING TRUE STORIES of medical mysteries and the doctors and public health officials who solved them. SOLID B

THE DEADLY DINNER PARTY: AND OTHER MEDICAL DETECTIVE STORIES
Yale University Press
2009

WELL-CRAFTED comedy of manners from Nicholas Coleridge has some wry twists, zingers, but breaks no new ground. SOLID B

PRIDE AND AVARICE
Thomas Dunne Books
2010

IMPRESSIVE RESEARCH, clear writing bring the Wild West tale of Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid into vivid focus. SOLID B

TO HELL ON A FAST HORSE: BILLY THE KID, PAT GARRETT, AND THE EPIC CHASE TO JUSTICE IN THE OLD WEST
William Morrow
2010

FASCINATING LOOK at the history of scientists’ search for extra-terrestrial life by a SETI Project insider. SOLID B

THE EERIE SILENCE: RENEWING OUR SEARCH FOR ALIEN INTELLIGENCE
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
2010

SURREAL NEAR-FUTURE tale of genetic manipulation has a vivid protagonist, strong writing, but lacks coherence. SOLID B

THE COLONY
Soft Skull Press
2010