GOSSIPY, DETAIL-PACKED insider’s account of myriad scandals surrounding life and death in ultra-rich Palm Beach. SOLID B

MADNESS UNDER THE ROYAL PALMS: LOVE AND DEATH BEHIND THE GATES OF PALM BEACH
Hyperion
2009

BIO OF GYPSY ROSE LEE, the first celebrity stripper, puts her in 20th-century cultural context. A bit dry, alas. SOLID B

GYPSY: THE ART OF THE TEASE
Yale University Press
2009

ZANY, FRENETIC SF about a post-Singularity world where humans and aliens talk to trees, stones, hop dimensions. SOLID B

HYLOZOIC
Tor Books
2009

ROCK, POP, AND HIP-HOP ANTHEMS form the backbone of this novel about 20-somethings’ relationships and angst. SOLID B

LOVE WILL TEAR US APART: A NOVEL
Three Rivers Press
2009

WELL-RESEARCHED BIOGRAPHY of “Blind Tom”, the formerly enslaved pianist/composer who was a 19th-century celebrity. SOLID B

THE BALLAD OF BLIND TOM, SLAVE PIANIST
Overlook Hardcover
2009

SPOOKY, EVOCATIVE mystery set in Iceland; no-nonsense attorney investigates deaths at a farm-country health spa. SOLID B

MY SOUL TO TAKE
HarperCollins Publishers
2009

BREEZY, CHATTY BOOK by senior astronomer at the SETI Institute gives overview of scientists’ search for alien life. SOLID B

CONFESSIONS OF AN ALIEN HUNTER: A SCIENTIST’S SEARCH FOR EXTRATERRESTRIAL INTELLIGENCE
National Geographic Society
2009

UK JOURNALIST’S LOOK AT Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine conflicts works best in moments of pure battlefield memoir. SOLID B

THE SPIDERS OF ALLAH: TRAVELS OF AN UNBELIEVER ON THE FRONTLINE OF HOLY WAR
St. Martin’s Griffin
2009

SPRAWLING NOVEL of 1970s Tennessee politics, high finance has charm, rich detail, but an oddly old-fashioned feel. SOLID B

THE MILLIONAIRES
Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
2009

GRIM, GORY LITTLE HORROR TALE with a touch of noir, a lot of cynicism about the state of love and law enforcement. SOLID B

EMPTIES
Golden Gryphon Press
2009