Featured Titles 2009

New titles - selected on the basis of good reviews. Nonfiction, fiction and mystery titles are included on these lists. Books for kids and teens (fiction and nonfiction) are also sometimes listed.

July 2009

Nonfiction

• The Wild Marsh: Four Seasons at Home in Montana
  Author: Bass, Rick
  $ 26 ISBN: 9780547055169 Date: 2009
  Booklist LJ PW
  In his account of life in Montana, Bass emerges not just as a writer but as a father, a neighbor, and a gifted observer, ensuring that though the wilderness is increasingly at risk, the voice of the wilderness will not disappear.
  Updated 6.19.08
  
• An Irreverent Curiousity: In Search of the Church's Strangest Relic in Italy's Oddest Town
  Author: Farley, David
  $ 25 ISBN: 9781592404544 Date: 2009
  Kirkus
  Farley offers a tour through a bizarre Italian town in search of an unbelievable relic: the foreskin of Jesus Christ. Blending history, travel, and perhaps the oddest story in Christian lore, An Irreverent Curiosity is a weird and wonderful tale of conspiracy and misadventure.
  Updated 6.18.09
  
• Rocket Men
  Author: Nelson, Craig
  $ 28 ISBN: 9780670021031 Date: 2009
  PW Booklist Kirkus
  The thrilling story of the Apollo Moon mission restores the mystery and majesty to an event that may have become too familiar for most people to realize what a stunning achievement it represented in planning, technology, and execution.
  Updated 6.17.09
  

Fiction

• A Girl Made of Dust
  Author: Abu-Ezzi, Nathalie
  $ 24 ISBN: 9780802118950 Date: 2009
  LJ
  A coming-of-age story sparked, but not consumed, by violence and loss, this poetic debut captures both a country and a childhood plagued by a conflict that even at its most threatening, carries the promise of healing and retribution.
  Updated 4.22.09
  
• Dead Man's Boots
  Author: Carey, Mike
  $ 25 ISBN: 9780446580328 Date: 2009
  PW LJ
  A brutal murder in King's Cross bears all the hallmarks of a long-dead American serial killer, and it takes more good sense than Castor possesses not to get involved.
  Suggested Reading: Cross Genres
  Updated 6.10.09
  
• In the Heart of the Canyon
  Author: Hyde, Elizabeth
  $ 24.95 ISBN: 9780307263674 Date: 2009
  PW
  From the author of The Abortionist's Daughter comes a gripping new novel about a rafting trip through the Grand Canyon that changes the lives of everyone on board.
  Updated 4.22.09
  
• Straight from the Hip
  Author: Mallery, Susan
  $ 7.99 ISBN: 9780373773831 Date: 2009
  Booklist
  Isabel has always been the fearless Titan sister. When an oil rig blows up, leaving her barely able to see, her sisters as are concerned about her emotional withdrawal as they are by the possibility that the explosion was no accident.
  Suggested Reading: Romance
  Updated 6.17.09
  

Crime Fiction

• Persona Non Grata
  Author: Downie, Ruth
  $ 24 ISBN: 9781596916098 Date: 2009
  LJ
  Engrossing, intricate, and wonderfully comic, Persona Non Grata the third novel in the "New York Times"-bestselling Gaius Petreius Ruso series.
  Updated 5.21.09
  
• Huge
  Author: Fuerst, James
  $ 14 ISBN: 9780307452498 Date: 2009
  Booklist
  Life hasn't been easy for Eugene "Huge" Smalls. Sure, his IQ is off the charts, but that doesn't help much when you're growing up in the 1980s in a dreary New Jersey town where your bad reputation precedes you, the public school system's written you off as a lost cause, and even your own family seems out to get you. But it's not all bad. Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett have taught Huge everything he needs to know about being a hard-boiled detective . . . and he's just been hired to solve his first case. What he doesn't realize is that his search for the truth will change everything for him. - Publisher Marketing
  Updated 5.21.09
  
• Wife of the Gods
  Author: Quartey, Kwei
  $ 24 ISBN: 9781400067596 Date: 2009
  LJ Booklist
  Lyrical and captivating, Kwei Quartey's debut novel brings to life the majesty and charm of Ghana-from the capital city of Accra to a small community where long-buried secrets are about to rise to the surface. This is a compelling and unique mystery, enriched by an exotic setting and a vivid cast. And Inspector Darko Dawson-dedicated family man, rebel in the office, and ace in the field-is one of the most appealing sleuths to come along in years. - Publisher Marketing
  Updated 5.15.09
  
• The Innocent Spy
  Author: Wilson, Laura
  $ 25 ISBN: 9780312538101 Date: 2009
  PW
  "A compelling and wonderfully atmospheric murder mystery" (Robert Goddard), this is the first in an exciting new series of crime novels from celebrated author Wilson.
  Updated 4.22.09