Where should you look for the next Stieg Larsson? You could begin with Larsson’s U.S. publisher, Sonny Mehta, head of Knopf. He’s betting on Norwegian author Jo Nesbø. Mehta lured the author away from HarperCollins, signing him up for the next three titles in his Harry Hole mystery series, beginning with The Snowman (May 10).

Knopf’s efforts to make The Snowman Nesbø’s breakout may be working; several libraries show growing holds on the book and film rights were purchased in October by Working Title.

For those who haven’t yet caught up with the Scandinavian noir phenomenon, New York magazine recently added their own roundup to the dozens already out there, including  an interview with one of genre’s true forerunners, Maj Sjöwall, co-author with Per Wahlöö of ten Martin Beck mysteries, including The Laughing Policeman.

What does she think of Larsson? She found his first book badly written, so she didn’t bother with any of the others. She likes Nesbø, however.

Following close on the heels of the announcements of two other major mystery awards, the Edgars and the Agathas, the 25th annual Anthony Award nominees were announced last night.

Several titles crossed over from the other lists. One of the nominees in the Best Critical/ Non-Fiction category, Charlie Chan: The Untold Story of the Honorable Detective and His Rendezvous with American History, Yunte Huang, (W.W. Norton) has already won both an Edgar and an Agatha. The book received considerable attention when it was released last summer.

Winners will be chosen by the vote of attendees of the 2011 Bouchercon World Mystery Convention in St. Louis (Sept. 15 – 18).

Below are the nominees in the book categories (for the short story category, go to the full list) as well as the Website/Blog category. We have noted titles that also recieved Edgar or Agatha nods, as well as information on other available formats.

Best Novel

Bury Your Dead, Louise Penny (Minotaur; Large Type, Thorndike) — Agatha Winner and ALA RUSA Reading List, Mystery Winner

Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter, Tom Franklin  (William Morrow; Large Type, Thorndike; OverDrive, audio and ebook) — Edgar Finalist

Faithful Place – Tana French, (Viking; Large Type, Thorndike; Audio, Recorded Books; OverDrive, ebook) — Edgar Finalist and ALA RUSA Reading List, Mystery Finalist

I’d Know You Anywhere – Laura Lippman, (William Morrow; Audio, HarperAudio; Large Type, HarperLuxe; OverDrive, ebook) — Edgar Finalist

The Lock Artist – (Steve Hamilton, (Minotaur/Thomas Dunne; Audio, Brilliance; Large Type, Center Point) — Edgar Winner. Also an Alex Award winner

Best First Novel

Damage Done – Hilary Davidson – (Forge/Macmillan)

The Poacher’s Son – Paul Doiron – (Minotaur/Macmillan; Audio, Macmillan Audio; Large Type, Center Point) — Edgar Finalist

Rogue Island, Bruce DeSilva, (Forge/Macmillan; Audio, Tantor; Large Print, Thorndike) — Edgar Winner

The Sherlockian – Graham Moore, (Twelve/Grand Central; Large Print, Thorndike; Audio, Hachette Audio; OverDrive, audio)

Snow Angels – James Thompson – (Berkley Prime Crime/Putnam; Large Print, Thorndike;  Overdrive, ebook) — Edgar Finalist

Best Paperback Original

Drive Time – Hank Phillippi Ryan, (Mira/Harlequin; Large Type, Thorndike; Overdrive ebook); — Agatha Finalist for Best Novel

Expiration Date – Duane Swierczynski, (Minotaur/Macmillan) — Edgar Finalist

The Hanging Tree – Bryan Gruley, (Touchstone /S&S; Audio, Recorded Books)

Long Time Coming – Robert Goddard, (Bantam; OverDrive, ebook)– Edgar Winner

Vienna Secrets – Frank Tallis, (Random House; OverDrive, ebook) — Edgar Finalist

Best Graphic Novel

Beasts of Burden – Jill Thompson/Evan Dorkin, (Dark Horse)

The Chill – Jason Starr, (Vertigo Crime)

Richard Stark’s Parker, Vol. 2: The Outfit – Darwyn Cooke, (IDW Press)

Scalped Vol 6 – The Gnawing – Jason Aaron, (Vertigo)

Sickness in the Family – Denise Mina, (Vertigo Crime)

Tumor – Joshua Hale Fialkov/ Noel Tuazon, (Archaia Studios Press)

Best Critical /Non-Fiction

Agatha Christie’s Secret Notebooks: 50 Years of Mysteries in the Making, John Curran (Harper; OverDrive, ebook) — Edgar Finalist; Agatha Winner

Charlie Chan: The Untold Story of the Honorable Detective and His Rendezvous with American History, Yunte Huang, (W.W. Norton)– Agatha and Edgar Winner

Sherlock Holmes for Dummies – Steve Doyle  (Dummies Series/Wiley; OverDrive, ebook) — Agatha and Edgar Finalist

Thrillers: 100 Must Reads – David Morrell, (Oceanview) — Edgar Finalist

The Wire: Truth Be Told – Rafael Alvarez, (Grove Press)– Edgar Finalist

Best Website/Blog

Jen’s Book Thoughts – Jen Forbus

The Rap Sheet – J. Kingston Pierce

Sirens of Suspense – Chantelle Aimée Osman

Spinetingler – Sandra Ruttan

Stop. You’re Killing Me – Surber/Ulrich

The lead-up to summer continues with more thrillers and series in fiction, Erik Larson’s latest, and the early release of a memoir by a former member of Navy Seals team that hunted Bin Laden.

Watch List

The Snowman by Jo Nesbø (Knopf) is a thriller about a Swedish expert (UPDATE; as is pointed out in the comments, that should be “Norwegian expert”) on serial killers in a country that prides itself on not having any – and a strong contender for the Stieg Larsson mantle. Library Joural raves “this work is being compared to Peter Høeg’s Smilla’s Sense of Snow among others. Apt comparisons, but they don’t go far enough. This is simply the best detective novel this reviewer has read in years.” It’s also Nesbo’s first book since Stieg Larsson’s publisher picked him up. The Washington Post ran a major feature about him on Thursday, sending The Snowman up Amazon’s sales rankings (to #145 from #361). It’s also the #3 Indie Next pick for May.

Faith by Jennifer Haigh (HarperCollins) explores the impact of sexual misconduct allegations on a Catholic priest’s family. It’s the latest from the author of Mrs. Kimble, a debut that’s beloved by many librarians. The new novel has been eliciting strong enthusiasm on on our GalleyChat. People magazine gave it 3.5 of 4 stars in the 5/18 issue, calling it “haunting” and “heart-wrenching.” It gets a 150,000-copy first printing.

Usual Suspects

Blood Trust by Eric Van Lustbader (Forge) finds National security adviser Jack McClure and Alli Carson, the psychologically damaged daughter of the recently deceased U.S. President, in their third adventure, this time involving international terrorism and sex slavery. Library Journal says, “Buy a copy for the name recognition from the author’s work on Robert Ludlum’s Bourne series, but don’t expect rave responses from readers.”

Buried Prey by John Sandford (Putnam) is the 21st novel to feature Lucas Davenport of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, and finds him reopening the case that made his name when new evidence emerges. PW says, “Expert plotting and a riveting finish make this one of Sandford’s best.”

Nonfiction

In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin by Erik Larson (Crown) is a work of literary nonfiction about the experiences of U.S. ambassador to Germany William E. Dodd and his family in Berlin in the early years of Hitler’s rule. Early reviews have been strong, but some librarians say it’s slower going than Larson’s beloved The Devil in the White City.

Seal Team Six: Memoirs of an Elite Navy Seal by Howard E Wasdin (St. Martin’s) is by a former member of the counterterrorism unit that killed Osama bin Laden (see our earlier story). Unsurprisingly, publication was pushed up to make the most of the current news cycle. The author has been on several TV shows, including a Dateline special on NBC.

Transition: The Story of How I Became a Man by Chaz Bono (Dutton) is a memoir of the author’s 40 year struggle to reconcile his gender identity and the body he was born into, as the child of Cher and Sonny Bono. LJ notes that “interest will be sparked as much by Bono’s high profile as by his story.”

Lies That Chelsea Handler Told Me by Chelsea Handler is the latest from the stand up comedian and late-night talk show host on the E! network.

Movie Tie-in

Mr. Popper’s Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater, the classic chidren’s story of  a house painter who receives a large crate of Antarctic penguins, is being made into a movie. In this incarnation, however, Mr. Popper (Jim Carey) is a modern day businessman with a swanky NYC apartment. The  movie opens 6/16 (trailer here).

Edelweiss recently released a list of the top 30 most-ordered summer fiction titles (earlier, we posted the top 30 nonfiction titles). Below are a few highlights (remember, however, that some publishers are not on the system, most notably, Simon and Schuster).

#1. State of Wonder by Patchett, Ann (HarperCollins/Harper) PubDate: Jun 7; this was also #1 on the previous list (which covered orders placed 60 days prior to 2/2/11).

#6.  The Last Werewolf by Duncan, Glen (Random House/Knopf) PubDate: Jul 12; this one is catching on with more booksellers (it was at #16 on the last list), RH is planning a 100,000 printing. LJ starred it; Booklist is also a fan, calling it a “violent, sexy thriller.”

#22. The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb by Benjamin, Melanie (Random House/Delacorte Press) PubDate: Jul 26; the author’s second  fictionalized look at a legendary historical figure (following last year’s  Alice I have Been), this one focuses on the wife of “the world’s shortest man,” one of P.T. Barnum’s most well-known attractions.

#23.  Iron House by Hart, John (Macmillan/Thomas Dunne Books) PubDate: Jul 12; Hart’s career has taken off quickly; he was nominated for an Edgar for his first book, The King of Lies (2006), going on to win Best Novel for his next two books, Down River (2008) and The Last Child (2010).

The Agatha Awards, given to books that best exemplify the Agatha Christie tradition, (i.e., no explicit sex, excessive gore or gratuitous violence) were announced this weekend. Canadian author Louise Penny picked up her fourth for Bury Your Dead, giving her Armand Gamache the most Agatha’s  ever for  books in a single series.

Winners in the book categories are:

Best Novel

Bury Your Dead, Louise Penny (Minotaur, 9780312377045; Large Type, Thorndike); the sixth in Penny’s series about Quebec Chief Inspector Armand Gamache. The audio already won an AudioFile award (Macmillan Audio and AudioGo). The seventh in the series, A Trick of the Light, (Minotaur, 9780312655457) arrives in August.

Best Children’s/Young Adult
The Other Side of Dark, Sarah Smith (Atheneum, 9781442402805) is the adult author’s debut novel for teens. Horn Book said of this story about a girl who communes with the dead, thus unearthing some painful truths about Boston and the slave trade, “well-researched historical detail weaves seamlessly into a contemporary mystery that’s also a head-on confrontation of the ongoing repercussions of racism and slavery.”

Best First Novel
The Long Quiche Goodbye, Avery Aames (Berkley, pbk original, 9780425235522); the first in a series set in a cheese shop. The second, Lost and Fondue (Berkley, pbk original, 9780425241585), releases tomorrow.

Best Non-fiction
Agatha Christie’s Secret Notebooks: 50 Years of Mysteries in the Making, John Curran (Harper, 9780061988363). Christie’s 73 notebooks are painstakingly pieced together here. PW warned that even fans might be overwhelmed at the amount of detail, but also said it offers a “rare glimpse … into the mind of a writer, especially one as imaginative as Christie, who, though not a prose stylist, was expert at devising intricate plots.”

With Mother’s Day and Memorial Day approaching, new titles are dramatically on the increase – particularly fiction and celebrity memoirs. Here’s a look at what’s ahead for next week.

Watch List

The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt (Ecco) is a picaresque novel about two hired guns, the fabled Sisters brothers, set against in the California Gold Rush. Librarians have been buzzing about it on Galley Chat and it’s a May Indie Next pick.

The Story of Beautiful Girl by Rachel Simon (Grand Central) is an unlikely love story about a young white woman with a developmental disability and an African-American deaf man, both locked away in an institution in Pennsylvania in 1968, who fall deeply in love and escape together, finding refuge with a retired schoolteacher. It’s the #1 Indie Next Pick for May. It’s also the author’s fiction debut (although she wrote a well-received memoir, Riding in the Bus with My Sister).

The Moment by Douglas Kennedy (Atria Books) is the tale of a travel writer’s loves and betrayals, set in Cold War Berlin, by an American-born author who’s better known abroad (his nine previous novels have sold over five million copies, and he was awarded France’s Chevalier de L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres). Kennedy spoke at a ALA MidWinter, at a panel hosted by LJ‘s Barbara Hoffert, who said “if other readers end up as engrossed as I was, then this is the year that Kennedy becomes a household name in America.” Early reviews are also positive, and it gets a 100,000-copy print run.

The Year We Left Home by Jean Thompson (S&S) chronicles the lives of the Erickson family as the children come of age in 1970s and ’80s America, as they grow out of their rural Iowan roots. It’s the #5 May Indie Next pick, and Entertainment Weekly gives it an A-: “even minor characters receive the full attention of the author’s prodigious talents; each one is drawn so vividly that they never feel less than utterly real.”

Returning RA Favorites

Caleb’s Crossing by Geraldine Brooks (Viking/Penguin) gets a 350,000 printing and is the #8 Indie Next pick for May.

Doc by Mary Doria Russell (Random House) is the #2 Indie Next Pick for May.

The Butterfly’s Daughter by Mary Alice Monroe (GalleryBooks) gets a 100,000-copy printing.

Usual Suspects

Sixkill by Robert B Parker (Putnam) is the last Spenser novel completed by Parker before his death in January 2010, and has a 300,000-copy print run. But this is not the last we’ll see of Parker – there are two revamped series coming. On September 13, Parker’s Jessie Stone series will continue with Robert B. Parker’s Killing the Blues, by a writer producer and screenwriter Michael Brandman, who co-wrote and co-produced the television movies featuring Tom Selleck as Jesse Stone. And in Spring 2012, the longrunning Spenser PI series will continue, written by Ace Atkins, whose last few novels have been published by Putnam. He begins a new series of his own with The Ranger, starting in June.

Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris (Ace Books) Sookie Stackhouse #11

The Devil’s Light by Richard North Patterson (Scribner)

10th Anniversary by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro (Little Brown)

Celeb Memoirs

There are several celebrity memoirs coming out next week – in fact, May is such a big month for them that USA Today featured several in a round up (remember when we thought the genre was dead?).

If You Ask Me: And of Course You Won’t by Betty White (Putnam)

My Lucky Life in and Out of Show Business: A Memoir by Dick Van Dyke (Crown Archetype) is slated for a lot of media. USA Today has an early interview, and Van Dyke will appear on Entertainment Tonight on May 3, The View on May 4, NPR’s Morning Edition on May 4 or 5, and the Today Show on May 5.

Does the Noise in My Head Bother You?: A Rock ‘n’ Roll Memoir by Steven Tyler (Ecco) is on the cover of the May 2 issue of People. On May 4, Tyler will be on Good Morning America.

Good Stuff: A Reminiscence of My Father, Cary Grant by Jennifer Grant (Knopf) is a memoir by the dapper film star’s only child, from his brief marriage to Dyan Cannon. Kirkus is not a fan: “It sounds like a lovely life, but it makes for an irritating reading experience.” On May 1, Parade will run an excerpt and the author will appear on CBS Sunday Morning.

From This Moment On by Shania Twain (Atria) is the mega-selling country singer’s memoir of her hardscrabble Canadian childhood. She will be on Oprah on May 3 and the Today Show on May 4;  plus a show called “Why Not? With Shania Twain” will debut on OWN May 1.

More Nonfiction

The Reading Promise: My Father and the Books We Shared by Alice Ozma (Grand Central) wowed the crowd at MidWinter ALA and at the AAP Author Buzz panel. Indies like it, too. It’s on the May Indie Next list and is one of the indies’ most-ordered titles for summer.

A Singular Woman: The Untold Story of Barack Obama’s Mother by Janny Scott (Riverhead Books) is written by a Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times reporter.

Children’s

The Kane Chronicles: Book Two: Throne of Fire by Rick Riordan

(Hyperion Books)

Michigan author Steve Hamilton won his second Edgar last night for The Lock Artist (Minotaur/Thomas Dunne; Audio, Brilliance; Large Type, Center Point). Also an Alex Award winner, it features an unreliable narrator. He’s an 18-year-old boy rendered mute by a childhood trauma, who has a natural ability to crack safes. It’s the author’s first stand-alone, after 7 titles in the Alex McNight series.  Marilyn Stasio gave it a strong thumbs up in her NYT BR Crime column back in January. Hamilton won his first Edgar in the First Novel category in 1999 for A Cold in Paradise.

The Lock Artist has was recently released in trade paperback.

The Lock Artist: A Novel Steve Hamilton Retail Price: $14.99 Paperback: 336 pages Publisher: Minotaur Books – (2011-03-01) ISBN / EAN: 0312696957 / 9780312696955

Lisa Von Drasek called the winner in the Best Juvenile category yesterday in her story about The Buddy Files. It’s the only book in that category that is aimed at younger readers (ages 6 to 8).

The winners in the other book categories are:

Young Adult — The Interrogation of Gabriel James, Charlie Price (FSG Books for Young Readers, 9780374335458)

Best First Novel — Rogue Island, Bruce DeSilva, (Forge, 9780765327260; Audio, Tantor; Large Print, Thorndike)

Best Paperback Original — Long Time Coming, Robert Goddard (Bantam, 9780385343619)

Best Fact Crime — Scoreboard, Baby: A Story of College Football, Crime and Complicity by Ken Armstrong and Nick Perry (University of Nebraska, 9780803228108)

Best Critical/Biographical — Charlie Chan: The Untold Story of the Honorable Detective and His Rendezvous with American History, Yunte Huang, (W.W. Norton, 9780393069624)

Mary Higgins Clark Award (honoring books in the Clark tradition) — The Crossing Places, Elly Griffiths (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

Click here to view the winners and nominees in all categories.

The librarian buzz on GalleyChat has made us a believer that S.J. Watson’s debut psychological thriller Before I Go To Sleep (Harper, 6/14) will be a hit.

As a result of the buzz, advance readers editions are now scarce, but the HarperCollins library marketing team has rounded up 25 copies for EarlyWord readers. Enter your name for a chance to win( Deadline: Wednesday, May 3, 11:59 p.m., Eastern; only open to librarians in the U.S.)

Watson, who lives in the UK, will make one of his few US appearances at the ALTAF Mystery and Horror program on Sunday, June 26, 10:30 to noon during ALA.

Before I Go to Sleep is also available as an ebook from NetGalley (one big advantage of eGalleys; everyone on your RA team can read the title at once — no passing around scarce print copies).

While you’re on NetGalley, Kayleigh George at HC Library Marketing suggests you also consider the following titles (quotes are from the publisher’s descriptions):

Long Gone, Alafair Burke, 9780061999185, July 1; Burke’s first stand-alone, “a dark and twisting psychological thriller with the intensity and depth of Harlan Coben’s Tell No One and Laura Lippman’s What the Dead Know.”

Domestic Violets, Matthew Norman, 9780062065117, Sept 1; “In the tradition of Jonathan Tropper and Tom Perrotta … a darkly comic family drama about love, loss, and ambition.” Pbk Original.”

Miss Timmins School for Girls, Nayana Currimbhoy, 9780061997747, June 21; “a  debut novel set in India during the monsoon of 1974…the story of a conventional young girl who leaves her cloistered small town home to teach at a remote boarding school run by British Missionaries.” Pbk Original

The Woodcutter, Reginald Hill, 9780062060747, Aug 1; by the author of the Dalziel & Pascoe series, “a stand-alone psychological thriller that combines the macabre suspense of Thomas Harris and the brilliant narrative of P.D. James, in a story about a mysterious ex-con looking for vengeance in his hometown.”

Waiting for Robert Capa, Susan Fortes, 9780062000385, July 7; an “English Patient-style novel about the real-life romance between the photojournalists Robert Capa and Gerda Taro during the Spanish Civil War.” Pbk Original

The week leading in to the Easter holiday weekend is dominated by repeat authors, including a new David Baldacci.

GalleyChat RA Pick

The Tragedy of Arthur by Arthur Phillips (Random House) is the author’s fifth novel. About a long-lost Shakespeare play, PW gives it a starred review, and calls it “a sublime faux memoir framed as the introduction to the play’s first printing—a Modern Library edition, of course.” It got mentions in our recent GalleyChat: one participant called it “quirky and rompish” and likened it to Michael Crummey’s Galore. Entertainment Weekly gives it an A- in the new issue, “Phillips invests the metafictional gamesmanship with bracing intelligence and genuine heart. The fun starts with the opening line — ‘I have never much liked Shakespeare’ — and the energy never flags as the book develops into both a literary mystery and a surprisingly effective critique of the Bard.”

Usual Suspects

The Sixth Man by David Baldacci (Grand Central) is a new mystery with former Secret Service agents and current private investigators Sean King and Michelle Maxwell.

Eve by Iris Johansen (St. Martin’s Press) features forensic sculptor Eve Duncan in her 11th investigation, and the first installment in a new trilogy, in which she works to solve a case that has haunted her for years; the abduction and murder of her own seven-year-old daughter Bonnie. Fans will not have long to wait for the other books in the trilogy; Quinn is coming this July, followed by Bonnie in October.

The Priest’s Graveyard by Ted Dekker (Center Street) is the story of a vigilante priest and a woman dedicated to avenging the man she loved. Booklist says it’s “skillfully written, surprising, and impossible to put down. It might, in fact, be his best novel to date.” It arrives complete with its own book trailer.

Quicksilver: Book Two of the Looking Glass Trilogy by Amanda Quick (Putnam) is a paranormal romance, the latest in her Arcane Society series.

The Silver Boat by Luanne Rice (Pamela Dorman Books) is a portrait of three sisters who come home to Martha’s Vineyard one last time and has a 100,000-copy print run. Rice was a featured author at the ALA MidWinter Author Tea.

Nonfiction

Reading My Father: A Memoir by Alexandra Styron (Scribner) is William Styron’s youngest daughter’s exploration of his talent, and whether it justified his alcohol abuse and the debilitating depression that cast a long shadow over his wife and four children. Entertainment Weekly gives it an A-.

Idea Man: A Memoir by the Cofounder of Microsoft by Paul Allen (Portfolio) gives an insider’s account of the dawning of the digital age. “Allen offers a clearheaded diagnosis of Microsoft’s problems, including its complicated future,” says BusinessWeek, adding that “Allen can be a scatterbrain. That quality slips into his writing.” An excerpt in Vanity Fair, made advance headlines because of Allen’s pointed criticism of former partner, Bill Gates. Allen will appear on 60 Minutes on Sunday.

Young Adult

Twelfth Grade Kills #5: The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod by Heather Brewer (Penguin) is the final installment in this series about a teenage vampire who has spent the last four years trying to handle the pressures of school while sidestepping a slayer out for his blood.

Congrats to librarian favorite, Jacqueline Winspear. Her latest book, A Lesson in Secrets, the eighth in her Maisie Dobbs mysteries (and the second to be published by Harper), lands at #6 on the 4/10 NYT hardcover fiction list, her highest spot to date (Among the Mad arrived at #9).

Also, to C.J. Box, whose Cold Wind (Putnam/Penguin), the 11th book to feature Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett, arrives at #10 on the list. Several in the series have been on the extended list, but this is the first to make the leap to the main list.

Titles to Watch

Please Look After Mom by Kyung Sook-Shin (Knopf) marks the first U.S. publication by the author, who is popular in South Korea, where this book sold more than a million copies. It’s about the self-absorbed family of a woman who gets lost in a Seoul train station and never reappears, and dramatizes the contrast between rural and city values that have lead to the family’s neglect of this selfless mother. Janet Maslin’s New York Times review doesn’t make it sound like it will jump the cultural divide, though it may help spur further media attention.

Say Her Name by Francisco Goldman (Grove) is this accomplished novelist’s fiction tribute to the wife he lost in a swimming accident in Mexico in 2007, and was excerpted in the New Yorker. It’s been selected as the #1 pick by independent booksellers for the month of April.

 Usual Suspects

I’ll Walk Alone by Mary Higgins Clark (S&S) gets the full treatment by the Wall St. Journal, with a cover story on the veteran mystery writer’s thriving career at age 83, and her children’s resistance to bringing in ghost writers to continue her mega-bestselling legacy when someday she is gone.

44 Charles Street by Danielle Steel (Delacorte) is the story of a 30-something gallery owner who takes in boarders at her West Village brownstone in New York City after her boyfriend leaves. Kirkus calls it, “classic Steel, phoned in. Much repetitious ruminating and a stultifying, unmusical prose style too often obstruct the intended edgy escapism.”

Miles to Go: The Second Journal of the Walk Series by Richard Paul Evans (Simon & Schuster) is the second installment in a series about an executive who loses everything and decides to walk from Seattle to Key West. Library Journal says, “the first book in this five-parter left him in Spokane, so in his search for hope he has a long way to go. . . . for some readers this walk got off to a slow start, so you might want to gauge interest before deciding how many to order.”

Elizabeth I by Margaret George (Viking) depicts the Virgin Queen as an actual virgin married to England, whose interests she pursues with shrewdness, courage, and wisdom borne of surviving the deaths of her family. Library Journal says the writing is formal “neither cinematic nor intimately personal,” and that the plot is “plodding,” with a focus more on accurate history than fiction that may “try the patience of casual readers.”

The Silver Boat by Luanne Rice (Pamela Dorman Books) is a portrait of three far-flung sisters who come home to Martha’s Vineyard one last time.

Mobbed: A Regan Reilly Mystery by Carol Higgins Clark (Scribner) finds private investigator Regan Reilly and her husband, Jack, head of the NYPD Major Case Squad, in a case that takes them through key sites in New Jersey.

The Fifth Witness by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown) brings back the Lincoln Lawyer for a “satisfying” case that pits him against a real-estate foreclosure mill, according to Kirkus.

Once Upon a Time, There Was You by Elizabeth Berg (Random House) follows the journey of a couple who meet again after their divorce. Library Journal calls it “classic Berg, who’s always beloved if not always tip-top best seller.”

The Uncoupling by Meg Wolitzer (Riverhead) is about a town where the women pull away from their men, as the high school puts on a production of Lysistrata (in which the women of Greece refuse to have sex until the men end the Peloponnesian War). Publishers Weekly calls it “a plodding story with a killer hook.”

Young Adult

City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Claire (Margaret K. Elderry) is the fourth book of the internationally bestselling series, and promises, love, temptation and betrayal.

Movie Tie-in

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides Junior Novel (Disney Press) marks the return of Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp), Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush), and other familiar faces in the film release on May 20.

We’ll have to wait to see how Katherine Heigl does playing female bounty hunter Stephanie Plum in the film version of Janet Evanovich’s One For the Money. Originally scheduled for this summer, the release has been put off until January.

The film site The Playlist sees this as a smart move. Although often regarded as “the wasteland of winter programming,” the lack of competition in that period worked well for some 2011 films, notably for No Strings Attached, starring Natalie Portman.

It’s been a long road; the book was originally optioned back in 1994, before it was published. At one point, Reese Witherspoon was attached to play Plum.

The movie tie-in (St. Martins, 9780312600730) has been postponed until November.

The next Stephanie Plum novel, Smokin’ Seventeen, is scheduled for release this June.

Smokin’ Seventeen: A Stephanie Plum Novel Janet Evanovich Retail Price: $28.00 Hardcover: 320 pages Publisher: Bantam – (2011-06-21) ISBN / EAN: 0345527682 / 9780345527684

Holy Appeal Factors; USA Today offers a rundown of new and forthcoming books to read if your interest in Nordic noir has been “stoked by Stieg.” (Click on titles above for full biblio. info.)

Each annotation includes the “Stieg factor,” such as this one for Hennig Mankell’s latest (and final) in his Kurt Wallander series, The Troubled Man, “The brooding Wallander makes Salander’s black moods feel like a sunny day in Miami.”

In a companion story, Dierdre Donahue looks at this spring’s Scandinavian invasion of authors on book tour in the US.

Our “Book to Watch” this week is Lori Roy’s debut mystery Bent Road (Dutton/Penguin). It arrives with intense inhouse excitement, now being echoed by consumer reviews.

On the NPR Web site, Sarah Weinman warns,”Don’t be fooled by the novel’s apparent simplicity: What emerges from the surface is a tale of extraordinary emotional power, one of longstanding pain set against the pulsating drumbeat of social change…”

The 4/11 issue of People magazine (Elizabeth Taylor on the cover) bestows four stars on it (adding to the three it’s already received from the prepub reviewers), saying, “even the simplest scenes crackle with suspense.”

Director Neil LaBute has signed on to direct Agatha Christie’s 1949 mystery, Crooked House, reports The Independent. According to the story, this comes at a time when the venerable British Poirot TV series, based on one of Christie’s detectives, is having trouble raising the cash to continue.

Perhaps that is the reason that edgy film director LaBute (In the Company of Men and Your Friends and Neighbors) was chosen to direct this classic whodunnit. The site Word & Film, suggests that the pairing of “the misanthropic auteur” LaBute and Christie is not as strange as one might think.

The film begins shooting later this year.

Crooked House has just been released as part of HarperCollins’s repackaging of the Christie backlist.

Crooked House Agatha Christie Retail Price: $12.99 Paperback: 256 pages Publisher: Harper Paperbacks – (2011-02-01) ISBN / EAN: 9780062073532 0062073532