In reviewing Charles Cumming’s Trinity of Spies in the NYT BR, Jacob Heilbrunn delineates the many novels that have drawn their inspiration from  the real-life British Cold War spy scandal and ends with the unexciting assessment that this book is “…a notable addition to the accounts of the Cambridge spies.”

Patrick Anderson in the Washington Post offered more fulsome praise,

Cumming writes smart, seductive prose, and he’s gifted at revealing the subtleties of personality. Scene after scene crackles with excitement, tension and suspense. The novel’s ingenious plot is almost as complicated as real life, but as one astonishing revelation follows another, the book is all but impossible to put aside.

He compares the author to other spy masters,

With this novel, Cumming joins Alan Furst, David Ignatius and Olen Steinhauer among the most skillful current spy novelists, and he bears comparison with masters such as John le Carre and Graham Greene.

People magazine also rated the book highly, giving it four of four stars; “a smashing Cold War thriller for the 21st century.”

The Trinity Six Charles Cumming Retail Price: $24.99 Hardcover: 368 pages Publisher: St. Martin’s Press – (2011-03-15) ISBN / EAN: 0312675291 / 9780312675295

One of the most engaging reviews in the 3/27 NYT Book Review is for the memoir, My Korean Deli by Ben Ryder Howe, about the author’s adventures running a deli in Brooklyn, with his mother-in-law, while maintaining his job as editor at the Paris Review. Any author would love this opener,

It’s hard not to fall in love with My Korean Deli. First, it’s the (very) rare memoir that places careful, loving attention squarely on other people rather than the author. Second, it tells a rollicking, made-for-the-movies story in a wonderfully funny deadpan style.

The book rose to #124 (from #258) on Amazon’s sales rankings.

My Korean Deli: Risking It All for a Convenience Store Ben Ryder Howe Retail Price: $25.00 Hardcover: 320 pages Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. – (2011-03-01) ISBN / EAN: 0805093435 / 9780805093438

Audio: Blackstone; read by Bronson Pinchot

USA Today says British writer Scott Mariani’s DaVinci-Code-style US debut, The Mozart Conspiracy releasing tomorrow from Touchstone with a 125,000 first printing, hits thrilling, suspenseful notes.

The book is actually the second in the author’s Ben Hope books. The sixth in the series, The Lost Relic, was released there in January and became a best seller.

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Large type from Thorndike, June, 9781410438003; $30.99
Audio; Recorded Books

Chef/author Gabrielle Hamilton was interviewed on NPR’s All Things Considered last night about her surprise best selling memoir, Blood, Bones & Butter (listen here).  Show host Guy Raz calls the book,

…the sort of hard-edged restaurant memoir we’ve come to expect from fellow New York chefs like Anthony Bourdain, who, coincidentally, described Hamilton’s book as “simply the best memoir by a chef. Ever.

This is her first book, but Hamilton says she intends to continue both cooking and writing.

Audio: Books on Tape; narrated by the author.

Below is our weekly roundup of titles to watch next week, by authors you may not have heard about yet, but are poised for success, as well as our list of “usual suspects.” The week brings a large number of new books from big-name authors, including Harlan Coben and Alexander McCall Smith.

Titles to Watch

Spiral by Paul McEuen (Dial) is a techno-thriller that New York Times critic Janet Maslin compared favorably to Michael Crichton in his prime in a review that jumped the book’s pub date, as we mentioned earlier this week.  Today’s Wall Street Journal anoints the author a “publishing star,” although an “unlikely” one (McEuen is a Cornell physics professor) and points out that the book was a best seller in Germany, where it was published in translation last fall. Film rights have also been sold.

The Mozart Conspiracy by Scott Mariani (Touchstone) is this British author’s U.S. debut, though it’s actually the second installment in his thriller series featuring ex-SAS warrior Ben Hope. PW calls it “a fast, exciting read in The Da Vinci Code tradition,” though Kirkus adds “apart from the rumor that he was poisoned, though, don’t expect to learn much about Mozart.” It has a 125,000-copy first printing. Orders are in line with modest holds at libraries we checked.

The Four Ms. Bradwells by Meg Waite Clayton (Ballantine) is the story of four friends who met in law school in the early 1980s and have maintained their ties through decade of marriage, children, divorce, and various career twists, until they must confront a buried secret. Library Journal is on the fence, comparing it unfavorably to the author’s 2008 bestseller The Wednesday Sisters: “Instead of true characterization, Clayton resorts to literary quotes, legalese, and Latin verbiage to give her characters unique voices. Still, fans of Elizabeth Noble, Ann Hood, Elin Hilderbrand, and other luminaries of female friendship fiction will find much to captivate them.” Libraries we checked have modest orders in line with modest reserves to date.

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On Good Morning America yesterday, George Stephanopoulos talked to Rob Bell about his “Provocative take on heaven and hell,” in his new book, Love Wins. Bell, the pastor of a mega church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, is being accused of heresy by evangelicals.

The book has been in the top fifteen on Amazon for the last week. It moved in to the top five after the appearance.

Bell was also profiled in USA Today on Monday.

Audio from Books on Tape; 9780307940568

Going straight to #1 on the March 20th NYT Hardcover Fiction list is The Wise Man’s Fear, the second in the fantasy trilogy, by Patrick Rothfuss.

The first book, The Name of the Wind, came out in 2007 and was a hit with libraries. It won both the Alex Award and the RUSA Reading List Fantasy Award in that year. Librarian Nancy Pearl talked about it on NPR Morning Edition and recently tweeted that the new book is “a worthy sequel…Well worth the 4 year wait.”

In fact that wait may be part of the secret of its success,  (more…)

USA Today designates The Dressmaker of Khair Khana, which releases today, as the “next big Afghanistan book” (following in the footsteps of The Kite Runner and Three Cups of Tea). It’s “…backed by a perfect blend of publishing elements — a remarkable Afghan heroine, a high-profile writer, bookseller support and a marketing campaign with a celebrity roster.” That celebrity roster includes… (more…)

New York Times reviewer Janet Maslin today jumps the pub date of a techno-thriller coming next week, Paul McEuen’s debut, Spiral. Although she doesn’t seem to like the book personally, she clearly expects it to be a big seller.

She says Spiral, “…sounds like something written by Michael Crichton in his prime. It’s actually better than a lot of what Mr. Crichton wrote once his prime was over.”

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Serial killer Gretchen Lowell scared the pants off readers in Chelsea Cain’s first three thrillers (Heartsick, Sweetheart and Evil at Heart). What actress wouldn’t want to play her?

January Jones, who plays a different kind of scary on the TV series Mad Men, has optioned the books, with plans to play Gretchen…

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Thanks to a controversial video trailer for Love Wins: A Book about Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived by Rob Bell, the book’s publication date has been pushed up by a week. In the video, the Grand Rapids, Michigan mega-church pastor and bestselling author of Velvet Elvis leans toward “universalism ─ a dirty word in Christian circles that suggests everyone goes to heaven and there is no hell,” as CNN.com’s “Belief Blog” puts it.

On March 14, Bell will be the subject of a New York Times profile, and will appear on Good Morning America and Nightline.

Several libaries we checked did not have copies on order. Others showed holds of up to 10:1 on light ordering.

Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived Rob Bell Retail Price: $22.99 Hardcover: 224 pages Publisher: HarperOne – (2011-04-01) ISBN / EAN: 006204964X / 9780062049643

Other Notable Nonfiction On Sale Next Week…

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Mat Johnson, whose novel Pym is called a “blisteringly funny satire of contemporary American racial attitudes” by Laura Miller in Salon, recommends another “hilarious, uproarious, insane” novel about race on the regular NPR segment, “You Must Read This.” The book, Oreo, by Fran Ross, was overlooked in its time says Johnson…
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As a NYT columnist, David Brooks has easy access to the media and he’s been making the rounds with his new book, The Social Animal. Yesterday, he was on Good Morning America and The Colbert Report. The book rose to #2 on Amazon and several libraries are showing heavy holds on modest ordering.

While Brooks’s ideas are explored in these appearances, it’s not made clear that the book is an extended metaphor. PW describes it as…
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Jodi Picoult achieves a new landmark today. Her latest book, Sing You Home, arrives at #1 on the USA Today best seller list, her first time debuting in that position on that list.

Two of Picoult’s previous titles, Nineteen Minutes and Change of Heart, debuted at #1 on the NYT Fiction list, but the USA Today‘s list tracks all books, regardless of category or format. Both of those titles were beat out on the USA Today list by Oprah selections…

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