Another selection of books....

From Publishers Lunch Weekly:

FICTION/DEBUT:

Susan Gilbert-Collins's COOKING WITH THE INSECURE CHEF, about a young woman who returns home after her mother's sudden death and plants herself in the family kitchen, where she pieces together the last issue of her mother's mail-order cooking newsletter while she tries to cook up a whole new life, to Trish Lande Grader at Touchstone Fireside, by Molly Lyons at Joelle Delbourgo Associates.

MYSTERY/CRIME:

Charles Todd's A DUTY TO THE DEAD, set during WWI and featuring Bess Crawford, a battlefield nurse whose promise to a dying soldier puts her at the heart of his family's tragic and murderous past, to Carolyn Marino at William Morrow, in a two-book deal, for publication in September 2009, by Jane Chelius at Jane Chelius Literary Agency (World).
THRILLER:

Danny Tobey's SOME RISE BY SIN, about a young student at the nation's most exclusive law school whose involvement in a social club and its elite, enigmatic members comes with dangerous repercussions, to Emily Bestler at Atria, in a two-book deal, by Jodi Reamer at Writers House (world).

GENERAL/OTHER:

Paula Reed's HESTER, as cryptically alluded to in the conclusion of Hawthorne's classic The Scarlet Letter, the story of what happens to Hester Prynne and little Pearl when they travel to England to find notoriety, intrigue, love, fortune, and social success, but must also face the most formidable Puritan of all, Oliver Cromwell, to Nichole Argyres at St. Martin's, at auction, by Kristin Nelson at Nelson Literary Agency (NA).
UK:

Young British "playwright of the moment" (whose Warhorse is sold out at the National Theatre) Nick Stafford's first novel ARMISTICE, about a soldier's death in the last second of WWI, and his grieving fiancee's determination to discover whether he might in fact have been killed in a friendly fire incident, to Jon Riley at Quercus, for publication in spring 2010, by Clare Conville at Conville & Walsh (world).

BUSINESS/INVESTING/FINANCE:

CNBC anchor and correspondent David Faber's HOUSE OF CARDS: The origins of the Crash, a clear and readable explanation of how the crisis in the housing market developed and why it crippled the world economy, spanning the years from the fall 2001 when cheap money flowed after 9/11 through the current crisis, based on his forthcoming documentary for CNBC of the same name, to Pamela van Giessen at Wiley, by Scott Waxman at the Waxman Literary Agency (World English).

HISTORY/POLITICS/CURRENT AFFAIRS:

Washington Post reporter Christian Davenport's AS YOU WERE: To Iraq and Back with Black Hawk Battalion of the Virginia National Guard, about five of the men and women the author followed from call-up to war to coming home again to a country far removed from the battles they faced, to Eric Nelson at Wiley, for publication on Memorial Day 2009, by Rafe Sagalyn at The Sagalyn Agency.

Salon columnist Rebecca Traister's BIG GIRLS DON'T CRY: Hillary Clinton, Sarah Palin, Michelle Obama, Tina Fey, and the Year that Changed the Face of Feminism, an enduring, incisive, and often humorous work of social commentary on the unexpected ways the 2008 presidential election brought issues concerning women and power, sexism and feminism to the fore, to Wylie O'Sullivan at Free Press, in a pre-empt, for publication in September 2010, by Linda Loewenthal at the David Black Literary Agency (world).

US Managing Editor of the Financial Times Chrystia Freeland's PLUTOCRATS: The New Global Super-Rich and What their Lives Mean for the Rest of Us, looking at how and why income inequality has surged, principally through the lives of its biggest beneficiaries, considering whether the American Dream is starting to feel out of reach, and asking whether we are at the beginning of a political, and possibly global, backlash, to Ann Godoff at the Penguin Press, by Zoe Pagnamenta at the Zoe Pagnamenta Agency, on behalf of Pat Kavanagh and Caroline Dawnay at United Agents (US).UK rights: cdawnay@unitedagents.co.ukTranslation: jcraig@unitedagents.co.uk

MEMOIR:

MENDEL'S DAUGHTER author/illustrator Martin Lemelman's BROOKLYN, an elegiac and bittersweet graphic memoir, about the author's childhood in 1950s and 60s Brownsville and the family's ultimate departure in the pivotal year 1968, to Kathy Belden at Bloomsbury, in a pre-empt, by Rob McQuilkin at Lippincott Massie McQuilkin.

Eric Poole's WHERE'S MY WAND, a humorous memoir chronicling the author's childhood years growing up in the suburbs of St. Louis in the 70s, complete with a domineering obsessive-compulsive mother, a best friend with a big heart and no arms, a chain-smoking grandmother who always speaks her mind, and his own fascination with Endora of TV's Bewitched, to Amy Einhorn at Amy Einhorn Books, by Rebecca Oliver at Endeavor (NA).

SCIENCE:

Cognitive neuroscientists at Northwestern and Drexel Universities Mark Jung-Beeman and John Kounios's book, exploring the nature of creative breakthroughs and "eureka" moments, drawing on the authors' research into brain functioning that allows us, for the first time, to understand the surprising ways in which insight happens, how mental impasses that inhibit problem-solving can be overcome, and how we can learn to deepen our own powers of insight, to Will Murphy at Random House, by Suzanne Gluck at the William Morris Agency (NA).

Wrap...