November Publications

Feline fanciers will purr over The Private Life of the Cat Who...: Tales of Koko and Yum Yum from the Journals of James Mackintosh Qwilleran, by Lilian Jackson Braun, author of The Cat Who Brought Down the House (Forecasts, Dec. 16, 2002) and two dozen other titles in her best-selling cozy series. These anecdotal sketches include some enchanting verse. (Putnam, $10.95 144p ISBN 0-399-15132-X)

Like the previous entry in the series, The House of the Seven Mabels, Jill Churchill's Bell, Book, and Scandal: A Jane Jeffry Mystery, in which would-be author Jane and pal Shelley Nowack find trouble at a mystery writers' conference, offers only routine sleuthing. Churchill's newer Grace and Favor series (Love for Sale, etc.) has a more interesting setting and fresher characters. (Morrow, $23.95 224p ISBN 0-06-009797-3)

In Sharon Fiffer's third winning antiques mystery (after 2002's Dead Guy's Stuff), The Wrong Stuff, series heroine Jane Wheel goes undercover to investigate a dealer accused of murder as part of a counterfeit furniture operation, but the case has a personal angle she didn't anticipate. Haunters of flea markets and yard sales are in for a collectible treat. (St. Martin's Minotaur/Dunne, $24.95 288p ISBN 0-312-31414-0)

British author Kate Kingsbury (Service for Two) delivers a delightful Christmas whodunit, No Clue at the Inn, a special entry in her Pennyfoot Hotel series. When former owners Cecily Sinclair Baxter and husband Hugh return to the Pennyfoot, now a country club, to be the temporary managers, they find the strange fate of the previous manager more than troubling. (Berkley Prime Crime, $13 paper 320p ISBN 0-425-19188-5)

A Killing Climate: The Collected Mystery Stories, by Eric Wright, contains all the shorter fiction by the four-time Arthur Ellis Award—winning author of the series featuring Superintendent Charlie Salter of the Metropolitan Toronto Police. Written especially for this volume is a Charlie Salter novella, "The Lady of Shalott." (Crippen & Landru [www.crippenlandru.com], $42 212p ISBN 1-885941-86-2; $17 paper -87-0)

October Publications

Mystery fans who appreciate good eating will welcome Jo Grossman and Robert Weibezahl's A Second Helping of Murder, which includes recipes from such contemporary mystery writers as Elizabeth George, Alexander McCall Smith, Elizabeth Peters and Robert Barnard. (Poisoned Pen, $19.95 224p ISBN 1-59058-077-X) The same publisher is reissuing the authors' prequel, A Taste of Murder. ($19.95 224p -076-1)