The Jane Austen Book club is reading Margaret Maron this year. She's a North Carolina native whose first novel, "Bootlegger's Daughter" won every major mystery award for best first novel. That book was the first to feature Deborah Knott, whose colorful Daddy was a bootlegger. Deborah is an attorney who decides to take a stand against "mean-minded judicial pettiness" and take on the Old Boy's Club by running for a retiring judge's seat.

Ironskin by Tina Conolly takes Jane Eyre and turns it on its head.  Or face.  Yes, it's a mashup.  A pretty good one, but still another mashup.  I enjoyed it, though.  The characterization was pretty good, and the plot made sense, if a little confused towards the end.  In this Jane tale, Jane Elliot was wounded in the Gre

    Australian native Daniel O'Malley has written a book that slithered right up onto my favorites list--and that list isn't terribly long.

The Jane Austen Book club is reading Margaret Maron this year. She's a North Carolina native whose first novel, "Bootlegger's Daughter" won every major mystery award for best first novel. That book was the first to feature Deborah Knott, whose colorful Daddy was a bootlegger. Deborah is an attorney who decides to take a stand against "mean-minded judicial pettiness" and take on the Old Boy's Club by running for a retiring judge's seat. The book for September was "Sand Sharks" and revolved around a murder at a Judges conference at the ocean.

    Howard's book Katya's world drops us right into the action and takes us out on Katya's first voyage as a licensed sub navigator on the water planet Russalka. Katya is 15, nearly 16, and a prodigy. Her Uncle Lukyan, the sub owner, is very proud of her. As they are heading out, a Federal agent forces them to take him and a prisoner on board.