Night Watch
By Linda Fairstein

While visitng her boyfriend, Luc, an acclaimed chef, in the charming French town of Mougins, NYC prosecutor Alexandra Cooper trips over—both literally and figuratively—a serial murder case that just might be her undoing. The local authorities appear clueless about forensics; the only thing they seem capable of doing is pointing a finger at Luc. Why? Because the killer’s first victim is a young woman who had worked at Luc’s restaurant, and the next involves an accident caused by Luc.

Top 10 SF/Fantasy
By Brad Hooper

Do you like novels offering alternate-reality settings? Or one with gothic overtones or perhaps featuring high-tech gladiators? Enjoy short stories? Interested in trying a selection that falls into the urban-fantasy category? All these possibilities reflect the many faces of contemporary science fiction and fantasy, which are also reflected in our selection of 10 of the best science-fiction and fantasy titles Booklist has reviewed over the past 12 months.

The Demon Lover . By Juliet Dark. Ballantine, paper, $15 (9780345510082).

Dark’s letter-perfect gothic style is a satisfying tribute to previous gothic novels . . .

Spring E-reference Update, 2012: Part 2; E-book Platforms
By Rebecca Vnuk

Last year, part 2 of our “Spring E-reference Update” featured a list of reference e-book platforms. Instead of repeating that information, I thought this time around we’d take a little tour of some of the platforms and what makes them unique. Faced with daunting limitations brought about by the ever-evolving e-book revolution—such as navigating the murky waters of library circulation and pricing—publishers are trying to have their platforms stand out by making them easier to navigate as well as improving their looks. But what does this mean to the end user? After all, when it comes to e-books, reference publishers were well ahead of the curve—reference books have been available online via libraries long before patrons had their own e-reading devices.

The Booklist Interview: Ariel S. Winter
By Keir Graff

Ariel S. Winter is making his crime-fiction debut in a big, big way, with raves—raves!—from the likes of Stephen King, Peter Straub, John Banville, and Booklist. Never mind what King says, though, in our May 1 Mystery Showcase, we call it “audacious and astonishingly executed.” It’s also literally a big book, difficult to explain quickly at a cocktail party. What, exactly, is it? Let’s put the author on the spot.

BKL: The Twenty-Year Death has a complicated concept. How do you describe it to people?

Winter: It’s about an author as he moves from being a highly respected literary writer in the early 1930s to being a forgotten, washed-up hack at the beginning of the 1950s.

Finalists Announced for the First Andrew Carnegie Medals
By Bill Ott

In the two short months since the Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction were established, those of us involved in the launching of the award—which is cosponsored by Booklist and ALA’s Reference and User Services Association and funded through a grant from Carnegie Corporation of New York—have been very busy. Committees were formed, procedures were established, promotional plans were made, medals and seals were designed, various organizational protocols were observed, and, yes, budgets were created. But something else was going on while all of those administrative duties were being attended to—seven people, the members of the first Andrew Carnegie Medal selection committee, were reading a hell of a lot of books. And now, we’re happy to reveal the six titles—three in fiction and three in nonfiction—that have emerged from all that reading as the finalists for ALA’s first single-title book award for adult trade fiction and nonfiction. Appropriately, Nancy Pearl, chair of the selection committee, will announce the finalists:

Trends in Crime Fiction Series: Too Much of a Good Thing?

New crime-fiction series appear every week. Readers who love those first installments may hope to see dozens of sequels, while the authors will certainly hope to cash hundreds of royalty checks. But as the series scene grows ever more crowded, some of the most commercially successful franchises have shown signs of staleness, leading us to wonder how much longer they can possibly run.

At Leisure with Joyce Saricks: PLA Recap
By Joyce Saricks

That every reader reads a different version of each book is a readers’-advisory axiom long accepted by librarians. My “version” of the recent Public Library Association Conference dealt with books and authors and reading—story in every possible format. Yours may have been different, but think of this as a readers’-advisory interview. I’m the patron; we go from my version.

First, thanks to everyone who responded to the book-networking challenge I issued in my March column and spoke to me about what they were reading or listening to or left a business card at the Booklist booth. I have a list of more than 100 titles—and I was only there two days! I have read a mere 18 of these, which is somewhat disconcerting.