His Majesty's Dragon* by Naomi Novik. Alternate history set in the Napoleonic Wars, flying dragons and sea battles make for a fantastic read.

The Last Spymaster by Gayle Lynds. Young maverick CIA agent matches wit with a legendary spymaster. Complex and engrossing.

Looking for Mr. Goodfrog by Laurie Graff Searching for one's prince in the rather muddled urban dating pond. Deadly hilarious.

Love in the Present Tense by Catherine Ryan Hyde. An engaging encore from the author of Pay it Forward, on the many incarnation of love and the nature of family.

Make Him Look Good* by Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez. Six women and their relationships with one Latin heartthrob. Sexy fun.

The Penultimate Chance Saloon* by Simon Brett. Comedy of sexual manners for a mature single guy, with wit and compassion. For fans of Julie and Romeo and Philosophy Made Simple.

The Virgin of Small Plains* by Nancy Pickard. Love and deceit behind a 17-year-old unsolved murder in a small town. A stand-along from the award-winning author of the Jenny Cain and Marie Lightfoot series. A must for Cold Case fans.

The World to Come* by Dara Horn. Two siblings are tangled up with a stolen Chagall of suspect provenance, Jewish folklore and family history. Intelligent and imaginative.

* = Starred reviews

School’s out. Grab these and head out for some fun and a little sun. Remember to sign up for the Summer Reading program.

The Attack by Yasmina Khadra. A Tel Aviv surgeon’s life is turned upside down by his link to a suicide bomber. Intense and timely.

Eye Contact by Cammie McGovern. Autistic Adam is the only witness and the prime suspect in another child’s murder. A gripping literary thriller.

The Mangler of Malibu Canyon by Jennifer Colt. Second crime-solving romp by the sleuthing McAfee twins on their pink Harley – this time involving a headless corpse in Aunt Reba’s Malibu digs. Wildly entertaining.

The Piano Man by Marcia Preston. A grieving mother tries to save the talented musician who received her son's transplanted heart. Compelling and graceful.

Proven Guilty by Jim Butcher. Modern crime fantasy series set in Chicago where wizards battle black magic to protect the mortal population. A TV pilot is expected to air this summer.

Restoring Grace by Katie Fforde. A sparkling, breezy read about an old crumbling mansion, three women in need of a home, and finding much more in the end. (Her previous titles are just as delightful).

Revenge of the Kudzu Debutantes by Cathy Holton. Three Georgian beauties exact revenge from straying spouses with aplomb and style. The Ya Ya Sisterhood meets the First Wives Club!

Slipstream by Leslie Larson, Drama, romance, and misfortune entangle the desperate souls working at LAX. Rich and seriously frightening.

The 18th Annual Lambda Literary Award winners were announced today. Celebrate LGBT literature (or literature that happens to be LGBT) and be the first to get one of these titles - as I write, many of our copies are still on the shelves! Categories and titles for which AADL has holdings are:

Anthology Freedom in This Village: 25 Years of Black, Gay Men's Writing ed. E. Lynn Harris
Belles Lettres The Tricky Part by Martin Moran
Biography February House by Sherill Tippins
Gay Men's Debut Fiction You Are Not the One by Vestal McIntyre
Gay Men's Poetry Crush by Richard Siken
Humor Don't Get too Comfortable by David Rakoff
Lesbian Fiction Wild Dogs by Helen Humphreys
Lesbian Mystery Desert Blood: The Juarez Murders by Alicia Gaspar de Alba
Lesbian Poetry Directed by Desire: Collected Poems by June Jordan
Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror Daughters of an Emerald Dusk by Katherine V. Forrest

Joseph R. Gannascoli, known until recently as mob captain Vito Spatafore on The Sopranos, has tried his hand at writing. Check out his new crime novel, A Meal to Die For, about a mobster and gourmet chef who has to prepare a feast for a boss who is about to be sent to jail. While you're at it, check out the first five seasons of The Sopranos on DVD: 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. Listen to Gannascoli talk about his new book on Fresh Air here.

Jamaican singer Desmond Dekker died last week at the age of 64. Check out The Best of Desmond Dekker, or hear his 1969 hit "Israelites" on one of several compilations: Rhythm and Blues Beat (Volume 2, 1964-1969), Caribbean Playground, and The Best of and the Rest of: Greatest Original Reggae Hits. Rock historian Ed Ward remembers Dekker on Fresh Air - listen here.

David Douglas Duncan is best known for his war photography, but he was also a frequent photographer of Picasso. Check out Viva Picasso or Duncan's photographic autobiography Photo Nomad, which includes seven decades of photos. Hear an interview with Duncan from July 2, 1990 here.

They are delightfully fresh voices in fiction, for the most part still under the media radar. That also means no long waiting lists. Enjoy.

The Faithful Spy by Alex Berenson. A deep cover CIA agent in the al-Qaeda camp is sent home to unleash the most devastating post-9/11 terrorist attack. A heart-pounding debut thriller by a former New York Times reporter.

Last Bite by Nancy Barr. A debut culinary romance by veteran cookbook author and Julia Child’s executive chef. Delicious and dishy, and rumored to be slightly autobiographical.

London is the Best City in America by Laura Dave. Emmy accompanies her very confused brother, Josh on a pre-wedding road trip and comes to see herself clearly for the first time. An absorbing debut novel not to be missed.

The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets by Eva Rice. An impulsive taxi ride with a stranger in 1950s London indelibly changes Penelope Wallace's life. British Chick Lit. with substance.

Sun Storm by Asa Larsson. Winner of Sweden’s Best First Crime Novel Award. Attorney Rebecka Martinsson is drawn into a murder case and a dark, nostalgic trip home. An atmospheric and chilling procedural.

Triangle by Katharine Weber. The truth behind the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire that killed 146 and the secrets kept by feisty Esther Gottesfeld, the last remaining survivor. Another gem by the author of The Little Women.

Voodoo Heart by Scott Snyder. Dark and an absurdly funny collection of short stories by a fiercely original young writer, populated by odd and unforgettable characters that will steal your heart before you know it. A sure bet.

Historical mystery fans – here is a new reason to rejoice. Let’s see… exotic locale, opulent settings, a tough, savvy amateur sleuth, plenty of seduction, danger and intrigue, not to mention a few dead bodies. Could we ask for more?

Jason Goodwin, a noted historian turns to fiction for the first time with The Janissary Tree, a mystery set in the waning days of the Ottoman Empire. The sultan’s eunuch (Warning: DO NOT jump to conclusions here) Yashim Togalu suspects the involvement of the Janissaries’, an elite troop in a series of barbaric murders and jewel theft around Istanbul and the royal court.

This is the impressive debut of a projected series.

...stage magic, that is. Anyone with even a passing interest in the magicians of the 1920s (or anyone who just wants to read a good historical mystery) should try out Carter Beats the Devil, by Glen David Gold. The action starts when Warren Harding (generally considered to be the worst president in American history) is torn apart (then eaten, by a lion, on stage, in front of a live audience) during a trick called "Carter Beats the Devil", performed by the famous magician Carter the Great. Though it is revealed to be just a another clever illusion (and the President is clearly seen walking off stage after), Harding is found dead a few hours later, and the police would like to have a word or two with Carter...

You may know all about Encyclopedia Brown, Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys, but have you ever heard of The Stink Files? Here is a list of some great mystery books for grade school readers.

For the kids who like Magic Tree House:
Cam Jansen Mysteries: Cam Jansen is a 10 year old girl with a photographic memory.
A to Z Mysteries: Help Dink, Josh and Ruth Rose solve crimes and misdemeaners.
Jigsaw Jones Mystery: Jigsaws puzzles are like mysteries: you've got to look at all the peices to solve the case!

I frankly cannot remember the last time a debut thriller generated such buzz. Library Journal, Booklist, as well as Publishers Weekly all gave John Hart’s The King of Lies starred reviews.

Critics are calling it ”stunning…, an exceptionally deep and complex mystery thriller”; “The writing is beautiful and the story is gripping, but it is the character study… that puts this debut novel on the must-read list.”

At the center of the mystery is Work(man) Pickens, a struggling North Carolina attorney with some serious baggage – one of them is being accused of his father’s murder. You won’t want to miss this one.

The Diane Rehm Show on Tuesday, April 25th featured an interview with Russian author Boris Akunin, the pen name of Grigory Chkhartishvili. His literary detective novels became bestsellers in Russia and soon spread to the English-speaking world. The AADL owns several of his books in both English and Russian, as well as The Winter Queen and Murder on the Leviathan as books-on-CD. Can anyone spot the sly allusion to a certain Russian thinker hidden in Chkhartishvili's pen name?