Our battalion of newsroom Browsers found some gems in the Great Pile this month, including an illuminating history of the first woman executed in the United States, words of advice for young women trying to find their place in the world, a conversational tome for knitters, a moving memoir of a woman who got pregnant after a one-night stand and, best of all, a new David Housewright. Enjoy.


MADMAN ON A DRUM

By David Housewright (St. Martin's, 272 pages, $24.95)

You can't make it as a literary private eye with just your gun. You need to shoot with your mouth, too. And Housewright's P.I., Rushmore McKenzie, excels in this area -- never at a loss for words, be it a smart retort or a pointed comment on this messed-up world we live in. McKenzie's first-person narrative begins with the kidnapping of a policeman's daughter as she walks home from school in St. Paul, and then the story becomes more and more about McKenzie, who is a friend of the victim's family and puts up the ransom money. The fast-paced action takes the reader across the Twin Cities area, to such varied locales as an East Side bar in St. Paul, where a meat raffle is in progress, and a mansion on the shores of Lake Minnetonka. I haven't read Housewright before, but this outing -- with its fine detail and surprises -- makes me want to pick up his previous McKenzie books and the ones sure to come.

STEVE RIEL, Nation & World editor


THE ASSASSIN'S ACCOMPLICE: MARY SURRATT AND THE PLOT TO KILL ABRAHAM LINCOLN

By Kate Clifford Larson (Basic Books, 263 pages, $26)

With a single pistol shot, John Wilkes Booth changed the course of U.S. history. The chance of a more benevolent -- and likely wiser and more successful -- reconciliation between North and South after the Civil War died with Abraham Lincoln. Larson offers a masterful recounting of the surprisingly wide and intricate conspiracy of Southern sympathizers who formed the murder plot, focusing on perhaps the most controversial figure in the story -- Mary Surratt. The book takes us through Surratt's early life, her involvement in the Southern "cause" through spying, the conspiracy, the trial and finally the death of this first woman executed by the U.S. government. Larson illuminates the whipsaw passions of the time, as both media and public sentiment vilified Surratt and called for bloody vengeance during her trial, then recoiled in sympathy and remorse when the court delivered a death sentence and actually executed a woman. The author's extensive research leaves little doubt that, despite the arguments still made by apologists, Mary Surratt was guilty of deep involvement in the conspiracy.

Star Tribune, Star Tribune

BRIAN LEEHAN, CALENDAR/STAFF WRITER


THE FIDELITY FILES

By Jessica Brody (St. Martin's, 417 pages, $13.95)

Ever wanted to trade your hum-drum routine for something secret and exciting? Jennifer Hunter did just that. For two years, she's been telling her friends and family that she's an investment banker and works too hard to have a personal life. She's been working hard, all right -- as "Ashlyn," a sexy, savvy kind of spy hired by women who think their husbands are cheating on them. She's a "fidelity inspector." Using detailed notes provided by the wives, Ashlyn transforms herself into whatever male fantasy -- smart-mouthed flight attendant to professional poker player -- is most likely to reveal a potential cheater. Under her own strict guidelines (no sex, ever, with a suspect), she determines whether the man shows "intention to cheat." The fact that many do makes Jen fearful of her increasing cynicism about relationships. And because she's reached the ripe old age of 28 and isn't dating, her mother and friends think something is just not right. Once the story gets rolling, you'll be hooked -- especially when Jen meets a man whom she thinks she can trust, and her cover is nearly blown.

SHERRI HILDEBRANDT, NEWS COPY EDITOR


LETTERS TO A YOUNG SISTER

By Hill Harper (Gotham, 278 pages, $22.50)

Harper guides young women through adolescent angst in his follow-up to the bestselling "Letters to a Young Brother." This book would make a wonderful gift for any teen looking to find her place in life. In a foreword by Hollywood stunner Gabrielle Union, the actress assures that even glamorous people have times of awkwardness and that "the true journey to happiness starts with being happy with yourself." The book is filled with letters from young women, asking questions about everything from compromising morals, to politics, to career choices. Harper answers, as do other guests, including U.S. Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, TV host Tavis Smiley and Michelle Obama.

MELISSA WALKER, CALENDAR/STAFF WRITER


CHASING HARRY WINSTON

By Lauren Weisberger (Simon & Schuster, 278 pages, $25.95)

The author of "The Devil Wears Prada" aims at "Sex and the City" fans with an adult fairy tale. About to turn 30, three Manhattan girlfriends seek key changes in their lives. Recently dumped restaurant manager and serial monogamist Emmy vows to take a new job with lots of travel and have affairs with "foreign, sexy" strangers on a "Tour de Whore." Impossibly bewitching Brazilian socialite Adriana promises to settle down with one man and snag "an extraordinarily large" engagement ring. And high-strung book editor Leigh, whose seemingly flawless life is causing her deep anxiety, will try to "appreciate" perfection or maybe change "something." The three set out entertainingly enough to fulfill their resolutions, and then Weisberger gets a little sloppy. The unbelievable plot contrivances (not the least being an easy, lucrative apartment sale in a down real-estate market) pile up. By the time our heroines have careered toward the Hollywood-style ending -- in Hollywood, no less -- one realizes that the very R-rated "Chasing Harry Winston" may well have been called "Chasing Another Movie Deal."

MARCI SCHMITT, FEATURES LAYOUT EDITOR


SCREAM FOR ME

By Karen Rose (Grand Central, 436 pages, $16.99)

Oh, the small-town snarkiness this romantic thriller exposes. The gossips, charlatans and back-stabbers are as much the stars of this story as are hunky special agent Daniel Vartanain and winsome nurse Alex Fallon. The two are thrown together as they try to solve different -- though related -- mysteries in their former hometown of Dutton, Ga. It's a nail-biter of a journey in which Vartanian and Fallon are forced to confront their troubled pasts. This is the second in a trilogy on the Vartanian family misfortunes, picking up where "Die for Me" left off. For those who haven't read the first book, Rose does a decent job of bringing readers up to speed. But "Scream for Me" is an intricate tale of murder, deceit and resentments, and readers must work to keep the enormous cast of characters straight. (I made a list, and ended up with an incomplete tally of 25 names.) There are multiple unsavory characters and more than one villain with which to contend. And yet Rose has a real knack for creating memorable scenes and page-turning plot lines. That talent is enough to pull you to the end, where you're greeted with enough loose ends to leave you hungering for the final book of the series.

JACKIE CROSBY, BUSINESS REPORTER


THE BEACH HOUSE

By Jane Green (Viking, 342 pages, $24.95)

The titular beach house is a rambling Nantucket home, which, like its eccentric owner, Nan, is a grande dame fallen on hard times. The house is the novel's focal point; its focus is relationships that are as frayed and fragile as the old house's furniture. We're introduced to a head-spinning cast of characters, nearly all of whose personal lives are unraveling, causing them to lose their senses of identity and purpose. Green interweaves these stories -- sometimes clunkily-- until they mesh with the story of Nan and her house. Nan decides she must take in renters in an effort to stay in her home. She gains more than boarders as the house fills with life again, and her tenants also get a chance at a new lease on life. You can feel the story being spun, but it's still not a bad way to mentally get sand between your toes.

MARTHA BUNS, Features designer

Star Tribune, Star Tribune


ACCIDENTALLY ON PURPOSE

By Mary Pols (Ecco, 272 pages, $24.95)

There are two kinds of memoirs: those that recount adventures that readers could hardly imagine themselves undertaking and those that touch on experiences so familiar they could be one's own. Mary Pols' story of the birth of her son will especially resound with women who have experienced the "ticking clock" of fertility, unplanned pregnancy, childbirth and single parenthood. The underlying themes of loving a child and losing a parent are even more universal. Pols, a newspaper film critic, learns she is pregnant after a one-night stand with a man she met in a bar. She shares intimate insights as she decides to have the baby, strives to arrive at a workable relationship with the baby's father and garners the support of her family and friends. Along the way, Mary also is faced with the mortality of her own parents as she loses first her mother and, shortly after, her beloved father. Her writing is mesmerizing and lyrical. I laughed and cried and shook my head at some of her choices, but I rooted for her and her son the whole way.

JUDY ROMANOWICH SMITH, NEWS DESIGNER


THINGS I LEARNED FROM KNITTING ... WHETHER I WANTED TO OR NOT

By Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (Story, 160 pages, $10.95)

If a knitter can't be knitting, the next-best thing is to be reading about knitting. In her fifth book, knitter Stephanie Pearl-McPhee continues her conversation with those who know this -- namely, the tens of thousands of fans who read her posts faithfully and jam bookstores for her appearances. Her droll, personable humor is, this time, divided into 45 short essays in which she articulates those things that (probably) everyone knows, true or otherwise, but knitters especially so. For example: beginning is easy, continuing is hard; there's no accounting for taste; babies grow, plan accordingly; you knit a swatch and got the correct gauge? -- oh, please. This book is ideal for grazing -- like checking in with a good friend.

RUTH DENNEY, NEWS LAYOUT EDITOR