FOR THE BRIEFEST OF MOMENTS in Shrub: The Short But Happy Political Life of George W. Bush (Random House), the authors allow that political expediency is not George W. Bush’s sole call to arms. Witness his aggressive pursuit of a school funding initiative. That moment aside, Fort Worth Star-Telegram columnist…
A shallow grave on the outskirts of San Antonio yields the body of a fourteen-year-old girl — and Herbie, her beloved stuffed dog. What kind of killer buries his victim with her childhood play-pretty? Jay Brandon’s AfterImage stacks puzzle upon puzzle to build an expertly crafted thriller on the life…
Booking a hotel reservation online? Before you check in, check out what John Davis III has done to make it possible.
Austinite Neal Barrett, Jr., sat down to write a crime novel and mayhem broke out. Interstate Dreams (Mojo Press) — a rollicking caper with a metaphysical twang — could use a little more starch, but it compensates with ace storytelling and charmingly oddball characters. Take Dreamer, the war vet with…
Houstonian Chris Rogers shows more poise and less noise with her third Dixie Flannigan mystery, Chill Factor (Bantam). The story, centered around a group of granny bandits who drop the dishcloth and take up armed bank robbery, tracks well and neatly wraps up with a tight curtain closer. Tough-gal Dixie…
If the gods hadn’t meant us to laugh, they wouldn’t have given us Jim Hightower. The rabidly populist Austinite (and former Texas ag commissioner) inspires chuckles all around as he champions workaday Americans in If the Gods Had Meant Us to Vote They Would Have Given Us Candidates (HarperCollins). Needless…
Texas is filled with giants in the science-fiction field these days, but none loom larger than Bruce Sterling and Michael Moorcock.
