prepub alert.

Baker, Calvin.
Dominion.
Grove. Jul. 2006. 448p.
ISBN 0-8021-1829-1 [ISBN 978-0-8021-1829-5]. $24.

Before the Revolutionary War, freed slave Jasper Merian builds an estate in the Carolina wilderness. With a 16-city tour.

Billingham, Mark.
Lifeless.
Morrow. Jul. 2006. 352p.
ISBN 0-06-084166-4 [ISBN 978-0-06-084166-9]. $24.95.

Billingham stalwart Tom Thorne is back, working undercover to find out why murderous things are happening to the unfortunates of London.

Block, Francesca Lia & Carmen Staton.
Ruby.
HarperCollins. Jul. 2006. 224p.
ISBN 0-06-084057-9 [ISBN 978-0-06-084057-0]. $21.95.

Award-winning YA author Block follows up her adult debut, Necklace of Kisses, with this fantasy about a young girl named Ruby who tracks her soulmate to England.

Boyle, T.C.
Talk Talk.
Viking. Jul. 2006. 320p.
ISBN 0-670-03770-2. $25.95.

Bridger falls in love with Dana on a noisy dance floor, only later realizing that she is profoundly deaf. And then she's framed for assault and theft. With a seven-city tour.

Buchan, Elizabeth.
Wives Behaving Badly.
Viking. Jul. 2006. 352p.
ISBN 0-670-03488-6. $24.95. CD: Penguin Audio.

When trouble strikes, Minty gets support from an unlikely candidate: her husband's first wife. With an eight-city tour.

Burke, James Lee.
Pegasus Descending.
S. & S. Jul. 2006. 352p.
ISBN 0-7432-7772-4. $26. CD: S. & S. Audio.

Dave Robicheaux decides to turn his back on the past--until he finds out that a dead partner's beautiful daughter has scampered over to the wrong side of the law.

Cabot, Meg.
Queen of Babble.
Morrow. Jul. 2006. 288p.
ISBN 0-06-085198-8 [ISBN 978-0-06-085198-9].
$21.95. CD: HarperAudio.

After blasting her cheatin' boyfriend, loudmouth Lizzie finds herself stranded in London. So why not help her caterer friend by bartending weddings at a French chateau? With a ten-city tour.

Childress, Mark.
One Mississippi.
Little, Brown. Jul. 2006. 400p.
ISBN 0-316-01211-4. $24.95.

Childress (Crazy in Alabama) takes us to 1970s Mississippi, where newcomer Daniel links up with fellow outcast Tim. After a car accident, the black prom queen emerges from a coma thinking she's white, and things get crazy in Mississippi. With a six-city tour.

Clark, Mary Jane.
Lights Out Tonight.
St. Martin's. Jul. 2006. 352p.
ISBN 0-312-32317-4 [ISBN 978-0-312-32317-2]. $23.95.
Cassette/CD: Audio Renaissance.

A film/theater critic finds that attending a summer theater festival is just murder. With a national tour.

Clarke, Will.
The Worthy: A Ghost's Story.
S. & S. Jul. 2006. 256p.
ISBN 0-7432-7315-X. $23.

When Conrad Avery Sutton III is murdered in what passes as a hazing incident, his ghost possesses the body of a pledge, intent on stopping the perpetual bad boy responsible for the crime. Following Clarke's hot debut, Lord Vishnu's Love Handles; with an eight-city tour.

Coehlo, Paulo.
The Devil and Miss Prym.
HarperCollins. Jul. 2006. 224p.
ISBN 0-06-052799-4 [ISBN 978-0-06-052799-0].
$24.95. Spanish. ISBN 0-06-112425-7.
pap. $13.95. CD: HarperAudio.

When a stranger lands in isolated Viscos, he starts asking uncomfortable questions about human nature that put the villagers in a metaphysical crisis.

Coonts, Stephen.
The Traitor.
St. Martin's. Jul. 2006. 352p.
ISBN 0-312-32359-X [ISBN 978-0-312-32359-2]. $25.95.

Sprung from retirement because French intelligence is acting strangely, Jake Grafton hooks up with Tommy Carmellini (of Liars & Thieves fame) to track down a worldwide conspiracy.

Fforde, Jasper.
The Fourth Bear: A Nursery Crime.
Viking. Jul. 2006. 400p.
ISBN 0-670-03772-9. $24.95. CD: Penguin Audio.

The psychopathic Gingerbreadman is leaving bodies in his wake, but Jack Spratt and Mary Mary can't investigate. They have to track down reporter Henrietta "Goldy" Hatchett, last seen alive by the Three Bears (but was there a fourth?). With a ten-city tour.

Lippman, Laura.
No Good Deeds.
Morrow. Jul. 2006. 384p.
ISBN 0-06-057072-5 [ISBN 978-0-06-057072-9]. $24.95;
lrg. prnt. ISBN 0-06-112086-3. CD: HarperAudio.

P.I. Tess Monaghan charitably shelters a street kid her boyfriend brings home, but when the boy's friend is killed and the Feds come knocking, she learns that no good deed goes unpunished. With a nine-city tour.

July gem: no good deeds but a good read

Malkani, Gautam.
Londonstani.
Penguin Pr: Penguin Group (USA). Jul. 2006. 352p.
ISBN 1-59420-097-1. $24.95.

In this black comedy about young Muslim, Sikh, and Hindu men in London, down-and-out teenager Jas negotiates the city's ethnically divided neighborhoods while trying to act tougher than he is. A debut by the 30-year-old director of the Financial Times's "Creative Business" section.

Mapson, Jo-Ann.
The Owl & Moon Café.
S. & S. Jul. 2006. 352p.
ISBN 0-7432-6641-2. pap. $14.

Mercurial Gammy Bess; forever-hippie daughter Allegra; granddaughter Mariah, embarrassed by her rowdy mom; and great-granddaughter Lindsay, brilliant but meek, come together at the family's Owl & Moon Café when Allegra is diagnosed with leukemia. With a four-city tour.

Margolin, Phillip.
Proof Positive.
HarperCollins. Jul. 2006. 400p.
ISBN 0-06-073505-8 [ISBN 978-0-06-073505-0]. $25.95;
lrg. prnt. ISBN 0-06-111993-8. CD: HarperAudio.

Wild Justice's defense attorney Amanda Jaffe is about to learn an unsavory truth: forensic evidence can be faked. With a one-day laydown; a six-city tour.

Mina, Denise.
The Dead Hour.
Little, Brown. Jul. 2006. 304p.
ISBN 0-316-73594-9. $24.95.

Begged by a blonde with a bloodied mouth she encounters at a mansion, reporter Paddy Meehan abandons a lead; the next day, she learns that the blonde--actually, an activist lawyer--has been murdered. With a six-city tour.

Muir, Kate.
Left Bank.
Viking. Jul. 2006. 352p.
ISBN 0-670-03771-0. $24.95.

Parisian celebs Olivier Malin, who sounds a lot like Bernard-Henri Lévy, and American actress wife Madison are smugly content until their daughter disappears at a theme park. A big debut for (London) Times columnist Muir.

Patterson, James & Andrew Gross.
Judge & Jury.
Little, Brown. Jul. 2006. 400p.
ISBN 0-316-01393-5. $26.95.

When a jury fails to convict a Mafia bigwig, frustrated FBI agent Nick Pellisante joins with jury member Andie Echeverra to get him some other way.

Rollins, James.
Black Order: A Sigma Force Novel.
Morrow. Jul. 2006. 448p.
ISBN 0-06-076388-4 [ISBN 978-0-06-076388-6]. $24.95;
lrg. prnt. ISBN 0-06-112083-9. CD: HarperAudio.

To uncover a powerful secret locked in a rune, Sigma Force finds itself allied with some really bad guys. With a five-city tour.

Stringer, Vickie M.
Dirty Red.
Atria: S. & S. Jul. 2006. 256p.
ISBN 0-7434-9348-6. $23.95.

From famed street lit author and independent publisher Stringer: the story of sassy and conniving 18-year-old Red.

Tyree, Omar.
What They Want.
S. & S. Jul. 2006. 256p.
ISBN 0-7432-2869-3. $21.95.

Male model Terrance Mitchell just wants to party, but when one of the beautiful women in his life crash lands, he starts looking for something deeper. With a ten-city tour. Nonfiction

Dean, John.
Conservatives Without Conscience:
Bush, Cheney, and the Radical Republicans Who
Are Destroying the Nation's Democratic Values.
Viking. Jul. 2006. 288p.
ISBN 0-670-03774-5. $25.95. CD: Penguin Audio.

Dean goes beyond Worse Than Watergate to accuse current Republicans of false piety, indifference to liberty, and just plain meanness. With an 11-city tour.

Dunn, John.
Democracy: A History.
Atlantic Monthly. Jul. 2006. 256p.
ISBN 0-87113-931-6 [ISBN 987-0-87113-931-3]. $24.

From ancient Greece to Revolutionary America and beyond: the history of democracy from a Cambridge political scientist.

Epstein, Joseph.
Friendship: An Exposé.
Houghton. Jul. 2006. 288p.
ISBN 0-618-34149-8 [ISBN 978-0-618-34149-8]. $24.

After a little Snobbery, Epstein settles down to discuss friendship.

Graham, Lawrence Otis.
The Senator and the Socialite:
The True Story of America's First Black Dynasty.
HarperCollins. Jul. 2006. 352p.
ISBN 0-06-018412-4 [ISBN 978-0-06-018412-4]. $26.95.

Attorney and social critic Graham (Our Kind of People) introduces us to Blanche Kelso Bruce--former slaver, real estate tycoon, the first full-term African American senator, and half of a Washington power couple whose children attended lily-white Harvard.

Lakoff, George.
Whose Freedom?:
How the Right Is Stealing Our Most
Precious Idea and What We Can Do About It.
Farrar. Jul. 2006. 160p.
ISBN 0-374-15828-2 [ISBN 978-0-374-15828-6]. $18.

Democratic Party adviser Lakoff argues that the Republican Party is redefining freedom as a weapon to push its own agenda.

Levine, Madeline.
The Price of Privilege:
The New At-Risk Child in the Culture of Affluence.
HarperCollins. Jul. 2006. 256p.
ISBN 0-06-059584-1 [ISBN 978-0-06-059584-5]. $24.95.

They're bright, well off, and much loved, but today's privileged adolescents are suffering an epidemic of anxiety and depression. A noted San Francisco psychologist explains why. With a three-city tour.

Margulies, Joseph.
A Prison Beyond the Law.
S. & S. Jul. 2006. 288p.
ISBN 0-7432-8685-5. $24.

The lawyer who helped Guantánamo detainees win the right of judicial review details our treatment of these presumed enemy combatants, arguing that the Bush administration is abusing executive power.

Minutaglio, Bill.
The President's Counselor:
The Rise to Power of Alberto Gonzales.
Rayo: HarperCollins. Jul. 2006. 304p.
ISBN 0-06-111920-2 [ISBN 978-0-06-111920-0]. $24.95; Spanish.
ISBN 0-06-112058-8 [ISBN 978-0-06-112058-9]. pap. $14.95.

People's Southwestern bureau chief, author of the George W. Bush bio First Son, would seem well placed to offer this assessment of U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. With appearances in New York and Washington, DC.

~~~~~~~~

By Barbara Hoffert