The One: The Life and Music of James Brown

• Hardcover: 464 pages
• Publisher: Gotham (March 15, 2012)

The definitive biography of James Brown, the Godfather of Soul, with fascinating findings on his life as a Civil Rights activist, an entrepreneur, and the most innovative musician of our time.

Playing 350 shows a year at his peak, with more than forty Billboard hits, James Brown was a dazzling showman who transformed American music. His life offstage was just as vibrant, but until now no biographer has delivered a complete profile. The One draws on interviews with more than 100 people who knew Brown personally or played with him professionally. Using these sources, award-winning writer RJ Smith draws a portrait of a man whose twisted and amazing life helps us to understand the music he made.

The One delves deeply into the story of a man who was raised in abject poverty in the segregated South but grew up to earn (and lose) several fortunes. Covering everything from Brown’s unconventional childhood (his aunt ran a bordello), to his role in the Black Power movement, which used “Say It Loud (I’m Black and Proud)” as its anthem, to his high-profile friendships, to his complicated family life, Smith’s meticulous research and sparkling prose blend biography with a cultural history of a pivotal era. At the heart of The One is Brown’s musical genius, as Smith traces the legend’s reinvention of funk, soul, R&B, and pop, and his evolution as an artist whose crucial influence spans at least 5 decades.

About R.J. Smith

RJ Smith has been a Senior Editor at Los Angeles magazine, a contributor to Blender, a columnist for the Village Voice, a staff writer for Spin, and has written for GQ, The New York Times Magazine, and Men’s Vogue.  His first book, The Great Black Way: LA in the 1940s and the Lost African-American Renaissance was a Los Angeles Times bestseller and recipient of a California Book Award.  He lives in Los Angeles.

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Monday, January 23rd: One Frugal Girl

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Situations Matter by Sam Sommers

Monday, January 23rd: Less Ordinary Living

Tuesday, January 24th: Elizabeth Potts Weinstein

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Between Interruptions by Cori Howard

Monday, January 23rd:  Musings of a Bookish Kitty

Tuesday, January 24th:  From Tracie

Wednesday, January 25th:  Red Headed Book Child

Thursday, January 26th:  There’s a Book.

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Wine to Water by Doc Hendley

Monday, January 23rd:  Book Addiction

Tuesday, January 24th:  The Things We Read

Wednesday, January 25th:  Books and Boston

Thursday, January 26th:  Helen’s Book Blog

Friday, January 27th:  The Green Geek

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The Western Lit Survival Kit by Sandra Newman

Monday, January 23rd:  Ted Lehmann’s Bluegrass, Books, and Brainstorms 

Tuesday, January 24th:  Sarah Reads Too Much

Wednesday, January 25th:  Literary Musings

Thursday, January 26th:  Between the Covers

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Graveminder by Melissa Marr

Monday, January 23rd: Books Like Breathing

Tuesday, January 24th: Jenny Loves to Read

Wednesday, January 25th: Life in Review

Thursday, January 26th: Reviews by Lola

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Faith by Jessica Keener

Monday, January 23rd: Teresa’s Reading Corner (Mrs. Kimble)

Tuesday, January 24th: Book Hooked Blog (Faith)

Wednesday, January 25th: Unabridged Chick (Baker Towers)

Thursday, January 26th: Amusing Reviews (Faith)

Friday, January 27th: Book Journey (The Condition)

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The Ruins of Us by Keija Parssinen

Monday, January 23rd: Book Club Classics!

Tuesday, January 24th: Wandering Thoughts of a Scientific Housewife

Thursday, January 26th: Peeking Between the Pages

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Our Man in the Dark by Rashad Harrison

Monday, January 23rd: A Bookish Way of Life

Wednesday, January 25th: Reflections of a Bookaholic

Thursday, January 26th: Layers of Thought

Thursday, January 26th: A Bookish Affair

Friday, January 27th: Joyfully Retired

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Folly Beach by Dorothea Benton Frank

Tuesday, January 24th: Hospitable Pursuits

Wednesday, January 25th: All Grown Up?

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Night Swim by Jessica Keener

Tuesday, January 24th: A Soul Unsung

Wednesday, January 25th: Boarding in My Forties

Thursday, January 26th: Sarah Reads Too Much

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Prime Suspect series by Lynda La Plante

Wednesday, January 25th: Wordsmithonia (Prime Suspect)

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Guitar Zero by Gary Marcus

Thursday, January 26th: Ted Lehmann’s Bluegrass, Books, and Brainstorms

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Here’s the schedule for the tour:
March 5th – 9th – The first six books in the Maisie Dobbs series
March 12th – 16th – The Mapping of Love and Death
March19th – 23rd – A Lesson in Secrets
March 26th – 30th – Elegy for Eddie

March 5th – March 9th

About Maisie Dobbs

Maisie Dobbs, Psychologist and Investigator, began her working life at the age of thirteen as a servant in a Belgravia mansion, only to be discovered reading in the library by her employer, Lady Rowan Compton. Fearing dismissal, Maisie is shocked when she discovers that her thirst for education is to be supported by Lady Rowan and a family friend, Dr. Maurice Blanche. But The Great War intervenes in Maisie’s plans, and soon after commencement of her studies at Girton College, Cambridge, Maisie enlists for nursing service overseas. Years later, in 1929, having apprenticed to the renowned Maurice Blanche, a man revered for his work with Scotland Yard, Maisie sets up her own business. Her first assignment, a seemingly tedious inquiry involving a case of suspected infidelity, takes her not only on the trail of a killer, but back to the war she had tried so hard to forget.

About Birds of a Feather

An eventful year has passed for Maisie Dobbs. Since starting a one-woman private investigation agency in 1929 London, she now has a professional office in Fitzroy Square and an assistant, the happy-go-lucky Billy Beale. She has proven herself as a psychologist and investigator, and has even won over Detective Inspector Stratton of Scotland Yard’s Murder Squad—an admirable achievement for a woman who worked her way from servant to scholar to sleuth, and who also served as a battlefield nurse in the Great War.

It’s now the early Spring of 1930. Stratton is investigating a murder case in Coulsden, while Maisie has been summoned to Dulwich to find a runaway heiress. The woman is the daughter of Joseph Waite, a wealthy self-made man who has lavished her with privilege but kept her in a gilded cage. His domineering ways have driven her off before, and now she’s bolted again.

About Pardonable Lies

In the third novel of this unique and masterly crime series, a deathbed plea from his wife leads Sir Cecil Lawton, KC, to seek the aid of Maisie Dobbs, psychologist and investigator. As Maisie soon learns, Agnes Lawton never accepted that her aviator son was killed in the Great War, a torment that led her not only to the edge of madness but also to the doors of those who practice the dark arts and commune with the spirit world. Determined to prove Ralph Lawton either dead or alive, Maisie is plunged into a case that tests her spiritual strength, as well as her regard for her mentor, Maurice Blanche. The mission will bring her to France and reunite her with her old friend Priscilla Evernden, who lost three brothers in the war, one of whom has an intriguing connection to the case.

Set against a finely drawn portrait of life between the World Wars, Pardonable Lies is “a thrilling mystery that will enthrall fans of Jacqueline Winspear’s heroine and likely win her new ones” (Detroit Free Press).

About Messenger of Truth

London, 1931. The night before an exhibition of his artwork opens at a famed Mayfair gallery, the controversial artist Nick Bassington-Hope falls to his death. The police rule it an accident, but Nick’s twin sister, Georgina, a wartime journalist and a infamous figure in her own right, isn’t convinced.

When the authorities refuse to consider her theory that Nick was murdered, Georgina seeks out a fellow graduate from Girton College, Maisie Dobbs, psychologist and investigator, for help. Nick was a veteran of World War I, and before long the case leads Maisie to the desolate beaches of Dungeness in Kent, and into the sinister underbelly of the city’s art world.

About An Incomplete Revenge

With the country in the grip of economic malaise, Maisie Dobbs is relieved to accept an apparently straightforward assignment to investigate a potential land purchase. Her inquiries take her to a picturesque village in Kent during the hop-picking season, but beneath its pastoral surface she finds evidence that something is amiss. Mysterious fires erupt in the village with alarming regularity, and a series of petty crimes suggest a darker criminal element at work. A peculiar secrecy shrouds the village, and ultimately Maisie must draw on her finely-honed skills of detection to solve one of her most intriguing cases yet.

About Among the Mad

Christmas Eve, 1931. On the way to see a client, Maisie Dobbs witnesses a man commit suicide on a busy London street. The following day, the Prime Minister’s office receives a letter threatening a massive loss of life if certain demands are not met—and the writer mentions Maisie by name. Tapped by Scotland Yard’s elite Special Branch to be a special adviser on the case, Maisie is soon involved in a race against time to find a man who proves he has the knowledge and will to inflict destruction on thousands of innocent people.

In Among the Mad, Jacqueline Winspear combines a heart-stopping story with a rich evocation of a fascinating period to create her most compelling and satisfying novel yet.

March 12th – 16th

About The Mapping of Love and Death

August 1914. As Michael Clifton is mapping land he has just purchased in California’s beautiful Santa Ynez Valley, war is declared in Europe—and duty-bound to his father’s native country, the young cartographer soon sets sail for England to serve in the British army. Three years later, he is listed as missing in action.

April 1932. After Michael’s remains are unearthed in France, his parents retain London psychologist and investigator Maisie Dobbs, hoping she can find the unnamed nurse whose love letters were among their late son’s belongings. It is a quest that leads Maisie back to her own bittersweet wartime love—and to the stunning discovery that Michael Clifton was murdered in his dugout. Suddenly an exposed web of intrigue and violence threatens to ensnare the dead soldier’s family and even Maisie herself as she attempts to cope with the impending loss of her mentor and the unsettling awareness that she is once again falling in love.

March 19th – 23rd

About A Lesson in Secrets

In the summer of 1932, the career of psychologist and investigator Maisie Dobbs takes an exciting new turn when she accepts an undercover assignment from the British Secret Service. Sent to pose as a junior lecturer at a private college in Cambridge, she will monitor any activities “not in the interests of His Majesty’s government.”

When the college’s controversial pacifist founder, Greville Liddicote, is murdered, however, Maisie is directed to stand back as her colleagues in Scotland Yard spearhead the investigation. But she soon discovers that the circumstances of Liddicote’s death appear inextricably linked to the suspicious comings and goings of faculty members and students under her surveillance. To unravel this web, the investigator must overcome a reluctant Secret Service, discover shameful hidden truths about Britain’s conduct during the Great War, and face off against the rising power of the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei—the Nazi Party—as the storm clouds of World War II gather on the horizon.

March 26th – 30th

About Elegy for Eddie

Hardcover: 352 pages
Publisher: Harper (March 27, 2012)

In this latest entry in Jacqueline Winspear’s acclaimed, bestselling mystery series—“less whodunits than why-dunits, more P.D. James than Agatha Christie” (USA Today)—Maisie Dobbs takes on her most personal case yet, a twisting investigation into the brutal killing of a street peddler that will take her from the working-class neighborhoods of her childhood into London’s highest circles of power. Perfect for fans of A Lesson in Secrets, The Mapping of Love and Death, or other Maisie Dobbs mysteries—and an ideal place for new readers to enter the series—Elegy for Eddie is an incomparable work of intrigue and ingenuity, full of intimate descriptions and beautifully painted scenes from between the World Wars, from one of the most highly acclaimed masters of mystery, Jacqueline Winspear.

In addition to the blog tour, the following Twitter chats have been scheduled. Discussions will be about Maisie, mysteries, and more. Follow the #Maisie hashtag on Twitter to participate:

Friday, March 16, 3 PM EST
JENNIFER BARTH
VP and Executive Editor, Harper Books

Friday, March 23, 3 PM EST
ELAINE PETROCELLI
Founder and President of Book Passage

Friday, March 30, 3 PM EST
JACQUELINE WINSPEAR
New York Times bestselling author of the Maisie Dobbs series

The discussion of Maisie Dobbs on Twitter will run all month long and beyond, so be sure to follow the #Maisie hashtag so you can participate.

About Jacqueline Winspear

Jacqueline Winspear was born and raised in the county of Kent, England. Following higher education at the University of London’s Institute of Education, Jacqueline worked in academic publishing, in higher education, and in marketing communications in the UK.

She emigrated to the United States in 1990, and while working in business and as a personal / professional coach, Jacqueline embarked upon a life-long dream to be a writer.

A regular contributor to journals covering international education, Jacqueline has published articles in women’s magazines and has also recorded her essays for KQED radio in San Francisco. She lives in California and is a regular visitor to the United Kingdom and Europe.

Jacqueline’s novels thus far—Maisie Dobbs, Birds of a Feather, Pardonable Lies, Messenger of Truth, An Incomplete Revenge, and Among the Mad, The Mapping of Love and Death, and A Lesson in Secrets are set in the late 1920s and early 1930s, with the roots of each story set in the Great War, 1914–1918. Her work has been nominated for numerous awards.

Find out more about Jacqueline at her website, www.jacquelinewinspear.com, and find her on Facebook.

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial (March 6, 2012)

An unexpected treasure: A long-lost novel of innocence threatened, by the author of the beloved classic The Moonflower Vine

The time: 1941, at the cusp of America’s entry into World War II. The place: southwest Missouri, on the edge of the Ozark Mountains. A young single woman named Allen Liles has taken a job as a junior college teacher in a small town, although she dreams of living in New York City, of dancing at recitals, of absorbing the bohemian delights of the Village. Then she encounters two young men: George, a lanky, carefree spirit, and Toby, a dark-haired, searching soul with a wary look in his eyes. Soon the three strike up an after-school friendship, bantering and debating over letters, ethics, and philosophy—innocently at first, but soon in giddy flirtation—until Allen and one of the young men push things too far, and the quiet happiness she has struggled so hard to discover is thrown into jeopardy.

About Jetta Carleton

Jetta Carleton was born in 1913 in Holden, Missouri, and earned a master’s degree at the University of Missouri. She worked as a schoolteacher, a radio copywriter in Kansas City, and a television advertising copywriter in New York City. She and her husband settled in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where they ran a small publishing house, The Lightning Tree. She died in 1999. The Moonflower Vine was, until now, her only published novel.

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Harper Paperbacks; Deluxe edition (February 28, 2012)

When Eve falls for the secretive, charming Dom, their whirlwind relationship leads them to Les Genévriers, an abandoned house set among the fragrant lavender fields of the south of France. Deeply in love and surrounded by music, books, and the heady summer scents of the French countryside, Eve has never felt more alive. But as verdant summer fades to golden autumn, the grand house’s strange and troubling mysteries begin to unfold—and Eve now must uncover its every secret . . . before dark history can repeat itself.

About Deborah Lawrenson

Deborah Lawrenson grew up in Kuwait, China, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Singapore. She studied English at Cambridge University and has worked as a journalist for various publications in England, including the Daily Mail, the Mail on Sunday, and Woman’s Journal magazine. She lives in Kent, England, and she and her family spend as much time as possible at a crumbling hamlet in Provence, France, the setting for The Lantern.

Website | Blog | Facebook

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks; Original edition (March 6, 2012)

Flying the not-so-friendly skies…

In her more than fifteen years as an airline flight attendant, Heather Poole has seen it all. She’s witnessed all manner of bad behavior at 35,000 feet and knows what it takes for a traveler to become the most hated passenger onboard. She’s slept in flight attendant crashpads in “Crew Gardens,” Queens—sharing small bedrooms crammed with bunk beds with a parade of attractive women who come and go at all hours, prompting suspicious neighbors to jump to the very worst conclusions. She’s watched passengers and coworkers alike escorted off the planes by police. She can tell you why it’s a bad idea to fall for a pilot but can be a very good one (in her case) to date a business-class passenger. Heather knows everything about flying in a post-9/11 world—and she knows what goes on behind the scenes, things the passengers would never dream.

Heather’s true stories in Cruising Attitude are surprising, hilarious, sometimes outrageously incredible—the very juiciest of “galley gossip” delightfully intermingled with the eye-opening, unforgettable chronicle of her fascinating life in the sky.

About Heather Poole

Heather Poole has been published in The Best Women’s Travel Writing 2010. Her regular online column, “Galley Gossip: Confessions from the Jumpseat with Heather Poole,” has received more than two million views and is featured on AOL’s award-winning travel website, Gadling.com.

Website | Twitter | Facebook

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks (February 28, 2012)

Reformed hacker Diana Highsmith hasn’t left her house in over a year . . .

. . . not since she watched the man she loved fall to his death in the Swiss mountains. Now a grief-stricken recluse, she runs a thriving Internet security company from her home—meeting with clients in OtherWorld, an online virtual reality platform where she lives as her avatar, Nadia. The only two people Diana has seen live in the past twelve months are her sister, Ashley, and her UPS delivery guy.

But when Ashley vanishes, Diana is forced to do the unthinkable: to brave both the outside and her own personal demons to find her missing sister. As one shaky step leads to another, Diana finds that the trail she is following is fraught with peril for her and her sister both—as she uncovers a frightening web of deceit and betrayal that stretches from the virtual world into real life.

About Hallie Ephron

An award-winning mystery reviewer, Hallie Ephron is the author of Never Tell a Lie (a Mary Higgins Clark Award finalist that was also made into the Lifetime Movie Network film And Baby Will Fall) and the Edgar- and Anthony Award-nominated Writing and Selling Your Mystery. Ephron lives near Boston.

Website | Facebook

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks (February 7, 2012)

Meena Harper has bitten off more than she can chew . . .

Meena has a special gift, but only now does anyone appreciate it. Her ability to predict how everyone she meets will die has impressed the Palatine Guard—a powerful secret demon-hunting unit of the Vatican—and they’ve hired her to work at their new branch in Lower Manhattan. Sure, Meena’s ex-boyfriend was Lucien Antonescu, son of Dracula. But that was before he (and their relationship) went up in flames, and now she’s sworn off vampires for good—even though she firmly believes that just because they’ve lost their souls, it doesn’t mean they can’t love.

Convincing her new partner, über-demon-hunter Alaric Wulf, that vampires can be redeemed won’t be easy . . . especially when a deadly new threat arises, endangering not only the Palatine, but Meena’s friends and family as well. As she unravels the truth, Meena will find her loyalties tested, her true feelings laid bare . . . and temptations she never even imagined before nearly impossible to resist.

About Meg Cabot

Meg Cabot was born in Bloomington, Indiana. In addition to her adult contemporary fiction she is the author of the bestselling young adult fiction series, The Princess Diaries. She lives in Key West, FL with her husband.

Website | Blog | Facebook | Twitter

Meg’s Tour Stops

Tuesday, February 7th: Reading Lark

Wednesday, February 8th: The Road to Here

Thursday, February 9th: Life In Review

Friday, February 10th: Just Joanna

Monday, February 13th: The Englishist

Tuesday, February 14th: Jenny Love to Read

Wednesday, February 15th: Bloggin’ ‘Bout Books

Thursday, February 16th: Books Like Breathing

Monday, February 20th: Book Drunkard

Tuesday, February 21st: Diary of a Stay at Home Mom

Wednesday, February 22nd: A Soul Unsung

Thursday, February 23rd: girlichef

Friday, February 24th: Chick Lit Reviews and News

Thursday, March 1st: Stiletto Storytime

Friday, March 2nd: Peeking Between the Pages

Friday, March 2nd: Seaside Book Nook

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Harper Paperbacks (February 21, 2012)

As she approached her fiftieth birthday, Tracey Jackson found herself bombarded by a catchphrase on everyone’s lips: “Fifty is the new thirty.” With a comedy writer’s training and a screenwriter’s eye for detail, Jackson skewers that particular myth with a hilarious, bare-knuckled, and ultimately practical appraisal of what middle age really means today. Jackson not only faces the elephant in the room, she puts it under a (very large) microscope, confronting the truth about death, work, and sex in what the French call the “third age.”

“Tracey Jackson confronts the speed bumps of life with wit, brilliant insights, and…common sense….Between a Rock and a Hot Place is more than a good read, it’s good company.”
—John Berendt, author of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

Photo by David Levinthal © 2010

About Tracey Jackson

A screenwriter for seventeen years, Tracey Jackson has written and sold films to all the major studios. She blogs on her own website and for the Huffington Post. She lives in New York City with her husband, Glenn Horowitz, and two daughters.

Website | Tumblr | Facebook | Twitter

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks (February 14, 2011)

“That’s when I saw him—the cowboy—across the smoky room.”

I’ll never forget that night. It was like a romance novel, an old Broadway musical, and a John Wayne western rolled into one. Out for a quick drink with friends, I wasn’t looking to meet anyone, let alone a tall, rugged cowboy who lived on a cattle ranch miles away from my cultured, corporate hometown. But before I knew it, I’d been struck with a lightning bolt . . . and I was completely powerless to stop it.

Read along as I recount the rip-roaring details of my unlikely romance with a chaps-wearing cowboy, from the early days of our courtship (complete with cows, horses, prairie fire, and passion) all the way through the first year of our marriage, which would be filled with more challenge and strife—and manure—than I ever could have expected.

This isn’t just my love story; it’s a universal tale of passion, romance, and all-encompassing love that sweeps us off our feet.

It’s the story of a cowboy. And Wranglers. And chaps. And the girl who fell in love with them.