February Author of the Month is Mercedes Lackey.

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Staff Picks for February

Laura's Staff Picks

The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle

"Adults and children the world over have fallen in love with Beagle's timeless classic, 'The Last Unicorn'. Now, in this historic publication, Beagle's richly inventive novel springs to life in beautifully rendered illustrations that perfectly evoke the mystery and magic of one of man's favorite myths."

$14.95

The Pelican Brief by John Grisham

"In suburban Georgetown a killer's Reeboks whisper on the front floor of a posh home... In a seedy D.C. porno house a patron is swiftly garroted to death... The next day America learns that two of its Supreme Court justices have been assassinated. And in New Orleans, a young law student prepares a legal brief... To Darby Shaw it was no more than a legal shot in the dark, a brilliant guess. To the Washington establishment it was political dynamite. Suddenly Darby is witness to a murder -- a murder intended for her. Going underground, she finds there is only one person she can trust -- an ambitious reporter after a newsbreak hotter than Watergate -- to help her piece together the deadly puzzle. Somewhere between the bayous of Louisiana and the White House's inner sanctums, a violent cover-up is being engineered. For somone has read Darby's brief. Someone who will stop at nothing to destroy the evidence of an unthinkable crime."

$7.99

The Dead Zone by Stephen King

"After awakening from a four and a half year-long coma, a simple teacher finds himself irreparably altered -- both blessed... and cursed -- with precognative visions of the future. Driven by his altruistic nature, he decides to use his newfound powers to prevent tragic events yet to happen. But as word of his unique ability leads to unwanted fame, the gift he hoped to share with humanity inevitably separates him from it."

$7.99

I Am Legend by Richard Matheson

"Robert Neville is the last living man on Earth . . . but he is not alone. Every man, woman, and child in the world has become a vampire, and they are all hungry for Neville's blood. Now available in an Orb Books paperback edition, this classic novel is universally regarded as one of the most frightening and influential vampire novels ever written."

$13.95

The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams

"This 1922 classic about a toy rabbit that is so well loved by his little boy that he eventually comes to life is illustrated in luminous color by award-winning illustrator Michael Hague."

$6.95

Lelia's Staff Picks

Death on Demand by Carolyn G. Hart

"At Annie Laurance's Death On Demand bookstore on Broward's Rock Island, South Carolina, murder most foul suddenly isn't confined to the well-stocked shelves. Author Elliot Morgan's abrupt demise during a weekly gathering of famous mystery writers called the Sunday Night Regulars is proof positive that a bloody sword is sometimes mightier than a brilliant pen. With Annie in the unenviable position of primary police suspect, the pretty young mystery maven and her wealthy paramour, Max Darling, embark on an investigation into a classic locked-room mystery with high stakes. For failing to unmask a brutal and ingenious killer could mean prison for Ms. Laurance. While success could mean her death."

$6.50

Fearless Jones by Walter Mosley

"A beautiful woman spells trouble for Paris Minton when she walks into his second-hand bookstore. Before he knows it, simple lust has gotten Paris in hot water and he has to get his friend, Fearless Jones, out of jail to help him. Fearless is a World War II veteran who earned his name fighting Nazi soldiers and then didn't exactly get a hero's welcome when he returned home to a racist America. Together, Paris and Fearless navigate the streets of L.A., moving between black neighborhoods they know well and white neighborhoods where they have to move carefully, piecing together a trail to a cache of looted riches from World War II. But with every clue they uncover, their roles are complicated by the fact that as black men in 1950s L.A. they have no rights, few friends, and little recourse under attack."

$24.98 audio ---
also available in hardcover & mass market

Overkill by Susan McBride

"In this sequel to And Then She Was Gone, former Dallas policewoman Maggie Ryan finds rural Litchfield to be more disturbing than she bargained for when someone charges aboard a special education bus and kills a teenaged female student. Maggie's investigation reveals that the victim came from a potentially volatile family situation: parents separated, father unemployed, mother with a rich and powerful boyfriend. So while the news media have a field day, Maggie tries to corner a suspect. Mounting tension, slick prose, and a puzzling motive move this right along."

$14.95

The Rift by Walter J. Williams

"Within ten minutes after an earthquake that measures 8.9 on the Richter Scale, nothing but chaos and ruins are left as America's heartland falls into the nightmare known as the Rift--a faultline in the earth that exposes the fractures in American society itself. As a strange white mist smelling of sulfur rises from the crevassed ground, the real terror begins for the survivors."

$7.99

Bad Actors by Kit Sloane

"Margot O'Banion unearths a tale of revenge and betrayal acted out by a cast of characters intent on preserving a united front against a sinister part of Hollywood's past."

$16.99

Andrew's Staff Picks

Conspiracies by F. Paul Wilson

"Repairman Jack, F. Paul Wilson's vigilante hero from 1984's NEW YORK TIMES bestseller THE TOMB and 1998's LEGACIES, returns in a thriller that thrusts Jack back into the weird, supernatural world that he thrives in. Looking for clues to the mysterious disappearance of leading conspiracy theorist Melanie Ehler, Jack attends a convention of bizarre and avid conspiracy theorists. It's a place where aliens are real, the government is out to get you, and the world is hurtling toward an inevitable war of good versus evil incarnate. Jack finds that nobody can be trusted -- and that few people are what they seem. Worse yet, Jack's been having vivid dreams that make him wonder whether he's headed for a clash with his own past -- maybe THE TOMB'S evil rakoshi beasts aren't through with him quite yet."

$6.99

City Primeval: High Noon In Detroit by Elmore Leonard

"Clement Mansell knows how easy it is to get away with murder. The seriously crazed killer is already back on the Detroit streets -- thanks to some nifty courtroom moves by his crafty looker of a lawyer -- and he's feeling invincible enough to execute a crooked Motown judge on a whim. Homicide Detective Raymond Cruz thinks the "Oklahoma Wildman" crossed the line long before this latest outrage, and he's determined to see that the hayseed psycho does not slip through the legal system's loopholes a second time. But that means a good cop is going to have to play somewhat fast and loose with the rules -- in order to maneuver Mansell into a wild Midwest showdown that he won't be walking away from."

$7.50

True Detective by Max Allan Collins

"Nate Heller is a cop trying to stay straight in one of the most corrupt places imaginable: Prohibition-era Chicago. When he won't sell out, he's forced to quit the force and become a private investigator. His first client is Al Capone. His best friend is Eliot Ness. His most important order of business is staying alive."

$6.99

The Last Good Kiss by James Crumley

Tough, hard-boiled, and brilliantly suspenseful, "The Last Good Kiss" is an unforgettable detective story starring C.W. Sughrue, a Montana investigator who kills time by working at a topless bar. Hired to track down a derelict author, he ends up on the trail of a girl missing in Haight-Ashbury for a decade. The tense hunt becomes obsessive as Sughrue takes a haunting journey through the underbelly of America's sleaziest nightmares.

$11.00

Count Geiger's Blues by Michael Bishop

"Critic Xavier Thaxton detests popular culture. But when a wildly improbable plunge into a pool of toxic waste gives him an allergy to High Art and transforms him into (of all things) a costumed superhero, he is forced to reconsider his values--and his life."

$12.95