Although Sherlock Holmes, in Arthur Conan Doyle's original tales, only occasionally traveled much beyond London, he and his faithful chronicler, Dr. John Watson, have become regular globetrotters in Larry Millett's recent Holmes pastiches. The first four of these novels found the pair hieing off to Minnesota (not coincidentally, the author's home state), while The Disappearance of Sherlock Holmes sends them to New York and Chicago in 1900, one frustrating step behind conspirators bent on framing them for kidnapping and murder.

Two years have passed since Holmes (in Doyle's "The Adventure of the Dancing Men") captured Abe Slaney, a Chicago gangster who murdered the husband of Elsie Cubitt, his childhood love. Now, Elsie has gone missing, and clues suggest that Slaney—though reportedly dead—is behind the snatch. Goaded by a bogus ransom demand and an enigmatic spiritualist, and perhaps also by the great detective's uncharacteristic affection for the Widow Cubitt, Holmes and Watson commence a lively chase that will lead them from a slain Liverpool strumpet to a foggy standoff at a Manhattan church, a death-defying train ride across Pennsylvania, and a climactic shootout at a Windy City fraternal hall. Millett's veteran readers will identify the malign genius behind this conspiracy well before the last page, and they may be disappointed with the minor role played here by Minneapolis saloonkeeper and series regular Shadwell Rafferty. Yet the author adroitly captures the spirit of the Holmes canon, while adding to it a modern urgency of plot and an infectious curiosity about the historical sites around which this tale's action occurs. If this novel doesn't surpass Millett's Sherlock Holmes and the Ice Palace Murders for eccentric intrigue, it certainly bristles with shocks and twists enough to curl Queen Victoria's hair. —J. Kingston Pierce

To the delight of all Holmes and mystery fans, a second intriguing manuscript is "unearthed": a strange and terrible tale of the celebrated detective's 1896 return to Minnesota, the scene of Sherlock Holmes and the Red Demon, a work praised by Sherlockian experts for its outstanding authenticity. There, in the "dead tough" city of St. Paul, bustling with its annual Winter Carnival, the son of a noted businessman has disappeared. It is the eve of his wedding, but even before Holmes can search the Ice Palace where he was last seen, the young man's fianc*e inexplicably gives her bridal gown away. The case takes Holmes to the highest levels of power and corruption—and into a battle of competing wits with one Shadwell Rafferty, a genial, giant, Irish saloonkeeper who specializes in "discreet investigations." To penetrate the dark heart of the matter, Holmes must brave the Mississippi's frigid waters and confront the villain amid the roar of rockets, in one of the most thrilling episodes "Watson" ever committed to paper.

A further eruption of American criminality draws the impeccably reinvented Sherlock Holmes into partnership with a brilliant and roguish mind

The numerous mystery fans and discerning Sherlockian experts who have been following "Watson's American chronicles" will be thrilled by the third manuscript to be "discovered": Sherlock Holmes and the Rune Stone Mystery. As the century winds down, Holmes's services are engaged by a personage no less than King Oskar II of Sweden, who proposes to purchase a mysterious stone dug up by a western Minnesota farmer. But before the celebrated detective can attempt to authenticate this fabulous find, the hapless farmer is murdered and his stone vanishes.

In this singular case Holmes's soaring imagination is complemented by the talent for "discreet investigations" first displayed by Irish saloonkeeper Shadwell Rafferty in Sherlock Holmes and the Ice Palace Murders. Rotund and rollicking, sharp as a St. Paul wind and tough as his own old leather boots, Rafferty accompanies the great detective through a maze of intrigue and villainy on a hunt for a rune stone, a murderer, and the archeological truth.

The numerous followers of Larry Millett's extraordinary Sherlockian series will be thrilled to find Holmes's American consort, Irish saloonkeeper Shadwell Rafferty, taking his first crack at a case that looks like it might send a whole city government tumbling. Rafferty, large hearted and massively built, has a talent for logic, dissimulation, bribery, and action that is surpassed only by his love of "the detectin' game." On the eve of President McKinley's visit in 1899 to Minneapolis, a gruesome crime draws Rafferty from St. Paul to the booming city across the river.

A young union activist has been found, strung naked from a tree outside a ruined mansion. A placard around his neck bears the ominous words the alliance has spoken. Rafferty plunges into the case with his usual gusto, but finds more questions than answers. Was the murder the work of the union-busting Citizens Alliance or wild-eyed anarchists? Was the victim linked to an empire of corruption controlled by the city's slippery mayor? And how did the young man come to possess a photograph of a prominent citizen engaged in sexual congress? As the puzzle deepens and the dangers mount, Rafferty is joined by his old friends Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson. Together, they make their way through a fog of deceit toward the startling truth.

Seventy-five years ago, that most beloved of "silly old bears," Winnie-the-Pooh, came down the stairs, "bump, bump, bump," on the back of his head, behind Christopher Robin. And now, after generations of children have grown up on stories about Pooh's adventures with his forest friends, the four all-time children's classics from A.A. Milne and Ernest H. Shepard have been collected in one hefty, handsome volume for another multitude of generations to enjoy. Gathered together are the poems and tales that celebrate heffalumps, Eeyore's birthday, the unbouncing of Tigger, Disobedience, Buckingham Palace, and sneezles. The stories about Pooh getting stuck in Rabbit's doorway, Piglet doing a "Very Grand Thing," and Eeyore losing a tail (and Pooh finding one) are timeless favorites for children—and grownups—of all ages. Four original classics are here, in all their glory: Winnie-the-Pooh, The House at Pooh Corner, When We Were Very Young, and Now We Are Six. This beautiful edition features complete, unabridged text and all of Shepard's original illustrations, each hand painted in watercolors—this is a true collector's gem. (All ages) —Emilie Coulter

The Yellow Sea. A German U-boat destroys a North Korean submarine then attacks a U.S. command ship. The plan works; America and North Korea hold each other accountable. As warships converge across the globe, the command of the "USS Ramage" falls into the hands of Jerusha Bailey. Bailey, however, senses a hidden strategy behind the attacks. And now, she alone must go one-on-one with the brilliant commander of a German U-boat and prevent full-scale war. (Fiction—Espionage/Thriller) .

This book is as sprawling, innovative, elegant, difficult to encapsulate, and even thrilling as the new age of computing in business it describes. The author, Clement Mok, is one of the leading practitioners of what I would call "informational design", a hybrid of industrial design, advertising, and psychology. Lavishly illustrated with superb examples Multimedia design, and has great analyses of where current and future industries lie in the so-called process of convergence.

Everyone using the Internet, multimedia, or visual tools in business stands to learn a tremendous amount from this elegantly designed book. Very Highest Recommendation

A good guide provides more than just trail descriptions and a glance at an area's history. Erik Molvar takes that extra step, including sections on "Hiking in Arid Climates," "Following a Faint Trail," and "Avoiding a Narrow Canyon's Flash Flood," important topics considering the canyon land's unique terrain. After preparing his readers for their visit with directions and advice on obtaining park permits, Molvar gives descriptions of 56 hikes through areas such as the Kolob Terrace, Cedar Breaks, and the Markagunt High Country. Molvar's extensive experience is evident, and, given the area's special demands, his advice should prove valuable. —Benjamin Tiffany

Into treacherous waters sails the USS Cushing. A storm, meanwhile, is brewing. Isolated from all support, with their communications cut, the sailors and civilians on board USS Cushing must contend with both their enemies and their alliesand with the sea itselfif they ever want to see home again.

July 2005. In the Pyrenees mountains near Carcassonne, Alice, a volunteer at an archaeological dig, stumbles into a cave and makes a startling discovery-two crumbling skeletons, strange writings on the walls, and the pattern of a labyrinth.

Eight hundred years earlier, on the eve of a brutal crusade that will rip apart southern France, a young woman named Alais is given a ring and a mysterious book for safekeeping by her father. The book, he says, contains the secret of the true Grail, and the ring, inscribed with a labyrinth, will identify a guardian of the Grail. Now, as crusading armies gather outside the city walls of Carcassonne, it will take a tremendous sacrifice to keep the secret of the labyrinth safe.