Baum on Books

The title of Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen’s suspenseful new psychological thriller is comforting . . . and sinister: “You are Not Alone.” The first-person protagonist is Shay Miller. She feels herself to be alone. Then she meets strangers who invite her into their exclusive gathering of young women. The group includes the sophisticated Moore sisters, who not only show her how to dress and act, but begin to make her uneasy. There’s something odd going on with them, though neither Shay nor

In doing research for other books, journalist Phil Keith, with his co-author Tom Clavin, kept coming across footnote references to a relatively obscure but legendary war hero, an American born in 1895 whose father had been the son of a former slave. Their interest was piqued, and what followed was further research. And a new collaboration, “All Blood Runs Red.” When still a child, Eugene Bullard ran away from his harsh rural roots, and though he never went beyond the second grade, he did go on

On the acknowledgment page to his new novel, “The Nickel Boys,” Colson Whitehead writes that in the summer of 2004, he learned about a 111-year-old reform school in Marianna, Florida – the Dozier School for Boys. It had been the subject of a recent Tampa Bay Times report, following discoveries by students at the University of South Florida of secret gravesites at the school. Further investigation turned up testimony of extensive physical, mental and sexual abuse, and flagrant corruption by

It’s hard to believe that Eve Karlin’s “City of Liars and Thieves: Love, Death, and Manhattan’s First Great Murder Mystery” is her first novel. The Author’s Note, alone, could stand as exemplary of how to incorporate research into historical fiction. Karlin’s subject is the real-life murder of a beautiful young woman, Elma Sands, on December 22, 1799, and a trial that involved two of the nation’s most famous founding fathers – Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton. Karlin credits sources –

The genre is hot – the unreliable protagonist psychological thriller. Think “Gone Girl,” “The Girl on the Train,” “The Woman in the Window.” And now on the best-seller list, “An Anonymous Girl.” Typically, this genre follows a smart and sensitive young woman who soon finds herself in danger, a sympathetic but troubled soul who unwittingly endangers others as she tries to sort out what’s real and what’s the product of her admitted neurotic fantasies. The reader is drawn into the complications,

With his new book called “Howard Stern Comes Again” – two decades after the off-the-charts sales of “Private Parts” and “Miss America” – Howard Stern, the Shock Jock of the Western World, may disappoint those who expected his new memoir to be as shocking. But the old “poster boy for doing everything offensive,” as he once described himself, delightfully surprises . . . and charms. Though not to worry, he’s still outrageous. “Howard Stern Comes Again,” two years in the making, succeeds as a

Who knew that until the middle of the last century, East Granby, Connecticut, was a center for Connecticut Shade, a hand-tended tobacco leaf used as a wrapper for premium cigars? And that the work, which relied a lot on summer migrants, many students from the South, once included Martin Luther King? Keith Scribner knew because he spent a lot of time in East Granby when he was young, and he knows that growing and harvesting tobacco is a back-breaking chore. That he makes this dying industry the

Want to be a political journalist or biographical historian? Forget graduate or journalism school. Read Robert Caro’s "Working: Researching, Interviewing, Writing." Caro, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and recipient of so many other prestigious awards, got them for superb investigative reporting on brilliant, ruthless men. The books include "The Power Broker" about Robert Moses – “the greatest builder in the history of America, perhaps in the history of the world” – and "The Passage of Power,"

Allan Kronzek, a professional magician who lives in Sag Harbor, has pulled off a wonderful trick – writing a how-to book for grandparents that’s designed to connect them with their grandkids. Called “Grandpa Magic,” but intended also for Grandmas, the book declares that its 116 amazing brain teasers, perplexing puzzles and simple stunts will wow kids of all ages. And lure them away from their digital devices for a while. Kronzek hopes to engage kids in an imaginative world full of mystery,

Before the computer, there was the typewriter. It revolutionized the way we worked and did business. It could also be a thing of beauty. A new book takes a look at both the utility, and the design, of the typewriter. Book critic Joan Baum has this review.