There may be only four new books this week, but we can be happy that one of them is a new Frank McCourt. With the Diane Dimond tome on the Michael Jackson Trial, and a new Alex Cross novel, there's still plenty to generate excitement. The sleeper is Po Bronson's latest effort, a far distance from The Nudist on the Late Shift. Enjoy!

Monday, November 14
Alex Cross is back! Mary, Mary by James Patterson pits the brilliant FBI forensic psychologist against a movie star-obsessed serial killer who calls herself "Mary Smith." "Cross is sucked into the case full time, jeopardizing the outcome of the custody battle he's involved in over his youngest son. As Cross studies the e-mails and patterns of the killer, he realizes he can't be certain of anything, even the gender of Mary Smith. The thrills in Patterson's latest lead to a truly unexpected, electrifying climax." —Kristine Huntley, Booklist

Tuesday, November 15
Teacher Man: A Memoir by Frank McCourt ends the trilogy that began with Angela's Ashes with a "warming and enlightening" account of his 30-year teaching career in New York City's public high schools. His "easily embraceable" tale is told with McCourt's "trademark charm, wit, and unself-conscious self-effacement... flashbacks of his dreadful days growing up in extreme deprivation in Ireland don't sink the narrative in self-pity. Remembrances of his struggling days in college in New York ('dozing years') provide informative foundation for the real point of the book: relating his development into the kind of teacher he became..." —Brad Hooper, Booklist

Po Bronson's Why Do I Love These People?, subtitled The Miraculous Journeys of Twenty-First-Century Families, takes us on an extraordinary journey, in which every step — and every family — is real. "Bronson's is an unromantic view of family life; its foundations, he believes, are not soul-mate bonding or dramatic emotional catharses, but steady habits of hard work and compromise, realistic expectations and the occasional willingness to sever a relationship that's beyond repair... usually he offers a probing, clear-eyed, hopeful narrative of familial problems that many readers will recognize." —Publishers Weekly

Be Careful Who You Love: Inside the Michael Jackson Case, by Diane Dimond, is an account of the pop-star's much-hyped court case by the reporter who first broke the story of the young boy who accused Jackson of molestation. "The ladies of Court TV strike again... Diane Dimond takes us inside the Michael Jackson trial. And who better to tell [this] story than Dimond? Having covered Jackson's movements and courtroom antics for nearly 15 years, Dimond has a wealth of knowledge second only to Jackson himself..." —Barnes & Noble review