Reed Browning, What Happened to Joan? (Deernasus Publishing). Emeritus history professor Reed Browning has written his second mystery novel featuring the genial, dogged amateur detectives Connie Haydn and Shrug Speaker-retirees living in a rural Ohio college town. Here, an investigation of a decades-old disappearance leads the duo to suspects from Chicago to Arkansas.

David Bukszpan '02, Is That a Word? From AA to ZZZ, the Weird and Wonderful Language of Scrabble (Chronicle Books). Gyre is allowed but not gimble. Mome and raths, but not outgrabe. Even if you have no interest in Scrabble (or in Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky"), you'll enjoy this word-feast. And if you do play the game, you'll relish the Scrabble history, tips, and trivia presented here, as well as the multitude of odd-but playable-words.

Virginia S.B. Calhoun '80 P'07, Kiddie English: A Guide to Teaching Kindergarten and Primary School Children. Written for teachers of English as a foreign language (EFL), this useful manual covers topics from lesson planning, to classroom control, to the use of drawings, songs, games, and stories. Calhoun, who has taught levels from kindergarten to university, is a professor who trains EFL teachers at the Universidad Autónoma de Chiapas in Mexico.

George M. Callaghan '64, Return of the Amerind (Cashel & Kells). In this sequel to Herons Poynte, Callaghan continues the saga of an American Indian who battles the owner of a steel mill located on his people's sacred land near the Chesapeake Bay.

Galbraith Miller Crump, Dido's Sister (Xlibris). Inspired by Virgil's Aeneid and by Purcell's opera Dido and Aeneas, Crump-professor emeritus of English-has richly imagined a love affair between Dido's sister Anna and Aeneas' companion Achates. Crump gives texture and intensity to his story by alternating narrators and contracting the Trojan sojourn in Carthage to just a few weeks.

E. Larson Gunness '88, Peace, Love, and Financial Planning: An Illustrated Guide to Money (GFS). Engaging case studies drive this book on money matters for artists and other "right-brain thinkers." Gunness, an experienced financial advisor as well as a writer and musician, covers essential topics like mortgages, financial statements, and "the dark alchemy of investing."

Tom Heany '73, First, Learn to Practice (Dog Ear Publishing). An accomplished musician, Heany describes practicing as "a search for ideal motion." In this slender, enjoyable book, he offers guidance organized around seven "big ideas" (e.g., "You affect everything by concentrating on one thing") and seven "good habits" (e.g., "Go slow").

Dave Hunter '84, The Fender Telecaster: The Life and Times of the Electric Guitar that Changed the World(Voyageur Press), and The Home Recording Handbook (Backbeat Books). Guitar expert and prolific writer Hunter has written two new books. The Fender Telecaster, as beautiful as it is informative, is a superbly produced volume about "the ultimate blue-collar guitar," with wonderful photos supplementing profiles of musicians from Muddy Waters to Bruce Springsteen. The Home Recording Handbook is a detailed instructional manual for a fast-growing market.

Scott Kenemore '00, Zombie, Illinois (Skyhorse Publishing). The author of Zombie, Ohio and several zombie-themed satires places his latest horror novel in Chicago, where a newspaper reporter, girl-band drummer, and South Side pastor find themselves partners in battle against the walking dead. The thrilling ride plunges through gore and Chicago politics.

Jeffrey K. Mann '92, When Buddhists Attack: The Curious Relationship between Zen and the Martial Arts (Tuttle Publishing). A religious studies professor at Susquehanna University, Mann explores the fundamental connection between Zen and budõ, the martial arts of Japan.

Dale Neuman '58, Reflections (Middle Island Press). Calm pervades this collection of short poems, many of them about nature. Neuman is a retired political science professor.

Teena Purohit '95, The Aga Khan Case: Religion and Identity in Colonial India (Harvard University Press). Purohit, who teaches religion at Boston University, uses an 1866 legal case in Bombay, India, as a point of departure to explore the complex nature of Muslim identity. She argues against the West's Arab-centric perspective on Islam, suggesting that one can fully grasp the meaning of this religion only by seeing it as inseparable from the specific cultural milieus in which it has flourished.

Joseph L. Rife '92, Isthmia IX: The Roman and Byzantine Graves and Human Remains (American School of Classical Studies at Athens). A professor of classics and anthropology at Vanderbilt University, Rife directs amajor
excavation of a Roman-Byzantine-era port in southern Greece. This meticulous study of burial customs and society provides important material for a picture of life in the Greek countryside during the transition from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages.