What makes Juan de Recacoechea’s novel, American Visa the “best-selling novel in Bolivian history?” Brittany Sturges gathered all the evidence to solve the mystery.

In a city famous for its wild side, New Orleans Noir takes you down the darkest, wildest streets. Half the tales are set in historic New Orleans, while the other half are set in a post-Katrina city. Bob Pomeroy tells you where the bodies are hidden.

Linda Tate is moderately entertained by bassist Les Claypool’s debut novel and yet… don’t give up the day job.

The frontman of a hugely popular rock band is found dead by a shotgun wound. Sound familiar? It’s also the beginning of rock writer James Greer’s elliptical new novel. And, as Sheila Scoville finds out, any resemblance to actual events or people is entirely purposeful.

Sheila Scoville is dazzled by the range of subjects and themes in the first issue of a new “journal of urbane urban literature.” Step to this.

A recent novel by Joe Meno adds child detective to the “Where Are They Now?” file, and Scott Adams is in the market for a new moustache.

Akashic offers up a new (and fictional) taste of history, but don’t go throwing out those old textbooks yet. A Fictional History of the United States With Huge Chunks Missing teaches Brittany Sturges that perhaps we should applaud our monotone high school teachers for not trying to amuse us.

Perhaps the most tragic part about our wars du jour is their mind-numbing reiteration of the same old costly lessons. A new edition of Ron Kovic’s Born on the Fourth of July pulls Tom “Tearaway” Schulte down the Jacob’s ladder of war’s human impact . . . again.

Can’t get away for that foreign vacation this summer? Pick up a book by an author from another land. Bob Pomeroy tours the Caribbean with the authors from Jamaica’s Calabash Writer’s Workshop.

Excerpts of Adams’ writings about government and its contract with the populace tickle Carl F Gauze’s fancy this time around.

Our Thrid President re-writes the Bible, removing all the miracles and mysticism. Carl F. Gauze is left distinctly unmoved.

A reprint of a young George Washington’s school exercise on deprtment and class behavior, with introduction by Adam Haslett. Carl F. Gauze curtsies demurely and folds his hands.

Can editorial cartoons from a culturally clashed southwestern Latino register with Carl F Gauze , caucasian Floridian? Apparently, yes.

A Native American president! Fart jokes! Midget rentacops! Carl F Gauze takes a deep slug from this unhealthy bottle of urban surrealism and wonders if he’ll live to regret it.

A woman and her son find solace in an apocalyptic cult… not necessarily light summer reading, but Carl F Gauze seems to have enjoyed it.

Love and death and Satanism play out against the bloody background of the Russian Revolution, and Carl F Gauze was there.

Carl F Gauze delves into the past with this interesting collection of writing by prisoners from the 19th century.

Carl F. Gauze doesn’t need CSI, he’s got Heather Dune Macadam’s The Weeping Buddha, a tightly written muder mystery revolving around modern forensic science and traditional police leg work.

Danny Goldberg, Victor Goldberg, and Robert Greenwald reserve their spots on John Ashcoft’s hit list by editing It’s a Free Country a collection of essays on post-9/11 America. Carl F. Gauze risks inclusion with a review.

If you thought Raymond Chandler was hard-boiled, you’re in for quite a shock from the gritty reality of Matthew Stokoe’s gripping new book, High Life. Ian Koss needed a shower after writing this review.