Vicki Constantine Croke "The Lady and the Panda"

One of the most famous animals ever brought to an American zoo came here from Tibet in 1936, but not as a result of the exploits of any travel-hardened, macho big-game hunter. The first giant panda in America was captured and brought here by a woman: Ruth Harkness, a Manhattan socialite and dress designer whose husband was the adventurer. Her story is told in Vicki Constantine Croke's book The Lady and the Panda.

Robert James Waller "High Plains Tango"

Millions of readers loved Robert James Waller's novel The Bridges of Madison County. In his later novel A Thousand Country Roads, he introduced us to a young man named Carlisle McMillan who was in search of his father -- whom we now know was photographer Robert Kincaid from Bridges. Now Waller completes what he calls this "loosely-jointed trilogy" with High Plains Tango, which brings Carlisle McMillan to a crucial turning point in his life.

Edward Dolnick "The Rescue Artist"

On the morning that the Winter Olympics opened in Oslo, Norway in 1994, art thieves broke into Norway's National Gallery and stole the world-famous painting "The Scream," by Edvard Munch. Norwegian authorities brought in Scotland Yard undercover detective Charley Hill, who helped recover the painting. The story is told in Edward Dolnick's book The Rescue Artist.

Elin McCoy "The Emperor of Wine"

How did a man from rural Maryland, who never tasted wine until he was in college, become the world's best-known and most powerful wine critic? Robert M. Parker Jr. is that man, and he's the subject of the book by Elin McCoy called The Emperor of Wine.

Terry McMillan "The Interruption of Everything"

A 44-year-old woman is beginning to feel that life is passing her by while she's busy taking care of everyone else, in Terry McMillan's novel The Interruption of Everything. Marilyn Grimes has a 25-year-old marriage that has grown stagnant. Her three children are all away at college now. Her mother is ailing, her live-in mother-in-law is getting more affection than she is, and just as she begins to fear she's going through "the change," another surprise smacks her in the face.

Robert Pape "Dying to Win"

The subway bombings in London were shocking not just for the immediate loss of life, but for the realization that suicide attacks have arrived in the west. This is no surprise to Robert Pape, a University of Chicago political scientist who has been studying suicide terrorism since the 2001 attacks. In fact, Pape assembled a first-of-its-kind database on suicide terrorism, and reached some startling conclusions. He reports on his findings in his book Dying to Win.

Kathy Reichs "Cross Bones"

The present-day murder of a businessman soon leads to a much older, and far more dangerous mystery, in the Kathy Reichs thriller Cross Bones. Reichs, as always, draws upon her own experience as a real-life forensic anthropologist in crafting a story that imagines the consequences of finding evidence that could undermine a basic belief of an entire religious faith.

Omar Tyree "Boss Lady"

Omar Tyree made his mark in fiction a few years ago with his novel Flyy Girl, which introduced us to a brash, self-centered young woman named Tracy Ellison. She began to mature in his followup For the Love of Money. And now, in Boss Lady, Tyree makes Tracy a mentor to her younger cousin Vanessa.

Steven Stark "Meet the Beatles"

When they hit the shores of the U.S. in February 1964, the Beatles started much more than just a music revolution. Their influence may be even wider than previously acknowledged, says the author of a new book about the Fab Four and how they -- literally -- changed the world. Steven Stark calls his book Meet the Beatles.

Bebe Moore Campbell "72 Hour Hold"

A single mother who seems to have a great life finds that all of her success fades into the background when she has to help her teenage daughter deal with debilitating bipolar disorder, in Bebe Moore Campbell's novel 72 Hour Hold. Keri faces challenge after daunting challenge in trying to get Trina the help she needs, but the illness threatens Trina's future, and her mother's.

Hollis Gillespie "Confessions of a Recovering Slut"

Flight attendant turned columnist and NPR commentator Hollis Gillespie is becoming one of Atlanta, Georgia's favorite writers. From her very modest home in one of the city's more challenged neighborhoods, Gillespie has earned a serious following with her autobiographical essays. Her first book was called Bleachy-Haired Honky Bitch. Her new book carries the equally subtle title of Confessions of a Recovering Slut.

Richard Marcinko "Vengeance" & John Weisman "Direct Action"

It's a BOOKCAST twin-spin -- Richard Marcinko and John Weisman. After years of collaborating on several of Marcinko's Rogue Warrior books, Marcinko and Weisman went their separate ways in 2002. Vengeance is Marcinko's newest Rogue Warrior book, while John Weisman's latest thriller is called Direct Action.

Dr. Mehmet Oz "You: The Owner's Manual"

What if when you were born, the hospital had sent you and your parents home with an owner's manual? What if you had a reference book to explain how your body works, how to keep it running properly, and how to tell the difference between a little problem and a big problem? The idea of a comprehensive, but easy to read, user's guide was the inspiration for You: The Owner's Manual, by Dr. Mehmet Oz.

Edna Buchanan "Shadows"

An old house on the Miami waterfront is about to be torn down, in Edna Buchanan's mystery Shadows, but the police get involved after a tip that there's something in that old house they better have a look at before it's too late. And what they find makes a very cold case suddenly very hot again.

Kevin Smokler "Bookmark Now"

A National Endowment for the Arts report in the summer of 2004 that concluded the Internet seemed to be hurting America's reading habits fueled fears that young people will no longer choose writing books as a career. Those fears are unfounded, says book critic and commentator Kevin Smokler, editor of a Bookmark Now, in which a couple of dozen very talented young writers explain why they embrace books.

Geneva Holliday "Groove"

Four 30-something New Yorkers seeking love and happiness find that they may actually be able to help each other, in the Geneva Holliday novel Groove. One thing that makes the book unusual is that Geneva Holliday is also one of those four characters. And, the author is already well-known to readers, just not under this name, for Geneva Holliday is actually the bestselling novelist Bernice McFadden.

Bernard Goldberg "100 People Who Are Screwing Up America"

Who are the people who are really screwing up America? Everyone's list will be different, but one man's list has become a bestseller. Journalist Bernard Goldberg calls his book 100 People Who Are Screwing Up America. Among those Goldberg identifies as screwing up America are the likes of Al Franken, Ted Kennedy, Dan Rather, Barbra Streisand, and coming in at #1, Michael Moore.

Elizabeth Kostova "The Historian"

A teenage girl's discovery of a centuries-old book in her father's library gets her heart pumping. Then she discovers a stack of very old letters, all of which begin with the ominous greeting, "My dear and unfortunate successor..." In Elizabeth Kostova's debut novel The Historian, the book and the letters seem to point to the possibility that the medieval Vlad the Impaler -- also known as Dracula -- is still alive.

Joel Garreau "Radical Evolution"

When it comes to genetic engineering, science fiction is being overtaken by science fact, says Washington Post reporter Joel Garreau, whose book Radical Evolution is a book that may be at once both exhilirating and terrifying. While there are certainly innovations and discoveries that will make us stronger and healthier humans, other developments could threaten the very future of humankind.

Jessica Cutler "The Washingtonienne"

In the summer of 2004, a young, low-ranking staffer for a U.S. Senator turned Capitol Hill on its ear with her online blog that carried details of her sexual encounters with, among others, a Bush administration official and a staffer for another Senator. Jessica Cutler was summarily fired from her government job, but has now written a novel about .. a young Capitol Hill staffer who is fired after her sexy emails come to light. Her book is called The Washingtonienne.

Remembering Ed McBain

Contemporary American literature lost a major figure when Evan Hunter -- also known as Ed McBain -- died last week at age 78. Writing as McBain, Hunter is credited with creating the police-procedural genre, with his 87th Precinct series of mysteries. The Mystery Writers of America gave McBain its Grand Master Award for lifetime achievement in 1986. I interviewed Evan Hunter-Ed McBain several times over the years, including this 1995 talk after publication of his 46th book in the 87th Precinct series, Romance.

Lisa Scottoline "Devil's Corner"

When a federal prosecutor's partner is murdered during a meeting with a confidential informant, who is also killed, it launches a series of events that could also cost that prosecutor her life, in Lisa Scottoline's mystery thriller Devil's Corner. Scottoline was inspired by a real-life trial in Philadelphia involving a brutal drug gang.

Dean Karnazes "Ultramarathon Man"

For a lot of us, running a mile or two is enough to cause some serious pain. Running a marathon is unthinkable. But Dean Karnazes runs ultramarathons. He recently ran 262 miles nonstop -- the equivalent of 10 marathons, like running from Dallas to Houston. Now Karnazes tells why he does it, in his book Ultramarathon Man -- which he didn't even stop running, to write.

Ingrid Newkirk "Making Kind Choices"

As consumers, we make choices, large and small, every day -- what to eat, what kind of clothes to buy, what kind of furniture we want. Smart consumers can use those decisions to improve the planet, says our guest today on THE BOOKCAST. Ingrid Newkirk is president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. But her book Making Kind Choices is not limited to doing kind things for animals, although that is a key part of the book. It's about making choices that will be environmentally aware, and earth-friendly.

Melissa Bank "The Wonder Spot"

The voice that readers loved in The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing is back. Six years after her much-acclaimed debut, Melissa Bank has produced another collection of tightly-linked stories, called The Wonder Spot, in which we meet Sophie Applebaum, a likeable young woman who admits she often feels like a "solid trying to do a liquid's job."

Barbara Kline "White House Nannies"

When the wealthy and powerful of Washington, D.C. need a nanny, they are likely to turn to the company that Barbara Kline runs, called White House Nannies. For the last twenty years, Kline has been providing power couples in the nation's capital with their in-home childcare, a task that requires the protocol skill of a diplomat, the tenacity of a lobbyist, and the hard nose of a K Street lawyer. And now Kline shows us inside her business, in her book White House Nannies.

Umberto Eco "The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana"

Very often, fiction writers don't really, consciously know what they are writing about until after it's on paper. It may be something they have been unable to face in real life. The newest book by the great Italian writer Umberto Eco -- author of such acclaimed books as Foucault's Pendulum and The Name of the Rose -- is about a man, about his age, who awakens from a coma with a peculiar form of amnesia. Yambo can remember everything he's ever read, but can't remember a thing about himself. So he begins to try and rebuild his memories, using a house full of memorabilia. Eco says he did not consciously write The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana from a fear of losing his own memory. But after he finished it he realized that was exactly what he had done.

Edward Klein "The Truth About Hillary"

Is Hillary Rodham Clinton fit to be President of the United States? Those who say no are finding confirmation of their opinion in a book by author and former New York Times Magazine editor Edward Klein. But it's also been roundly criticized by Clinton supporters, and even by a few conservatives, largely because of the number of unnamed sources Klein relies on, and because of what they say are mere unsubstantiated rumors. Klein's book is called The Truth About Hillary.

Fergus Bordewich "Bound for Canaan"

During the 1800s, a secret movement known as the Underground Railroad ferried thousands of southern slaves to freedom in the North. Its most visible "conductor" was Harriet Tubman, but she was just one participant in an astoundingly broad movement that included many unlikely players. Journalist Fergus Bordewich has pulled together the history of the Underground Railroad for his book Bound for Canaan.

Wesley Stace "Misfortune"

Rose is a lovely girl being raised in 1820s London by the richest man in Britain, an eccentric who found the infant Rose abandoned on a trash heap and brought her home with him. In the Wesley Stace debut novel Misfortune, Rose is given a great life. But Rose is not a girl, she's a boy. And a scandal ensues once the secret is out.

Dean Bakopoulos "Please Don't Come Back From the Moon"

Men troubled by unemployment, despair, and frustration start disappearing from an economically troubled suburb of Detroit, in the debut novel by Dean Bakopoulos called Please Don't Come Back From the Moon. It's a story told from the point of view of the teenage son of one of the men, who have left behind families desperate to find a life again.

Paul Theroux "Blinding Light"

A taste of success twenty years ago has left a writer named Slade Steadman with a dangerous thirst for more, in Paul Theroux's novel Blinding Light. When Steadman discovers that a potent mind-altering drug from Central America can -- at least temporarily -- restore his creative prowess, he chooses to overlook the fact that it also renders him, temporarily, blind.