Clapton's Guitar by Allen St. John

I was surprised at how quickly and how deeply I became engrossed in Clapton's Guitar by Allen St. John. St. John is a guitar junkie who lusts after a guitar hand built by Wayne Henderson. In order to get his own guitar, he gets Henderson to build Clapton one.
As the Kirkus review blurb (click on the header) notes, the book weaves many threads into its tapestry. Great nonfiction. My one disappointment was that Clapton himself didn't reappear for the finale. ****
Here's a bonus: Wayne Henderson playing one of his guitars. Here's another.

Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her by Melanie Rehak

Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her by Melanie Rehak is a history of Nancy Drew and the real people behind the name Carolyn Keene. Nancy Drew and Carolyn Keene were products of Edward Stratemeyer, as were the Bobbsey Twins, the Rover Boys, and the Hardy Boys, among others. The series books were produced by ghostwriters from precise outlines created by Stratemeyer. Nancy Drew's first ghostwriter was Mildred Wirt Benson, a midwestern journalist. After Stratemeyer's death, his work, and eventually the writing of the Nancy Drew books, was taken over by his daughter Harriet Stratemeyer Adams. This summary grossly oversimplifies the fascinating tale explicated by Rehak.
Nancy Drew became an icon of the feminist movement, and her two primary creators are shown to be Drew-like in their own ways.
I found a stash of Nancy Drew's at my aunt and uncle's house on an extended visit, and plowed through the pile. She probably started me on the track that led to the Hardys, the Three Investigators, Ellery Queen, Sherlock Holmes, and on and on. Anyone who ever enjoyed a Nancy Drew might enjoy this well-written book. ***
Click on the post title to read an interview with Rehak at her publisher's page, or here to go to an unofficial Nancy Drew page.

Bad Luck and Trouble by Lee Child

Bad Luck and Trouble by Lee Child, another Reacher book, reassembles the remnants of his old special investigator squad to take vengeance on some unknown who has killed half of them. Of course, it can't be just about them, so there's a terrorism plot to foil, and tension between the two. For a few brief moments the macGuffin of the the terrorism bit made me think of the terrific Such Men are Dangerous by what the hell is his name? It's an apt echo, though: they both are stripped-down, action-packed narratives, with tough, tight-lipped, self-reliant protagonists. ****
Click on the header to read a NYTimes review; click on his name to visit Lee Child's home page.

A Killing in Comics by Max Allen Collins

A Killing in Comics is an over-simplified Roman a Clef turned murder mystery. Kind of fun, super light weight. ***
I'm worried about Max Allen Collins as a writer. I think he's, maybe trying to do too many things and not doing them as well as he used to. His early Heller books would all be at least four stars, but I couldn't even be bothered to finish Black Hats a couple months ago.

Napoleon's Pyramids by William Dietrich

Napoleon's Pyramids is an old-school pulp-style thriller with an historical setting. Ethan Gage, a young American adrift in revolutionary France, joins with a group of Savants on Napoleon's invasion of Egypt and finds love, friendship, principles, adventure, and the secret of the Great Pyramid. The sequel is called The Rosetta Key; I plan to read it. ****

Elmore Leonard's Ten Rules of Writing

Originally published in the New York Times as an essay, fatted up with thick paper and amusing illustrations, Elmore Leonard's Ten Rules of Writing is good advice that you'd almost have to not need for it to be useful. He doesn't explain anything, doesn't tell how. It would be more of an inspirational reminder than actual direction. It's funny that the little he says about some of his rules is to give an example of a good writer who breaks them. Fun to read, took about fifteen minutes. I'd give it to a writer friend as a gift, maybe. ***