"He created a kind of brilliant fantasy, which still holds us in its thrall. The fantasy is that a) a crime is solvable and b) it is solvable by intellectual deduction. The fantasy is that if a man--given three small clues--can sit in a room on Baker Street with merely the help of his violin and a syringe full of cocaine, he can solve any heinous crime."--Julian Barnes on why Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories are still popular, in yesterday's New York Times Magazine.

The Patriot Act roller coaster ride took another unexpected turn last Friday--a positive one--when the Senate blocked passage of the House-Senate conference report that had left relatively intact the aspects of the Act that most bothered librarians, booksellers and others concerned with civil liberties.

It seems that for the moment, the Republican leadership in Washington won't accept a version of the Act that would renew most aspects of it but protect civil liberties. But following Friday's disclosure by the New York Times that the Bush Administration illegally allowed the National Security Agency to spy on Americans, opponents of a simple renewal of the Act appear to have more support than could be imagined a week ago.

Incidentally, according to e-mail and other documents obtained by the New York Times, at least one FBI official has a dim view of the campaign to protect civil liberties. Complaining that the Justice Department's Office of Intelligence Policy and Review hasn't approved enough search requests, the official wrote: "While radical militant librarians kick us around, true terrorists benefit from OIPR's failure to let us use the tools given to us. This should be an OIPR priority!!!"

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The New York Times's public editor investigates how the Book Review handles reviewing books by Timespeople. His conclusion: editor Sam Tanenhaus and staff "genuinely care about general readers and the literary world, and want their choices to have credibility. Yet the perception of a conflict of interest can hang over both the weekly review process and the notable-books list when Times staffers are involved." He approves of Tanenhaus's comment that in the future, the Review may simply notify readers of new books by Times staff.

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The AP deciphers one result of the success of The Da Vinci Code: novels that bear resemblance to or evoke Dan Brown's longtime bestseller. Among the crop of what could be called Codicils: Labyrinth by Kate Mosse, The Templar Legacy by Steve Berry, The Last Templar by Raymond Khoury, The Last Cato by Matilda Asensi and Secret Supper by Javier Sierra. Click here to conjure up the Chicago Tribune's version of the story.

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A Chicago Tribune "Challenge" asked readers to suggest appropriate punishments for "crimes" committed in stores. The second place winner read:

"Bookstore patrons who slobber their lattes and sticky buns all over books and magazines they've no intention of purchasing should be forced to either buy or eat those publications. Or in the case of larger novels, just eat the Cliffs Notes."

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At an event at Mac's Backs Books in Cleveland, Ohio, Jeremy Mercer, author of the memoir Time Was Soft There, recounted his flight from Canada and finding refuge at Shakespeare & Co. in Paris, where over the years, more than 40,000 people have stayed overnight in exchange for working in the store an hour each day. Some of those 40,000 were in the audience. See the Cleveland Plain-Dealer for some of their reports from the rue.

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Barnes & Noble is suing its landlord in the CityPlace shopping center in West Palm Beach, Fla., charging that the mall owners' institution of paid parking in July violates its lease and has hurt business, according to the Palm Beach Post. B&N asks for an unspecified amount of money for lost business and a return to free parking.

At CityPlace, parking is free for an hour, then $1 per hour afterwards. Parkers who buy $100 worth of products receive three hours of free parking. The paper said a CityPlace lawyer has argued that the lease neither requires free parking nor prohibits paid parking.

The Post called the B&N "the after-date hangout and gathering place for the West Palm Beach intelligentsia," a store highly dependent on browsers.

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Effective January 1, Barnes & Noble College will lease the Hartwick College bookstore in Oneonta, N.Y., according to the Daily Star. B&N has a five-year contract.

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The Amarillo Globe-News offers a sketch of Hastings Entertainment whose headquarters is in Amarillo, Tex. CEO John Marmaduke said that the company got on track when it realized smaller markets were underserved. The company also trains managers at its own Hastings University. No word on who runs the college store.

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The Newburyport Current briefly profiles three Newburyport, Mass., bookstores: the Jabberwocky Bookshop, the Book Rack and the Middle Street Bookstore. Among highlights:

Liz Schneider, owner of Middle Street Bookstore, which has a "Zen-like" atmosphere, has no computer. The paper wrote: " 'People ask me, "Where's your computer?" ' she says. She points to her calculator in response. 'Ninety-five percent of what we have is [stored] in here,' she says, pointing to her head."

Carolyn Jordan, manager of the Book Rack, told the paper that reading is "a very tactile experience. People like to touch their books, or, in some cases, sniff them."

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Co-owners and husband-and-wife team Grace Bell and Erick Bell celebrated the grand opening of their Eula's Exotic Coffee & Tea inside the Copperfield's store in Napa, Calif., as noted in the Napa Valley Register.

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The Journal News mentions that the Village Bookstore, Pleasantville, N.Y., "one of a handful of independent bookshops in Westchester and Putnam" counties, is located across the street from the Jacob Burns Film Center. As a result, co-owner Yvonne J. vanCort said, the store is the theater's "alternative lobby."

This morning on the Today Show: Joan Didion, author of The Year of Magical Thinking (Knopf, $23.95, 140004314X).

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Today on WAMU's Diane Rehm Show: Nancy Baggett, author of The All-American Dessert Book (Houghton Mifflin, $35, 0618240004).

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Today on Talk of the Nation: Richard Lyman Bushman, author of Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling (Knopf, $35, 1400042704).

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Tonight on the Charlie Rose Show: Doris Kearns Goodwin, author of Team of Rivals (S&S, $35, 0684824906).

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Tonight on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Pamela Anderson, who plays a bookseller on the TV show Stacked. Will they talk about ISBN-13? The best POS system?

Kate Brown's Weekends: Making the Most of Your Two Treasured Days (Bulfinch Press, $30, 0821262092, October 2005)

My first reaction to Kate Brown's Weekends: Making the Most of Your Two Treasured Days was wondering why I would want to create a Moroccan dinner with Moroccan table decorations when most of my weekend is usually spent cleaning up the previous five days' debris? Golden Starry Table Tiles are too ambitious for me, but the recipes (Cinnamon, Ginger and Cumin Lamb Stew, with Spicy Vegetable Couscous) look good. Brown has a nice way with tarting up standard fare, like Earl Grey Iced Tea with Lemon Mint Syrup, or her take on Parmesan wafers--putting a small herb sprig on each dollop of cheese before baking. And while I draw the line at creating Frida Kahlo placemats, I am tempted to cover and lacquer some boxes with Chinese newspapers. My test for books like this: are the pictures fun to look at, are the projects/ideas/recipes remotely possible, and would I consider giving up couch time with the cats and a good mystery to make something? "Yes" to many things in Weekends, especially the Cinnamon Bread (to eat on the couch, of course). All in all, a nice mix of photos, doable ideas, and tempting recipes.--Marilyn Dahl

Most booksellers agree that this Christmas there is no single "must-have" title a la The Da Vinci Code. But no matter. As Vivien Jennings of Rainy Day Books, Fairway, Kan., which has been "really, really busy" in December, put it, "My staff and I think this is the best season for inventory. With the exception of a relatively new thriller, we feel we have the selection and variety so that when customers tell us what they need, we can make a fit, whether it's a 15 year old who likes skiing or an 80 year old who likes art and music."

Thrillers are a tricky gift category, Jennings said, because thriller fans usually keep up with what's available, making it likely they'll have read anything that's been out for very long. In the case of thrillers, the store has been recommending several titles die-hard fans might have missed or whose authors they might not know. Among them: The Color of Law by Mark Gimenez, a legal thriller; The Double Eagle by James Twining, about the coin business; and Blowback by Brad Thor, with a Middle East setting. But above all, in this area the store recommends The Patriot's Club by Christopher Reich, which involves the eponymous club, founded by John Adams and Alexander Hamilton as a kind of shadow government that still functions. The book offers "interesting historical what ifs" concerning such key historical events as the attack at Pearl Harbor and the Gulf of Tonkin incident. "I can talk about a few of these things with customers and right away they say they'll take it," she said. "It's a fun and fast ride, and you learn a lot at the same time. What a deal."

Other handsells at Rainy Day:

Gardenias by Faith Sullivan, a sequel to The Cape Ann, the 1988 title that was "one of the all-time great book club books." Set in the 1940s, when the family introduced in The Cape Ann moves to California, the story is narrated by a young girl, Lark, whose "voice is like that of Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird," Jennings said. "It's a great human story, a story of coping, of coming of age, of American history. It's a strong read but nothing that anyone would take exception to so I can recommend it to a young person or an 80 year old."

The River of Doubt by Candice Millard, an account of Theodore Roosevelt's ill-fated trip down a tributary of the Amazon the year after he lost the 1912 presidential election. Jennings said that The River of Doubt is "extremely well written. You're jumping at the spiders, keeping your hands out of the water from pirana, swatting misquitoes. It's a very different perspective on his character, but also a true life thriller. There was a murder and they almost all died." She added that without doubt, the book makes a great gift for teenaged or college-aged boys "if they care at all about adventure and the outdoors. Women like it equally, too."

American Gunfight by Stephen Hunter, about the attempt by Puerto Rican nationalists to assassinate President Harry Truman in 1950. "It's a thriller, and since Truman is from here, it has done well for us," Jennings commented, "but it should be interesting anywhere."

The King of Kings County by Whitney Terrell, which "happens to be a novel about the development of the suburbs of Kansas City but could be about any suburb," Jennings said. "It deals with white flight and racial problems. It's a very strong novel."

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See, "a wonderful read that's kind of different," Jennings commented. "It's great for the many people who want both an excellent read and to learn something."

As a stocking stuffer paperback, the store is promoting Minotaur by Benjamin Tammuz, "about an Israeli spy on a mission who sees a woman on a bus and falls in love with her," Jennings commented. "It's Lolita meets Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy."

Rainy Day likes to have fun with children's books, Jennings said. For example, Dog Train by Sandra Boynton has been a major draw since the author appeared at the store for two events at the end of November. Using Workman marketing materials designed for the parties, the store has extended the event. A "huge" conductor dog and 9-ft. dog train is in the window, guiding people inside. Anyone who purchases the book receives conductor hats leftover from the events.

For A Cat's Night Before Christmas, Rainy Day displayed Gund meowing kitties with the books. "That gets people's attention," Jennings said. "We've sold a lot of books and cats."