BOOKENDS

Special Deliverance: Elizabeth George was surprised to learn that her British detective novel, “A Great Deliverance,” will be among the books featured in Newsweek magazine’s annual Summer Mystery Roundup. The roundup will appear in the July 4 issue. “A Great Deliverance,” George’s first published novel, is the first in a series of British detective novels the Huntington Beach author is writing for Bantam Books. Published in May, “A Great Deliverance” is already in its second printing and has been sold to 11 foreign countries. This fall, the former El Toro High School English teacher will offer a course in novel writing for beginners through Coastline Community College.

Rising Stars: Jay Gummerman of Irvine, a recent UC Irvine master of fine arts graduate, has sold a book of short stories, “We Find Ourselves in Moontown,” to Knopf. And Gordon McAlpine of Anaheim, who received his master of fine arts degree at UCI a few years ago, now has a contract with E.P. Dutton for his novel about baseball in the 1930s, “Joy in Mudville.” Donald Heiney, director of UCI’s Writing Program in Fiction, says the book is a “much revised” version of McAlpine’s thesis.

‘Red Star’ Rising: Newport Beach author Douglas Muir’s new paperback suspense thriller, “Red Star Run” (Charter), is now in bookstores. The book’s romantic leads are Hollywood superstar Tina Conner and Nuri Baranov, a premier Bolshoi Ballet dancer who has defected to the West. Publishers Weekly describes Muir’s latest novel as “an epic adventure that pits the Soviet Union against the United States. The author . . . offers enough realism, both in style and research, to engage the reader’s belief as Nuri is hunted from the opulent mansions of Tinseltown to the steely power chambers of Washington and Moscow.”

Book-Signings: Today, at the Little Professor Book Center in Irvine, Muir will join Elizabeth George and three other authors for a book-signing session from 1 and 3 p.m. Also scheduled are Alex Thorliefson (“Behind the Candelabra: My Life With Liberace,” which the Irvine writer co-authored with Scot Thorson), Bradley Lewis (“Confessions of a Grinder”) and Neal Shusterman (“Shadow Box”). The Little Professor is at 14370 Culver Drive.

More Book-Signings: Book Carnival in Orange, which specializes in mysteries, science-fiction and fantasy, will host a book-signing with San Francisco-based mystery writers Marcia Muller and Bill Pronzini from 2 to 4 p.m. today. The shop is at 870 N. Tustin Ave. Muller will be signing copies of “There Hangs the Knife.” Pronzini, author of the so-called “nameless detective series,” will be signing his latest, “Shackles.” (Store owner Ed Thomas explains that when Pronzini began the series about 10 years ago, he wrote it in first-person and intentionally did not name the detective. “The gimmick caught on, so he continued,” says Thomas, adding, “They’re very enjoyable. A lot of people come into the store and say, ‘You got any nameless books?’ ”)

Next Friday, Book Carnival will host a book-signing with mystery writer Tony Hillerman from 7 to 9 p.m. The author, who lives in Albuquerque, N.M., will sign copies of “A Thief in Time,” the ninth in his series of mysteries set on Indian reservations in Arizona and New Mexico. Says Thomas: “His detectives are Indians and what’s so fascinating about the books is they’re not only great mysteries, they’re full of Indian culture.”