John Sandford’s “Bad Blood” — his fourth novel featuring Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension agent Virgil Flowers — revolves around a church called the World of Spirit.

While the socially isolated religious group at first glance resembles the Amish more than one person in the novel compare it to the Branch Davidians cult.

Read more, and pre-order, at Amazon.com.

The Jewel of Medina tells the story of Aisha, one of Muhammad’s wives, from the age of six to 18 when Muhammad dies.

It was bought by Random House US for a reported advance of $100,000, but then dropped after the publisher was told by academics and security experts that publication was potentially more risky than Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses and the Danish publication of cartoons of Muhammad. [video]

A novel about the child bride of the Prophet Mohamed has been withdrawn by Random House, which said it feared that publication of the book could “incite acts of violence”. Critics, however, have accused the publisher of abandoning the principle of free speech and caving into pressure from extreme Islamist elements.

The Jewel of Medina, a debut novel by the US journalist Sherry Jones, was due to have been published next Tuesday, and Random House had scheduled an eight-city publicity tour. But in May, the publisher abruptly informed her that all plans were now off.

The e-pistolary novel comes of age in a new on-line mystery co-authored by a Toronto man, REBECCA CALDWELL writes