'huge, queer and tawdry' but 'much admired by the public'

Yup. And even Bookseller tends largely to be about stuff which'll be filed at the front of bookshops but which means less than nothing to me. With a few favourite authors I'll check Amazon every so often, see if any forthcoming releases are listed, but obviously one can't do that for every author one vaguely likes (especially someone like Savage who is hardly prolific). So often the first I know will be if I see a review somewhere else (meaning it's too late for me to seek a copy for review), or (as here) when a copy just turns up and I think "he'sgotanewoneoutI'msohavingthat" before striking for it.