Arts

Kentucky is bourbon country. Bar shelves in Louisville are stocked with a crowded field of premium bourbons; the city's Theater Square Marketplace restaurant alone carries close to 170 different brands. So when news trickled out that longtime distillery Maker's Mark plans to water down its bourbon, locals were stunned.

Bourbon has to be aged at least two years — and that's where Maker's Mark got in trouble. Chief Operating Officer Rob Samuels says the company simply didn't make enough.

Violent video games have been a small part of the national conversation about gun violence in recent weeks. The big question: Does violence in games make people more violent in the real world?

The answer is unclear, but one thing is obvious: Violence sells games. The most popular video game franchise is Call of Duty, a war game where killing is the goal.

For some, Detroit may be a symbol of urban decay; but to Charlie LeDuff, it's home. LeDuff, a veteran print and TV journalist who spent 12 years at The New York Times, where he shared a Pulitzer Prize in 2001, returned home to the city after the birth of his daughter left him and his wife — also a Detroit native — wanting to be closer to family.

Valentine's Day is a great time for love and romance. But it can also bring up complicated questions about relationships. If you've been texting incessantly, when is the right time for an actual date? And is there such a thing as being too romantic? Host Michel Martin talks to etiquette experts about romance dilemmas.

The daily lowdown on books, publishing, and the occasional author behaving badly.

Fiction and nonfiction releases from Christine Sneed, Peter Carey, Nell Freudenberger and Tom Holland.

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