Elaine Kushmaul, retired librarian
We continue to be supported by donations to the library from our reading residents. Here is a sampling of books acquired over the last month. Which one is your “good read?” We lean toward Mystery/Suspense, but there is also a new Stephen King thriller, a story of a street in Ireland by Maeve Binchy, a non-fiction by Rachel Maddow, and a new puzzle.
The Final Cut (A Brit in the FBI) by Catherine Coulter and J. T. Ellison, 2013
Bestseller Coulter teams with Ellison on a thriller that manages to be both intricate and full of jaw-dropping action sequences. Chief Inspector Nicholas Drummond travels from London to Manhattan where a crown jewel on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art has been stolen. In the course of his investigation, Drummond connects in entertaining fashion with Coulter’s main series heroes, FBI agents Dillon Savich and Lacey Sherlock. A number of well-developed subplots keep this from being a simple one-on-one contest. From Publishers Weekly
Remains of Innocence (Joanna Brady Mysteries) by J. A. Jance, 2015
While cleaning out the house of her deceased mother, Liza Machett discovers a fortune in hundred-dollar bills hidden in the book stacks and magazines that crowd every corner. Soon her mother’s house is torched, Liza’s apartment is broken into and her elderly landlady is murdered. Terrified, Liza leaves Massachusetts and sets off on a perilous cross-country journey that will lead her to Cochise County, Arizona. Sheriff Joanna Brady has her hands full investigating the suspicious death of a man found in a cavern. Then another case rocks the department—a shocking murder involving Liza and the money. Now Joanna must solve these two disturbing cases before more innocent blood is shed. From Amazon Review
Silken Prey: A Lucas Davenport Novel by John Sandford, 2014
A tight race for a U.S. Senate seat is drawing to a close when Lucas Davenport gets a call. A volunteer aide to the Republican incumbent inadvertently has found a cache of kiddie porn on the candidate’s personal computer. Given the consequences of the discovery, Davenport, the lead investigator for Minnesota’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, is asked by the Democratic governor to handle a quick, discreet inquiry. Though in the opposing party, the governor has known the accused since grade school and is adamant that his friend is innocent. This novel is suspenseful, witty and wise in the ways of modern politics. Wes Lukowsky — From Booklist
Ravensburger Dad’s Shed – 500 Piece Puzzle
Chestnut Street by Maeve Binchy, 2014
Maeve Binchy imagined a street in Dublin with many characters coming and going, and every once in a while she would write about one of these people. She would then put it in a drawer; “for the future,” she would say. The future is now. Chestnut Street is written with the humor and understanding that are earmarks of Maeve Binchy’s extraordinary work, and once again she warms our hearts with her storytelling. From Amazon review.
Finders Keepers: A Novel (Bill Hodges Trilogy) by Stephen King, 2015
A masterful, intensely suspenseful novel about a reader whose obsession with a reclusive writer goes far too far—a book about the power of storytelling starring the same trio of unlikely and winning heroes King introduced in Mr. Mercedes. From Amazon review.
Drift: The Unmooring of American Military Power by Rachel Maddow, 2013
Written with wit and intelligence, Rachel Maddow’s Drift argues that we’ve drifted away from America’s original ideals and become a nation weirdly at peace with perpetual war. To understand how we’ve arrived at such a dangerous place, Maddow takes us from the Vietnam War to today’s war in Afghanistan, along the way exploring Reagan’s presidency, the rise of executive authority, the outsourcing of our war-making capabilities to private companies, the falling percentage of American families whose children fight our wars for us and even the changing fortunes of G.I. Joe. Ultimately she shows us just how much we stand to lose by allowing the scope of American military power to overpower our political discourse. Sensible yet provocative, dead serious yet seriously funny, Drift will reinvigorate a “loud and jangly” political debate about our vast and confounding national security state. Amazon review.