Staff Picks - August 2013
By Claire Vaye Watkins
Recommended By Sonia Grgas, Reference Librarian
"A debut collection of ten short works re-imagines the mythology of the American West and includes stories of a foreigner’s arrival at a prostitution ranch, a hermit’s attempt to rescue an abused teen, and a woman’s role in a friend’s degrading Vegas encounter (From the Publisher)."
By Claire Cook
Recommended By Pam Martin, Assistant Library Director
"A professional home stager in the Boston suburbs, Sandy Sullivan, after reading her family the riot act, takes a job staging a boutique hotel in Atlanta where she becomes immersed in other people’s lives while trying to fix up her own (From the Publisher)."
By Sarah Strohmeyer
Series Bubbles Yablonsky Mysteries
Recommended By Marie McLaughlin, Head of Circulation
"Given a week to prove her investigative abilities, flaky hairdresser and aspiring journalist Bubbles endeavors to clear an accused woman of her executive husband’s murder, a case that is complicated by Bubbles’s zany family and clueless boyfriend (From the Publisher)."
By Henning Mankell
Series Kurt Wallander Mysteries
Recommended By Sue Ann R., Head of Children's Services
"Inspector Kurt Wallander, a local Swedish police officer whose own personal life is falling apart, finds himself coping with a wave of anti-foreigner sentiment when he is put in charge of the investigation into the brutal murders of an elderly couple (From the Publisher)."
By August Wilson
Recommended By Megan Kass, Systems Manager
"During the 1950s Troy Maxson struggles against racism and tries to preserve his feelings of pride in himself (From the Publisher)."
By Ted Allen
Recommended By Stacey Mencher, Technology and Applications Manager
"The host of Chopped describes the home-kitchen experiments that have resulted in many of his unusual and delicious dishes, sharing a sumptuous array of from-scratch recipes including slow-roasted Mexican-style leg of lamb and bruschetta with tomatoes and strawberries (From the Publisher)."
By Colin Pyle
Recommended By Neela Vass, Head of Acquisitions
"Brothers Colin and Ryan take us with them as they travel through the diverse and extraordinary landscapes of China, from its border with North Korea, to the ancient Muslin city of Kashgar, across the vast empty spaces of the Mongolian grasslands, over the mountains and into the monasteries of Tibet (From the Publisher)."
By Richard Paul Evans
Recommended By Nancy Lowenstein, Library Page
"Beth Cardall faces the need to reveal a secret she has been keeping for eighteen years since Christmas Day of 1989, when she encountered a mysterious, handsome stranger named Matthew who changed the course of her life (From the Publisher)."
By Louise Erdrich
With Sonia Grgas, Health Reference Librarian, Ralph Guiteau, Readers' Services Librarian, Lisa Jones, Readers' Services Librarian, Ed Goldberg, Head of Reference
Tuesday, December 17, 2013. 7:30 PM.
"When his mother, a tribal enrollment specialist living on a reservation in North Dakota, slips into an abyss of depression after being brutally attacked, fourteen-year old Joe Coutz sets out with his three friends to find the person that destroyed his family (From the Pubisher)."
By John Grisham
Recommended By John Shea, Library Page
"Goes behind the doors of a jury room to reveal what happens among members of a jury in the middle of deliberations as one powerful leader of the jury works to sway the verdict (From the Publisher)."
Became the movie: Runaway Jury.
By Agatha Christie
Series Tommy and Tuppence Mysteries
Recommended By Brenda Cherry, Reference Librarian, Sonia Grgas, Reference Librarian
Investigating the case of a woman who has been missing for five years, Tommy and Tuppence Beresford uncover just enough information to solve the mystery and put their own lives in jeopardy.
By Claire Cook
Recommended By Jackie, Head of Readers' Services
After being left alone to raise young daughter for seven years, Jill's husband Seth re-enters her life after seven years asking for forgiveness.
By John Kenney
Recommended By Rosemarie Germaine, Senior Library Clerk
Struggling with encroaching middle age and a broken engagement, advertising agent Finbar Dolan is forced to cancel his Christmas plans to tackle a last-minute work assignment only to learn that his estranged and abusive father has taken ill and that his siblings are unwilling to help, a situation that forces Fin to re-evaluate his choices.
By Reed Farrel Coleman
Series Moe Prager Mysteries
Recommended By Ed Goldberg, Head of Reference
"Haunted by the mystery that he has never solved, Moe Prager receives a mysterious phone call that produces a new lead, prompting him to reopen a twenty-year old investigation into the disappearance of a college student (From the Publisher)."
By Sonali Deraniyagala
Recommended By Amy B., Children's Librarian
"A memoir of the author’s experiences as a survivor of the 2004 tsunami that killed her parents, husband, and two young sons recounts her struggles with profound grief and survivor’s guilt and her gradual steps toward healing (From the Publisher)."
By Charles Todd
Series Inspector Ian Rutledge Mysteries
Recommended By Rosemarie Germaine, Senior Library Clerk
"In Cornwall two years after World War I, an influential relative of three murdered family members convinces Scotland Yard to send Inspector Ian Rutledge to investigate, unaware that Ian suffers shell shock from his own participation in the war effort (From the Publisher)."
By Stuart Nadler
Recommended By Evelyn Hershkowitz, Readers' Services Librarian
"Falling in love with a young African-American woman during the summer of 1952, Hilly Wise, the son of one of the country’s most powerful lawyers, inadvertently reveals dark secrets that shatter both families and compel Hilly years later to settle old scores (From the Publisher)."
By Philippa Gregory
Series Cousins’ War
Recommended By Brenda Cherry, Reference Librarian
"Draws on original documents, archaeology, and other sources to share the stories of Jacquetta, Duchess of Bedford; Elizabeth Woodville, the wife of Edward IV; and Margaret Beaufort, the founder of the Tudor dynasty (From the Publisher)."
By Corinne Demas
Recommended By Rosemarie Germaine, Senior Library Clerk
"In a tale of love, betrayal, and literature, six members of an elite writing circle share much more than their works-in-progress (From the Publisher)."