NEWS FLASH
Closings, emergencies,
timely messages
LIBRARY
HOURS
Monday - Thursday
9:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Friday & Saturday 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Closed Sunday
library@pennlib.org
View Map
 |
|
Reading Rescue, April 2009:
Female Sleuths
 By Anne Allen and Mary Anne Fulmer
Sometimes your mind wonders and you stop and think about
the fact that one human being can take the life of another human being
without any feeling of remorse. After the April 4th murders of three
police officers and the wounding of another, it just seems like it will
never stop. Most murders are premeditated, and that means they are
planned. These people sit and make elaborate plans to kill. This is
plain crazy! I had planned on writing about female crime sleuths long
before this incident happened, but I just had to say a few words about
it. You never know when your number is up, and in most cases, you can't
be prepared. Please keep these officers and their families in your
thoughts and prayers.
This month we are going to feature books about female
sleuths as the main characters. Leslie Meier's Lucy Stone in Mother's
Day Murder (FIC MEIER) is a Pennysaver reporter and a mom. She has
had two children leave the nest and still has two at home. Lucy knows
even though the two children do not live at home, mothering is a
life-long commitment. Her teenage daughter becomes more difficult every
day! She has some new friends, and Lucy is not too sure that they are
the best company for her daughter. Two of these friends have mothers
that are way over-the-top. Barbara (Bar) Hume and Tina Nowak are
literally "mothers from hell." They push and shove their daughters to
the top. These ladies are total opposites in every way except for their
daughters. Bar and Tina fight about everything. On Mother's Day they
both end up at the local restaurant brunch and of course, Bar wants the
same table that Tina is occupying. She starts to make a scene and
threatens Tina. During all of this, Lucy and her family are at the same
restaurant trying to enjoy brunch. Her children and husband give Lucy
and her daughter-in-law passes to the local spa for Mother's Day. They
go and have a great time, and on the way home, witness Tina being shot
to death. Lucy sees the murderer and it looks a lot like Bar. Did she do
it? You will have to read this fabulous book to find out.
Tamar Myers has written another witty, humorous, but
never-the-less deadly tale. In Batter Off Dead, (FIC MYERS),
Magdalena Yoder takes center stage. She is eight and a half months
pregnant when gluttonous Minerva J. Jay drops dead after eating
twenty-six pancakes at the church breakfast. This does not stop
Magdalena from investigating. In fact, she has her baby on the floor of
the local market! This is nothing for Magdalena because she puts up with
her bizarre sister and overbearing Jewish mother-in-law every day. She
has to find out who was responsible for Minerva's death. There could be
a ton of suspects. Minerva wasn't liked by many. Did someone kill her
because she had eaten all the pancakes? This is a fun read and as a
bonus contains recipes.
Alex Cooper is an Assistant District Attorney in Linda
Fairstein's book Lethal Legacy (FIC FAIRSTEIN). She is called to
an apartment of a young woman believed to be assaulted. The woman, a
conservator of rare books and maps, doesn't want to cooperate. Then
another woman in the same apartment is found murdered, and beside her is
an extremely valuable book believed to have been stolen. Alex and her
team are led on a chase from Manhattan's grandest apartments to the
secret tunnel of the New York Public Library that leads to a
nineteenth-century vault. It is pitch black in the vault, and Alex comes
face-to-face with a killer who values money more than life!
Can Aunt Dimity help Lori save her village? Nancy
Atherton's Aunt Dimity Slays a Dragon, (FIC ATHERTON), a page
turner, tells the tale. Lori has been waiting for the King Wilfred's
Faire to open. It is a wonderful Renaissance Fair complete with wizards,
wenches, minstrels, and more. Lori discovers that a sinister figure is
stalking the angel-voiced singer, a jealous rival has sabotaged the
Dragon Knight's weapons and an evil assassin is trying to murder Good
King Wilfred! It takes the guidance of Aunt Dimity to help Lori, but can
they find out who is responsible?
What happens when one of your best friends love is
killed and you get a note saying you just might be next on the list?
This is the dilemma that Lt. Eve Dallas is facing in J.D. Robb's
Promises in Death (FIC ROBB). The book has a clever plot, great
characters, and some sexy banter between Eve and her billionaire
husband. You will not put this one down!
All of Alexander McCall's books are wonderful and great
to read. In The Comforts of a Muddy Saturday (FIC MCCALL-SMITH),
Isabel is investigating a doctor accused of scientific fraud. Did the
doctor manipulate the data for a drug developed by the same company that
funded his research? Is his nephew, also his assistant, guilty because
he wants to exact revenge on his uncle? At issue here is a very valuable
piece of property. This is a book you will enjoy.
Sit back and relax to read this Tea Shop mystery. It
will make you feel great, and it is as satisfying as drinking a cup of
hot tea on a cold night! Oolong Dead by Laura Childs (FIC CHILDS)
features Theodosia Browning and her horse, Captain Harley. They are
riding in the annual Charleston Point-to Point Race when they encounter
the dead corpse of Abby Davis, an evening news anchor and Theodosia's
nemesis. Add to that an investigation prompted by attorney Jory Davis,
the victim's brother and Theodosia's ex-boyfriend. The plot simmers
slowly but Theodosia's sleuthing is as satisfying as sipping a cup of
hot tea!
Karen Robard's Pursuit (FIC ROBARDS), features
Jessica Ford, a young lawyer working for one of the largest law firms in
Washington, D.C. Her boss is a friend of the First Lady, Annette Cooper,
and when he can't get to a bar where she is hiding from the Secret
Service, he send Jessica to bundle her into a cab. The next thing
Jessica knows is that she is the sole survivor of a fiery crash. Jessica
begins to think that the car crash is a cover-up for something sinister.
She and Secret Service agent Mark Ryan are on the lam and unsure of whom
they can trust. Everyone is a suspect. Who can she trust and how far up
does the conspiracy go? This is a fast-paced thriller sure to please
everyone.
Cruel Intent by J.A. Jance (FIC JANCE) sets a
breathless pace. Ali is desperately trying to remodel her old mansion in
Sedona, Arizona. Her contractor's unfaithful wife is the fifth victim of
a serial killer. The police feel that the contractor did it. At
considerable personal risk, Ali must clear the contractor in order to
get the house finished in time for Thanksgiving dinner. She has her
gossipy muddling mother, her son Chris, Chris's amputee fiancée, her
sometimes boyfriend Holman, and the rest of the clan all coming to
dinner. Does she have the time to solve this murder? What happens?
Finally, we can not write about female sleuths without
including Agatha Raisin. M.C. Beaton's A Spoonful of Poison (FIC
BEATON) features the always-looking-for-love Agatha. She joins the local
authorities in investigating the death of Mrs. Andrews. The lady had
jumped to her death from the tower of Saint Odo the Servere Church after
acting very crazy. Agatha had been asked by the church committee to
advertise this fund raiser. She had been very successful in getting a
huge crowd, but someone has put LSD in one of the jars of jam. Of
course, Agatha falls for the handsome George, organizer of the fund
raising event. Will she find out who put the drug in the jam? What
happens with George? Has she found love at last? Beaton writes some
great books that feature Agatha and some others that feature Hamish. If
you like humor as well as a light mystery, these are good choices.
On April 16th we will be honored to have Pennsylvania
Humanities Speaker, Benjamin Soto at the library. He will tell us "How
the Circus Helped Folks During The Great Depression." Mr. Solo spoke at
the White House and also at the Kennedy Center. He is the executive
director of the Zany Umbrella Circus. The program begins at 6:30 pm on
April 16th. There is no age limit, and everyone is welcome. There is no
charge for the program. It will be a lot of fun.
The Friends will hold a book sale beginning on April
21st. The sale will be on April 21-24 and on April 27-28. The library
will be closed on April 25 and 26. The sale runs during regular library
hours -- Monday-Thursday 9:00 am until 8:00 pm., Friday & Saturday 9:00
am until 5:00 pm. They have some very nice materials.
In May we will have Amnesty weeks from May 4th until May
16th. Please bring in all your materials, and the fines will be
forgiven. If you have materials that are overdue, please bring them in
even when it is not an amnesty time. We will work with you and want you
to use the library. Do not be embarrassed. The important things are we
get back the materials and you enjoy the library.
As usual if you have questions or comments, please
either e-mail mfulmer@pennlib.org
or call (724) 744-4414. See you all in the library!
A shortened version of this article appeared in the
Penn Franklin News in April 2009.
View other Reading Rescue articles
|
|
