May 5, 2017 | madame librarian
"In post-World War I England, Lady Phoebe Renshaw and her lady's maid, Eva Huntford, step outside of their social roles and put their lives at risk to apprehend a vicious killer"--.
Bell Elkins, prosecuting attorney in Acker's Gap, West Virginia, is asked by an old acquaintance to look into her beloved father's death in an Alzheimer's care facility. Did he die of natural causes -- or was it something more sinister? Meanwhile, Bell's daughter Carla has moved back home. But something's not right. Carla is hiding something. Once again, past and present, good and evil, and revenge and forgiveness clash in a riveting story set in the shattered landscape of Acker's Gap, where the skies can seem dark even at high noon..
May 3, 2017 | madame librarian
"USA Today bestselling author Sherry Thomas turns the story of the renowned Sherlock Holmes upside down... With her inquisitive mind, Charlotte Holmes has never felt comfortable with the demureness expected of the fairer sex in upper class society. But she never thought that she would become a social pariah, an outcast fending for herself on the mean streets of London. When the city is struck by a trio of unexpected deaths and suspicion falls on her sister and her father, Charlotte is desperate to find the true culprits and clear the family name. She'll have help from friends new and old--a kind-hearted widow, a police inspector, and a man who has long loved her. But in the end, it will be up to Charlotte, under the assumed name Sherlock Holmes, to challenge society's expectations and match wits against an unseen mastermind"--.
The Third Squad is an arresting, ripped-from-the-headlines noir novel that deftly explores how in recent decades, to ostensibly combat the rising tide of criminality in Mumbai's underworld, the Indian Police Service has carried out many hundreds of extrajudicial assassinations of suspected criminals. Karan, a sharpshooter dispensed with dishing out this peculiar blend of vigilante justice, has a difficult choice to make: should he continue to follow orders from his superiors, regardless of their moral standing, or should he take matters into his own hands and do what he believes to be right?
"After two years in the Seattle Police Department, homicide detective Alice Madison has finally found a measure of peace she has never known before--a sense of belonging. When a local burglary escalates into a gruesome murder, Madison takes charge of the investigation, only to discover that this is no ordinary killing. She finds herself tracking a serial assassin who has haunted the city for years--and whose brutality is the stuff of legend among the super-max prisons of the Pacific Northwest. As she delves deeper into the case, Madison learns that the widow of one of the victims is being stalked--is the killer poised to strike again? As pressures mount, Madison will stop at nothing to save the next innocent victim. even if it means playing a killer's endgame by presenting herself as the bait"--.
April 7, 2017 | madame librarian
Friedman (coauthor of That Used to Be Us), a three-time Pulitzer Prize winner for his work as a reporter with the New York Times, engages in an intelligent discussion of the faster paces of change in technology, globalization, and climate around the world. His core argument is that "simultaneous accelerations in the Market, Mother Nature and Moore's law" (the principle that the power of microchips doubles every two years) constitute an "Age of Accelerations," in which people who feel "fearful or unmoored" must "pause and reflect" rather than panic.
"A former police academy classmate and protégé asks Tracy to help solve a cold case that involves the suspicious suicide of a Native American high school girl forty years earlier. But as Tracy probes one small town's memory and finds dark, well-concealed secrets hidden within the community's fabric, her own life may be endangered"--.
Today, people worry that they're going to run out of money in their older age. That won't happen if you use a few tricks for squeezing higher payments from your assets-- from your Social Security account (find the hidden values there), pension (monthly income or lump sum?), home equity (sell and invest the proceeds or take a reverse mortgage?), savings (should you buy a lifetime annuity?), and retirement accounts (how to invest and-- critically-- how much to withdraw from your savings each year?). The right moves will not only raise the amount you have to spend, they'll stretch out your money over many more years. You will also learn to look at your savings and investments in a new way. If you stick with super-safe choices the money might not last. You need safe money to help pay the bills in your early retirement years. But to ensure that you'll still have spending money 10 and 20 years from now, you have to invest for growth, today. Quinn shows you how. At a time when people are living longer, yet retiring with a smaller pot of savings than they'd hoped for, this book will become the essential guide.
April 1, 2017 | madame librarian
We’re celebrating Cultural Diversity Month in April! Check out these series--there’s a detective for every holiday destination.
Follows Mma Ramotste, a recently bereaved woman, as she sets up the only woman-run Private Detective Agency in Botswana and her attempts to get it off the ground. She gets help from Mma Makutsi, her new secretary, and Mr. JLB Matekoni, the owner and super mechanic of the wonderful Speedy Motors. Mma Ramotste takes on cases, meets many new people who need her help - from a woman who thinks the man who has turned up at her door is not her father, to another lady who has a boyfriend who may or may not be faithful to her. Based on the books by Alexander McCall Smith.
Detective Inspector Jimmy Perez and his staff work to solve mysteries in the Shetland Islands. Based on the books by Ann Cleeves.
March 29, 2017 | madame librarian
Norman Colin Dexter, OBE English crime writer known for his Inspector Morse series of novels passed away on March 21, 2017. The novels were written between 1975-1999 and made into a popular BBC/ITV television series starring John Thaw and Kevin Whately. The TV series debuted in 1988 and ended in 2000 with the spun off series Inspector Lewis debuting in 2006 and most recently Endeavour (a prequel to Inspector Morse) appearing in 2013.
In Episode 1 of the series, Inspector Morse, who never quite finds romance, thinks that at last things will turn out differently. He meets the beautiful Anne Stavely, but it is a love not destined to be when Anne is found hanging from a beam under mysterious circumstances. Morse suspects murder and sets out to discover the truth with the help of Sergeant Lewis.
This is the first book in the Inspector Morse series, published in 1975. Beautiful Sylvia Kaye and another young woman had been seen hitching a ride not long before Sylvia's bludgeoned body is found outside a pub in Woodstock, near Oxford. Morse is sure the other hitchhiker can tell him much of what he needs to know. But his confidence is shaken by the cool inscrutability of the girl he's certain was Sylvia's companion on that ill-fated September evening. Shrewd as Morse is, he's also distracted by the complex scenarios that the murder set in motion among Sylvia's girlfriends and their Oxford playmates. To grasp the painful truth, and act upon it, requires from Morse the last atom of his professional discipline.
March 4, 2017 | madame librarian
This unique culinary history of America offers a fascinating look at our past and uses long-forgotten recipes to explain how eight flavors changed how we eat. The United States boasts a culturally and ethnically diverse population which makes for a continually changing culinary landscape. But a young historical gastronomist named Sarah Lohman discovered that American food is united by eight flavors: black pepper, vanilla, curry powder, chili powder, soy sauce, garlic, MSG, and Sriracha. In Eight Flavors , Lohman sets out to explore how these influential ingredients made their way to the American table.
Anna Forster, in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease at only thirty-eight years old, knows that her family is doing what they believe to be best when they take her to Rosalind House, an assisted living facility. She also knows there's just one another resident her age, Luke. What she does not expect is the love that blossoms between her and Luke even as she resists her new life at Rosalind House. As her disease steals more and more of her memory, Anna fights to hold on to what she knows, including her relationship with Luke. When Eve Bennett is suddenly thrust into the role of single mother she finds herself putting her culinary training to use at Rosalind house. When she meets Anna and Luke she is moved by the bond the pair has forged. But when a tragic incident leads Anna's and Luke's families to separate them, Eve finds herself questioning what she is willing to risk to help them.
this is an endlessly fascinating look at American regionalism and the eleven "nations" that continue to shape North America According to award-winning journalist and historian Colin Woodard, North America is made up of eleven distinct nations, each with its own unique historical roots. In American Nations he takes readers on a journey through the history of our fractured continent, offering a revolutionary and revelatory take on American identity, and how the conflicts between them have shaped our past and continue to mold our future.
March 1, 2017 | madame librarian
Capital Crimes is an eclectic collection of London-based crime stories, blending the familiar with the unexpected in a way that reflects the personality of the city.
Dr. James Verraday is a professor of forensic psychology specializing in eyewitness recall and criminal profiling. He's a brilliant original thinker with a passion for social justice and a very antagonistic relationship with authority, especially the police force. So when Detective Constance Maclean appears in Verraday's lecture hall at the end of one of his classes, he bristles. But the body of a young woman has just been found in a cranberry bog south of Seattle, and Maclean is convinced that this murder is tied to an earlier killing. The Seattle police already have a suspect in custody for that case, but Maclean suspects the lead detective is knowingly putting away an innocent man to boost his numbers and quiet his critics. Verraday reluctantly agrees to use his skills as a profiler to help out with the investigation--if only to satisfy his own conviction that law enforcement is riddled with corruption. They form an unlikely alliance and soon find themselves tied up in a deadly game to find a serial killer whose wealth and influence make him almost untouchable.
Detectives David Murphy and Laura Rossi are charged with the investigation of the murder of a student at the City of Liverpool University. Attached to her body is a letter from her killer, which details a famous unethical psychological experiment--an experiment that the killer had replicated on the victim, resulting in her death. Convinced at first that the murderer is someone close to the victim, Murphy and Rossi dismiss the letter as a bid to throw them off the scent--until more bodies are found, each with their own letter attached.When it becomes apparent that each victim has ties to the university, the detectives realize they're chasing a killer unlike any they've hunted before--one who doesn't just want his victims' bodies, but their minds as well. As they rush to prevent any more deaths, they are forced to delve into the darkest channels of psychological research in an attempt to understand the motives of the madman.
February 4, 2017 | madame librarian
Peter O'Toole was supremely talented, a unique leading man and one of the most charismatic actors of his generation. Described by his friend Richard Burton as "the most original actor to come out of Britain since the war," O'Toole was also unpredictable, with a dangerous edge he brought to his roles and to his real life. With the help of exclusive interviews with colleagues and close friends, Robert Sellers' Peter O'Toole: The Definitive Biography paints the first complete picture of this complex and much-loved man. The book reveals what drove him to extremes, why he drank to excess for many years and hated authority, but it also describes a man who was fiercely intelligent, with a great sense of humor and huge energy. Giving full weight to his extraordinary career, this is an insightful, funny, and moving tribute to an iconic actor who made a monumental contribution to theater and cinema.
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author Richard A. Serrano's new book American Endurance: The Great Cowboy Race and the Vanishing Wild West is history, mystery, and Western all rolled into one. In June 1893, nine cowboys raced across a thousand miles of American prairie to the Chicago World's Fair. For two weeks they thundered past angry sheriffs, governors, and Humane Society inspectors intent on halting their race. Waiting for them at the finish line was Buffalo Bill Cody, who had set up his Wild West Show right next to the World's Fair that had refused to allow his exhibition at the fair. The Great Cowboy Race occurred at a pivotal moment in our nation's history: many believed the frontier was settled and the West was no more. The Chicago World's Fair represented the triumph of modernity and the end of the cowboy age. Except no one told the cowboys. Racing toward Buffalo Bill Cody and the gold-plated Colt revolver he promised to the first to reach his arena, nine men went on a Wild West stampede from tiny Chadron, Nebraska, to bustling Chicago. But at the first thud of hooves pounding on Chicago's brick pavement, the race devolved into chaos. Some of the cowboys shipped their horses part of the way by rail, or hired private buggies. One had the unfair advantage of having helped plan the route map in the first place. It took three days, numerous allegations, and a good old Western showdown to sort out who was first to Chicago, and who won the Great Cowboy Race.
No single sea battle has had more far-reaching consequences than the one fought in the harbor at Hampton Roads, Virginia, in March 1862. The Confederacy, with no fleet of its own, built an iron fort containing ten heavy guns on the hull of a captured Union frigate named the Merrimack. The North got word of the project when it was already well along, and, in desperation, commissioned an eccentric inventor named John Ericsson to build the Monitor, an entirely revolutionary iron warship—at the time, the single most complicated machine ever made. Abraham Lincoln himself was closely involved with the ship’s design.
February 3, 2017 | madame librarian
"PhDeath" is a fast-paced thriller set in a major university in a major city on a square. The faculty finds itself in deadly intellectual combat with the anonymous Puzzler. Along with teams of U.S. Military Intelligence and the city's top detective and aided by the Puzzle Master of The New York Times, their collective brains are no match for the Puzzler's perverse talents.--Publisher.
The year is 1888 and Jack the Ripper begins his reign of terror. Miss Sarah Bain, a photographer in Whitechapel, is an independent woman with dark secrets. In the privacy of her studio, she supplements her meager income by taking illicit "boudoir photographs" of the town's local ladies of the night. But when two of her models are found gruesomely murdered within weeks of one another, Sarah begins to suspect it's more than mere coincidence. Teamed with a motley crew of friends--including a street urchin, a gay aristocrat, a Jewish butcher and his wife, and a beautiful young actress--Sarah delves into the crime of the century. But just as she starts unlocking the Ripper's secrets, she catches the attention of the local police, who believe she knows more than she's revealing, as well as from the Ripper himself, now bent on silencing her and her friends for good. Caught in the crosshairs of a ruthless killer, Sarah races through Whitechapel's darkest alleys to find the truth...until she makes a shocking discovery that challenges everything she thought she knew about the case. Intelligent and utterly engrossing, Laura Joh Rowland's Victorian mystery The Ripper's Shadow will keep readers up late into the night.
"Commissioner Pieter Van In must find the link between members of a satanic conspiracy and a young woman's death. A young woman is found dead in the canal outside her Bruges apartment building. But what seems like a clear-cut suicide evolves into something much more complex when Commissioner Pieter Van In uncovers the girl's involvement in a satanic sect. Who is the mysterious Venex, and why does he inspire such devotion from his disciples? Complicating the investigation further, Van In's boss allows beautiful journalist Saartje Maes to profile the case, sparking tension with the commissioner's expectant wife, District Attorney Hannelore Martens. As a horrific tragedy shocks the city, Van In seems to be surrounded by secrets. And though exposing them will lead him to the truth, it will also pit him against the very police force to which he's devoted his life."--Provided by publisher.
January 6, 2017 | madame librarian
If the font is bigger, it stands to reason the book will be bigger as well, right? That large print titles seemingly defy basic logic makes this one of the most prevalent misconceptions. In fact, large print titles are often the same size or smaller than their hardcover or trade paperback counterparts and weigh about the same as a traditional hardcover book. The common reaction to learning this fact is, “Well, to be the same size or smaller, they must be abridged.” This is also false. The magic here lies in the combination of printing on a thinner, higher quality paper and laying out the text to maximize the use of white space.
Valentino, a mild-manner film archivist at UCLA and sometime film detective, is at the closing party for the Red Montana and Dixie Day museum when he is approached by no less than his hero and man-of-the-hour Red Montana, western film and television star. Red tells Valentino that he is being blackmailed over the existence of a blue film that his wife, now known throughout the world as the wholesome Dixie Day and the other half of the Montana/Day power couple, made early in her career. With Dixie on her deathbed, Red is desperate to save her the embarrassment of the promised scandal, and offers Valentino a deal-find the movie, and he can have Red's lost film, Sixgun Sonata, that Red has been hiding away in his archives. Don't accept, and the priceless reel will go up in flames. Feeling blackmailed himself, Valentino agrees and begins to dig. In the surreal world of Hollywood, what is on screen is rarely reality. As he races to uncover the truth before time runs out, his heroes begin their fall from grace. Valentino desperately wants to save Sixgun Sonata-- but at what cost?.
"In his first official book published as Pope, in celebration of his Jubilee of Mercy, Pope Francis here addresses all humanity in an intimate and personal dialogue. At the center of this book is the subject closest to his heart--mercy--which has long been the cornerstone of his faith and is now the central teaching of his papacy. These pages resonate with a desire to reach all those souls who are looking for meaning in life, a road to peace and reconciliation, and the healing of physical and spiritual wounds"--Amazon.com.
