LIBRARY CORNER | 09/09/22

/in

September in the Library:

  • 13, 20, 27—Story Time 11 a.m.
  • 12—Friends of the Library 6 p.m.
  • 12&14, 19&21, 26&28—Play, Learn and Grow Workshop (ages 3 and under)
  • 15—Pleasant Living Group Home crafts
  • 15—Family Night
  • 22—Book Club (Fools and Mortals by Cornwell) 6 p.m.
  • 22—Pleasant Springs craft

The Friends of the Library group provides the library with monthly copies of BookList. These magazines are available free to anyone who wants to read about new books. Each month a genre is featured. The following “picks” are from Bruce Tierney:

Everyone’s favorite French police chief Benoit Courreges—aka Bruno, Chief of Police—faces a new threat to his usually bucolic Perigord existence: Spanish terrorists protesting the Catalonia separatist movement. As Martin Walker’s To Kill a Troubadour opens, controversy swirls around “Song for Catalonia,” a wildly popular song that, because of its tacit support for the separatists, has recently been banned by the Spanish government. The group that popularized the song is gearing up for a free concert while Spanish nationalist extremists have been observed crossing the border into France, intent on inflicting mayhem on the assembled music lovers. Then a bullet is found in the wreckage of a recently stolen car, a bullet designed for a high-powered sniper rifle that can kill from several kilometers away. Bruno fears snipers will set their crosshairs on the crowd. This book contains all the best components of a terrific mystery.

Swedish author Johanna Mo returns with The Shadow Lily, the suspense-laden second book in her series featuring police detective Hanna Duncker, who, after years of working in Stockholm’s urban center, has returned to her small island homeland of Oland. Both Hanna and the other islanders have mixed feelings about her return, as her father was convicted of one of the most brutal murders the community has ever seen. While Hanna is tasked with locating missing man and infant child, The Shadow Lily sheds further light on what drove Hanna back home: the visceral need to know the whole story about her father.

Jing-nan, a dumpling stall operator in a Taipei night market, is not your typical food dude. He is a tech-savvy social media influencer, a born marketer—and an inadvertent sleuth. While Jing-nan is cursed with nefarious family members and cronies, Death Doesn’t Forget starts out with some good fortune: Jing-nan’s girlfriend’s mother, Siu-lien, wins half of s sizable lottery, which she must share with her ne’er-do-well boyfriend. By the next day, the good fortune has all dried up. The boyfriend has been killed, the winnings are in the wind and Jing-nan is on the hook for finding, if not the murderer, at least the missing money. Author Ed Lin recounts cultural and familial interplay with good humor. With its great suspense and plot development, Death Doesn’t Forget is good fun all-round.

Mark Billingham’s Detective Inspector Tom Thorne books are consistently excellent, but his 18th entry in the popular series, The Murder Book, raises the bar considerably. In a twist that will thrill longtime fans of the series, arch villain Stuart Nicklin, described as “the most dangerous psychopath Thorne has ever put behind bars,” is back for a return engagement. Nicklin works with a female serial killer in this new thriller, and both present new challenges for Thorne. Full of twists and turns, this book will keep you turning the pages.

It’s a great time to check out a good book and join us for a very active September in the library. Happy reading!

Helen Thompson, Director – Mount Pleasant Public Library