Sunday, June 30, 2019

New BooksTalk Booklist: Susan's Speculations - Spring 2019


Eiseley Branch Library's teen specialist, Susan S. was the BooksTalk presenter at Gere Branch Library on April 29, 2019, and Bethany Branch Library on May 3rd. Susan's selections should appeal to both Teens and Adults.

Check out her latest list of recommended reading at the following link:

Friday, June 28, 2019

Book Review: Dumb Witness by Agatha Christie


Dumb Witness a.k.a. Poirot Loses a Client
by Agatha Christie

One of many Poirot novels, but one of few with Captain Hastings as well. Personally I enjoy the stories with Captain Hastings more than those without, and this was no different. He actually is the narrator in this novel which was particularly fun. The story is of an older woman who has a considerable amount of money with nieces and nephews who’d love to have some of it and may even go so far as murder to get some inheritance early. As it happens during the Easter holiday when they are all in the house, the old woman ‘accidentally’ falls down the stairs, but is mostly unharmed; however, she gets suspicious and semi-secretly changes her will so all the inheritance goes to her nurse companion, but she also writes to Poirot for help. When she dies a few weeks later due to ‘natural causes’ and the the family hears that none of them are getting any inheritance, they aren’t exactly happy. It’s not until this point that Poirot receives the letter, by curious circumstances, but he is then on the case. I found this one quite entertaining and would highly recommend it to mystery readers or those looking for a particularly interesting plot and characters (including Bob the dog, who was inspired by Christie’s own dog).

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Nemesis, also by Agatha Christie, but featuring Miss Marple, is similar to this one in that the sleuth receives a letter for help from someone who’s already passed away and they need to solve the case with very little information to go on.]

[ official Dumb Witness page on the official Agatha Christie web site ]

Recommended by Kristen A.
Gere Branch Library

Have you read this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

Thursday, June 27, 2019

Book Review: A Willing Murder by Jude Deveraux


A Willing Murder
by Jude Deveraux

I’ll have to admit, I’ve never read any of Jude Deveraux’s 70+ romance or romantic-suspense novels, though her name is one of the first to come up when thinking about contemporary best-selling romance authors. However, when the May theme for the library’s Just Desserts mystery book group came up — to read the first or second volume in ANY new mystery/thriller/suspense series that had just recently started, I stumbled across A Willing Murder — the first in the new Medlar Mysteries series by Deveraux, which came out in 2018. [A second entry (A Justified Murder) in the series is already out in 2019, and a third is scheduled for 2020.]

This novel (and the series in general) features a trio of central characters. Sara Medlar is a best-selling romance novelist (a thinly-veiled version of Deveraux herself) — a silver-haired senior who stays fit by boxing — who lives in the small community of Lachlan, Florida, not far from Miami. Living with her in her large, mansion-like home, are Jack Wyatt, son of a local trouble-maker, who’s establishing himself as a success on his own terms, and Kate Medlar, Sara’s niece, who’s only just moved to Lachlan and is staying with the aunt she’s never met before, while she takes a new job with a local real estate firm. When the toppling of a large poinciana tree (in the backyard of a property that Jack had recently bought) reveals a pair of bodies buried under the tree many years ago, and Jack’s late father is implicated in murder, which the local cops don’t feel is worth digging into, this trio decides to investigate, in order to clear Jack’s father’s name.

As they look into the deaths from more than a dozen years earlier, they uncover old rivalries, hidden shames, and secrets that other folks would like to keep out of sight. The witty banter among this trio of amateur sleuths is amusing, the story is fast-paced, and Deveraux has great skill at creating interesting settings. Does it matter that the mystery itself is fairly light-weight and easy for the reader to figure out before the conclusion of the book? Not really, as this one is more about establishing these new characters and letting them start to interact. And Deveraux’s career as a romance novelist certainly shows through, as the beginnings of a romantic entanglement between Kate and Jack are firmly planted in this entry. I enjoyed this amiable introduction to the Medlar Mysteries, and look forward to future volumes…though I hope that the mysteries themselves turn out to be a bit more robust in upcoming stories.

[ official A Willing Murder page on the official Jude Deveraux web site ]


Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library

Don't miss the June 2019 Just Desserts mystery book discussion group's meeting -- tonight! -- where the group will be discussing several volumes of Donna Andrews amateur detective series featuring Meg Langslow. Guests are always welcome. Just Desserts meets in the 4th floor auditorium of the downtown Bennett Martin Public Library on the last Thursday of each month, 6:30-7:45. Attendees are encouraged to bring a dessert to share with fellow mystery fans. Coffee and juice are provided.
Have you read this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

Wednesday, June 26, 2019

Book Review: Girls on the Verge by Sharon Biggs Waller


Girls on the Verge
by Sharon Biggs Waller [YA Waller]

Girls on the Verge is a short novel about three teens on a road trip to find abortion pills. Though the book was released in April 2019, it’s technically historical fiction set in 2014 in order to accurately represent the details of finding abortion care in Texas at that point in time. Anyone who glances at the news knows this is a quickly changing situation.

The “present time” road trip is the main narrative, but we get brief flashback chapters about how the main character, Camille, became pregnant and how she was treated when trying to buy a pregnancy test and obtain an abortion where she lived. There’s tension between the two friends taking the trip with her. Bea has been Camille’s best friend forever, but Bea comes from a family that’s against sex education for religious reasons and she has reservations about going on an abortion trip herself. Annabelle is a new friend from the theater program Camille and Bea were in, and she’s the one supplying the car.

This is a well-crafted and contemporary-feel book about the experiences of many young women. From the safety of reading about it in a book, readers will see what it’s like to visit an anti-abortion “crisis pregnancy center,” what it’s like to visit Planned Parenthood, and what it’s like to take pills for a medical abortion. Teens will learn where to go in real life to find information on obtaining an abortion if it’s difficult or illegal where they live, which may lead to this becoming a banned book as abortion restrictions spread.

I would recommend this Girls on the Verge strongly to all high school and college teens (young men need to understand this stuff too), but also to adults who want to understand the some of the story behind the politics in the news. It’s probably too explicit for most middle school teens, but that will be up to those readers and families to decide.

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Exit, Pursued by a Bear, by E.K. Johnston.]

[ publisher’s official Girls on the Verge web page ] | [ official Sharon Biggs Waller web site ]

Recommended by Garren H.
Bennett Martin Public Library

Have you read this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!