What's For Dinner?

2020 James Beard Award Nominee Diana Henry gives us From the Oven to the Table. "Let the oven do the work with this easy-going collection of full-flavored dishes from Diana Henry. All of the recipes in this book can be cooked in one dish or pan. You simply prep the ingredients then pop them in the oven to roast while you get on with your life. From quick after-work suppers and light veggie meals to more substantial feasts to feed friends, these recipes are packed with full-on flavor. Diana includes recipes such as Spatchcock Chicken with Chilie, Garlic and Oregano Aioli, Cod with Chorizo, Tomatoes, Olives and Saffron and Sherry-roast Jerusalem Artichokes, Chestnuts and Mushrooms, proving that impressive meals are achievable in every home - no matter how limited your time, resources or energy." (from Amazon.com)

"It's not always easy to try out a new recipe, but sticking to what you know and love can get pretty boring. After a discussion of what food storage areas typically have (and what they ought to have), Hack Your Cupboard: Make Great Food with What You've Got by Alyssa Wiegand & Carla Carreon provides age-specific guidance to help you move on to more ambitious meals. This makes it the perfect book to take from the family pantry to a dorm room fridge, a first apartment, and beyond. With dozens of photographs as well as dream dinners for every skill level, this is the cookbook for anyone who wants to break out of a kitchen rut without breaking too much of a sweat." (from Amazon.com)

"Less sugar in every meal. Would you feed your child a candy bar for breakfast? Of course not. And yet today our children routinely consume three times the recommended daily allowance of added sugar, which puts them at an unprecedented risk for type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, excess weight, and even nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Half the Sugar, All the Love--by Jennifer Tyler Lee and Anisha Patel, MD, MSPH--is here to help, with 100 doctor-approved recipes that cut the sugar (by half—or more!) without sacrificing the flavors our families love. It’s an eye-opening education, a program of healthy eating, and a cookbook chock-full of easy, delicious recipes all in one. Pass the breakfast bars!" (from Amazon.com)

New Large Print Westerns for You

Peter Brandvold delivers the third book of his  Lou Prophet, Bounty Hunter Series with The Cost of Dying. Of all the legends of the Old West, few are as stained with ink, blood, and bullets as the violent days of bounty hunter Lou Prophet. But what happens when the hunter becomes the hunted? After a hard night with his sometime lover Louisa Bonaventure—“the Vengeance Queen”—Lou Prophet decides to cool his heels at a local honky-tonk. Things heat up fast when he defends one of the girls from a sadistic brute who also happens to be the deputy sheriff. And now Prophet is running for his life. Heading south of the border to Mexico, Prophet isn’t the only man marked for death. The young red-headed gunfighter Colter Farrow has made an awful lot of enemies, too—and now practically every bounty hunter south of the Rio Grande is gunning for blood. For money. For fun. And, now, for Lou Prophet.

Cutthroats is the first Slash and Pecos Western by William W. Johnstone with J.A. Johnstone. After a lifetime of robbing banks and holding up trains, Jimmy "Slash" Braddock and Melvin "Pecos Kid" Baker are ready to call it quits. Sold out by their old gang, - The Snake River Marauders - Slash and Pecos have to bust out of jail and pull one last job to finance their early retirement. The target is a payroll train. Catch is, the train is carrying a Gatling gun and twenty deputy US marshals who know they're coming. The pair is caught and sentenced to hang, until their old enemy Marshal Luther Bledsoe shows up at the last minute to spare their lives. For a price. He'll let them live if they hunt down their old gang and kill those prairie rats.

Author John D. Nesbitt delivers Dusk Along the Niobrara. Dunbar, working on a ranch in the Niobrara country in Wyoming, connects the death of a hardscrabble homesteader with the death of an old horse trader some fifteen years earlier. As Dunbar goes to work on a corral project in town and then on fall roundup, more murders take place--a wandering drunk who has picked up gossip in an alehouse, and then the proprietor of the alehouse. People who know too much are being silenced. An old woman named Verona tells of an ancient crime on Old Woman Creek, where a sheepherder was killed and his partner escaped. In a final scene at the new shipping pens, Dunbar brings forth the witnesses, and a showdown erupts, with Dunbar bringing justice to the Niobrara country.

For the Country Music Fans

Authors Dayton Duncan and Ken Burns bring us Country Music: An Illustrated History.

"The rich and colorful story of America's most popular music and the singers and songwriters who captivated, entertained, and consoled listeners throughout the twentieth century--based on the upcoming eight-part film series to air on PBS in September 2019

This gorgeously illustrated and hugely entertaining history begins where country music itself emerged: the American South, where people sang to themselves and to their families at home and in church, and where they danced to fiddle tunes on Saturday nights. With the birth of radio in the 1920s, the songs moved from small towns, mountain hollers, and the wide-open West to become the music of an entire nation--a diverse range of sounds and styles from honky tonk to gospel to bluegrass to rockabilly, leading up through the decades to the music's massive commercial success today.

But above all, Country Music is the story of the musicians. Here is Hank Williams's tragic honky tonk life, Dolly Parton rising to fame from a dirt-poor childhood, and Loretta Lynn turning her experiences into songs that spoke to women everywhere. Here too are interviews with the genre's biggest stars, including the likes of Merle Haggard to Garth Brooks to Rosanne Cash. Rife with rare photographs and endlessly fascinating anecdotes, the stories in this sweeping yet intimate history will captivate longtime country fans and introduce new listeners to an extraordinary body of music that lies at the very center of the American experience." (from Amazon.com)

New Cozy Mysteries to Enjoy!

The Time for Murder is Meow is by T. C. Lotempio. "To save their pet shop, Shell and her two furry sidekicks must catch a killer. Crishell "Shell" McMillan sees the cancellation of her TV series as a blessing in disguise. The former actress can now take over her late aunt's pet shop, the Purr N' Bark, and do something she loves. While getting the shop ready for re-opening, Shell is asked to loan her aunt's Cary Grant posters to the local museum for an exhibit. She finds the prospect exciting―until a museum board member, who had a long-standing feud with Shell's aunt, votes against it. When she discovers the board member dead in the museum, Shell becomes suspect number one. Can she, her Siamese cat Kahlua, and her new sidekick―her aunt's Persian Purrday―find the real culprit, or will her latest career go up in kitty litter?" (from Amazon.com)

Amanda Flowers pens Verse and Vengeance: A Magical Bookshop Mystery. "With the help of Walt Whitman's works, magical bookshop owner Violet Waverly puts her pedal to the metal to sleuth a bicycle-race murder that tests her mettle. A bicycle race is not Charming Books proprietor Violet Waverly's idea of a pleasant pastime. But police chief David Rainwater wheelie wants them to enter the Tour de Cascade as a couple, so she reluctantly consents. The Tour de Cascade is the brainchild of Violet's Grandma Daisy. The race is a fundraiser to build the Cascade Springs Underground Railroad Museum. But not everyone in this Niagara Region village supports the race. As if the bike race weren't tiring enough, pesky private investigator Joel Redding is snooping around Charming Books. It takes all of Violet's and Grandma Daisy's ingenuity to keep Redding from discovering the shop's magical essence--which communicates with Violet through books. When Redding perishes in an accident during the race, David discovers that the brake line of the private eye's bike was cut. Worse, Violet tops his list of suspects. As Emerson the tuxedo cat and resident crow Faulkner look on, Charming Books steers Violet to the works of Walt Whitman to solve the crime. But no other names ring a bell as culprits, and as David's investigation picks up speed, Violet will have to get in gear to clear her name." (from Amazon.com)

Laura Levine gives us another Jaine Austen Mystery with Death of a Gigolo. "After a dry spell, freelance writer Jaine Austen’s life is suddenly full of romance. For one thing, she’s reconnected with her ex—though her cat, Prozac, isn’t happy about it. And Jaine’s also got a new ghostwriting gig, working on a steamy novel called Fifty Shades of Turquoise. Daisy Kincaid is in her sixties and heiress to a fortune. Now she wants to make a name for herself as a romance author . . . with a little help from Jaine, that is. As Jaine labors away on love scenes, she gets to know the wealthy woman’s gentleman friend, her household staff, and her social circle—every one of whom is horrified when Daisy falls under the spell of a much younger stud named Tommy, a rude, crude lothario who’s made himself a fixture in Daisy’s Bel Air mansion. After Tommy and Daisy shock everyone by announcing their engagement, it doesn’t take long for someone to stab him in the neck—with the solid gold Swiss Army knife that Daisy gave him as a gift. The challenging part is trying to narrow down the list of suspects. Jaine’s going to have to put a bookmark in that love story and focus all her creative talent into untangling a tale of money and murder." (from Amazon.com)

Bella Ellis imagines a world where the Bronte sisters are detectors in The Vanished Bride. "Yorkshire, 1845. A young wife and mother has gone missing from her home, leaving behind two small children and a large pool of blood. Just a few miles away, a humble parson’s daughters—the Brontë sisters—learn of the crime. Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë are horrified and intrigued by the mysterious disappearance. These three creative, energetic, and resourceful women quickly realize that they have all the skills required to make for excellent “lady detectors.” Not yet published novelists, they have well-honed imaginations and are expert readers. And, as Charlotte remarks, “detecting is reading between the lines—it’s seeing what is not there.” As they investigate, Charlotte, Emily, and Anne are confronted with a society that believes a woman’s place is in the home, not scouring the countryside looking for clues. But nothing will stop the sisters from discovering what happened to the vanished bride, even as they find their own lives are in great peril." (from Amazon.com)

New Adult Non-Fiction

"Hard-hitting, thought-provoking, and inspiring, Conversations in Black by Ed Gordon offers sage wisdom for navigating race in a radically divisive America and, with help from his mighty team of black intelligentsia, veteran journalist Ed Gordon creates hope and a timeless narrative on what the future of black leadership should look like and how we can get there. In Conversations in Black, Gordon brings together some of the most prominent voices in Black America today, including Stacey Abrams, Harry Belafonte, Charlamagne tha God, Michael Eric Dyson, Alicia Garza, Jemele Hill, Iyanla VanZant, Eric Holder, Killer Mike, Angela Rye, Al Sharpton, T.I., and Maxine Waters, and so many more to answer questions about vital topics affecting our nation today, such as:

•     Will the black vote control the 2020 election?
•     Do black lives really matter?
•     After Obama's presidency, are black people better off?
•     Are stereotypical images of people of color changing in Hollywood?
•     How is "Black Girl Magic" changing the face of black America?

We are bombarded with media, music, and social media messages that enforce stereotypes of people of color. In this groundbreaking book, Gordon sets out to clarify what black power and excellence really look like -- and shows everyone the way forward into a new age of prosperity and pride." (from Amazon.com)

Blood, Sweat, & Tears: Jake Gaither, Floriday A&M, and the History of Black College Football is by Derrick E. White."Black college football began during the nadir of African American life after the Civil War. The first game occurred in 1892, a little less than four years before the Supreme Court ruled segregation legal in Plessy v. Ferguson. In spite of Jim Crow segregation, Black colleges produced some of the best football programs in the country. They mentored young men who became teachers, preachers, lawyers, and doctors--not to mention many other professions--and transformed Black communities. But when higher education was integrated, the programs faced existential challenges as predominately white institutions steadily set about recruiting their student athletes and hiring their coaches. Blood, Sweat, and Tears explores the legacy of Black college football, with Florida A&M's Jake Gaither as its central character, one of the most successful coaches in its history. A paradoxical figure, Gaither led one of the most respected Black college football programs, yet many questioned his loyalties during the height of the civil rights movement. Among the first broad-based histories of Black college athletics, Derrick E. White's sweeping story complicates the heroic narrative of integration and grapples with the complexities and contradictions of one of the most important sources of Black pride in the twentieth century." (from Amazon.com)

Steve Inskeep tells the riveting story of John and Jessie Frémont in Imperfect Union. "John C. Frémont, one of the United States’s leading explorers of the nineteenth century, was relatively unknown in 1842, when he commanded the first of his expeditions to the uncharted West. But in only a few years, he was one of the most acclaimed people of the age – known as a wilderness explorer, bestselling writer, gallant army officer, and latter-day conquistador, who in 1846 began the United States’s takeover of California from Mexico. He was not even 40 years old when Americans began naming mountains and towns after him. He had perfect timing, exploring the West just as it captured the nation’s attention. But the most important factor in his fame may have been the person who made it all possible: his wife, Jessie Benton Frémont.  Jessie, the daughter of a United States senator who was deeply involved in the West, provided her husband with entrée to the highest levels of government and media, and his career reached new heights only a few months after their elopement. During a time when women were allowed to make few choices for themselves, Jessie – who herself aspired to roles in exploration and politics – threw her skill and passion into promoting her husband. She worked to carefully edit and publicize his accounts of his travels, attracted talented young men to his circle, and lashed out at his enemies. She became her husband’s political adviser, as well as a power player in her own right. In 1856, the famous couple strategized as John became the first-ever presidential nominee of the newly established Republican Party. With rare detail and in consummate style, Steve Inskeep tells the story of a couple whose joint ambitions and talents intertwined with those of the nascent United States itself. Taking advantage of expanding news media, aided by an increasingly literate public, the two linked their names to the three great national movements of the time—westward settlement, women’s rights, and opposition to slavery. Together, John and Jessie Frémont took parts in events that defined the country and gave rise to a new, more global America. Theirs is a surprisingly modern tale of ambition and fame; they lived in a time of social and technological disruption and divisive politics that foreshadowed our own. In Imperfect Union, as Inskeep navigates these deeply transformative years through Jessie and John’s own union, he reveals how the Frémonts’ adventures amount to nothing less than a tour of the early American soul." (from Amazon.com)

New Adult Fiction

In The Seekers by Heather Graham, Kerri Wolf has joined the crew of The Seekers, a show that searches for paranormal phenomena, as they explore a supposedly haunted old inn on the road between Philadelphia and Harrisburg. The place is famous for its warm welcome-and infamous for being the site of an ax murder rampage in the 1920s. They've barely begun when a very real dead body is discovered in the basement. As a nonfiction author, Kerri is supposed to be the rational one, but she can't explain a terrifying apparition that seems to be both a threat and a warning. Former detective Joe Dunhill knows what she's going through-the strange gift of being able to see and talk to the dead is a struggle he shares. A new member of the FBI's Krewe of Hunters, he's on the team investigating the disturbing death. The town is steeped in old-fashioned superstition, and the deeper Joe and Kerri plunge into the dark secrets of the inn, the closer they get to a devastating truth. Will a bloody history be repeated? Or can the spirits of the past reach out to stop a killer?

The Dutch House by Ann Patchett takes place at the end of the Second World War. Cyril Conroy combines luck and a single canny investment to begin an enormous real estate empire, propelling his family from poverty to enormous wealth. His first order of business is to buy the Dutch House, a lavish estate in the suburbs outside of Philadelphia. Meant as a surprise for his wife, the house sets in motion the undoing of everyone he loves. Cyril's son Danny and his older sister Maeve are exiled from the house where they grew up by their stepmother. The two wealthy siblings are thrown back into the poverty their parents had escaped from and find that all they must count on is one another.

Lethal Game is by Christine Feehan (RBdigital only). When Malichai Fortunes attacks a problem, he does so full force; a habit that earns the GhostWalker a painful injury and a forced vacation in San Diego, California. With nothing but physical therapy on the horizon, Malichai is starting to get restless ' until a striking blue-eyed blonde makes all his senses come alive. Amaryllis is kind and warm and sees beyond Malichai's rough exterior, but he can tell there's something she's hiding. Her innate healing abilities indicate she might be a GhostWalker--albeit an untrained one. Malichai doesn't think their paths crossing is anything more than coincidence, but he can sense that one wrong word could send Amaryllis running. When strange events at his temporary retreat put Malichai on high alert, he knows he won't be able to deal with the threat and keep his woman safe in his weakened state. But calling in his brothers means telling Amaryllis what he really is and revealing that he knows the truth about her too.

Blood of Elves by Anzej Sapkowski (RBdigital only). “Watch for the signs! What signs these shall be, I say unto you: first the earth will flow with the blood of aen Seidhe, the Blood of Elves.” For over a century, humans, dwarves, gnomes, and elves have lived together in relative peace. But times have changed, the uneasy peace is over, and now the races are fighting once again. The only good elf, it seems, is a dead elf. Geralt of Rivia, the cunning assassin known as The Witcher, has been waiting for the birth of a prophesied child. This child has the power to change the world - for good, or for evil. As the threat of war hangs over the land and the child is hunted for her extraordinary powers, it will become Geralt's responsibility to protect them all--and the Witcher never accepts defeat.

The Vanishing is the newest from Jayne Ann Krentz. Decades ago, in the small town of Fogg Lake, "The Incident" occurred: an explosion in the cave system that released unknown gases. The residents slept for two days. When they woke up, they discovered that things had changed--they had changed. Some started having visions. Others heard ominous voices. And then the scientists from a mysterious government agency arrived. Determined not to become research subjects of strange experiments, the residents of Fogg Lake blamed the "hallucinations" on food poisoning, and the story worked. But now it has become apparent that the eerie effects of The Incident are showing up in the descendants of Fogg Lake. Catalina Lark and Olivia LeClair, best friends and co-owners of an investigation firm in Seattle, use what they call their "other sight" to help solve cases. When Olivia suddenly vanishes one night, Cat frantically begins the search for her friend. No one takes the disappearance seriously except Slate Arganbright, an agent from a shadowy organization known only as The Foundation, who shows up at her firm with a cryptic warning. A ruthless killer is hunting the only witnesses to a murder that occurred in the Fogg Lake caves fourteen years ago--Catalina and Olivia. And someone intends to make both women vanish.

Penne Dreadful is a cozy by Catherine Bruns (RBdigital only). Tomato sauce isn't the only thing that runs red. Local chef Tessa Esposito is struggling to get back on her feet following her husband's fatal accident. And when the police knock on Tessa's door, things just get worse. They've discovered Dylan's death wasn't an accident after all, and they need Tessa to start filling in the blanks. Who would want her beloved husband dead, and why' With the investigation running cold, Tessa decides it's time to save her sanity by reconnecting with her first love—cooking. Maybe the best way back into the kitchen is to infiltrate Dylan's favorite local pizza parlor, which also happens to be the last place he was seen before he died. But the anchovies aren't the only thing that stink inside the small family business, and with suspects around every corner, Tessa finds that her husband's many secrets might land her in hot water.

New Adult Fiction: Fantasy/Sci-Fi

The Harp of Kings is a Warrior Bards Novel by Juliet Marillier. Liobhan is a powerful singer and an expert whistle player and, at eighteen, she is eager to join the elite warrior band on Swan Island. Her brother has a voice that can melt the coldest of hearts and he has a rare talent for the harp. The siblings train together and compete for their place on the elite fighting force. Their unusual skills make them ideal for undercover work as traveling minstrels. Liobhan and her brother are tasked with finding and retrieving a precious harp that symbolizes kingship. If the instrument is not played during the next coronation, then the heir will not be accepted, and the kingdom will be thrown into disarray. Faced with plotting courtiers, tight-lipped druids, an insightful storyteller, and a vulgar crown prince, Liobhan begins to suspect otherworldly forces meddling in human affairs.

Fortuna is the first in a new space opera trilogy by Kristyn Merbeth. Scorpia Kaiser seems to be living in her brother Corvus’ shadow until the day he abandons their family to participate in a profitless war. However, becoming the heir to her mother’s smuggling operation is not an easy transition for the rebellious, usually reckless, and sometime drunk pilot of the Fortuna. The aging cargo ship is the only home Scorpia has ever known, but her plans for taking over the family business is interrupted when Corvus returns from the war and a deal goes south. Now, the Kaiser siblings are forced to make a choice: take responsibility for their family’s involvement in a massacre or lie low and hope it all blows over. Too bad Scorpia doesn’t back down from a fight.

Deborah Hewitt delivers a magical romp with The Nightjar. Alice seems to be haunted by visions of birds. These have been with her all her life, but one day a mysterious stranger named Crowley appears at her door. He tells her that she is seeing nightjars—the miraculous birds that guard our souls. It turns out that a shadowy faction wants to use Alice’s gift to seek out those who are magically gifted. Now on the run, Alice follows Crowley into an incredible alternate London that exists alongside her own modern city. There she learns to hone her talents, but she cannot be sure that Crowley is trustworthy. She will risk everything to navigate the dangerous world of magic, marvels, and death cults.

 

The Nothing Within by Andy Giesler is a rural dystopian novel exploring post-apocalyptic Amish country. Would you commit an unforgivable sin to save the world? In the year 2161, the first chimera arose. A year later, twelve billion people are dead and the few who survived called it the Reckoning. Their descendants hide within the walls of small, rustic villages, hiding in fear from the chimeras. They revere tradition and eschew innovation. They especially mistrust anything that is different. Root couldn’t be more different and, although, she is frustrated with wall-bound life, she grudgingly accepts it—until she hears a voice that no one else can hear. This is where Root’s journey will take her into the wilds to discover the truth: that her world has been twisted by the very people trying to save it.

Melinda Rucker Haynes delivers rip-roaring novel with Bitten: Confessions of a Menopausal Vampire. Kristen’s fiancé, Rick pulls a Houdini and disappears. Years later, her husband deserts her for a younger woman. Kristen is disgusted with life itself and is menopausal to boot. When Rick comes sweeping back into her life still young and handsome, she accepts a date with him. Blame it on the raging hormones, but she wakes up in the morgue as an illegally made vampire. Now, Rick must hide his mistake, or everyone dies. Kristen refuses to go quietly into the dark and undead underground. Because of her age, lack of estrogen, and other physical and mental anomalies, she is an unusually powerful vampire with none of the normal limitations. Time to take on that bucket list of people who have done her wrong...

 

Realm of Ash is a fantasy novel by Tasha Suri. The Ambhan Empire is crumbling, and a terrible war of succession lingers on the horizon. The only hope lies in the realm of ash, where mortals can find what they seek in the echoes of their ancestors’ dreams. But the price to be paid when walking there is a steep one. Arwa is determined to make the journey. Widowed by a brutal massacre, she has pledged allegiance to the royal family and is determined to see the pledge through. She is joined by Zahir, the disgraced, illegitimate prince who has turned to forbidden magic in his desperate struggle to save his loved ones. Their shared past lies along a bloody path and it will call into question all they believe—including whether the Empire is worth saving at all.

New Adult Fiction

Sarah Jane is an new novel from James Sallis. "Sarah Jane Pullman is a good cop with a complicated past. From her small-town chicken-farming roots through her runaway adolescence, court-ordered Army stint, ill-advised marriage and years slinging scrambled eggs over greasy spoon griddles, Sarah Jane unfolds her life story, a parable about memory, atonement, and finding shape in chaos. Her life takes an unexpected turn when she is named the de facto sheriff of a rural town, investigating the mysterious disappearance of the sheriff whose shoes she’s filling—and the even more mysterious realities of the life he was hiding from his own colleagues and closest friends. This kaleidoscopic character study sparkles in every dark and bright detail—a virtuoso work by a master of both the noir and the tender aspects of human nature." (from Amazon.com)

Zora Neale Hurston's Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick "is an outstanding collection of stories about love and migration, gender and class, racism and sexism that proudly reflect African American folk culture. Brought together for the first time in one volume, they include eight of Hurston’s “lost” Harlem stories, which were found in forgotten periodicals and archives. These stories challenge conceptions of Hurston as an author of rural fiction and include gems that flash with her biting, satiric humor, as well as more serious tales reflective of the cultural currents of Hurston’s world. All are timeless classics that enrich our understanding and appreciation of this exceptional writer’s voice and her contributions to America’s literary traditions." (from Amazon.com)

Blues in the Dark is a thriller from Raymond Benson. "Karissa Glover is a movie producer who moves into a decrepit but functional old mansion in the West Adams Heights area of Los Angeles, where black celebrities of yesteryear—Hattie McDaniel, Louise Beavers, and others—once resided. The former owner was a white actress, Blair Kendrick, who often starred as the "bad girl"—a femme fatale—in films noirof the 1940s. However, Blair’s career was cut short when she was tragically killed by the mob after allegedly witnessing the slaying of a corrupt studio head in 1949. As Karissa and her producing partner decide to develop a modern film noir about Blair Kendrick, malevolent forces from the past attempt to stop them—first with intimidation, and then with the thread of murder. Is this because Karissa has learned that Blair was involved in a then-taboo interracial relationship with jazz musician Hank Marley? What really happened on the night that death struck in a dimly lit studio mogul’s office? The consequences of Blair and Hank’s doomed love affair still resonate in the present day as Karissa attempts to unravel Blair’s secrets." (from Amazon.com)

The Chestnut Man is a thriller from Soren Sveistrup, creator of The Killing. "If you find one, he's already found you. A psychopath is terrorizing Copenhagen. His calling card is a “chestnut man”—a handmade doll made of matchsticks and two chestnuts—which he leaves at each bloody crime scene. Examining the dolls, forensics makes a shocking discovery—a fingerprint belonging to a young girl, a government minister’s daughter who had been kidnapped and murdered a year ago. A tragic coincidence—or something more twisted? To save innocent lives, a pair of detectives must put aside their differences to piece together the Chestnut Man’s gruesome clues. Because it’s clear that the madman is on a mission that is far from over. And no one is safe." (from Amazon.com)

Author Zach Fehst delivers a magical thriller with American Magic. "When an enigmatic message uploaded to the dark web turns out to contain an ancient secret giving regular people the power to do impossible things, like levitate cars or make themselves invisible, American government officials panic. They know the demo videos on YouTube and instructions for incantations could turn from fantastical amusement to dangerous weapon at the drop of the hat, and they scramble to keep the information out of the wrong hands. They tap Ben Zolstra, an ex-CIA field operative whose history with the Agency is conflicted at best, to lead the team that’s racing to contain the dangerous knowledge—and track down the mysterious figure behind the leak who threatens that even more dangerous spells will be released one by one until the world as we know it no longer exists. This sweeping, globe-spanning thriller explores the dark consequences of a question mankind has been asking for centuries: What if magic were real?" (from Amazon.com)

Tim Dorsey pens his 23rd Serge Storms novel with Naked Came the Florida Man. "Though another devastating hurricane is raking Florida, its awesome power can’t stop the Sunshine State’s most loyal son, Serge A. Storms, from his latest scenic road trip: a cemetery tour. With his best bro Colman riding shotgun, Serge hits the highway in his ’69 gold Plymouth Satellite, putting pedal to the metal on a grand tour of the past. Beginning in Key West, the sunshine boys’ odyssey includes a forgotten mass grave in Palm Beach county holding the remains of African Americans killed by the Great Hurricane of 1928, and the resting place of one world-famous television dolphin (RIP Flipper) from the 1960s. But one deadland—a haunted old sugar field—holds more than just the bones of those who’ve passed. For years, local children have whispered about a boogeyman hiding among the stalks. Could it be the same maniac known as Naked Florida man who’s been raising hell all over the place? There are few things Serge loves more than solving a good mystery and bestowing justice on miscreants who sully his beloved home’s good name. With his partner bong boy, Florida’s psycho superhero will find the truth in this hilariously violent delight—packed with history, lore, and plenty of motel antics." (from Amazon.com)

Digital Resources for Those With a Library Card

Because we are closed to the public through May 18th, this week’s blog features the digital resources available to our patrons and to the general public who have a library card. You will need to go to our homepage: https://wcvpl.biblionix.com and scroll down the page until you find the following resource links on the left. We are proud to be able to offer these services especially in times like these.

If you happen to have a library card and know your PIN, you may wish to take advantage of our RBdigital resources. RBdigital offers audiobooks, eBooks, digital graphic novels, and magazines. You can also check out Acorn TV (which contains shows from Great Britain, Canada, and Australia) for one week at a time, The Great Courses for learning and personal development courses, Hoonuit for video-based software learning, and Artistworks which offers video-based art and music instruction. 

RBdigital is available as an app on both Apple and Android devices. When you go to our page https://wcvpl.biblionix.com, you will need to login with your library card number and PIN (password) in the upper right-hand corner. Then scroll down and select the RBdigital resource on the left side of the page. This should take you to the RBdigital homepage where you will choose “Register” in the upper right corner if you do not have an account. Follow the instructions for setting up your account and then download the app onto your phone or tablet.  The only downside to this is that if your library account has a fine or needs to be updated, or if you are having trouble setting up your account, you will have to wait until we reopen to clear up any problems. 

hoopla is a digital app that allows you to check out up to 3 e-audio books or e-books per month. There is a wide selection of adult fiction and nonfiction as well as juvenile and young adult titles. Some of the juvenile titles also have a read along function allowing your child to follow along as the story is read to them. hoopla is easy to use. Set up an account with your email address and library card number.

One last thing, we would like our patrons to remember that we will not attach any fines to the materials you have checked out for as long as we remain closed. Please remember that audio CDs, DVDs, Playaways, Playaway Views, and any learning games and toys checked out from downstairs cannot be put in the book drop. Hang on to those and we will be happy to take those once we re-open.