The Warren County-Vicksburg Public Library will be closed on Christmas Eve, December 24, 2013 and Christmas Day, December 25, 2013.  Our Board of Trustees and staff wish you a safe and happy holiday season!

Spirit of Steamboat

     Legend has it that Steamboat was the greatest bronco of all time. He never let any cowboy ride him: tough as nails. This horse was so famous that Wyoming put an image of him bucking a rider on its license plates. At least, this is the story Craig Johnson tells in his newest Walt Longmire novella. Sheriff Longmire is sitting at his desk on Christmas Eve reading A Christmas Carol by Dickens. (It's a tradition.) His under sheriff is in Brazil with her mother and his daughter is in Pennsylvania; ready to have a baby. His dispatcher, Ruby, tells him there is someone there to see him. A small wisp of a woman with porcelain skin and dark hair carrying a black garment bag walks into Walt's office and asks if he is the sheriff. She speaks to him like she knows him and she asks about the previous sheriff, Lucian Connally. Walt takes the woman to the Durant Home for Assisted Living where Lucian has just shot out the T.V. in the rec room. Lucian answers the door to his apartment wearing nothing but his boxers, a wife beater t-shirt, and only one leg. After all the pleasantries are out of the way, Lucian asks her what the reason for her visit is. She replies, "Steamboat."
    With that, we flash back to 1988 when Walt has just been elected sheriff for the first time and his daughter, Cady, was only 9 years old. Again, it is Christmas Eve and Walt is anxiously awaiting the med-evac flight of a little girl who has just lost her parents and great-aunt in a fiery car crash. There is a blizzard blowing their way and no one is sure that the helicopter carrying the severely burned girl will make it to Denver. It is slow and unable to maneuver in the high winds and icy conditions. Walt asks if the old B-25 34030 sitting in the hangar could make the trip. Yes, no, maybe is the answer he gets. Even if it could there is no one to fly it. But Walt knows someone; Lucian Connally flew one of these very planes in WWII over Japan. So, with the EMT & pilot of the med-evac helicopter refusing to fly in the gathering storm, and a little girl's life hanging in the balance; Walt enlists, Lucian, a reluctant co-pilot named Julie, and Doctor Isaac to help get the B-25 in the air and the little girl to Denver's Children's Hospital. Walt goes along for the ride, as does the little girl's grandmother; who doesn't speak any English. The harrowing ride that follows tests them all in ways they could not imagine, but the little girl gets to her destination and twenty-five years later, she comes back to Durant to get the whole story and to return a memento to Lucian. Why the mention of the bronco? The name of the plane: Steamboat.

Dexter's Final Cut

I finally was able to read Jeff Lindsay's latest novel, Dexter's Final Cut, the next in the Dexter Morgan series.  Lindsay's series inspired the Dexter Showtime series that ended its run in October 2013.  From what I have read, this book is the final Dexter book, but I am hoping that Jeff Lindsay will write at least one more in the series before he hangs up the Dexter Morgan character.  Dexter Morgan is a blood splatter expert with the Miami-Dade Police Department and a serial killer.  Dexter, however, only kills bad people such as rapists or child molesters who "fall through the cracks" and end up escaping justice.  He has a strict code he follows,  which was given to him by Harry, his policeman step-father.    Dexter does

not function with the ability to empathize with other "humans," so he has spent most of his days studying others around him and trying to fit in.  He is married to Rita, and has one kid with her and two step-kids, Cody and Astor, in whom he sees fleeting images of "Dark Passenger" behavior.  The book opens with a scene in which you finally figure out that Dexter is NOT dead, but acting in a television show.  From there, the book starts over from the beginning and details the events leading up to the television show scene.  Dexter and his sister, Sergeant Deborah Morgan, are chosen to be the folks that several as the "technical advisors" for a forensics television series that is being shot in Miami.  Dexter is delighted when the beautiful actress, Jackie Forrest hires him to be her personal bodyguard after she reveals she has received some stalker-type fan mail and women around Miami that look uncannily like Jackie start dying.  Dexter gets caught up in the high-flying actor lifestyle---will this lead to the end of his life with Rita?  A definite twist at the end involving Astor, truly shakes up the book and the ending is truly topsy-turvy.  I adore Dexter Morgan's character because he truly makes the reader root for him---how bad can he be if he helps rid the world of bad people?  It's a great series that is not easily forgotten.  Jeff Lindsay lives in South Florida with his wife and three daughters and may be contacted at www.Dexter-Books.com, www.facebook.com/jefflindsayauther or at www.doubleday.com.

Who Asked You?

Terry McMillan's Who Asked You? is her eighth novel and is set in a mixed-race Los Angeles neighborhood.  The story opens with Betty Jean, the matriarch of the family, who works at a hotel, cleaning rooms.  Her daughter, Trinetta, drops off her two kids with Betty Jean and then disappears, leaving Betty Jean to try and raise them the best way she knows how.  Betty Jean's white neighbor, Tammy, is her best friend, and she is dealing with her own daughter who can't seem to find a job and move out of her house, as she tries to help Betty Jean with her grand sons.  Added to the mix are Betty Jean's son, Dexter, currently serving a prison term, and her invalid husband who is suffering from Alzheimer's.  Each character narrates the story, in alternating chapters, and the result is an interesting story told from many different points of view.  Betty Jean also has two sisters, each with their own set of issues, and her relationships with them and their family members figure prominently in the book.  This book addresses the burdens and blessings of family and trusting your own judgment even when others don't agree with you.  The characters are signature McMillan, and will leave you thinking.  If you liked McMillan's Waiting to Exhale, you will enjoy this book too.