"If Something Happens To Me"

A recent addition to our collection is the true story of the disappearance of Susan Powell, twenty-eight year old wife and mother of two young boys, in December 2009 and the eventual murder of her two sons at the hands of her husband/their father and his suicide in February 2012.


The authors have covered the story by making use of emails that were sent by Susan to friends and family, notes left behind, the police files (which were released last year when the case was closed) and interviews with friends, neighbors and family members.


Despite the case being closed, Susan Powell is currently still missing.  A chilling tale best read with the doors locked and the lights on.

A Cozy Library Mystery

     Author Miranda James continues her Cat in the Stacks Mysteries with the fifth book --The Silence of the Library. Charlie Harris, a kind and warm semi-retired librarian, and his large Maine Coon cat, Diesel spend their time working at the local college library as well as the public library of Athena, Mississippi. Unfortunately, Charlie always seems to get caught up in nefarious goings-on in this small Southern town. This time, Charlie is helping Teresa, the director of the public library, organize an event centered around children's detective stories for National Library Week. Fortunately for them, the centenary novelist Electra Barnes Cartwright--creator of the beloved Veronica Thane series--is a local resident. Charlie and Teresa convince Mrs. Cartwright to appear at their event. They don't realize, however, that inviting such a beloved writer to the event will bring out all manner of unstable individuals. When Carrie Taylor--a blogger and longtime fan of Mrs. Cartwright's work--agrees to bring some of her own memorabilia to be displayed in the library, she turns up dead. Why would anyone want to kill such a pleasant and innocuous woman? Could it be because she owned a rare version of the very first Veronica Thane book? Charlie is caught up in the matter, much to the chagrin of Deputy Kanesha Berry. On top of the murder, someone has broken into the hotel rooms of a couple of book collectors who have turned up for the event and Mrs. Cartwright's literary agent seems to have gone missing. Charlie and Diesel work their way through the clues and the list of suspects to give Kanesha a helping hand--whether she wants it or not! The ending will surprise many and the little twist is quite refreshing. I highly recommend this series for fans of cozy mysteries. If you would like to check out any of the other Cat in the Stacks Mysteries by Miranda James, they are:

1.  Murder Past Due
2.  Classified As Murder
3.  File M for Murder
4.  Out of Circulation
5.  The Silence of the Library

Who Killed the Professor?

Compound Murder is the latest Dan Rhodes Mystery by Bill Crider; and I have to tell you it was such a pleasant and easy read, that I finished it in just a couple of hours. Small town Texas sheriff, Dan Rhodes, just wishes the local Dr. Pepper manufacturer would go back to using real cane sugar in their formula, so that he could enjoy his daily caffeine. While musing over his boycott of the beverage, and staring at the Mr. Pibb bottle in front of him, the phone rings. Police dispatcher, Hack, tells him that the local beauty shop has been burgled and the thief made off with the hair! When sheriff Rhodes arrives, he finds that someone has broken in through the bathroom window and stolen all of the wigs and hair extensions made of natural hair--a pretty expensive bounty. Just as he is telling the owner to leave everything as it is and to cancel all of his appointments for the morning, Hack calls Rhodes again and tells him to get over to the local community college; there's a dead body. Math professor Seepy Benton, a graduate of the Citizens' Sheriff's Academy, is trying to keep all of the students and faculty away from the crime scene, but he's having little luck. The sheriff helps herd the students and professors inside and takes a look at the body, but before he can get into any real police work, a car peels out of the parking lot and Rhodes give chase, leaving Seepy to guard the area. A high speed chase ensues that winds up with the suspect's car smashed into a tree with its trunk wide open and Rhodes' windshield cracked and sagging. Turns out, the driver is 19 year-old Ike Terrell, son of the local doomsday prepper, Able Terrell. Rhodes finds the missing hair in the open trunk of Ike's car. The Terrells are thought to be gun-toting, survivalists that have fenced themselves inside the family property. Ike is unwilling to talk, so Rhodes has no choice, but to book him. This is all just the first couple of chapters. Sheriff Rhodes also has to deal with copper thieves, wrestle a pot-bellied pig, calm trigger-happy deputies, all the while trying to find out who murdered English professor Earl Wellington. By all accounts, Wellington was not liked. He was a picky when it came to his students attendance and work and he lacked the social skills necessary to make friends. Rhodes' investigation is fraught with red herrings and the diversions of small-town America and peppered with the humor and frailty of the human condition. I can't reveal anymore without giving away the story, so you'll just have to give it a go!

New British Mysteries

I've just spent my weekend watching two of our newest British mystery series. First was Set 22 of the Midsomer Murders series. I love this series, but, as loyal watchers know, two seasons ago, the beloved Tom Barnaby was replaced by his cousin John Barnaby. I enjoy the second Barnaby, but no one can replace the wonderful performance of John Nettles as Tom. This newest series was very good and like the others, features the plethora of quirky small town personalities that have made this series so popular. There is no guts and gore here, so die-hard CSI fans may not like what they see, but if you can stand just a little blood, then this show may be for you. If you have never seen this series before, I would suggest starting at or near the beginning of the show, so that you can get a feel of how the dynamic between the senior detective and his plodding side-kick works. The library has just about all of the show starting with the "Killing at Badger's Drift".
The second show I watched was Series 6 of Inspector Lewis. For those of you who aren't familiar, this series is a spin-off of the Inspector Morse series based on the books by Colin Dexter. Lewis also features the wise lead detective and his long suffering sergeant, but instead of the Midsomer counties, these two muddle around the area of Oxford University. Unlike the sergeant in Midsomer, Sergeant James Hathaway is well educated and a bit brooding, but extremely wise for someone so young. Detective Inspector Lewis, himself, is a streetwise old-school copper who favors common sense and opera. From the way this series ended, I think it may be the last, or next-to-last for Inspector Lewis; which is quite sad, because I love the dynamic of these two characters and the wonderful characterization of the supporting cast. (It also helps that the young man who plays DS Hathaway is a cutie!)
We have several more different British series that our regular patrons adore, so if you want a good old murder mystery without the guts and gore, pick up one of these and give them a try.