My LINKcat AccountAs of today, July 11th, it is a mere 20 days until the library’s annual Harry Potter Birthday Party. The library has been hosting a birthday party for Harry for 23 years. The natal felicitations began during that hiatus between the “Goblet of Fire” and “The Order of the Phoenix”. For fans, the three years between the publication of those two titles was agony. It seemed like a party to celebrate the first four books (which had been published annually before this break) would help keep everyone’s spirits up, so the library hosted one. The first years of the Harry Potter Birthday Party (or was it called a “Bash” for a while – very British, don’t you know?) took place in the basement of the library with some of the lights off to provide atmosphere. There was indoor quidditch, potions, wizarding level tests, Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans, wand making, a birthday cake, a costume contest, and Hagrid walking around. Over the years attendance kept going up. The pandemic pushed us outside – where we have remained since it provides so many more venues and more space for the ever-increasing attendance. We still have many of those features. It is fun for the whole family. Please plan to attend. The answer to the perennial question, “So when is the Harry Potter Birthday Party?”, is, as always, “On his birthday! July 31st. No need to bring a birthday present, just yourself. While you are counting the days, minutes, and seconds, until the party, you will find some of the book titles which recently arrived at the library. Check them out and read while you are waiting. Enjoy!
New Non-Fiction
“The Sisterhood of Ravensbrück: How an Intrepid Band of Frenchwomen Resisted the Nazis in Hitler’s All-Female Concentration Camp” by Lynne Olson. Drawing on the experiences of a group of French Resistance women imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp, this account details their acts of defiance, survival strategies, and postwar efforts to seek justice and ensure their experiences were not forgotten.
“Detained: A Boy’s Journal of Survival and Resilience” by D. Esperanza & Geraldo Morales. The first-ever memoir of a child’s experience in detention on the U.S./Mexico border under President Trump’s infamous family separation policy.
New Fiction
“Flashlight” by Susan Choi. The author of “Trust Exercise” follows a father’s disappearance across time, nations, and memory.
“A Daughter’s Guide to Mothers and Murder, No. 8 (Countess of Harleigh Mysteries)” by Dianne Freeman. Frances is asked by friend Alicia to investigate Carlson, a wealthy American with a murdered wife who’s courting Alicia’s daughter—and when stage icon Sarah Bernhardt receives jewelry stolen from the victim, Frances and husband George must infiltrate elite Parisian society to find the murderer.
“Death at the White Hart” by Chris Chibnall. When a pub owner is found gruesomely murdered, Detective Nicola Bridge returns to her quaint coastal hometown to uncover dark secrets hidden beneath its picturesque façade, risking the destruction of everything she thought she knew.
“Knave of Diamonds: A Novel of Suspense Featuring Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes” by Laurie R. King. Mary Russell’s long-lost Uncle Jake reappears and is somehow connected to the infamous theft of the Irish Crown Jewels, pulling her into a mystery and pitting her against Sherlock Holmes, Mycroft and her own loyalties.
“A Most Puzzling Murder” by Bianca Marais. In a quirky, humorous locked-room murder mystery, historian Destiny Whip uncovers the truth behind a mysterious death in the wealthy Scruffmore family.
“Murder Takes a Vacation” by Laura Lippman. Former private investigator and middle-aged widow Muriel Blossom's vacation on a Parisian river cruise turns into a deadly international mystery … that only she can solve.
“Sounds Like Love” by Ashley Poston. Haunted by emptiness despite her status as a coveted songwriter, Joni Lark returns to her North Carolina hometown where her family's closing music venue sparks a mysterious telepathic connection with a guarded musician determined to complete a haunting melody.
“Don’t Let Him In” by Lisa Jewell. When charming Nick Radcliffe enters Nina’s life, her daughter Ash grows suspicious, uncovering unsettling secrets that connect them to Martha, a florist with a husband who keeps disappearing, leading all three women toward a chilling truth they never expected.
“El Dorado Drive” by Megan Abbott. Facing financial ruin, three sisters in Detroit join a seemingly lucrative club called "The Wheel," but their desperation for financial independence spirals into an addiction, leading to shocking crimes that threaten to destroy everything.
“It Happened on the Lake” by Lisa Jackson. When Harper Reed Prescott returns to her family’s eerie Victorian house on Lake Twilight to sell it, old rumors of murder and disappearance resurface, along with chilling memories, unsettling whispers and the terrifying suspicion that someone is watching her.
“Happy Wife” by Meredith Lavender & Kendall Shores. Nora's whirlwind romance and marriage to wealthy lawyer Will in exclusive Winter Park, Florida takes a dark turn when he vanishes the morning after his birthday party, leaving Nora to unravel the mystery of his disappearance.
“King of Ashes” by S.A. Cosby. After returning to Jefferson Run, Virginia, and family business Carruthers Crematorium—with brother Dante in debt to criminals and sister Neveah exhausted from holding everything together—Roman discovers that his father’s crash was no accident and Dante has placed them all in real danger.