My LINKcat AccountWhy it seems like only yesterday (It was August 29th. I looked it up) when I was commenting on how autumnal the weather had turned. I can, indeed, make that claim again this week, only more so. The rather unseasonably cool weather has the trees already beginning to drop their leaves and blush. My tomato plants (I grow them in plants on my porch and driveway) have quit growing and are only requiring once-a-day watering. They are rapidly become sticks with green tomatoes attached to them. Birds are departing the area at a goodly clip. I have reports from a friend who lives in the country that the plovers, gross beaks, robins, and orioles have left the area. Hummingbirds are migrating through and apparently feeding heavily at any feeders that they might find. If you’d like to get a sense of how many birds are leaving the area nightly (most birds migrate at night), go to this website: dashboard.birdcast.info and type in Dane County, WI as your location. If you look at some of the charts available at this site, you will see that birds started leaving at the beginning of August. If you ask me, evenings are getting cozier, which provides the perfect opportunity to curl up with a good book, a hot beverage, and a cat, dog, or significant other. If this appeals to you, then check out some of the new titles which recently arrived at the library. And, enjoy!
New Non-Fiction
“The Colonel and the King: Tom Parker, Elvis Presley, and the Partnership That Rocked the World” by Peter Guralnick. Draws on unpublished correspondence to examine the complex, evolving relationship between Elvis Presley and Colonel Tom Parker, tracing their bond of trust through rising fame and eventual decline, while offering new insight into the personal and professional dynamics behind Presley’s meteoric career.
“Unbreakable: Go Strong. Live Long. Age With Power” by Vonda Wright. Stronger muscles and bones, increased mobility, lifelong independence, and a new mentality for aging with power—this cutting-edge guide to nutrition, training and lifestyle will optimize a woman's body for longevity, through menopause and beyond.
“Deadwood: Gold, Guns, and Greed in the American West” by Peter Cozzens. Tells the true story of a notorious Black Hills gold rush settlement of its most colorful cast of characters, from Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane to Al Swearingen and Sheriff Seth Bullock.
“The Devil Reached Toward the Sky: An Oral History of the Making and Unleashing of the Atomic Bomb” by Garrett Graff. Combines archival research with firsthand accounts from political leaders, scientists, soldiers, and survivors to chronicle the development and use of the atomic bomb, examining its ethical, military, and human consequences during the final months of World War II and the start of the Cold War.
“Monopoly X: How Top-Secret World War II Operations Used the Game of Monopoly to Help Allied POWs Escape, Conceal Spies, and Send Secret Codes” by Philip Orbanes. Details how England’s top-secret MI-9, and later America’s MIS-X, created a special version of the game, hiding tools, maps, and money within game boards—delivered by an unwitting Red Cross—to captured Allied servicemen held at gunpoint in German prison camps.
“The Road That Made America: A Modern Pilgrim’s Journey on the Great Wagon Road” by James Dodson. Traces the history of the Great Wagon Road, a major 18th-century migration route from Philadelphia to Georgia, exploring its role in frontier settlement, war, industry, and democracy through field research, historical analysis, and the author’s personal connection to its enduring legacy.
New Fiction
“Fog and Fury, No.1 (Haven Thrillers)” by Rachel Howzell Hall. Relocating to peaceful Haven, former LAPD cop Sonny Rush's search for a missing dog unravels dark secrets and murder, shattering the town's perfect image and threatening her own safety in the new novel from the author of “The Last One”.
“Halloween Night Murder” by Leslie Meier, Lee Hollis, & Liz Ireland. In this trio of Halloween-themed novellas, a reporter in Maine investigates a teen’s mysterious death, a group of friends shelters in a spooky farmhouse during a storm, and Mrs. Claus untangles magical mischief in Christmastown when Halloween chaos strikes.
“Mrs. Christie at the Mystery Guild Library” by Amanda Chapman. Tory, conservator at Manhattan’s Mystery Guild Library, discovers a woman in the Christie Room who says she’s Agatha Christie, there to solve a future murder—so when Tory’s cousin Nic gets involved in her talent agent’s suspicious death, she turns to Mrs. Christie for help.
“Murder by the Book” by Amie Schaumberg. Detective Ian Carter is shaken by a student’s dead body posed like Hamlet’s Ophelia, and when a chance meeting with literature professor Emma Reilly ends with her accidentally solving the killer’s clue, she turns to the books she loves for the key to unraveling the crime.
“The Ever King, No1 (Ever Seas)” by L.J. Andrews. When Erik, the vengeful ruler of the Ever Kingdom, escapes his watery prison, he kidnaps the innocent daughter of his enemy as part of a ruthless plan to reclaim his throne—only to find himself torn between revenge and the unexpected pull of love.
“Jenny Cooper Has a Secret” by Joy Fielding. While visiting a friend at memory care facility Legacy Place, Linda meets Jenny, a ninety-two-year-old dementia patient who admits that she kills people; Linda dismisses her “secret” as the confusion of Jenny’s ailing mind until a fellow patient dies.
“We Are All Guilty, No.1 (North Falls Thrillers)” by Karin Slaughter. When two girls vanish on fireworks night in North Falls, Officer Emmy Clifton races to uncover their secrets and redeem her past failure, only to find the town—and those closest to her—harbor darker truths than she ever imagined.
“Wounds” by Sara Blaedel & Peder Mads Nordbo. As mutilated bodies surface across Denmark, detectives Liam Stark and Dea Torp race to identify a serial killer whose victims bear weeks of inflicted wounds—fearing that two missing teenage girls may be next if they can’t stop the carnage in time.