Westport Public Library BOOK blog
September 8, 2010
August 29, 2010
Resourcefulness
In the recent The Murder Room: The Heirs of Sherlock Holmes Gather to Solve the World's Most Perplexing Cold Cases, author Michael Capuzzo takes us inside the secret chambers of the exclusive Vidocq Society, a members-only crime-solving club in Philadelphia that accepts cold cases for review from around the world. The Society was formed in 1990 and solved its first case in 1991. By 2009, the Society had consulted on more than 300 cases and solved 90 percent of them. Members are selected by committee invitation and must be forensic professionals and the membership list includes current and former FBI profilers, homicide investigators, scientists, psychologists, prosecutors and coroners. The book highlights some of the Society’s most famous cases, including “The Fast Food Killer” – the story of a grisly slaughter at a Roy Rogers restaurant after closing time, and “The Boy in the Box” – a fifty-year-old murder that made national headlines and still haunts Philadelphia to this day.August 25, 2010
Florida
Every time Carl Hiaasen has a new book, it zooms onto the best seller lists, including the “Library Bestsellers.” A native and life-long Floridian, Hiaasen writes for the Miami Herald. His satiric and sarcastic commentaries are guaranteed to raise hackles and entertain readers. Since the 1980s, he has been publishing novels (translated into 34 languages) for both adults and teens. Two collections of his newspaper columns have been published and his book Team Rodent (1998) was an expose of the Disney empire. Star Island is Hiaasen’s newest featuring a young female celebrity whose body double gets kidnapped by a crazed...
August 24, 2010
New non-fiction
At the evening Stop & Swap adult summer reading club Drop-in Conversation, I alluded to the pile of non-fiction books awaiting my attention. Of course, I could not remember the exact titles and authors, so I belatedly made a list. Some of these I have skimmed, some I am partway through and some have received my preliminary attention: i.e., the blurb, the chapter headings and the acknowledgements. The acknowledgements always come first, when I start a new book; they set the writer’s tone and the circles of influence. It’s interesting to find out which writers act as each other’s sounding...
August 22, 2010
Timeless Greece
Second only to my favorite library responsibility, which is selecting mystery books for the collection, is selecting the travel guides and books about the ancient world. I had one of those cosmic “it’s all coming together” moments a few weeks ago when I happened on a review of The Messenger of Athens by Anne Zouroudi in Publishers Weekly. At the start of this first book in a series based on the seven deadly sins, self-styled investigator Hermes Diaktoros ("The Fat Man") is on the island of Thiminos where the body of a young woman has been found at the foot of a high cliff. PW expressed some concern that the book was perhaps better suited to “armchair travelers interested in Greece than mystery buffs,” and Library Journal said “Zouroudi has a deft way with words and an uncanny ability to create a sense of place. “ A mystery novel with a travel guide built right in – sort of.August 18, 2010
Women's Lives
One of the Stop & Swap conversations this week was about those “in-between” books- chick lit with added complications, usually written around an issue currently in the news. Well-written and popular, these novels are often referred to as women’s fiction. The emotional complications of life are an integral part of the lives depicted. As book club selections, they provide a window into contemporary culture. Who are these authors? In Rescue, Anita Shreve reveals the conflicting emotions of a family, when a woman long missing suddenly returns. The Pilot’s Wife and Sea Glass are two past favorites. Shreve writes with a...
August 15, 2010
Vintage Pearson
Ridley Pearson’s Sun Valley, Idaho sheriff Walt Fleming makes his fourth appearance in In Harm’s Way, which finds Fleming in a race against time when he learns of a possible link between his community and a recent Seattle murder. That same crime brings Seattle detective Lou Boldt, the star of Pearson's other popular series, to Sun Valley to investigate a famous resident in town. On the romance front, Fleming's budding relationship with photographer Fiona Kenshaw hits a rough patch after Fiona is involved in a heroic river rescue. Despite her job and her laudable actions, she begs him to keep her photo out of the paper — avoiding him when he can't — and Fleming begins to suspect that she is hiding a terrible secret. Library Journal says that although the book is “more noir mystery than thriller … this novel is still vintage Pearson.”August 11, 2010
FICTION WITH AN ATTITUDE
Ok – I confess – I like to read chick lit. Not all the time, but definitely in the summer and whenever I need something light and fun. I know that there are many of you who probably think that all chick lit is about young, attractive women who only like to shop and think about men. But chick lit has come a long way since its inception and there are many books and authors that are now considered part of this genre.August 8, 2010
In a Dry Season
Peter Robinson’s first novel in 1987, Gallows View, introduced Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks. The series is set in and around the fictional Yorkshire town of Eastvale. There are now 18 Banks titles in print, with the 19th, Bad Boy, due out later this month. In a Dry Season, the 10th in the series, won the Anthony and Barry awards for best novel and was nominated for the Edgar, Hammett, Macavity and Arthur Ellis Awards. It also won France’s Grand Prix of Crime Writing and Sweden’s Martin Beck Award and was a New York Times “notable book” of 1999. Next Sunday, August 15th, at 2 pm, The Usual Suspects will be discussing In a Dry Season. For a copy of the book, phone 203-291-4821. New participants are always welcome.August 6, 2010
American stories
Zeitoun by Dave Eggers takes a personal story of one man and uses it to highlight the sad history of Hurricane Katrina. Abdulrahman Zeitoun is an immigrant from Syria who owned a successful house-painting business in New Orleans. His American-born wife Kathy had converted from Christianity to Islam before they met. They lived a typical All-American life running their business and raising four children. Then…Katrina hit. Have your read Zeitoun? Did it give you a new perspective on those awful events of 2005? From Hong Kong to Brooklyn, Jean Kwok draws on her own experience in her novel Girl in...
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