“What’s scarier than your family?’’ –Author Lisa Unger’s tongue-and-cheek remark on the 2018 Bouchercon panel, The Fear Factor: Threatening Family in Thrillers I was fortunate to attend my fourth Bouchercon mystery convention this month in St. Petersburg, Fla., where hundreds of authors talked about their craft with more than a thousand readers. I enjoyed…
Popular Services Librarian Jo Hansen shares her thoughts on John Irving’s A Prayer for Owen Meany, a novel she read for the first time as part of PBS’s The Great American Read. We talk about why she selected this novel out of the 100 finalists, her favorite Owen Meany quotes, and why it should be…
“The truth depends on who it is that’s telling the story.” Kate Morton, “The Clockmakers Daughter” Reading Kate Morton’s intricately plotted new novel The Clockmakers Daughter, is like pulling apart a Russian nesting doll until the last tiny doll is found in the center. At the center of this book is Birchwood Manor and…
I first encountered author Naomi Novik’s work with her delightful Temeraire series that featured talking dragons during the Napoleonic Wars. When the series ended, I read her standalone, Uprooted, an imaginative Grimm-like fairytale for adults that won the prestigious Nebula Award. Her newest book, Spinning Silver, continues along those lines and takes inspiration from the…
I’m sure it wouldn’t surprise anyone to learn that I am not an avid fly fisherman nor do I spend my spare time tying salmon flies for fun. However, if you were to take a peek at my browser history, you might suspect otherwise. Some of my recent Internet searches have included “Greater Bird of…
