Preview Shelf by Janice Clauser

Library News and Notable New Books

Toddlers and students through high school may now register for “Adventure Island” the Crawfordsville Library’s summer reading program. Story times, crafts, and prizes await young patrons. Treasure Hunt Days, ventriloquist Mike Hemmelgarn’s show, Donuts with Dad, and Drop-In Bingo are some of the plans. The last day to turn in reading time for prizes is July 10th when “Melchior Marionettes” will perform.
This year’s t-shirts in snazzy black and white feature a treasure chest with the quotation, “There’s an adventure in every book”.

If you love food, notice two new books of recipes. Jamie & Bobby Deen’s “The Deen Bros. Get Fired Up” offers grilling, tailgating, and picnicking, while “The Acid Reflux Solution” is a cookbook guide for healing heartburn naturally from Jorge Rodriguez. A mystery with recipes is Joanne Fluke’s “Cinnamon Roll Murder”.

There are new mysteries on the shelves every week. One is Parnell Hall’s 12th Puzzle Lady mystery called “$10,000 in Small, Unmarked Puzzles”. Danielle Steel’s new novel “Betrayal” tells about a renowned film director confronting an act of unimaginable treachery. Harlan Coben’s “Stay Close” shows three people living lives they never wanted, hiding secrets that even those closest to them would never suspect. “Hush Now, Don’t You Cry” by Rhys Bowen brings close Newport, Rhode Island in 1904, where an estate owner is found dead at the base of the cliffs that overlook the Atlantic. Jodi Picoult’s “Lone Wolf” (the breed known for knowing when its time is over so it can slip away to end its days) tackles “family” and what happens when the hope that should sustain it is tearing it apart. “Pray for Silence” by Linda Castillo is a thriller in the Amish community where an entire family was found slaughtered on their farm, and a diary reveals secrets that might help bring the killer to justice. “Fall From Grace” by Richard Patterson exposes secrets about the death of a prominent New England patriarch in a story set on Martha’s Vineyard. “Victims” by Jonathan Kellerman is an Alex Delaware novel that blends classic police procedures with glimpses into the darkest depths of the human condition, at a crime scene as gruesome as those from the days of Jack the Ripper.

S. M. Stirling’s novel “The Tears of the Sun: a novel of the change” shows a post-apocalyptic landscape where technology has no power to help people, as the High King of Montival faces the forces of the Church Universal and Triumphant. Suzanne Brockmann’s “Born to Darkness” tackles the future as a former Navy SEAL takes work at a fringe scientific research facility, where certain individuals can access untapped regions of the brain to change lives. Kristina McMorris’ “Bridge of Scarlet Leaves” is a story of Japanese and American lovers crossed not only by the stars but also by the vagaries of World War II and their two countries cultures.

“What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank” by Nathan Englander offers beautiful but audacious short stories asking great questions about modern life. “Loving” is the fourth and final book in the Bailey Flanigan Series by Karen Kingsbury as the heroine begins a new career and faces a marriage choice between men from Los Angeles and Bloomington, Indiana.