Preview Shelf: Notable New Books by CDPL Volunteer Janice Clauser

 Spooky Indiana looks like a good pre-Halloween read with its 25 tales of hauntings, strange happenings, and other creepy lore. In her preface author S. E. (Sandy) Schlosser mentions visiting “a revolving prison in Crawfordsville.” One of the tales is about Greencastle, and one is from Terre Haute. The back cover says that Indiana folklore traditions are kept alive in these expert retellings. This is a new book at the Crawfordsville District Public Library.

            Five books from section 921 on the shelves begin with Mind Reader by Lior Suchard, world-renowned mentalist who unlocks “the power of your mind to get what you want.” Visiting Tom is a chat with Tom Hartwig written by Michael Perry; it is made up of an endless reservoir of stories dating back to days of his prize Model A, an appreciation of barns, and of happenings, common and unusual, that are a comforting and comfortable read.  Anna Quindlen’s memoir, Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake looks back and looks ahead, as she considers marriage, girlfriends, our mothers, faith, loss, all the stuff in our closets, and more. Alex Stone’s Fooling Houdini is “a dazzling tour through the strange and colorful world of magic and magicians – an exploration that probes the science of deception, the limits of consciousness, and the mysteries of the human mind.” Solo is Hope Solo’s story as goalie of the U.S. women’s soccer team in the Olympics and the World Cup. Raised on the scorched earth of defunct nuclear testing sites, reunited with her father when she was an adult, she gives her life story and details of being benched in the semifinals of the 2007 World Cup. She was also recently on Dancing with the Stars.

            Here are new novels. Katherine Page’s The Body in the Boudoir is a Faith Fairchild mystery about her wedding day in New York in 1990. Jennifer Weiner’s The Next Best Thing tells how demanding actors, number-crunching executives, an unrequited crush on her boss, and her grandmother’s impending nuptials threaten her happy schedule being a screenwriter in Hollywood. Karen Robards’ The Last Victim is a new paranormal romantic thriller featuring an expert on serial killing whose powers lead her from ecstasy to terror. Julie Garwood’s Sweet Talk has a detective and a lawyer falling in love, “and making a federal case out of it” as together they fight corruption. Close Your Eyes by Iris and son Roy Johansen offers a music therapist who thrives on helping others; with special skills she learned during her first twenty years when she was blind, she can pick up subtle audio clues and faint smells as she deals with a serial killer and his victim. 

            Willow Wilson’s Alif the Unseen conjures up a tale of literary enchantment, political change, and religious mystery powered by high math and Arabian myth, in an “unnamed Middle Eastern security state.” Tumbleweeds by Leila Meacham is about three friends who forge a lifelong bond against the backdrop of a Texas town’s passion for football. Domestic Affairs is “a campaign novel” by Bridget Siegel about working on a presidential bid as did the author herself.

            A requested mystery is the late Robert Parker’s Fool Me Twice, a Jesse Stone story by Michael Brandman: in a Massachusetts town, a Hollywood movie company has invaded with its equipment and a troubled star, who becomes the subject of a death threat.