Hi everyone, here are our five suggested reads of the week!
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Bog Queen by Anna North
North’s latest, following Outlawed (2021), is a remarkably crafted tale that asks important questions about the imprint we leave on our loved ones, our culture, and our land. Agnes is an American forensic anthropologist working to identify a body found buried in the moss of an English bog. Early assumptions are that it belongs to a 1960s murder victim, and that the woman’s niece wants answers about her mysterious death. But the immaculately preserved body is, in fact, much older by about two millennia. North manages to write captivatingly detailed explanations of body-preservation-by-moss and to craft singular characters. We not only learn about the introverted Agnes, but her narrative alternates with that of an unnamed woman from pre-Christian England. Like Agnes, she is driven by her calling. A druid whose healing and mystical knowledge was passed down by her mother, she travels to a distant village at a time when the Roman Empire threatens northern expansion. Both women are tenacious, but hampered by self-doubt. They must overcome uncertainty about friends and family to find a balance between change and preservation. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Readers will be watching for the latest from this Reese’s Book Club author. –Booklist Review
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Dying Cry by Margaret Mizushima
Deputy Mattie Walker and her K-9 partner Robo are on a snowshoe hike at a Colorado resort with her husband and stepdaughters when they hear a scream from up ahead. Mattie and Robo go to investigate and spot a body at the base of a cliff, right before it is buried by an avalanche. When she and her colleagues dig out the body, they realize it’s the manager of the local bank and he has been murdered. An added complication is that the victim’s wife works for Mattie’s husband at his veterinary clinic, and animal tranquilizers have been found in the victim’s system. There are a multitude of suspects between the resort, the clinic, and the bank, and Mattie and Robo work to untangle all the threads of this mysterious death before there are any more murders.
VERDICT In Mizushima’s 10th volume in the series (after Gathering Mist), woman and dog work together smoothly, and readers get a complex mystery with some surprising twists, as well as a picturesque setting in the Colorado high country and a vivid depiction of the bond between human and canine. –Library Journal Review
Reader’s Note: As mentioned, Drying Cry is the tenth book in the Timber Creek K-9 Mystery Series. If you’d like to start reading the series from the begining check out book one Killing Trail.
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The Girl from Devil’s Lake by J. A. Jance
Sheriff Joanna Brady is looking forward to the holidays with her busy family, and to celebrating her daughter Jenny’s graduation from the police academy. But the family is interrupted when a body is discovered beneath a flooded bridge in the Arizona desert, and Joanna is called onto the case. A young boy was murdered, and the details of the crime scene tell Joanna two things: This was not the killer’s first murder. And it’s only a matter of time before he kills again.
As Joanna digs deeper into the case, she begins to understand this murder is just one piece of a much, much bigger puzzle. She uncovers unlikely connections between cases of mysterious deaths and missing persons, having long since gone cold, that extend far beyond the confines of her small town and include the discovery of a body near Devil’s Lake, North Dakota. To get justice for the victims and to save the town of Bisbee from a predator, Joanna must chase down every dangerous lead.
Meanwhile, as a dogged journalist is circling the case and privileged information is leaked, Joanna can’t be sure who to trust. Could a prolific killer be hiding in plain sight? And how far will that person go to keep his many crimes hidden?
Reader’s Note: The Girl from Devil’s Lake is the twenty-first book in the Joanna Brady Mystery Series. If you’d like to start reading the series from the beginning, check out book one Desert Heat.
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Gone Before Goodbye by Harlen Coben & Reese Witherspoon
Maggie McCabe is teetering on the brink. A highly skilled and renowned Army combat surgeon, she has always lived life at the edge, where she could make the most impact. And it was all going to plan … until it wasn’t.
Upside down after a devastating series of tragedies leads to her medical license being revoked, Maggie has lost her purpose, but not her nerve or her passion. At her lowest point, she is thrown a lifeline by a former colleague, an elite plastic surgeon whose anonymous clientele demand the best care money can buy, as well as absolute discretion.
Halfway across the globe, sequestered in the lap of luxury and cutting-edge technology, one of the world’s most mysterious men requires unconventional medical assistance. Desperate, and one of the few surgeons in the world skilled enough to take this job, Maggie enters his realm of unspeakable opulence and fulfills her end of the agreement. But when the patient suddenly disappears while still under her care, Maggie must become a fugitive herself—or she will be the next one who is … Gone Before Goodbye
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In A Distant Valley by Shannon Bowring
A rural town in northern Maine finds its way forward after a young woman’s sudden death. For her third and final novel about the “picturesque, neighborly, silent town” of Dalton, Bowring picks up her story in 1995, shortly after the conclusion ofWhere the Forest Meets the River (2024). Single dad Nate Theroux, back to work as a police officer, still feels “every part of him vibrant with grief” since his wife, Bridget, took her own life more than five years ago. Yet he’s finally feeling open to “the potential of what his life could open up to become.” He’s slowly falling for Rose Douglas, a single mother of two, but her alcoholic ex, Tommy Merchant, is ever-present, insisting he can be a good dad to their sons. This budding romance, threatened by violence from Tommy, yields some of the novel’s most gorgeous moments, as Rose and Nate navigate each other’s emotional defenses. College kid Greg Fortin, who is bisexual, finds himself suddenly drawn to a high school friend, Angela Muse. Bowring gives Angela, previously a minor character, a full backstory, including trauma she’s hidden from her family. To her ever-lively, assured prose, Bowring adds small moments of the otherworldly, to show Bridget’s lingering presence, and some jarring crassness at times, but there’s still plenty of humor, wisdom, and ethical complexity. At one point, Nate recalls Bridget saying, “the damage doesn’t end once the last bruise has faded.” Which could be a coda for all we’ve learned about Dalton. These linked, layered relationships have yielded deep pain and grief, along with many forms of complex love. It’s greatly fulfilling to see in these characters’ lives that if you keep going, you might actually find not just one, but many loves in a lifetime. A fine, satisfying end to the Dalton cycle of novels. – Kirkus Review
Reader’s Note: In A Distant Valley, which follows the books The Road to Dalton & Where the Forest Meets the River, is the third and final book in the Dalton Series.
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Happy reading!
Linda Reimer, SSCL
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Weekly Suggested Reading Five postings are usually published on Wednesdays, unless Monday is a holiday and then they are published later in the week.
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Note: Book summaries are from the respective publishers unless otherwise specified.
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Information on the four library catalogs
The Digital Catalog aka Libby: https://stls.overdrive.com/
The Digital Catalog, is an online catalog containing eBooks, eAudiobooks, and digital magazines. You can use your library card and checkout content on a PC; you can also use the companion app, Libby, to access titles on your mobile devices; so you can enjoy eBooks and eAudiobooks on the go!
All card holders of all Southern Tier Library System member libraries can check out items from the Digital Catalog.
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Hoopla Catalog: https://www.hoopladigital.com/
The Hoopla Catalog features on demand checkouts of eBooks, eAudiobooks, comic books, albums, movies and TV shows. Patron check out limit is 10 items per month.
Hoopla is a Southeast Steuben County Library service available to all Southeast Steuben County Library card holders.
The Hoopla companion app, also called Hoopla is available for mobile devices, smart TVs & media streaming players.
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Kanopy Catalog: https://www.kanopy.com/en
The Kanopy Catalog features thousands of streaming videos available on demand.
The Kanopy Catalog is available for all Southern Tier Library System member library card holders, including all Southeast Steuben County Library card holders!
You can access the Kanopy Catalog through a web browser, or download the app to your phone, tablet or media streaming player (i.e. Roku, Google or Fire TV).
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StarCat: The catalog of physical/traditional library materials: https://starcat.stls.org
Card holders of all Southern Tier Library System member libraries can access StarCat to search for and request materials available at libraries through out the Southern Tier Library System.
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Have questions about how to access Internet based content (i.e. eBooks, eAudios)? Feel free to drop by the Reference Desk or call the library and we will assist you! The library’s telephone number is: 607-936-3713.
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Tech & Book Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.
Tech & Book Talk at SSCL 