Hi everyone, here are our five suggested reads of the week!
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26 Beauties: A Women’s Murder Club Thriller by James Patterson
From the world’s #1 bestselling author, the Women’s Murder Club goes searching for 26 Beauties—young women missing in San Francisco.
SFPD’s Sergeant Lindsay Boxer’s best friend, Claire Washburn, is named medical examiner of the year. But an uninvited guest crashes the Women’s Murder Club’s party: a concerned father seeking investigative reporter Cindy Thomas’s help in locating his missing daughter. And she’s not the only one. Lindsay’s been investigating the deaths of a Jane Doe washed up on a nearby beach, and a young woman found in Golden Gate Park.
What if all these cases are connected?
The answers lie with the 26 Beauties on the run and in the wind.
Reader’s Note: 26 Beauties is, appropriately enough, the twenty-sixth book in the Women’s Murder Club Series. If you’d like to binge read, from the beginning of the series, check out book one: 1st To Die.
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Last Mandarin by Louise Penny & Mellissa Fung
Much like her collaboration with Hillary Clinton, Penny’s latest, written with journalist Fung (Between Good and Evil: The Stolen Girls of Boko Haram), ventures beyond the quaint yet eccentric small-town Canadian people and places of her “Three Pines” books. Unlike many political thrillers, though, this book is character-driven and nuanced, with as much attention paid to mother-daughter dynamics and the details of everyday life as is paid to action and intrigue. When fire and security alarms go off worldwide during one of Alice Li’s rare visits with her mother, Vivien, the women are called to work together at the behest of the president–something familiar to human rights activist Vivien but surprising for food blogger Alice, who has lived in her mother’s shadow. Together, the women become caught up in conspiracies that take them from the Oval Office to Ohio and then to Hong Kong, where they unlock old legends and languages long ago invented by women, in order to stop what could be a cataclysmic attack.
VERDICT At once a fast-paced tale of power, greed, terror, and conviction and an introspective examination of the personal and cultural narratives that make people who they are, this will appeal to readers of Laura Lippman, Gillian McAllister, and James Patterson who are interested in thrillers as psychologically nuanced as they are page-turning.–Library Journal
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Ironwood by Michael Connelly
“Small island, big crime,” says Detective Sergeant Stilwell about his turf on Catalina, just a short ferry ride from L.A. All the characters and dynamics introduced in Connelly’s first Catalina novel, Nightshade (2025), are in full swing here as a cluster of crimes erupts, and Stilwell persists in disobeying orders to follow his hunches. A new deputy is killed and another badly injured when a drug-deal stakeout goes catastrophically wrong. Barred from investigating and told to clean up the station’s overflowing lost and found, Stilwell gets curious about an abandoned backpack and finds himself involved with a cold case overseen by LAPD Detective Ren e Ballard, a character from one of Connelly’s previous series. Stilwell’s tenacity, keen instincts, dread, tenderheartedness, and pragmatism–he knows just how to deal with a scheming vintner and a kid who graffitied the island’s landmarks–make for an entertaining and admirable hero, while Catalina, with its colorful history, “fragile ecosystems,” and busy harbor, overseen by Tash, Stilwell’s lover, is an evermore intriguing setting. Connelly is at his most polished and incisive here, with crackling dialogue, complex investigations, tricky relationships, escalating suspense, and dogged and inspired sleuthing by a principled, rule-breaking hero. The satisfying ending promises more enthralling episodes on the horizon.
HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Connelly fans will be avidly seeking the second in his Catalina series. – Starred Booklist Review
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Nolan: The Singular Life of an American Original by Tim Brown
The definitive biography of Nolan Ryan, arguably the greatest pitcher in the history of baseball, from New York Times bestselling sportswriter Tim Brown.
Nolan Ryan was the hero to two of America’s biggest institutions: Texas and baseball. Nolan is an exploration of God, family, baseball, and America—and a tribute to one of the greatest pitchers to ever step on the mound. He grew up in the small, hard town of Alvin, Texas, was graced with a fastball, and fell in love with a woman named Ruth, then honored all three in his pursuit of hardball perfection.
Alongside Nolan’s personal story, renowned sportswriter Tim Brown offers a thoughtful, deeply researched history of baseball in the Lone Star State, and an unforgettable account of three glorious decades in the Major Leagues.
Nolan Ryan’s story is about dominating on the field, then growing old in the game, then just plain growing old. It’s about the man who has become a symbol of the game at its best, the way it used to be. It’s about deeds over words. About cattle matching the hat. About fastballs over all else.
Nolan makes the case that there has never been another like him. And there won’t be again.
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The Shippers by Katherine Center
Jojo Burton and Cooper Watts have been friends since he moved onto her street when they were kids. But one day Cooper takes off for London, leaving Jojo wondering for years why he cut off all contact. He reappears at her wedding, which ends with Jojo fake-fainting and calling the whole thing off. After Cooper declines an invitation to her sister Ashley’s wedding on a cruise ship, he somehow unexpectedly shows up again. When a plan to make Jojo’s childhood crush fall in love with her goes awry, Cooper is there once more, acting as Jojo’s wingman. It might appear things are on the mend, but they fallout again and Cooper leaves Jojo once more. The duo go through much together, but eventually reconnect, with plenty of laughs and memorable moments along the way. VERDICT Center (The Rom-Commers) has a signature rom-com voice and offers plenty of banter that her fans adore. Readers who have already fallen in love with her previous works will find this a winner too.–Library Journal Review
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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 