Tag: Reader’s Advisory

Suggested Reading Five: January 28, 2026

Linda Reimer

Hi everyone, here are our five suggested reads of the week!

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A Box Full of Darkness by Simone St. James 

Violet Esmie doesn’t want to go home again. Eighteen years ago, Violet’s youngest brother, Ben, disappeared. One minute Violet, her sister Dodie, and her brother Vail were playing hide-and-seek with Ben, and the next minute no trace of him could be found. Soon after this traumatic event, Violet, Dodie, and Vail all left their upstate New York hometown with no intention of ever coming back. However, all three Esmie siblings are now returning to Fell, and the reason is eerie. Ben’s ghost has written a message that says, “Come Home.” Adeptly alternating viewpoints between Violet, Dodie, and Vail, St. James (Murder Road, 2024) perfectly captures the mix of annoyed snarkiness, edgy rivalry, and unconditional love that can exist among siblings while simultaneously dialing up the supernatural spookiness that has infected each of their lives in different ways. From the book’s chillingly creepy setting, which previously appeared in The Sun Down Motel (2020), to a nerve-jangling plot that effectively borrows from a mix of genres to the writing itself, which shimmers with a dazzlingly sharp sense of wit, everything about St. James’ latest is done to perfection. – Starred Booklist Review 

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Catch Her If You Can by Tessa Bailey  

#1 New York Times bestselling author Tessa Bailey is back with an all-new marriage of convenience, friends-to-lovers sports romance about a baseball catcher and the burlesque club owner he can’t get out of his head. 

Madden Donahue, the newest catcher for the Yankees, has been in love with Eve Mitchell since high school, but for some mysterious reason, the burlesque club owner always turns him down. That never stopped him from being her self-appointed protector. Case in point, now that Eve’s sister has left Eve with her two children indefinitely, Madden steps in with a proposition—marry him for the much needed health benefits. 

Eve has secretly harbored feelings for Madden all along, but there’s one problem—her best friend Skylar called dibs on him when they were fourteen. Eve has always put their friendship above all else, and she’s not willing to risk losing Skylar over a man. Raised by the local strip club owner, Eve is woefully short on friends and treasures the ones she has. But with Skylar happily paired off, Eve finds herself accepting Madden’s proposal—on the condition that their marriage remains strictly private. She’s not about to let her unique profession and maligned reputation destroy Madden’s shiny new career. 

Madden won’t let Eve get away that easily, though. What starts as a marriage of convenience soon ignites into something much hotter, and now it’s up to Madden to convince Eve that their connection is far more than a business arrangement. As the passion builds, can their fake marriage become the real deal? 

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Heart of a Stranger: An Unlikely Rabbi’s Story of Faith, Identity, and Belonging by Angela Buchdahl 

In Heart of a Stranger, Rabbi Angela Buchdahl reflects on a life shaped by complexity, heritage, and faith. Born to a Korean Buddhist mother and a Jewish American father, she explores how two different family histories have been united through shared values of resilience, tradition, and hope. Her mother’s story, marked by war, stands alongside her father’s Jewish heritage, forming a foundation both rich and complex. The book blends personal narrative, historical reflection, and Jewish teachings. Each chapter pairs a family story with spiritual insight, drawing on Hebrew terms and the rhythm of sermon-like meditations. Buchdahl traces her path into the Jewish faith and the challenge of embracing multiple identities. From misadventures in keeping kosher to balancing motherhood with leading a major synagogue, she writes with clarity and purpose. She calls for unity within Jewish communities despite their differences, honors her Korean roots, and faces questions of race, identity, and belonging with honesty and humility. Her story shows the courage required to embrace complexity and hold difficult truths with compassion. – Booklist Review  

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My Husband’s Wife by Alice Feeney  

Eden Fox, an artist on the brink of her big break, sets off for a run before her first exhibition. When she returns to the home she recently moved into, Spyglass, an enchanting old house in Hope Falls, nothing is as it should be. Her key doesn’t fit. A woman, eerily similar to her, answers the door. And her husband insists that the stranger is his wife. 

One house. One husband. Two women. Someone is lying. 

Six months earlier, a reclusive Londoner called Birdy, reeling from a life-changing diagnosis, inherits Spyglass. This unexpected gift from a long-lost grandmother brings her to the pretty seaside village of Hope Falls. But then Birdy stumbles upon a shadowy London clinic that claims to be able to predict a person’s date of death, including her own. Secrets start to unravel, and as the line between truth and lies blurs, Birdy feels compelled to right some old wrongs. 

My Husband’s Wife is a tangled web of deception, obsession, and mystery that will keep you guessing until the last page. Prepare yourself for the ultimate mind-bending marriage thriller and step inside Spyglass – if you dare – to experience a story where nothing is as it seems. 

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Twelve Months by Jim Butcher  

It has been three weeks since the devastating magical attack on Chicago (Battle Ground, 2020), leaving the city in complete disarray and wizard Harry Dresden’s life in shambles. He is mourning the loss of a loved one, has been banished from the White Council of Wizards–although he is not as upset about that–and has been forced by the ruthless Queen Mab into an engagement to the provocative leader of the White Vampires. Harry is grieving and exhausted but nevertheless providing food and shelter for neighbors left homeless by the battle. He is not sure how, or even if, he will recover. What he needs is time, but Mab has given him the impossible task of resolving a conflict with the sovereign of another magical nation, the same king who wants Harry’s brother dead. And an overzealous new White Council warden is out for Harry’s literal head. His friends and, oddly, his new fiancee are trying to help, offering support, a new apprentice, and a Valkyrie bodyguard, but the heartbreak and anguish may still be too much. Series fans will be intrigued by the new characters and changes in Harry’s life as Butcher deftly explores the impacts of loss and grief.  – Starred Booklist Review 

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Happy reading!

Linda Reimer, SSCL

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Note: Book summaries are from the respective publishers unless otherwise specified.

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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.

–

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).

–

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.

Suggested Reading Five: January 21, 2026

Linda Reimer

Hi everyone, here are our five suggested reads of the week!

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Future Saints by Ashley Winstead 

Winstead (In My Dreams I Hold a Knife) focuses on the demise of a women-led rock band in her latest. Told through the perspective of the bandmates, manager, and fans, this emotionally charged novel opens as the Future Saints perform at a nearly empty venue. The members of the Future Saints are on the cusp of giving up on everything–the music, their fans, and themselves–when lead singer Hannah closes the show with a new song that sets the internet on fire with its grief and honesty. The Future Saints are rocketed to a level of popularity that flummoxes the bandmembers as well as their new manager, Theo. As poor choices are made, captured for social media, and regurgitated within the band itself, they begin writing new music that captures their changed situation as well as their sadness at the death of their former manager, Ginny, who was also Hannah’s sister. Hannah ultimately confronts her grief in a dramatic way, bringing the story full circle and allowing catharsis. The novel’s satisfying epilogue places each character in the future where they need to be. VERDICT Fans of Stephanie Clifford’s The Farewell Tour will enjoy. – Library Journal Review  

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George Falls Through Time: A Novel by Ryan Collett 

George’s life in present-day London keeps hitting new lows. He already lost his job and boyfriend, he’s about to lose his flat, and now, having taken a dog-walking gig, he has lost two of the six dogs that he was walking in the park. While a panicked George searches for the missing dogs, he observes the London he knows falling away. Somehow, he has traveled through time, and the only thing he can find out is that he’s in the 28th year of a King Edward’s reign (1300 CE). Time-travelling is brutally hard when you’re going backward: the language is foreign to George, and dragons, apparently, are known to exist in this world, which he can’t quite believe. He is thrown into prison, eventually escaping with the help of a man named Simon. Then George is brought before the king, who presents him with a plastic Coca-Cola bottle and demands an explanation. VERDICT Collett’s (The Disassembly of Doreen Durand) time-travel novel is a marvelously lovely queer retelling of the story of St. George and the dragon. Readers who loved Kaliane Bradley’s The Ministry of Time will enjoy this too. – Library Journal Review  

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Greatest Sentence Ever Written by Walter Isaacson 

Thirty-five words. That’s the length of the second sentence of the Declaration of Independence, the one that begins with “We hold these truths to be self-evident” and ends with “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.” In between, there is talk of equality and sacrosanct rights. It’s a lot to pack into a single sentence, but award-winning biographer Isaacson cogently honors the wisdom it took to create it. Its authors–Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and John Adams–struggled over concerns such as, who, precisely, should be included in “We” and whether “inalienable”” would be a better choice than “unalienable.” Glimpses into such behind-the-scenes polishing of the most important of our country’s foundational documents would be fascinating in and of itself, but as the Declaration’s 250th anniversary draws near, Isaacson’s granular analysis serves as a more potent lesson. Our nascent nation was freeing itself from Britain’s tyrannical rule, the facts of which are specifically enumerated in the body of the Declaration. Re-reading these grievances through the lens of today’s politically fraught atmosphere is a chilling but necessary exercise. In Isaacson’s expert hands, those 35 words, and the ones that come after them, gain a new level of clarity and relevance, and inspire deepened appreciation. – Booklist Review  

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The Infamous Gilberts: A Novel by Angela Tomaski  

DEBUT Margaret Gilbert has long lived with her three daughters and two sons in Thornwalk, a once-stately English manor, until, in 2002, the keys to the manor are about to be handed over to a new owner who plans to transform the estate into a luxury hotel. But first, Maximus, who lives in a cottage on the property, walks readers through a more than 60-year history of the Gilbert family and their home. Tomaski’s sad, sometimes funny debut novel thrives on its personalities. There’s Hugo, the eldest Gilbert son, who plans to take over the family’s failing business after their father dies; Jeremy, the wanderer who disappears for long stretches at a time; and the three Gilbert daughters dreaming of love, whose poor choices as they try to marry into wealth cloud and complicate the family’s fate. Tomaski offers strong characterization as each Gilbert reveals the weaknesses and gullibility that will ultimately contribute to the family’s downfall as they struggle with the implications of marrying for money versus clinging to the hope of regaining lost love.

VERDICT Readers of Tomaski’s immersive multigenerational saga will be pulled into the lives of the Gilbert family. Recommended for fans of big English novels about people who cannot help themselves. -Library Journal Review 

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No One Would Do What the Lamberts Have Done: A Novel by Sophie Hannah

 

The twistiest murder mystery you are ever likely to read? A story about a family that does the unthinkable? 

Both? Or something else altogether? 

You think it will never happen to you. 

The doorbell. The policeman. The words that turn your world inside out: I’m afraid there’s been an incident… 

For Sally Lambert, those words mean only one thing—danger. Not just for her family, but for Champ, their loyal and beloved dog. A single accusation, a neighbor’s grudge, and suddenly the Lamberts are trapped in a nightmare with no escape. 

Unless they make one. 

Most people would never run. Most people would never leave behind everything they know to protect an animal who can’t defend himself. But for Sally, Champ is more than a dog—he’s one of her children. And most people aren’t the Lamberts.  

No one has ever done this before. No one has ever gone this far. But the Lamberts have never been quite like any other family… 

New York Times bestselling author Sophie Hannah spins an unexpected tale of suspense in No One Would Do What the Lamberts Have Done, an unsettling reflection on how far we’ll go for those we love. 

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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.

–

Note: Book summaries are from the respective publishers unless otherwise specified.

–

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.

–

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.

–

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).

–

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.

–

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.

–

Tech & Book Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.

Suggested Reading Five: January 7, 2026

Linda Reimer

Hi everyone, here are our five suggested reads of the week!

An Arcane Inheritance by Kamilah Cole 

Ellory Morgan feels a bit isolated as an older-than-average freshman at the prestigious Warren University, arriving with a handful of community college credits and a Godwin Scholarship, which entails a full ride with high expectations and a work-study job. She immediately goes head-to-head with Hudson Graves, whose family donated the campus library, as the two of them are both brilliant Black students from vastly different backgrounds in a wealthy, white academic environment. Their paths continue to cross, with inexplicable incidents of both déjà vu and possibly magic drawing their analytical minds towards the puzzle of mysterious disappearances across the history of their campus. With their friends’ help, they use a cross-section of magical heritage and institutional knowledge to delve into the mysteries, drawing them into a seance with the library ghost and other strange occurrences. As the plot untangles, a surprising twist has Ellory making life-or-death decisions for her friends. Cole’s adult debut is an unusual dark academia tale that diverges from an obvious enemies-to-lovers conclusion to build a richer story. – Booklist Review 

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The First Time I Saw Him by Laura Dave 

Dave’s latest takes place five years after the events of The Last Thing He Told Me, in which Hannah Hall and her stepdaughter Bailey had to run for their lives after Hannah’s husband Owen disappeared. They’ve now settled into a new life, with Bailey a recent college graduate and Hannah a successful artist. They even both have a good relationship with Hannah’s grandfather, whom they have grown to love and trust. Then unexpected events cause Hannah and Bailey to flee once again for their safety. Twists and turns will keep readers guessing throughout the novel at how it will all end. Chapters jump back and forth between past and present, but with smooth transitions that flow with the story. The characters’ love and concern for each other show through their thoughts and actions, and even minor characters show their loyalty by keeping long-ago promises. VERDICT This sequel is sure to be a hit, with fans of the first novel or its Apple TV+ series adaptation lining up to read it. A definite buy for most collections. – Library Journal Review 

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Pride And Pleasure: The Schuyler Sisters in an Age of Revolution by Amanda Vaill 

Vaill  examines the lives of Angelica Schuyler Church and Elizabeth “”Eliza”” Schuyler Hamilton, the unconventional eldest daughters of the prominent Schuyler family. Following their wealthy childhoods in upstate New York, Angelica and Eliza socialized with prominent figures during the American Revolution. Eliza married Alexander Hamilton, and Vaill recounts their relationship and how Eliza helped Hamilton create several of the nation’s founding documents. Angelica married a businessman, moved to England, and became a witness to the wider effects of unrest in Europe. Vaill relates the main events of the Revolutionary War and other volatile events while interweaving Angelica and Eliza’s experiences. After Hamilton is killed in a duel, Eliza immersed herself in charity work and fought to preserve his legacy. Vaill speculates on the women’s feelings and motivations where sources are scarce as well as on the suspiciously close relationship between Angelica and Hamilton. A detailed and fascinating story of two strong women. – Booklist Review  

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The Shop On Hidden Lane by Jayne Ann Krentz 

For four generations, the Wells and the Harpers have feuded over the proper professional use of psychic powers. Eventually, a tenuous pact to agree to disagree was reached. Now Sophy Harper and Luke Wells are going to test that pact when Luke’s Uncle Deke disappears, and Luke hires Sophy to “read and clean” the scene of the crime. However, while doing so, Sophy discovers that not only did her beloved Aunt Bea disappear with Deke but all the rumors of “No-Talent” Luke’s lack of physic powers are untrue. Luke seems to have a few psychic tricks up his sleeve, and he is to be the one man who isn’t scared off by Sophy’s own unique talents. Krentz’s (It Takes a Psychic, 2025) latest paranormally imbued romantic-suspense novel, which stands on its own while simultaneously referencing other titles in the Jayneverse, delivers everything her readers crave including a super-cool librarian heroine with an intriguing side hustle, plenty of snappy dialogue, simmering sexual chemistry, and a clever canine who almost steals the show. – Starred Booklist Review  

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The Storm by Rachel Hawkins  

In 1984, Landon Fitzroy is found dead on the beach in St. Medard’s Bay after a hurricane has roared through town. His death is initially thought to be an accident, a horrible case of wrong place, wrong time. When Landon’s affair with local teen Lo Bailey is discovered, Lo is accused of murder and of using the storm to cover up her crime. After she is acquitted, Lo escapes the gossip and leaves town. Forty years later, Geneva Corliss is the current owner of her family’s struggling hotel, The Rosalie Inn. When August, a writer, reserves a room to work on a book about the Fitzroy case, Geneva thinks the publicity may help her save the inn. Unexpectedly accompanying August is Lo, and as another hurricane makes its way toward the town, the truth about what happened in 1984 will be uncovered. Hawkins uses her mastery of multiple time lines and characters to great effect in this quick and enjoyable read, and the pulpy nature of the story will appeal to fans of Sally Hepworth and Laura Dave. – Booklist  

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Happy reading!

Linda Reimer, SSCL

–

Note: Book summaries are from the respective publishers unless otherwise specified.

–

Weekly Suggested Reading Five postings are usually published on Wednesdays, unless Monday is a holiday and then they are published later in the week.

–

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.

–

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.

–

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).

–

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.

–

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.

–

Tech & Book Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.

Suggested Reading Five: December 17, 2025

Linda Reimer

Hi everyone, here are our five suggested reads of the week!

This week we’re turning our reading spotlight on five of the best mysteries of 2025, as found on several of Best Books of 2025 lists; links to the Best Books lists used in researching this post, are found at the end of the post.

Have a great holiday season!

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Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall 

English writer Hall serves up twist after twist in her canny U.S. debut, a story of grief, love, and murder set in the Dorset countryside. The year is 1968 and Beth Johnson, wife of gentle sheep farmer Frank, remains shattered by the death of her nine-year-old son, Bobby, in an accident two years earlier. Her first love, Gabriel, a bestselling novelist who grew up wealthy on a nearby estate, returns with his young son, Leo, after separating from his American wife. Beth reconnects with Gabriel, fantasizing about rewinding her life to a simpler time, and she forges a bond with Leo, who reminds her of Bobby. An unreliable narrator, Beth provides a blinkered view of the action, mentioning early on that a farmer has been murdered and someone close to her is on trial for the crime, but neglecting to reveal the identities of these two characters until more than halfway through the narrative. As a result, readers are kept guessing about the precise consequences of Gabriel’s return and the circumstances behind Bobby’s death. Hall makes Beth a fascinatingly complex lead who vacillates between restlessness and contentment, and the other characters’ motivations prove to be different than they seem at first glance. This sharp morality tale will stay with readers. – Publishers Weekly Review

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Fair Play by Louise Hegarty 

Hegarty’s brilliant debut kicks off with a murder mystery–themed New Year’s Eve party at a posh London Airbnb. The guests of wealthy siblings Abigail and Benjamin include work acquaintance Barbara; Benjamin’s childhood friend, Stephen; bankrupt spoilsport Declan; extravagant couple Cormac and Olivia; and Dorcas, the maid. The morning after the festivities, Benjamin is found dead in his locked bedroom. The doctor who arrives on the scene suspects suicide, but a skeptical Abigail hires famous PI Auguste Bell to investigate. When Benjamin and Abigail’s eccentric aunt arrives to console Abigail, she, too, is unconvinced that Benjamin took his own life, and she partners with Bell to solve the crime. “There are too many clues,” complains a frustrated Bell, who asks absurd questions (“Does this house have gas central heating?”) of each suspect in an attempt to sniff out the murderer. A distraught Abigail turns against each of her friends until Bell finally announces the name of the killer. Or does he? Readers, especially fans of Richard Osman, will happily go along with the plot’s many reversals and take heart in its surprisingly tender conclusion. Hegarty’s wonderfully eccentric characters, expert knowledge of classic whodunits, and ability to balance silly hijinks and serious emotional stakes mark her as a writer worth keeping tabs on. For mystery lovers, this is a joy. – Starred Publishers Weekly Review

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Holy City by Henry Wise 

Winner of the 2025 Edgar Award for Best Novel by an American Author

 A heinous crime tests a freshly minted deputy sheriff’s allegiances in Wise’s stylish debut. When Will Seems’s mother died 13 years ago, he fled rural Euphoria County, Va., for the “holy city” of Richmond. Now, he’s returned to take a job with Euphoria County’s police department, and he finds that his old neighborhood remains mired in poverty and crime. Soon after Will dons his badge, his childhood friend, Tom Janders, is murdered in an arson. Zeke Hathom, father of another of Will’s boyhood friends, is spotted running from the burning building, and authorities swiftly place him in custody. Substantial evidence implicates Zeke in Tom’s death, and Will’s boss wants to send Zeke to prison. Will, however, owes a deep adolescent debt to Zeke’s son and sets out to prove the older man’s innocence. When Zeke’s friends and family hire PI Bennico Watts to help exonerate him, she and Will enter into an uneasy alliance and plunge together into Euphoria County’s underworld. Wise propels the plot forward with flashbacks to the violence of Will’s past and the shame that motivates his return. Bold characters and splendid prose further enhance the proceedings. Wise knocks it out of the park his first time up to bat. – Publishers Weekly Review

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The In Crowd by Charlotte Vassell

Winner of the 2025 Edgar Award for Best Novel

The second in the rompy, contemporary, Agatha Christie-esque Detective Inspector Caius Beau series, following The Other Half, sees Caius Beauchamp’s evening at the theater interrupted when a dead body is discovered. Two cold cases complicate matters further, as do politics and a duke-in-waiting. – Library Review

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Vantage Point: A Novel by Sarah Slinger  

 To be a member of one of the country’s wealthiest, most prestigious families means, well, wealth and prestige. But what if your family’s cursed and you’re a woman on the internet—are you ever truly safe? Sara Sligar’s Vantage Point blends family drama, generational trauma and the destructive forces of cutting-edge technology in a disturbing suspense story told from two compelling female perspectives. For the Wieland family, April is a historically tragic month: 14 Aprils ago, a teenage Clara Wieland witnessed both her parents’ brutal demise. A whirlwind of chaotic world travel, heavy substance use and eating disorder clinic stays later, Clara returns to Vantage Point, the family estate on a remote Maine island. Also living at Vantage Point are Clara’s brother, Teddy, now running for the U.S. Senate, and Clara’s childhood best friend, Jess, now married to Teddy. At the beginning of April, an intimate, graphic video of Clara surfaces online and immediately goes viral, but Clara has no memory of the video’s events. Is it real, or an extremely advanced deepfake? As Teddy’s political campaign is threatened and Jess struggles to hold the family together, Clara experiences disturbing hallucinations she insists are also engineered. Has Clara descended into madness, or are the three surviving Wielands in serious danger? Author and academic Sligar expertly crafts the history of her fictional dynasty through fictional Wikipedia entries describing the tragic outcomes of the Wieland curse, from wine cellar explosions to rogue horse tramplings. Jess grew up impoverished and became enmeshed with the Wielands at an early age, and Clara is still grappling with the tremendous loss in her adolescence. Close confidantes and now in-laws, they each provide a unique perspective on the family’s collective trauma, and they share common ground as women vulnerable to a society intent on ruining them. The “future” of believable deepfakes is already here, and Sligar’s novel serves as an entertaining literary companion to shows like Succession, but also a warning to women everywhere: Your moment of deepfake reckoning may be just around the corner. – Starred BookPage Review

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References

Best Books. (2025).New York Public Library. https://www.nypl.org/books-more/recommendations/best-books/adults?year=2025&f%5B0%5D=terms%3ACrime%2C%20Mysteries%20%26%20Thrillers. Retrieved December 17, 2025, from https://www.nypl.org/books-more/recommendations/best-books/adults?year=2025&f%5B0%5D=terms%3ACrime%2C%20Mysteries%20%26%20Thrillers

Gaffney, A. (2025, October 31). The best mysteries and thrillers of 2025. ELLE. https://www.elle.com/culture/books/g69127582/best-mystery-thriller-books-2025/

Mwa. (2025, May 2). 2025 Edgar Award Winners announced. Mystery Writers of America. https://mysterywriters.org/mystery-writers-of-america-announces-the-2025-edgar-award-winners/

Schumer, L. (2025, December 6). PEOPLE picks the 15 best books of 2025. People.com. https://people.com/peoples-best-books-of-2025-11862936

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Happy reading!

Linda Reimer, SSCL

–

Note: Book summaries are from the respective publishers unless otherwise specified.

–

Weekly Suggested Reading Five postings are usually published on Wednesdays, unless Monday is a holiday and then they are published later in the week.

–

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.

–

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.

–

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).

–

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.

–

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.

–

Tech & Book Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.

Suggested Reading Five: December 10, 2025

Linda Reimer

Hi everyone, here are our five suggested reads of the week!

This week we are turning the reading spotlight on five of the years’ best general fiction titles, as found on several Best Books of 2025 lists. Links to the review articles are found in the references section at the end of the post.

–

Angel Down by Daniel Kraus  

Kraus’ follow-up to Whalefall (2023) explores the same deeply emotional themes, this time in WWI France. Private Bagger has used his wits to stay alive in the trenches as a latrine and grave digger. He and four other misfits are asked to stay behind in order to “take care” of a suffering soldier lying in the dangerous no-man’s land between them and the Germans. However, it is not a soldier they find screaming–it is an angel, fallen from heaven and stuck in barbed wire. As the men travel to rejoin their unit, carrying the angel, each is mesmerized by her light and tempted by her power. She could save them all or lead to their deaths. The book unfolds like a chant, in short paragraphs each beginning with the word and, and readers will quickly fall under Bagger’s narrative spell as they see the visceral and gruesome toll war takes on the entire planet. Is Bagger going to survive through a miracle or by luck? A brilliant novel that will encourage its readers to live their best lives, despite the horrors that surround them. For fans of John Milas’ The Militia House (2023) and thought-provoking tales that sow discomfort through story and narrative structure, such as Agustina Bazterrica’s The Unworthy (2025). – Booklist Review 

Angel Down is found on the New York Times Best Books of 2025 list.

– 

Antidote by Karen Russell 

The prairie witch calls herself The Antidote because people feel so much better after she unburdens them of painful memories, storing them in her “vault.” But when she finds herself in jail in the midst of a terrifying dust storm in Uz, Nebraska, she realizes that the deposits she’s been paid to protect have vanished. High-school basketball star Asphodel Oletsky, living, since her mother was murdered, with her uncle Harp, a dryland farmer, is desperate to keep her winning team on the court after they lose their sponsor. Harp is haunted by how his Polish parents were forced off their land by the Germans, only to find themselves unwittingly doing the same to Native Americans. New Deal photographer Cleo Allfrey, at risk on the plains as a Black woman, arrives in Uz during the worst of the Dust Bowl and finds people pushed to the brink by drought, deadly and otherworldly dust storms, vanished crops and topsoil, unsolved murders, and a corrupt and brutal sheriff. Among many strange occurrences, Cleo’s photographs inexplicably depict the horrific past and a possible future. Highly honored Russell follows two stellar story collections with her second novel, an ardent work of encompassing and compassionate historical fiction supercharged with her signature imaginative, astutely calibrated supernatural twists. A dramatic and uncanny tale of the drastic consequences of our destruction of nature and Indigenous communities. – Booklist Review 

Found on Pen America’s Best Books of 2025 list.

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Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor 

Fired from her lackluster job as an adjunct professor of writing, and on the verge of needing to move back in with her parents, Zelu has lost control of her life. Because she’s disinclined to pick up the pieces in a way that will satisfy her family, a Nigerian American dynasty for whom being exceptional is considered merely ordinary, she turns instead back to her writing. What comes out of those dark moments is a piece of science fiction set in the aftermath of humanity’s extinction. Upon publication, the novel captures the entire world’s imagination, quickly becoming a bestseller and almost immediately being optioned as a movie. But the consequences of Zelu’s meteoric rise aren’t all so dreamy. As they ripple out, they change her life forever, causing her to rethink her relationship to her writing, her family and even her own body. Death of the Author, by acclaimed science fiction writer Nnedi Okorafor (Who Fears Death), is comfortable straddling the line between genres. Okorafor explores the dynamics Zelu experiences as a disabled Nigerian American author from the south suburbs of Chicago, rendering familiar experiences with remarkable specificity, pulling us in so that we understand Zelu’s truth, warts and all. As the book shines on a literary level, so, too, do its science fiction elements. In a metafictional twist, Okorafor peppers in chapters from Zelu’s bestselling novel with increasing frequency as the story progresses. Beyond being interesting in their own right, the chapters give us a lens through which to see Zelu more clearly—and influence the course of her journey. A remarkable exploration of storytelling, fame and the Nigerian American experience, Death of the Author surprises all the way to its brilliant ending. Read our interview with Nnedi Okorafor about Death of the Author. – BookPage Review 

Found on the New York Public Library’s Best Books of 2025 list.

– 

The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai 

Booker winner Desai returns 19 years after The Inheritance of Loss with an elegant bildungsroman of two Indian people and their convergence in the early 2000s U.S. The reader meets the pair before they meet each other, when they’re unhappy with their current partners. Sunny, a journalist in New York City, navigates the contradictory feelings that come with dating an American woman and the challenge of reporting on one world while feeling suspended between two. Meanwhile, Sonia, a college student and aspiring novelist in Vermont, struggles to adapt to American life. She winds up in a relationship with Ilan de Toorjen Foss, an artist 30 years her senior, and moves with him to New York, where she hopes to feel less lonely. Instead, Ilan proves controlling and quickly isolates her. Eventually, Sunny and Sonia meet on a train. Their love story is affecting and enriched by Desai’s forays into the lives of their family members in India, including Sunny’s widowed and overbearing mother, who’s stuck with her corrupt brothers-in-law and lives vicariously through her son; Sonia’s mother, who leaves her husband to become a hermit in the jungle cottage that was once her German father’s art studio; and many more. Desai’s artful prose is subtle even when pitched on a grand scale (“There were no children in India anymore in the homes of successful parents of a successful class”). This ambitious yet intimate saga is well worth the wait. – Publisher’s Weekly Review  

Found on both Maureen Corrigan’s Best Books of 2025 list and the New York Times Best Books of 2025 list.

– 

Theft: A Novel by Abdulrazak Gurnah 

The bonds of family, friends, and workers are tested in this coming-of-age tale about three young people. Beautiful Fauzia is magnetically drawn to the handsome, suave Karim who comes from a well-to-do family. Badar is an uneducated domestic worker in Karim’s household; his family severely neglected him. Fauzia teaches Badar how to cook and clean the house, and he proves capable until he is falsely accused of theft. This accusation changes his life, but Karim gets him a job at the Tamarind Hotel. At the hotel, Badar meets an attractive woman, a guest who invites him out to dinner. When Badar declines, Karim steps in and takes the guest to one of his favorite restaurants. This begins an affair, another pivotal moment that leads to abrupt changes in the lives of the novel’s three protagonists.  

VERDICT Nobel Prize winner Gurnah (emeritus, English and postcolonial literatures, Univ. of Kent; Afterlives) is a captivating, enthralling storyteller whose characters are vibrant and sympathetic. The pages fly by quickly in his wonderful new novel. – Library Journal Review 

Found on Town And Country Magazine’s The 20 Best Books of 2025 list.

–

References

Best Books for Adults 2025. (2025). The New York Public Library. Retrieved December 9, 2025, from https://www.nypl.org/spotlight/best-books-2025 

Burack, E., & Rathe, A. (2025, December 8). The 20 best books of 2025. Town & Country. https://www.townandcountrymag.com/leisure/arts-and-culture/a68851782/best-books-2025/ 

Corrigan, M. (2025, December 8). Maureen Corrigan’s 10 favorite books of 2025 — with plenty for nonfiction lovers. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2025/12/08/nx-s1-5634019/best-books-2025-maureen-corrigan 

New York Times Staff. (n.d.). The 10 Best Books of 2025. The New York Times. Retrieved December 9, 2025, from https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/02/books/review/best-books-2025.html

Tolin, L. (2025, November 26). Best Books of 2025: 15 top picks from the ‘Best Of’ lists. PEN America. https://pen.org/best-books-of-2025/ 

–

Happy reading!

Linda Reimer, SSCL

–

Note: Book summaries are from the respective publishers unless otherwise specified

–

Weekly Suggested Reading Five postings are usually published on Wednesdays, unless Monday is a holiday and then they are published later in the week.

–

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.

–

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.

–

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).

–

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.

–

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.

–

Tech & Book Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.

New York Times Bestsellers: December 14, 2025

Linda Reimer

All titles can be requested/checked out through the library.

If you’d like to go the traditional route to request a title on this list and drop by the library, or give us a call – please do!

Our telephone number is: 607-936-3713

You can also request titles through StarCat found at https://starcat.stls.org

–

THE BESTSELLERS

FICTION

1. BRIMSTONE by Callie Hart: The second book in the Fae & Alchemy series. To save those close to them, Saeris and Fisher face a new set of dangers.

2. THE WIDOW by John Grisham: When Simon Latch, a lawyer in rural Virginia, is accused of murder, he goes in search of the real killer.

3. THE SECRET OF SECRETS by Dan Brown: As he searches for the missing noetic scientist he has been seeing, Robert Langdon discovers something regarding a secret project.

4. ALCHEMISED by SenLinYu: After the war, an imprisoned alchemist is sent to a necromancer to recover her lost memories.

5. QUICKSILVER by Callie Hart: Saeris is transported to a dangerous land of ice and snow, where she must contend with a Fae warrior who has suspect agendas.

6. GONE BEFORE GOODBYE by Reese Witherspoon and Harlan Coben: When a mysterious man disappears, the former combat surgeon giving him medical assistance goes on the lam.

7. THE CORRESPONDENT by Virginia Evans: Letters from someone she used to know push Sybil Van Antwerp toward revisiting her past and finding a way to forgive.

8. THE HOUSEMAID by Freida McFadden: Troubles surface when a woman looking to make a fresh start takes a job in the home of the Winchesters.

9. THE BOOK OF AZRAEL by Amber V. Nicole: As dangers intensify, an alliance between enemies might be the only thing that can save a world and various realms.

10. RETURN OF THE SPIDER by James Patterson: The 34th book in the Alex Cross series. An enemy’s murder book suggests Cross may have made rookie mistakes years ago.

11. PROJECT HAIL MARY by Andy Weir: Ryland Grace awakes from a long sleep alone and far from home, and the fate of humanity rests on his shoulders.

12. EXIT STRATEGY by Lee Child and Andrew Child: The 30th book in the Jack Reacher series. Reacher’s interest is piqued when he finds a handwritten note in his pocket.

13. THE INTRUDER by Freida McFadden: During a rough storm, Casey puts herself in danger when she lets a girl, who is covered in blood, into her cabin.

14. MURDER AT HOLLY HOUSE by Denzil Meyrick: When a dead stranger is found in a Yorkshire chimney around the holidays in 1952, Inspector Frank Grasby gets assigned the case.

15. THE SEVEN RINGS by Nora Roberts: The third book in the Lost Bride Trilogy. Sonya fights across two realms to take possession of a haunted manor.

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NON-FICTION

1. 1929 by Andrew Ross Sorkin: The New York Times journalist and CNBC host looks at the fight between Washington and Wall Street that fueled a historic crash of the stock market.

2. HOW TO TEST NEGATIVE FOR STUPID by John Kennedy: The Republican senator from Louisiana shares stories about politics in Washington, D.C., and in his home state.

3. NOBODY’S GIRL by Virginia Roberts Giuffre: The late activist and advocate for sex-trafficking survivors describes her time with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.

4. THE LOOK by Michelle Obama with Meredith Koop: A celebration of the former first lady’s evolution in style, featuring more than 200 photographs.

5. THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION by Geoffrey C. Ward and Ken Burns: A companion to the PBS series that delves into various facets of the war and the founding of a new form of government.

6. POEMS & PRAYERS by Matthew McConaughey: The actor and author of “Greenlights” explores elements of belief and reason that make up our lives.

7. 107 DAYS by Kamala Harris: The former vice president recounts her abbreviated campaign to become president in 2024.

8. THE BODY KEEPS THE SCORE by Bessel van der Kolk: How trauma affects the body and mind, and innovative treatments for recovery.

9. THE GREATEST SENTENCE EVER WRITTEN by Walter Isaacson: The historian and biographer examines the concepts of a statement found in the Declaration of Independence.

10. THE GALES OF NOVEMBER by John U. Bacon: An account of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald, an American Great Lakes freighter, 50 years ago.

11. HEART LIFE MUSIC by Kenny Chesney with Holly Gleason: The country musician recounts events and encounters that shaped his life and career.

12. THE ANXIOUS GENERATION by Jonathan Haidt: A co-author of “The Coddling of the American Mind” looks at the mental health impacts that a phone-based life has on children.

13. SIMPLY MORE by Cynthia Erivo: The multiple award-winning performer and producer shares insights into how she overcame obstacles to complete real and metaphorical marathons.

14. OUTLIVE by Peter Attia with Bill Gifford: A look at recent scientific research on aging and longevity.

15. TO RESCUE THE AMERICAN SPIRIT by Bret Baier with Catherine Whitney: The Fox News Channel’s chief political anchor chronicles the life and times of Theodore Roosevelt.

–

Have a great Sunday!

Linda

–

New York Times Bestseller lists are shared via blog post on Sundays.

–

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.

–

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.

–

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).

–

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.

–

For more information on library materials and services, including how to get a library card call the library at 607-936-3713.

–

*The Southern Tier Library System includes the public libraries in Steuben, Chemung, Yates, Schuyler & Allegheny counties.

Suggested Reading Five: July 2, 2025

Linda Reimer

Hi everyone, here are our five suggested reads of the week!

–

1776 by David McCullough 

Bestselling historian and two-time Pulitzer winner McCullough follows up John Adams 

by staying with America’s founding, focusing on a year rather than an individual: a momentous 12 months in the fight for independence. How did a group of ragtag farmers defeat the world’s greatest empire? As McCullough vividly shows, they did it with a great deal of suffering, determination, ingenuity—and, the author notes, luck. 

Although brief by McCullough’s standards, this is a narrative tour de force, exhibiting all the hallmarks the author is known for: fascinating subject matter, expert research and detailed, graceful prose. Throughout, McCullough deftly captures both sides of the conflict. The British commander, Lord General Howe, perhaps not fully accepting that the rebellion could succeed, underestimated the Americans’ ingenuity. In turn, the outclassed Americans used the cover of night, surprise and an abiding hunger for victory to astonishing effect. Henry Knox, for example, trekked 300 miles each way over harsh winter terrain to bring 120,000 pounds of artillery from Fort Ticonderoga to Boston, enabling the Americans, in a stealthy nighttime advance, to seize Dorchester Heights, thus winning the whole city. 

Luck, McCullough writes, also played into the American cause—a vicious winter storm, for example, stalled a British counterattack at Boston, and twice Washington staged improbable, daring escapes when the war could have been lost. Similarly, McCullough says, the cruel northeaster in which Washington’s troops famously crossed the Delaware was both “a blessing and a curse.” McCullough keenly renders the harshness of the elements, the rampant disease and the constant supply shortfalls, from gunpowder to food, that affected morale on both sides—and it certainly didn’t help the British that it took six weeks to relay news to and from London. Simply put, this is history writing at its best from one of its top practitioners. – Starred Publishers Weekly Review  

– 

Deep Beneath Us by Catriona McPherson 

The murder of her cousin moves a Scottish woman to explore her past. 

When her husband divorced her, Tabitha Lawson lost not only her marriage but her job, since he anonymously told her employer about a schizophrenia diagnosis she hadn’t revealed to them. Her son chose to live with his father; Tabitha moved in with her mother, Zelda, whose dark paintings give her nightmares. So do the dark waters of the loch she’s lived nearby most of her life. Her cousin Davey Muir, a coder and collector, and his friend Gordo spend a lot of time with Barrett, a divorced gardener with two teen girls, picking up litter near the loch. It’s all very routine until Gordo reports a mysterious underwater explosion at the loch, which is set to be drained and turned into parkland. When Davey doesn’t answer his door, Tabitha gets the police to investigate just as Barrett and Gordo arrive to find Davey dead. Although he’s left what looks like a suicide note, his friends can’t believe he’d kill himself. Neither can Tabitha, who’s inherited everything he owned. When she, Barrett, and Gordo clean out his house, which is packed to the rafters with junk, they start uncovering long-hidden family secrets. Tabitha and her sister, Jocasta, and Davey and his brother, Johnny, all grew up together, children of a pair of brothers who both died by suicide. The marriage of Jo and Johnny puts even more pressure on the turbulent family dynamics. Tabitha, Davey’s friends, and their teenage children launch an investigation that will reveal that everything Tabitha thought she knew about her childhood is based on false memories. 

A tense, beautifully written page-turner with a truly unsettling denouement. – Kirkus Review 

– 

I’ll Be Right Here by Amy Bloom 

Bloom returns to fiction after her bestselling memoir In Love (which was a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist) with the decades-spanning story of four friends in New England who spin in and out of each other’s lives over the years. The novel opens during World War II, when young Gazala and her brother Samir—orphaned Algerian immigrants living in poverty in France—must do whatever it takes to survive. Forced to split up, they each make their way independently to New York City after the war and ultimately reunite. While in New York, Gazala meets a pair of sisters named Anne and Alma and forges a lifelong bond with them. Relationships are truly at the heart of this slim novel, and readers are rewarded with Bloom’s signature empathetic writing style as she explores the many ways that there are to love and care for other people. As the novel slips back and forth in time, narrated from the perspectives of each of the main characters, readers will find themselves continually surprised and moved by the choices they make, the secrets they keep, and how they show up for one another.

VERDICT Bloom’s (White Houses) insightful new novel is a quick and affecting read. Recommended for all collections. – Library Journal Review  

– 

Summer of the Big Bachi by Naomi Hirahara 

In chapter one of Hirahara’s seamless and shyly powerful first novel, a Japanese PI unsettles prickly, stubborn Mas Arai, Hiroshima survivor, widower and estranged father, and the other elderly Japanese-American gardeners who hang out at Wishbone Tanaka’s Lawnmower Shack in the seedy L.A. suburb of Altadena. The PI’s disturbing questions concern a nurseryman called Joji Haneda, reported dead in the atomic blast that leveled Hiroshima in August 1945, but who was actually still alive in California in June 1999. A month later, Haneda is brutally murdered. Mas must revisit his past and open old, still festering wounds in order to solve the crime, while the specter of bachi, akin to instant bad karma, hovers over him like the black clouds of his recurring nightmares. In his cherished 1956 Ford truck, unlikely sleuth Mas pursues a trail that leads him to an all-night noodle shop, an illegal gambling loft and a chow-mien bowling-alley/cafe. After his truck and dignity are stolen, Mas enlists the help of two lovingly rendered, all-too-human friends: Haruo Mukai, whose long white hair hides a false eye and shocking keloid scar, and Tug Yamada, a gentle, honorable giant willing to put his own life on the line for others. Peppered with pungent cultural details, crisp prose and credible, fresh descriptions of the effects of the A-bomb, this perfectly balanced gem deserves a wide readership. – Starred Publishers Weekly Review 

– 

This Fierce People: The Untold Story of America’s Revolutionary War in the South by Alan Pell Crawford 

So much of Revolutionary War history focuses on battles fought in the North: Lexington, Concord, Boston, Saratoga, New York, Valley Forge. But key to the Revolution’s ultimate success were the soldiers who kept British troops tied down in skirmishes in the southern colonies. Crawford (Twilight at Monticello, 2008) details how Generals Francis Marion and Thomas Sumter and their bands of partisans helped drive Cornwallis and his loyalists out of the Carolinas, which were key to British supply lines. Crawford details the often desperate efforts and guerrilla tactics of the ragtag troops against the usually superior numbers of the British. He devotes useful attention to the role of enslaved fighters, whom both the British and the Americans tried to woo with promises of future freedom. The “final” battle at Yorktown, Virginia, in 1781, as Crawford points out, did not itself bring an end to the struggle–but by then, Parliament had turned against the war. Crawford’s achievement is a valuable addition to Revolutionary War history that adds useful detail and perspective. 

–

Happy reading!

Linda Reimer, SSCL

–

Note: Book summaries are from the respective publishers unless otherwise specified.

–

Weekly Suggested Reading Five posts are published on Wednesdays.

–

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.

–

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.

–

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).

–

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.

–

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.

–

Tech & Book Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.

Suggested Reading Five: June 25, 2025

Linda Reimer

Hi everyone, here are our five suggested reads of the week!

–

Broken Fields by Marcie Rendon 

Cash Blackbear, a young Ojibwe woman and occasional sleuth, is back on the case after a man is found dead on a rural Minnesota farm in the next installment of the acclaimed Native crime series. 

Minnesota, 1970s: It’s spring in the Red River Valley and Cash Blackbear is doing fieldwork for a local farmer—until she finds him dead on the kitchen floor of the property’s rented farmhouse. The tenant, a Native field laborer, and his wife are nowhere to be found, but Cash discovers their young daughter, Shawnee, cowering under a bed. The girl, a possible witness to the killing, is too terrified to speak. 

In the wake of the murder, Cash can’t deny her intuitive abilities: she is suspicious of the farmer’s grieving widow, who offers to take in Shawnee temporarily. While Cash is scouring White Earth Reservation for Shawnee’s missing mother—whom Cash wants to find before the girl is put in the foster system—another body turns up. Concerned by the escalating threat, Cash races against the clock to figure out the truth of what happened in the farmhouse. 

Reader’s Note: Broken Fields is the fourth book in the Cash Blackbear mystery series. If you’d like to read the series from the beginning, check out book one: Murder on the Red River. 

– 

Don’t Let Him In: A Novel by Lisa Jewell 

Meet Nick Radcliffe: tall, handsome, successful–everything Nina needs, a year after her husband’s unexpected death. She’s been struggling, alongside her daughter Ash. But Nick has secrets, apparently. We learn this before Nina begins to suspect: the author gives the reader a broader perspective, letting us see Nick when he’s not with Nina . . . when he’s not the man he’s pretending to be. Meanwhile, a florist and mother is dealing with her own list of revelations about the man she married and thought she could trust. Jewell is on a hot streak, with one brilliant thriller after another: The Night She Disappeared (2021), The Family Remains (2022), None of this is True (2023), even her Marvel Crime novel Breaking the Dark (2024). Her fans will be lining up to read this new novel (libraries should stock multiple copies), but it’s also a perfect introduction for new readers to the author’s brand of storytelling. As tantalizingly labyrinthine as her stories are, it’s the way she anchors them in a recognizably real world, and populates them with abundantly human characters, that makes them so successful. In a genre full of top-flight authors, she ranks very near the absolute top.

HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Jewell has become a multi-time best-seller with her sensational thrillers. – Starred Booklist Review 

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The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong 

When elderly Grazina, of East Gladness, Connecticut, sees 19-year-old Hai poised to jump from a bridge into the rushing river below, she stops him, invites him in, and offers him a room in her nearly condemned house on the river’s bank. She needs a new nurse, after all. When their cash for frozen dinners runs low, Hai gets a job at the chicken chain HomeMarket through Sony, his Civil War-war obsessed cousin who sees their enthusiastic manager, BJ, as the finest general these young soldiers could ask for. Found family is the core of award-winning poet and novelist Vuong’s (On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, 2019) meaty second novel, especially the loving relationship between Hai, who’s caught in the grips of a pill addiction while his mom thinks he’s away at medical school, and Grazina, who increasingly needs Hai’s help to both stay above water in the present and also excavate the traumas she lived through in WWII-era Lithuania. Love grows, too, among the richly sketched HomeMarket crew, who rally around one another in word and deed. Also exploring themes of war and labor–their wretchedness, their dignity–Vuong’s epic-feeling novel is a determined portrait of community, caretaking, and characters who, if they only have each other, have quite a lot. – Starred Booklist Review 

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Picturing Black History: Photographs and Stories that Changed the World by Daniela Edmeier 

Picturing Black History uncovers untold stories and rarely seen images of the Black experience, providing new context around culturally significant moments. This beautiful collectible volume makes a thoughtful gift and is full of rousing, vibrant essays paired with rarely seen photographs that expand our understanding of Black history. 

The book is a collaborative effort between Getty Images, Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective, and the History departments at The Ohio State and Miami Universities. It informs, educates, and inspires our current moment by exploring the past, blending the breadth and depth of Getty Images’s archives with the renowned expertise of Origins contributors and The Ohio State’s and Miami’s History departments, including Daniela Edmeier, Damarius Johnson, Nicholas Breyfogle, and Steve Conn. 

Created by a growing collective of professional historians, art historians, Black Studies scholars, and photographers and showcasing Getty Images’s unmatched collection of photographs, Picturing Black History embraces the power of visual storytelling to relay little-known stories of oppression and resistance, perseverance and resilience, freedom, dreams, imagination, and joy within the United States and around the world. 

In collecting these new photographic essays, this book furthers an ongoing dialogue on the significance of Black history and Black life, sharing new perspectives on the current status of prejudice and discrimination bias with a wider audience. Picturing Black History uses the latest academic learning and scholarship to recontextualize and dispel prejudices, while uncovering, digitizing, and preserving new archival materials to amplify a more inclusive visual landscape. 

“Picturing Black History offers a trove of both famous and unseen photos with brief, poignant accompanying essays to show not only the centrality of Black people to American history but also how African Americans used the photographer’s lens to tell their own stories. The editors, authors, and Getty images have created a beautiful book that stands on its own as a work of art, a veritable museum in print.” —Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Alphonse Fletcher University Professor, Harvard University 

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Them Bones: A McKenzie Novel by David Housewright 

Cop-turned-millionaire Rushmore McKenzie isn’t exactly a private investigator. Sure, he takes on the occasional case for a friend, but he doesn’t have a license or, you know, any official standing as a PI. When he’s asked to track down a stolen dinosaur skull, how can he possibly refuse? Turns out this was no random heist–the people who took the very rare specimen knew exactly what they were doing, and they are determined to hold onto the skull, no matter what it takes. Rushmore isn’t what you’d call an action hero, but he’s no stranger to physical danger, either, and he’s never been known to shy away from a fight. Can he recover the stolen skull without risking his own life? The McKenzie series has been rolling along smoothly since 2004’s A Hard Ticket Home, and this, the 22nd installment, is just as well written, suspenseful, and satisfying as its predecessors. A sure-fire hit for Housewright’s fans. – Booklist Review 

Reader’s Note: As mentioned, Them Bones it the twenty-second mystery in the Rushmore McKenzie mystery series. If you like to binge read from the beginning, check out book one: A Hard Ticket Home.  

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Happy reading!

Linda Reimer, SSCL

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Note: Book summaries are from the respective publishers unless otherwise specified.

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Suggested Reading Five posts are published on Wednesdays.

–

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.

–

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).

–

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.

–

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.

–

Tech & Book Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.

Suggested Reading Five: June 18, 2025

Linda Reimer

Hi everyone, here are our five suggested reads of the week!

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King of Ashes by S. A. Cosby 

Roman Carruthers did it. He got out. He left the dying town of Jefferson Run, Virginia, and he built himself a prosperous life making money for other people. When he learns that his father is in a coma after a car accident, he flies home immediately to find a family in disarray: a sister who’s become obsessed with the long-ago disappearance of their mother, and a brother who’s deep in debt to some very bad people. Can Roman somehow find a way to bring peace to his family, even as his father lies dying? Cosby has published one magnificent crime novel after another, beginning with 2019’s My Darkest Prayer, and this new book spotlights the author’s gift for building complex characters. It also continues his exploration of the dark places humans keep hidden within us. His dialogue, too, is pitch-perfect: colloquial and idiomatic, reflecting the education and upbringing of his characters–it feels like we’re eavesdropping on real people. A stunning novel. 

HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Cosby’s rural southern noir mysteries have become consistent best-sellers, and this one comes out in time for beach read season. – Booklist Review 

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The Listeners by Maggie Stiefvater 

 It’s January 1942, and in the immediate aftermath of the Pearl Harbor attack, the regal Avallon Hotel in rural West Virginia has been requisitioned by the United States government as a detention center for diplomats from Axis countries. General manager June Hudson, who controls the hotel and the mysterious sweetwater that runs through the property, must convince her staff–men who are worried about being drafted into the war, and women with family members heading off to fight–to offer the same level of service to the detainees as they do to their regular guests. Complicating matters is the presence of the State Department and the FBI, especially mysterious agent Tucker Minnick, who has more of a connection to the region and the sweetwater than he initially lets on. June must be careful as she navigates her loyalties to the hotel and the realities of life during wartime.

VERDICT YA author Stiefvater’s (“The Raven Cycle”) first foray into historical fiction retains her unique voice and signature magical realism. Well-drawn characters and excellent worldbuilding bring a little-known element of World War II to life in this must-read for all historical fiction fans.-Starred Library Journal Review 

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Poet’s Square: A Memoir in Thirty Cats by Courtney Gustafson  

Sad Boy and Lola, Monkey, and Mr. Bigbutt are just a few of the feral cats featured on Gustafson’s social media pages, @poetsquarecats. Gustafson had no idea that after moving into her new home in Tucson’s Poets Square neighborhood, the 30 feral cats living on and around the property would change the trajectory of her life and career. After months of haphazardly tossing kibble at the wayward ferals and lamenting over how best to care for them on her meager nonprofit salary, Gustafson took some chances, learning about TNR (Trap-Neuter-Return) efforts and feral cat care just as the COVID-19 pandemic struck. In alternating story lines–one often connected to a specific cat and the other to Gustafson’s life experiences–she shares her battles with mental health, chronic illness, and quarter-life crisis. As she contemplates her life and internet virality, Gustafson grapples with perception by the online masses, the significant and empowering love of an animal, misogyny in rescue work, the financial strain of pet ownership, the ache of animal loss, and most importantly, how to develop a community. Her riveting and emotional vignettes are loaded with humanity and all the important lessons we can learn from little creatures just trying to survive. – Starred Booklist Review  

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Three Junes by Julia Glass 

A National Book Award Winner. 

This strong and memorable debut novel draws the reader deeply into the lives of several central characters during three separate Junes spanning ten years. At the story’s onset, Scotsman Paul McLeod, the father of three grown sons, is newly widowed and on a group tour of the Greek islands as he reminisces about how he met and married his deceased wife and created their family. Next, in the book’s longest section, we see the world through the eyes of Paul’s eldest son, Fenno, a gay man transplanted to New York City and owner of a small bookstore, who learns lessons about love and loss that allow him to grow in unexpected ways. And finally there is Fern, an artist and book designer whom Paul met on his trip to Greece several years earlier. She is now a young widow, pregnant and also living in New York City, who must make sense of her own past and present to be able to move forward in her life. In this novel, expectations and revelations collide in startling ways. Alternately joyful and sad, this exploration of modern relationships and the families people both inherit or create for themselves is highly recommended for all fiction collections. – Booklist Review 

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With a Vengeance: A Novel by Riley Sager  

Sager’s newest book, With a Vengeance, is also one of his very best. The setup is simple: in the mid-1950s, Anna Matheson invites a handful of people to take a cross-country journey, overnight from Philadelphia to Chicago, aboard a luxury train. Who is Anna? What is her relationship to these seemingly unconnected people? All will be revealed in the author’s good time: Sager demonstrates his gift for dispensing information a piece at a time by keeping the reader in a constant state of suspense. And, anyway, Anna’s plan–one enacting her own idea of justice–goes tragically wrong when one of the passengers is apparently murdered, and the killer begins picking off passengers, one by one. Back at the top of his game, Sager delivers a thriller so tautly written, so tightly constructed, that readers will emerge from the book breathless and in a mild state of shock. With this book, Sager has committed an act of brilliance. 

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Happy reading!

Linda Reimer, SSCL

–

Note: Book summaries are from the respective publishers unless otherwise specified.

–

Suggested Reading Five posts are published on Wednesdays.

–

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.

–

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.

–

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).

–

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.

–

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.

–

Tech & Book Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.

Suggested Reading Five: June 11, 2025

Linda Reimer

Hi everyone, here are our five suggested reads of the week!

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Dorothea Lange: Seeing People by Philip Brookman et al.

An expansive look at portraiture, identity, and inequality as seen in Dorothea Lange’s iconic photographs 

Dorothea Lange (1895–1965) aimed to make pictures that were, in her words, “important and useful.” Her decades-long investigation of how photography could articulate people’s core values and sense of self helped to expand our current understanding of portraiture and the meaning of documentary practice. 

Lange’s sensitive portraits showing the common humanity of often marginalized people were pivotal to public understanding of vast social problems in the twentieth century. Compassion guided Lange’s early portraits of Indigenous people in Arizona and New Mexico from the 1920s and 1930s, as well as her depictions of striking workers, migrant farmers, rural African Americans, Japanese Americans in internment camps, and the people she met while traveling in Europe, Asia, and Latin America. 

Drawing on new research, the authors look at Lange’s roots in studio portraiture and demonstrate how her influential and widely seen photographs addressed issues of identity as well as social, economic, and racial inequalities—topics that remain as relevant for our times as they were for hers. 

Published in association with the National Gallery of Art, Washington 

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Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suites by Jason Pargin (AKA David Wong) 

A young woman who believes her father dead enters a cyberpunk theme park where everyone is trying to kill her for a secret she doesn’t even know she has. All right, grab some popcorn and strap in. We’re in for another profane and funny roller-coaster ride from Wong (This Book is Full of Spiders, 2012, etc.)-better known as the playful pseudonym of Cracked’s Jason Pargin. Here the author strays from his previous horror adventures to craft a sci-fi comedy-thriller full of ray guns, sentient programs, and cybernetically enhanced psychotic killers. Our hero(ine) is Zoey Ashe, a self-identified “trailer troll” from rural Colorado whose single mother shills drinks in a zombie-themed bar. It doesn’t take long for Wong to offer lots of clues that this is the near future, one in which the chasm between the rich and the poor has reached cartoonish proportions. It turns out that Zoey’s father was Arthur Livingston, the founder of a utopian city geared toward criminals and the superrich called Tabula Ra$a, located out in the high desert. Arthur was blown up by a rival arms dealer, so his gang, the Suits of the title, are under instruction to fetch Zoey, who holds the key to retrieving his fortune, not to mention his violent revenge. “I want no part of this nonsense,” Zoey says. “This whole city is a butt that farts horror.” The enhanced bad guys are all broadcasting to the fictional “Blink” network, a kind of POV live stream that lends itself well to the insane supervillain monologues that pepper the book. Meanwhile, Zoey’s lack of enthusiasm is irksome to Will Blackwater, her escort. “You take risks; you get hurt,” he says. “And you put your head down and plow forward anyway and if you die, you die. That’s the game. But don’t tell me you’re not a hero.” Some of the sci-fi elements are comic book-y and the humor is as juvenile as ever, but the book more than makes up for any shortcomings with its Technicolor tomorrowland, mischievous humor, and frenetic action sequences. – Kikus Review 

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A Slant of Light by Kathryn Lasky 

Lasky’s latest Georgia O’Keeffe mystery (after Mortal Radiance, 2024) begins with a young Native American boy running through the desert. It soon becomes clear that he has escaped the boarding school of St. Ignatius, and when Georgia takes him in, she learns his sister was killed at the school, one of countless tragedies that has struck there. Meanwhile, Sheriff Ryan McCaffrey is investigating the death of a local bishop who was found hanging, but the medical examiner is sure it was murder. Georgia takes a job teaching at the school to find out if the two cases are connected. They are, and there are also connections to self-mortification devices, antisemitic priest Father Charles Coughlin, and a papal legate. Lasky once again combines real-life figures and events (O’Keeffe, Coughlin, and the abdication of King Edward VIII) into a compelling mystery that culminates in a terrifying showdown during a blizzard. Though A Slant of Light is best enjoyed as part of a series, fans of historical mysteries need not have read the first two to appreciate this one. – Booklist Review  

Reader’s Note: A Slant of Light is the third book in Georgia O’Keefe mystery series. If you’d like to start reading from the beginning of the series, check out book one: Light on Bone. 

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A Slash of Emerald by Patrice McDonough 

In 1867, Annie O’Neill, a London shopgirl, is on her way home from modeling for a woman artist–a gig she takes on to supplement her meager wages–when she is accosted by soldiers and then detained by the police as a probable prostitute. As required by the law, Inspector Richard Tennant calls in Dr. Julia Lewis for the exam. On her way home, Julia is on the scene of a skating disaster in Regents Park, treating, among others, Charles Allingham, a respected art publisher. When she calls at the Allingham mansion the next day, she meets Mary Allingham, an artist preparing for the upcoming women’s salon. Mary is distraught that her studio had been broken into, with a portrait slashed and painted over with a large green W. It’s not until Tennant calls on Julia to examine the body a woman who, like Annie, was a model, that the threads converge: this model is the subject of Mary’s painting. As Julia and Richard join forces to solve the murders, they uncover sordid links between the rarefied art world and the difficult life that poor women, especially single women and widows, face in the city. As with the first in the series (Murder by Lamplight, 2024), this book will appeal to Anne Perry fans, with both the exploration of societal ills and with the developing relationship between Julia and Richard. – Booklist Review  

Reader’s Note: A Slash of Emerald is the second book in the Dr. Julia Lewis Mystery Series. If you’d like to start reading at the beginning of the series, check out book one: Murder By Lamplight.

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Storybook Ending by Moira Macdonald 

DEBUT Westley, an unassumingly handsome bookstore employee, is at the center of Seattle Times art critic Macdonald’s debut novel about books and friendships, set in a Seattle bookshop and full of references to the hit 1993 movie Sleepless in Seattle. One of the shop’s customers is April, a work-from-home real estate promoter, who decides to attract Westley’s attention by leaving an anonymous note in a used book she is returning for store credit. Laura, a young widow with a seven-year-old daughter, is desperate for a copy of the same book for her first book club meeting and buys April’s copy before can Westley inspect it. What results is more notes left in specific shelved books, and both women thinking that it’s Westley who’s writing to them. A subplot involves a Hollywood director filming a low-budget movie at the bookstore, with Westley as a stand-in. The happily-ever-after in Macdonald’s novel is a new circle of relationships formed among the bookstore’s employees, its customers, and the movie crew. VERDICT Ideal for fans of thirtysomething second-chance love stories with appealing secondary characters.-Library Journal Review 

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Happy reading!

Linda Reimer, SSCL

–

Note: Book summaries are from the respective publishers unless otherwise specified.

–

Weekly Suggested Reading Five posts are published on Wednesdays.

–

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.

–

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.

–

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).

–

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.

–

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.

–

Tech & Book Talk is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.