What's New at the Caestecker Public Library

The Bancroft Strategy by Robert Ludlum

When Todd Belknap—a legendary field agent for Consular Operations with a reputation as something of a cowboy— is cut loose from the agency after an operation goes wrong, his best friend and fellow agent is abducted in Lebanon by a militia group with a vicious reputation. When the government refuses to either rescue him or negotiate for his release, Belknap decides to take matters into his own hands.

The Collectors by David Baldacci

Camel Club series #2
The assassination of a Supreme Court justice sets the members of the Camel Club in a race to prevent a silent yet bloody coup in Washington.

Echo Park by Michael Connelly

In 1995 Marie Gesto disappeared after walking out of a supermarket. Harry Bosch worked the case but couldn't crack it, and the 22-year-old woman was never found. Now Bosch is in the Open-Unsolved Unit, where he still keeps the Gesto file on his desk, when the DA calls. A man accused of two heinous killings is willing to come clean about several others, including the murder of Marie Gesto.

The Hounds and the Fury by Rita Mae Brown

Sister Jane series #5

Hundred Dollar Baby by Robert B. Parker

A client from a decades-old case reaches out to Boston PI Spenser-but can he rescue troubled April Kyle once more?

Short Straw by Stuart Woods

Santa Fe lawyer Ed Eagle wakes up one morning with a terrible hangover and a missing wife. After a few phone calls, it turns out that not only has his wife, Barbara, disappeared, she's in the process of taking $5 million of his money with her.

Stripped by Brian Freeman

They looked like isolated cases: a hit-and-run and a celebrity murdered during a fling with a prostitute. No one could ever imagine they'd be linked to a brutal crime in Las Vegas's steamy past--and that the race against the clock to corner a determined serial killer would stir up secrets long thought buried with the dead. As detectives Jonathan Stride and Serena Dial are called separately to investigate, they have no idea what they're stepping into: a world where desperate ambition rules and loyalties know no bounds, and where their own uncharted emotions and sexual desires will reach an explosive conclusion.

What Came Before He Shot Her by Elizabeth George

The brutal, inexplicable death of Inspector Thomas Lynley's wife has left Scotland Yard searching for answers. Who is the twelve-year-old boy who pulled the trigger? What were the circumstances that led to his horrific act? That story begins on the other side of London, where the three mixed-race Campbell children are sent to live with their aunt. The oldest, fifteen-year-old Ness, is headed for trouble as fast as her high-heeled boots will take her. That leaves the middle child, Joel, to care for the youngest, Toby. But before long, Joel has his own problems with a local gang. To protect his family, he makes a pact with the devil- a move that leads straight to the front doorstep of Thomas Lynley.

Posted by Linda Denell at 6:44 PM | Permalink

Norah's Ark by Judy Baer

Hi, my name is Bentley.
I'm a mutt with a dash of pit bull in the soup, and I have issues. I'm not likely to win any beauty pageants, and I'm afraid of cats. But my human, Norah Kent, thinks I'm the greatest despite all my shortcomings.
The problem is Norah won't go out with anyone who doesn't like me. Norah says she's perfectly happy being single, and that in God's time she'll marry Mr. Right. But I think God's time may be right now, and Mr. Right may be Officer Nick Haley -- the one guy who's afraid of a kitten-fearing basket case of a dog like me! I'll do just about anything to bring Norah and Nick together, even if I have to go . . . gulp . . . woof!

Not Easily Broken by TD Jakes

After years of disagreeing on what true happiness, success, and love really are, Dave and Clarice Johnson have finally reached a breaking point in their marriage. When Clarice is hurt in a car accident, the obvious truth that more than just her injuries need immediate attention is exposed. Their odds of making it worsen as Clarice begins to see a physical therapist, and Dave develops a friendship with her and her teenage son. The acceptance and comfort he finds in them stirs his longing for a family and a passionate partner. As temptation tugs at Dave and Clarice pulls farther away, they must confront whether their vows are or are NOT EASILY BROKEN.

One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson

Two years after the events of Case Histories left him a retired millionaire, former detective Jackson Brodie has followed Julia, his occasional girlfriend and former client, to Edinburgh for its famous summer arts festival. But when he watches a man brutally attacked in a traffic jam--the apparent victim of an extreme case of road rage--a chain of events is set in motion that will pull the wife of an unscrupulous real estate tycoon, a timid but successful crime novelist, and a hardheaded female police detective into Jackson's orbit. Suddenly out of retirement, Brodie is once again in the midst of several mysteries that intersect in one giant and sinister scheme.

Posted by Linda Denell at 6:26 PM | Permalink

Dance of the Gods by Nora Roberts

Circle Trilogy #2

With one vampire determined to rule the earth, the Circle of Six prepares to battle for their lives-and their hearts.

I Shouldn't Even Be Doing This! And other things that strike me as funny by Bob Newhart

The first book ever from an icon of American comedy -- a hilarious combination of stories from his career and observations about life.

Posted by Linda Denell at 6:16 PM | Permalink

Awake in the Dark: Forty years of reviews, essays, and interviews by Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert has been writing film reviews for the Chicago Sun-Times for nearly forty years. And during those four decades, his wide knowledge, keen judgment, prodigious energy, and sharp sense of humor have made him America's most celebrated film critic. If Pauline Kael and Andrew Sarris were godmother and godfather to the movie generation, then Ebert is its voice from within--a writer whose exceptional intelligence and daily bursts of insight and enthusiasm have shaped the way we think about the movies.

Blood and Thunder: An epic of the American West by Hampton Sides

Hampton Sides's extraordinary book brings the history of the American conquest of the West to ringing life. It is a tale with many heroes and villains, but as is found in the best history, the same person might be both. At the center of it all stands the remarkable figure of Kit Carson-the legendary trapper, scout, and soldier who embodies all the contradictions and ambiguities of the American experience in the West. Brave and clever, beloved by his contemporaries, Carson was an illiterate mountain man who twice married Indian women and understood andrespected the tribes better than any other American alive. Yet he was also a cold-blooded killer who willingly followed orders tantamount to massacre. Carson's almost unimaginable exploits made him a household name when they were written up in pulp novels known as "blood-and-thunders," but now that name is a bitter curse for contemporary Navajo, who cannot forget his role in the travails of their ancestors.

Dog Heroes of September 11th: A tribute to America's search and rescue dogs by Nona Kilgore Bauer

Profiles of 77 dogs and their handlers who worked through the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, DC.

Love adn Louis XIV: The women in the life of the Sun King by Antonia Fraser

The self-proclaimed Sun King, Louis XIV ruled over the most glorious and extravagant court in seventeenth-century Europe. Now, Antonia Fraser goes behind the well-known tales of Louis's accomplishments and follies, exploring in riveting detail his intimate relationships with women. Her focus is on the private life rather than the power and political achievement of that larger-than-life sovereign, Louis XIV of France. Beginning with his relationship with his mother, Anne of Austria, Fraser argues that the happiest moments of Louis's life were associated with women.

Mandela: A critical life by Tom Lodge

Striking in appearance--six foot four and physically imposing--with an aristocratic bearing and incredible charm and self-assurance, Nelson Mandela is the greatest African leader in modern history, the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, and an iconic figure the world over. Tom Lodge draws on a wide range of original sources to uncover a host of fresh insights about the shaping of Mandela's personality and public persona, from his childhood days and early activism, through his twenty-seven years of imprisonment, to his presidency of the new South Africa.

The Tree: A natural history of what trees are, how they live, and why they matter by Colin Tudge

In an elegant tribute to denizens of nature that humans too often take for granted, British biologist Tudge presents a wealth of intriguing facts about trees. Basing his information on science and writing "in a spirit of reverence," he explains how biologists identify the different kinds of trees; how trees have evolved over millions of years; how they adapt to their habitats, survive and reproduce.

Posted by Linda Denell at 6:11 PM | Permalink