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Take a look at some of the latest materials to hit our shelves!
Adult Fiction
The Book of the Dead
by Patricia Cornwell
Bestseller Cornwell's 15th novel to feature Dr. Kay Scarpetta (after 2005's
Predator) delivers her trademark grisly crime scenes, but lacks the coherence
and emotional resonance of earlier books. Soon after relocating to Charleston,
S.C., to launch a private forensics lab, Scarpetta is asked to consult on the
murder of U.S. tennis star Drew Martin, whose mutilated body was found in Rome.
Contradictory evidence leaves Scarpetta, the Italian carabinieri and
Scarpetta's lover, forensic psychologist Benton Wesley, stumped. But when she
discovers unsettling connections between Martin's murder, the body of an
unidentified South Carolina boy and her old nemesis, the maniacal psychiatrist
Dr. Marilyn Self, Scarpetta encounters a killer as deadly as any she's ever
faced. With her recent switch from first- to third-person narration, Cornwell
loses what once made her series so compelling: a window into the mind of a
strong, intelligent woman holding her own in a profession dominated by men.
Here, the abrupt shifts in point of view slow the momentum, and the reader
flounders in excessive forensic minutiae.
Now and Then
by Robert B. Parker
From Booklist:
Starred Review. In his Spenser novels, when he's writing at the top of his
game (which he is here), Parker is like a brilliant musician. From the opening
chordswhich, in just about every Spenser novel, comprise the staging of the
first meeting between private-eye Spenser and a troubled clientyou know you're
listening to someone who has absolute command of his work. And it just gets
better, as Parker builds his theme, with variations both comic and thrilling.
This time out, in the thirty-fifth addition to the series, the troubled client
is a husband who feels his wife has been behaving bizarrely. Spenser thinks
she's probably having an affair, and through the magic of a planted listening
device, he presents the worried husband with the damning evidence. The device
has also picked up that the wife's lover is involved in a group called Last
Hope, which turns out to be a kind of brokerage outlet for terrorists looking
for equipment and other terrorists. The case has moved from the kind of
private-eye work that Spenser finds sleazy to one with horrific ramifications.
The story itself makes compelling reading on its own, but Parker, as usual,
spikes it with caustic wit and the interplay between Spenser and his longtime
love, Susan. And here he ups the ante by calling on Spenser to use all his
brain and brawn to protect Susan. Terrific.
Stone Cold
by David Baldacci
From Publishers Weekly:
Starred Review. The modern-day paladins of the Camel Club are back in their
third exciting adventure (after 2006's The Collectors). Justice-seekers Milton,
Caleb, Reuben and honorary member Alex Ford, a Secret Service agent, are led by
feisty Oliver Stone, aka former CIA assassin John Carr. Their associate,
Annabelle Conroy, is a slick con artist on the run after stealing $40 million
from lunatic casino owner Jerry Bagger, who killed her mother. Oliver's CIA
past distracts him from Annabelle's cause: his old unit, Triple 6, was
responsible for the death of Raymond Solomon, branded a traitor during the Cold
War, and now Solomon's son, DHS security expert Harry Finn, is picking off
Triple 6 members. Oliver could be next if Carter Gray, his former boss, reveals
that John Carr isn't really dead. Gripping, chilling and full of surprises,
Baldacci's latest reveals the anarchy that lurks under the slick facade of
corrupted governments.
Adult Nonfiction
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The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court
by Jeffrey Tobin
From Publishers Weekly.
It's not laws or constitutional theory that rule the High Court, argues this
absorbing group profile, but quirky men and women guided by political
intuition. New Yorker legal writer Toobin (The Run of His Life: The People v.
O.J. Simpson) surveys the Court from the Reagan administration onward, as the
justices wrestled with abortion, affirmative action, the death penalty, gay
rights and church-state separation. Despite a Court dominated by Republican
appointees, Toobin paints not a conservative revolution but a period of
intractable moderation. The real power, he argues, belonged to supreme
swing-voter Sandra Day O'Connor, who decided important cases with what Toobin
sees as an almost primal attunement to a middle-of-the-road public consensus.
By contrast, he contends, conservative justices Rehnquist and Scalia ended up
bitter old men, their rigorous constitutional doctrines made irrelevant by the
moderates' compromises. The author deftly distills the issues and enlivens his
narrative of the Court's internal wranglings with sharp thumbnail sketches
(Anthony Kennedy the vain bloviator, David Souter the Thoreauvian ascetic) and
editorials (inept and unsavory is his verdict on the Court's intervention in
the 2000 election). His savvy account puts the supposedly cloistered Court
right in the thick of American life.
Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld
It has become common knowledge that childhood obesity rates are increasing
every year. But the rates continue to rise. And between busy work schedules and
the inconvenient truth that kids simply refuse to eat vegetables and other
healthy foods, how can average parents ensure their kids are getting the proper
nutrition and avoiding bad eating habits?
As a mother of three, Jessica Seinfeld can speak for all parents who struggle
to feed their kids right and deal nightly with dinnertime fiascos. As she wages
a personal war against sugars, packaged foods, and other nutritional saboteurs,
she offers appetizing alternatives for parents who find themselves succumbing
to the fastest and easiest (and least healthy) choices available to them. Her
modus operandi? Her book is filled with traditional recipes that kids love,
except they're stealthily packed with veggies hidden in them so kids don't even
know! With the help of a nutritionist and a professional chef, Seinfeld has
developed a month's worth of meals for kids of all ages that includes, for
example, pureed cauliflower in mac and cheese, and kale in spaghetti and
meatballs. She also provides revealing and humorous personal anecdotes,
tearout shopping guides to help parents zoom through the supermarket, and tips
on how to deal with the kid that "must have" the latest sugar bomb cereal.
But this book also contains much more than recipes and tips. By solving
problems on a practical level for parents, Seinfeld addresses the big picture
issues that surround childhood obesity and its longterm (and ruinous) effects
on the body. With the help of a prominent nutritionist, her book provides
parents with an arsenal of information related to kids' nutrition so parents
understand why it's important to throw in a little avocado puree into their
quesadillas. She discusses the critical importance of portion size, and the
specific elements kids simply must have (as opposed to adults) in order to
flourish now and in the future: protein, calcium, vitamins, and Omega 3 and 6
fats.
Jessica Seinfeld's book is practical, easytoread, and a godsend for any
parent that wants their kids to be healthy for a long time to come.
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