AHML Staff Choices

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This Book is Overdue is a witty, fast-paced sneak peek into the thrill-a-minute whirlwind that is the public library…seriously. Marilyn Johnson makes librarians seem like a bunch of smart, sexy mavericks who are willing to do whatever it takes to get information to the public.

Johnson’s anecdotes are interspersed with fun historical tidbits and ideas about where libraries are headed in the future. Anyone who works in a library will find something to relate to in this book, but any reader can enjoy Marilyn Johnson’s writing.

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This is Griffin’s 5th installment in his Honor Bound Series.  Marine Aviator, Major Cletus Frade, is back and still working for the O.S.S. as a spy in Argentina. 

The Nazis have begun Operation Phoenix, an egotistical plot to move high-ranking Nazi officers and party members out of Germany and relocate them to Argentina, under phony names and passports, before the war is lost to the Allies.    They also are stockpiling massive amounts of gold and precious stones, colleted from prominent Jewish families paying ransom for loved ones being held prisoner in concentration camps throughout Europe.  Himmler has found another way to profit from the misfortunes mandated on occupied Jews. 

The plan is simple.  Families are contacted by the Nazis and given the option to either pay the blackmail price per relative for their freedom or never see or hear from that loved one again.  The monies collected are then smuggled into neutral Argentina in hopes to be used when the Reich rises again after its upcoming defeat. 

Cletus, whose father was in line to become the next President of Argentina before the Nazis assassinated him, inherited his father’s enormous wealth and loyal followers; most all former national soldiers.  His cover is that he is running an airline service using planes supplied by his buddy, Howard Hughes.  This was a plan conceived by President Roosevelt as a personal payback to Charles Lindbergh for once saying that Goering had the best air force in the world.

In this new chapter, Cletus and his pregnant wife, Dorotea, await the birth of their first child as a high-ranking Nazi SS Officer is personally dispatched to Buenos Aries by Hitler with the orders to destroy all the planes in Cletus’ fleet and kill him.  

Griffin is one of the leading authors of World War II historical fiction.  He is strongest when blending fictitious and famous characters into a suspenseful story that always leaves his readers wanting more.

Check the catalog for this item. Rosemary Mahoney provides travel writing at it’s finest by injecting her humor and perseverance on her trip down the nile. The author faces crocodiles, dangerous river currents and most of all the stongly held beliefs from the local men about the merits of a foreign woman.
This book highlights the cultural differences yet still enlightens the reader about the richness of Egyptian culture and history. I think if you liked “Desert Queen” you would enjoy this book.

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Ever wonder where the name Hood came from in Robin Hood lore?  This book has a different twist than most.  It doesn’t claim reference to Sherwood Forest roots or slang words for criminal.   Written by a proclaimed expert on Robin Hood history, this story digs deep into the relationship between father and son and king and country.

Over the last 800 years that this tale has been passed on by word-of-mouth and in written prose,  character names change (not to protect the innocent) and plot-lines differ.  For example, in this version, Marian is a recent widow.  Her husband, the assassinate of Patrick of Locksley, Robin’s father.   Templar friar, Tuck, along with Will Scarlet, are Crusaders who have fought side-by-side with Robin.

Some things never change.  Sir Guy still suffers from a bad self-image and bad press; who’s responsible for the death of Robin’s father. 

John of Sherwood is still not little.

Like most graphic novels, the coloring is dark and ominous.  I don’t think pastels are ever a first choice on the color pallet of GN artists.

In some versions Robin saves the day and dies in the end.  In others, Robin saves the day and lives on to serve his King and weds the fair maiden.  The ending is never the prize or payoff for the reader.  It is the fascinating adventure and the soul-searching struggle of evil vs. good.  Goliath vs. David. Only this Davey’s in green tights.

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Steven Lamb is an unhappy 13 year old living on the moors in England. He is bullied at school and ignored at home. His Grandmother is obsessed with her son who was killed by a serial killer 18 years ago. However, his body was never found

Steven hopes that if he can find the body it can bring peace to his Grandmother. He also hopes that his Mother, who keenly feels the loss of her brother and the affection of her Mother since that day, will come to love Steven.

So Steven begins to dig on the moor for the body of his Uncle. Some of the bodies of the children were found there and Steven is convinced his Uncle will also be found there.

When Steven gets discouraged he writes to the serial killer for help in locating the body. The serial killer is thrilled to get the letter from the boy and begins a very cryptic correspondence. When things don’t go as well as planned for the serial killer, he plans his escape to meet the unsuspecting 13 year old.

This is a wonderful character study of a boy looking for love from his family amidst all of the sadness.

Check the catalog for this item. The story of the Thusday Night Drinking Club, four early thirties friends who meet once a week to discuss their lives. Thers is Alex the bartender,Jenn, Mitch and Ian, one night while playing one of their “What would you do with 50,000 dollars game Alex suggests they rob his boss Johnny Love. They think he’s kidding but after a couple of days they convince themselves that it would be easy and they plot their job. The fun starts when they pull the heist but a major snafu leads to murder and more. This is fast well written crime story with good characters and a great Chicago setting.

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This is the second book in the Frank Coffin mystery series by Loomis.  The story takes place in Provincetown or P’town as the locals refer to it.   Frank was a former homicide detective who saw one to many murders and decided to leave Baltimore and move to a city that whose crime rate was limited to most burglaries and indecent exposures.

In a town where it appears that everyone has some sort of strange sexual preference, Frank has professionally partnered-up with the beautiful lesbian police Sergeant, Lola Winters, and personally with yoga instructor, Jaime, who still longs to become pregnant and is ovulating throughout most of the novel. 

This story is pregnant with colorful characters.  A popular single, rich woman who is the town tramp is murdered and Frank must again investigate a brutal crime scene.  This tale gets twisted when it’s discovered that the victim videotaped her dominated, sexual conquests, causing the list of suspects to sweep far and wide.

It is refreshing to read a new mystery series where the hero is not some Bruce-Willis-clone, punching his way through life and always quick on the trigger.  Frank Coffin is out of shape, in his forties, and drives a beater because he still pays alimony and also nursing care for his mother (who doesn’t even know his name).   He is an average Joe with good days and bad days.  Good news and bad news.

The bad news is he his smoking again.  The good news is that his sperm count is up!

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I’m glad I finally came across a mystery series that satisfies my tastes. Set in Cairo during WWI, A Point in the Market is as much about the political climate of the time as it is about the murder around which the plot revolves. The author grew up in the region and it shows in his complex discriptions of the sensory environment. You are right there with the sights and smells Egypt. Something that particularly impressed me was Pearce’s female characters. They are very strong, intelligent and individualistic. The women have very different goals and personalities, given as much care in development as the male characters. The story is well told and has many twists I didn’t see coming, but it is not a fast-paced book. This is a fantastic mystery for a reader who enjoys a who-dunnit without excess violence and quite a bit of exotic intrigue.

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This book is the product of a great deal of in-depth research.  Beevor is a best selling historic author and this latest work proves it. 

There are not that many remaining survivors of World War II.  Time has caught up to many.  This book is a tribute to all those military and civilian survivors and casualties.  Being somewhat of a student of this war, I found this book to be quite comprehensive from the point that all the major nations involved were researched.  It is not just an American or British point of view.

This is important when one remembers that the battle for Normandy was fought on French turf and that occupied nation had the most to lose. 

Hopefully there will never be another battle such as this one; with so many men being sacrificed with the goal of establishing a firm beachhead.  Tension was at it’s height in the months leading to June 6, 1944. Logistical problems surrounding the invasion were monumental.    Surprising the Germans was foremost.  This book  evokes a great many emotions.

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This book will make you think twice about opening any e-mail attachment! At the heart of this intriguing novel is identity theft and the seemingly unrelated lives of three people that unwittingly become involved in it. Miles Cheshire longs to get on with his life, but feels he can never fully accomplish this until he finds his twin brother Hayden, the “evil” twin. Hayden, who has been missing for ten years, does not want to be found. He has covertly moved from place to place, deftly covering his tracks along the way, and taking on new identities and new lives as he goes.

Recent high school graduate and newly orphaned, Lucy Lattimore escapes her small hometown with her charming former history teacher George Orson. They arrive in Nebraska, in the middle of nowhere, at a long-deserted motel next to a dried-up reservoir, to figure out the next move on their path to a new life. But Lucy soon finds herself involved in a dangerous embezzling scheme.

My whole life is a lie, thinks Ryan Schuyler, who has recently learned the man he thought was his uncle Jay is actually his birth father. In response, he walks off the Northwestern University campus, hops on a bus, and breaks loose from his meaningless existence. Presumed dead, Ryan decides to hook up with the man he thinks is his father and ends up helping him run identity-theft scams.

The author deftly intertwines these story lines until you start to pick up on subtle connections between the three characters, the shedding of the identities they once had and the surreal identities and existences they take on. The real villain of the book is pursued by dangerous Russians who he has stolen credit card numbers and large sums of money from, and another very angry individual who did three years in jail for being wrongfully accused of embezzling money from his employer. By the end of the book, the reader is not sure who is real and who is fake because what you assumed was a sequential timeline becomes very blurred. Chaon has the gift of giving his novel a thriller quality with haunting undertones that leaves his characters ghost-like.