Back to School

Go back to school with these fiction books. Megan Abbott Dare Me Request this item Jerry S. Eicher Miriam and the Stranger Request this item Laurie Gelman Class Mom Request this item If you want any more suggestions or ideas, please call or come in the library today!

Fire in the Sky

Fire in the Sky: Cosmic Collisions, Killer Asteroids, and the Race to Defend Earth by Gordon L. Dillow

Summary: Combining history, pop science, and in-depth reporting, a fascinating account of asteroids that hit Earth long ago, and those streaming toward us now, as well as how we are preparing against asteroid-caused catastrophe.

One of these days, warns Gordon Dillow, the Earth will be hit by a comet or asteroid of potentially catastrophic size. The only question is when. In the meantime, we need to get much better at finding objects hurtling our way, and if they're large enough to penetrate the atmosphere without burning up, figure out what to do about them.

We owe many of science's most important discoveries to the famed Meteor Crater, a mile-wide dimple on the Colorado Plateau created by an asteroid hit 50,000 years ago. In his masterfully researched Fire in the Sky, Dillow unpacks what the Crater has to tell us. Prior to the early 1900s, the world believed that all craters--on the Earth and Moon--were formed by volcanic activity. Not so. The revelation that Meteor Crater and others like it were formed by impacts with space objects has led to a now accepted theory about what killed off the dinosaurs, and it has opened up a new field of asteroid observation, which has recently brimmed with urgency. Dillow looks at great asteroid hits of the past and spends time with modern-day asteroid hunters and defense planning experts, including America's first Planetary Defense Officer.

Satellite sensors confirm that a Hiroshima-scale blast occurs in the atmosphere every year, and a smaller, one-kiloton blast every month. While Dillow makes clear that the objects above can be deadly, he consistently inspires awe with his descriptions of their size, makeup, and origins. At once a riveting work of popular science and a warning to not take for granted the space objects hurtling overhead, Fire in the Sky is, above all, a testament to our universe's celestial wonders.

Angie’s comments: This is fun and entertaining read, and not to mention, it is informative. The writing style is casual and full of jokes. Author Dillow is not alarmist, but he is warning about what has happened and will eventually happen. I am not usually interested in space, but this book kept my attention. 

Recommended for readers of pop science books and those interested in space.

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The Sentence is Death

The Sentence is Death by Anthony Horowitz

Summary: Death, deception, and a detective with quite a lot to hide stalk the pages of Anthony Horowitz's brilliant murder mystery, the second in the bestselling series starring Private Investigator Daniel Hawthorne.

New York Times-bestselling author Anthony Horowitz and eccentric detective Daniel Hawthorne team up again in a new mystery, the sequel to the brilliantly inventive The Word Is Murder, to delve deep into the killing of a high-profile divorce lawyer and the death, only a day earlier, of his one-time friend.

"You shouldn't be here. It's too late . . . "

These, heard over the phone, were the last recorded words of successful celebrity-divorce lawyer Richard Pryce, found bludgeoned to death in his bachelor pad with a bottle of wine--a 1982 Chateau Lafite worth £3,000, to be precise.

Odd, considering he didn't drink. Why this bottle? And why those words? And why was a three-digit number painted on the wall by the killer? And, most importantly, which of the man's many, many enemies did the deed?

Baffled, the police are forced to bring in Private Investigator Daniel Hawthorne and his sidekick, the author Anthony, who's really getting rather good at this murder investigation business.

But as Hawthorne takes on the case with characteristic relish, it becomes clear that he, too, has secrets to hide. As our reluctant narrator becomes ever more embroiled in the case, he realizes that these secrets must be exposed--even at the risk of death . . .

Angie’s comments: I recommend reading the first in the series The Word is Murder before reading this one. It is a fun combination of fiction and real life, with the author as a character. The mystery is fun too, and although long, the book doesn't feel long when you read.

Recommended for readers of mysteries. 

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Murder Once Removed

Murder Once Removed by S. C. Perkins

Summary: According to her friends, Lucy Lancaster, Austin, Texas genealogist, has never been drunk. Tipsy, sure, but drunk? No way. So when she arrives back at her office from a three-martini lunch a few sheets to the wind, it's a notable occasion. Even more momentous is what her client, Austin billionaire Gus Halloran, has announced on live television with a blotto Lucy standing at his side: Texas senator Caleb Applewhite might be responsible for the murder of Seth Halloran. 

Of course, Lucy is a genealogist, so the murder in question took place back in 1849. And it's possible that another nineteenth-century Texas politician may, in fact, have wielded the death blow. Lucy is determined to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt who the guilty man is, but when her curiosity lands her at the scene of another murder--this time, in the present-day--she realizes that the branches of some family trees shouldn't be shaken. 

Angie’s comments: Another entertaining cozy mystery. Fortunately, you don't have to be a genealogist to enjoy this. The characters are modern, and I will be interested to see how the possible romance and detecting partnership proceeds with Lucy and the other character. The plot moves at a clip, which made this one hard to put down.

Recommended for cozy mystery readers. 

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Murder at Morrington Hall

Murder at Morrington Hall by Clara McKenna

Summary: Stella Kendrick is an all-American heiress who can’t be tamed. But when the lively aspiring equine trainer tangles with British aristocracy, she meets her match—and a murderer . . .

Spring, 1905:  Free-spirited like the Thoroughbreds she rides across the Kentucky countryside, Stella takes adventure by the reins when she’s asked to attend a mysterious wedding in rural England. But once she arrives at the lush Morrington Hall estate, her cold and ambitious father confesses that he won’t only give away his best racehorses as gifts—he has also arranged to give away his daughter as bride to the Earl of Atherly’s financially strapped son.

Stella refuses to be sold off like a prized pony. Yet despite a rough start, there’s something intriguing about her groom-to-be, the roguish Viscount “Lyndy” Lyndhurst. The unlikely pair could actually be on the right track with each other...until they find the vicar who was to marry them dead in the library. 

With culture clashes mounting between families, a scandalous murder case hangs over Morrington Hall. Now, Stella and Lyndy must go from future spouses to amateur sleuths as they team up to search for the truth—and prevent an unbridled criminal from destroying their new life together right out of the gate.

Angie’s comments: A cozy mystery, with just enough hint of the Edwardian period. Stella is very likeable, as are the horses, and with hints of romance and a plot of mystery, this was a fun read. 

Recommended for readers of historical cozy mysteries. 

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