Month: June 2015

The Edgar® Award for Best Mystery Novel of 2014

- Katie Leave a comment

130_eapoeThe Edgar® Awards, or Edgars® are named for Edgar Alan Poe, the American author credited with the invention of the modern detective story. They are awarded in the spring of each year by the Mystery Writers of America to honor distinguished works in the genre. The Davenport Public Library is pleased to present the winner and nominees in the Best Novel category:

 WINNER

bn3mrmercedes

 

In Stephen King’s Mr. Mercedes, unhappily retired cop Bill Hodges is spurred to action when the perpetrator of a devastating crime in his depressed Midwestern city threatens to strike again on a larger scale. The previous year, a crazed driver had run a stolen Mercedes into a line of unemployed people waiting for a job fair, killing eight and wounding several. Hodges, in a race against time and with the help of some unusual local characters, will not let the devious Mercedes Killer escape again!

 

 NOMINEES

thisdarkroadThis Dark Road to Mercy by Wiley Cash follows Wade, an ex-minor league baseball player on the run with his two young daughters (taken from their foster home in Gastonia, NC). He is pursued simultaneously by a vengeful former criminal associate and ex-cop Brady Weller who uncovers more nefarious doings in Wade’s past.

 

wolf“HELP US,” a note attached to the collar of a dog found wandering in the woods sends Detective Inspector Jack Caffery back to work in Wolf, Mo Hayder’s fifth Somerset crime novel. Will Caffery find the family held hostage in their country home before it is too late? Will the mysterious Walking Man help him discover the truth about his missing brother?

 

finalsilenceIn Stuart Neville’s The Final Silence, Rea Carlisle enlists the help of former Belfast DI Jack Lennon in uncovering her uncle’s disturbing activities during the Troubles. Her efforts are blocked by her father, a successful politician determined to keep the family’s grisly secrets under wraps. Now the subject of a murder investigation himself, Lennon smells a conspiracy.

 

saintsofshadowDetective Inspector John Rebus returns to the Edinburgh police force in Saints of the Shadow Bible, Ian Rankin’s nineteenth series installment. Paired once again with internal affairs officer Malcolm Fox, Rebus links 30-year-old murder case with a current car accident investigation to reveal a complex web of public and private corruption.

 

coptownIn Karin Slaughter’s stand-alone crime novel, Cop Town, two women detectives from very different backgrounds team up to stop a serial shooter from terrorizing the police force in 1970s Atlanta.

 

The Real Thing: Lessons on Love and Life From a Wedding Reporter’s Notebook by Ellen McCarthy

- Stephanie Leave a comment

the real thingEllen McCarthy has written a charming set of lessons about living and enjoying love in her book, The Real Thing: Lessons on Love and Life From a Wedding Reporter’s Notebook. What intrigued me the most about this book was that McCarthy was a skeptic about the whole wedding business and love when she first began reporting about weddings and even after she married. She sometimes is still skeptical, but feels that working as a wedding reporter has allowed her to find a set of resources, whether those resources are married couples, the notes she’s scribbled down, or the books she has read, that she can utilize to keep her marriage strong and alive. This book serves as a collection of the lessons she believes everyone should be aware of regarding love and life.

McCarthy writes throughout this book that she took her job as a wedding reporter because she wanted to write about people. Sure, she would love to have a Saturday night off to go and hangout with her friends, but once she is sitting and waiting for the ceremony begin, she is immediately thrown into a new beautiful love story and the beginning of a new life together. McCarthy tackles the questions of “How do you know this person is the one?”, “Should we live together before marriage?”, and even “Should I call the wedding off?” McCarthy admits to being far from a marriage and love expert and that is why she augments her written beliefs within this book with multiple interviews from experts, as well as interviews and snapshots into the weddings and lives of the people she has interviewed for her job.

McCarthy has gathered together a multitude of information about how people go about finding love and the life they want. This book is eye-opening for people in all stages of relationships, from single to happily married for years to divorced, and provides help for those who may need a little push to understand the life they are living now.