These books are available from the Popular Reading Collection located next to the library circulation desk.  Any titles currently checked out can be placed on hold.  See a staff member at the circulation desk for assistance.
 

Hugger Mugger, by Robert B. Parker

Robert B. Parker.  Long may he live!  And, write!  He just gets better and better.  With Hugger Mugger, Parker returns to his Spenser character--the Boston private eye.  Spenser is hired by Walter Clive, a wealthy Georgia horse breeder, to find out who is trying to harm Hugger Mugger, his star horse with the potential to be the next Secretariat.  Several of Clive's horses have been either killed or injured and Clive is worried that Hugger Mugger will be next.  Spenser agrees to take the case and he travels to Clive's Three Fillies Stables in Georgia.  The stables are named for Clive's three daughters--each a Tennessee Williams character.  Soon after Spenser begins his investigation Clive is murdered--supposedly while protecting Hugger Mugger. Spenser now has a murder to look into and he may be next.  Along the way, Parker has great fun ribbing the South and its people but we'll survive--and continue to enjoy his wonderful books.
 

The Phantom of Manhattan, by Frederick Forsyth

 This book is a departure for Mr. Forsyth.  He is mostly known for action novels such as The Day of the Jackal. With his latest book  he has elected to write a sequel to The Phantom of the Opera.  He begins by giving the reader the background of the novel, its author, and its history of being filmed.  Over the years the story has been adapted and changed--most notably by Andrew Lloyd Webber--and Forsyth's sequel picks up where the musical ends.  What happens to the characters after the last curtain call?  As you can tell from the title, the Phantom ends up in Manhattan.  His story is told by a cast of characters that become involved with him and his plan to lure Christine to Manhattan to once again be with him.  This is rather a trifle of a book--it can easily be read in one sitting--but it was a fairly interesting diversion on a rainy afternoon.
 

Standoff, by Sandra Brown

My Dad recommended Sandra Brown to me and I've read and enjoyed a half dozen of her books so far.  Her latest is somewhat different in that all the action takes place in a single day and mostly at a single location.  Texas TV reporter Tiel McCoy is just starting a long-overdue vacation when she hears on the radio that Sabra Dendy, the teenage daughter of a well known Fort Worth millionaire, has been kidnapped.  She decides to abandon her vacation plans and go after the story.  By a twist of fate, when she stops at a convenience store Tiel inadvertently ends up right in the middle of the story.  Instead of a kidnapping, Sabra, who is pregnant, has run away with her boyfriend to escape her abusive father.  Needing money, they decide to rob the convenience store and end up taking everyone in the store hostage--including Tiel.  Also being held is a handsome cowboy with a mysterious past who's simply known as 'Doc'.  Tiel and Doc are thrown together and as the day wears on they try to reason with the kids to prevent a tragedy.  What they don't know is that hiding among the hostages is a far more deadly threat to all of them.  This is not Ms. Brown's best book--the time frame of a single day seemed to sap the build up of suspense as compared to some of her other books--but it still was an entertaining read.

Easy Prey, by John Sandford

John Sandford is back with another lively installment in his 'Prey' series featuring Lucas Davenport, who works homicide with the Minneapolis police.  Alie'e Maison, one of the most famous super models in the world, has been murdered during a wild drug party at the home of a rich friend.  As the police begin their investigation, a second murdered woman is found in a closet not far from Alie'e's body.  She is a nobody and doesn't get much attention but Alie'e's death causes a huge media sensation.  The Minneapolis police are under a lot of pressure to solve the case and Lucas is called in to head the investigation.  Several possible suspects emerge but things get more complicated when one of the prime suspects, the photographer who shot Alie'e's last photo assignment, is also murdered.  Also complicated, as usual, is Lucas's love life.  An old flame from his college days comes back into his life during the investigation and he also becomes friendly again with a woman he almost married--and maybe should have?  Then, there's the foxy sister of the photographer who's also putting the moves on him.  Looks like Lucas has his hands full!  I'll tell you this much--he solves the murders.
 

Day of Reckoning, by Jack Higgins

Jack Higgins is a popular author of action/suspense novels and many of them revolve around the exploits of Sean Dillon, an Irish commando now working for British Intelligence.  In Higgins' latest, Dillon becomes involved revenging the death of Katherine Johnson, the ex-wife of Blake Johnson, who heads up the clandestine operations at the White House.  Katherine was a reporter and she was investigating a crime lord named Jack Fox.  When she learned too much about him, he had her killed.  Blake had met Dillon on a previous case and he enlists his help with bringing down Fox.  Fox has his own resources and will prove to be a difficult, dangerous target.  The action is non-stop with locales in New York, London, Scotland, Ireland, and Lebanon in this entertaining thriller.
 

THIS ISSUE'S OLDIE BUT GOODIE

Bred to Win, by William Kinsolving

Annie Grebauer has been raised in the backwoods of Kentucky.  Her life has been one of poverty and brutality and she seizes an opportunity to escape her abusive brothers and widowed father.  She ends up in New York and, at the age of fifteen, becomes involved in the sport of horse racing and thoroughbred breeding.  Starting at the bottom as a walker and then as a groom, Annie becomes in time an expert horsewoman.  As her life progresses she will marry twice, have children, and battle enemies from her past and present.  Along the way she will also meet and fall in love with Sam Cumberland, the rich heir of one of America's greatest racing families.  Their love for each other will be the one constant in Annie's exciting, dangerous, and turbulent life.  Annie is a great character to get to know in the fascinating world of horse racing.
 

RECENT ARRIVALS:

Hot Springs, by Stephen Hunter
Daughter of Fortune, by Isabel Allende
Gap Creek, by Robert Morgan
Hot Six, by Janet Evanovich
Murder in Foggy Bottom, by Margaret Truman
Omerta, by Mario Puzo
The House on Hope Street, by Danielle Steel
Listen to the Silence, by Marcia Muller
 

 Revised Aug. 9, 2000
Comments to Bill McCleary