New to the Collection: March 2024

We are adding new books, movies, audiobooks, and music to our collection all the time. Check here each month to find the latest additions.

 

Fiction

 

The Blueprint, Rae Giana Rashad
Solenne Bonet lives in Texas where choice no longer exists. An algorithm determines a Black woman’s occupation, spouse, and residence. Solenne finds solace in penning the biography of Henriette, an ancestor who’d been an enslaved concubine to a wealthy planter in 1800s Louisiana. But history repeats itself when Solenne, lonely and naïve, finds herself entangled with Bastien Martin, a high-ranking government official. Solenne finds the psychological bond unbearable, so she considers alternatives. With Henriette as her guide, she must decide whether and how to leave behind all she knows.

 

The Guest, B.A. Paris
Iris and Gabriel have just arrived home from a make-or-break holiday. But a shock awaits them. One of their closest friends, Laure, is in their house. The atmosphere quickly becomes tense as she oversteps again and again: sleeping in their bed, wearing Iris’ clothes, even rearranging the furniture. Laure has walked out on her husband—and their good friend—Pierre, over his confession of an affair and a secret child. Iris and Gabriel want to be supportive of their friends, but as Laure’s mood becomes increasingly unpredictable, her presence takes its toll. Iris and Gabriel’s only respite comes in the form of a couple new to town. But with them comes their gardener, who has a checkered past.

 

The Book of Love, Kelly Link
Late one night, Laura, Daniel, and Mo find themselves beneath the fluorescent lights of a high school classroom, almost a year after disappearing from their hometown, the small seaside community of Lovesend, Massachusetts, having long been presumed dead. Which, in fact, they are. With them in the room is their previously unremarkable high school music teacher, who seems to know something about their disappearance—and what has brought them back again. Desperate to reclaim their lives, the three agree to the terms of the bargain their music teacher proposes. They will be given a series of magical tasks; while they undertake them, they may return to their families and friends, but they can tell no one where they’ve been. In the end, there will be winners and there will be losers. But their resurrection has attracted the notice of other supernatural figures, all with their own agendas.

 

Kingpin (A Joe DeMarco Thriller), Mike Lawson
Carson Newman doesn’t think of himself as a gangster. He doesn’t have a consigliere or operate out of the back room of a bar. No, Carson’s a different sort of gangster, a billionaire Boston real estate developer, who only breaks the law when necessary—and he doesn’t usually get his hands dirty. Joe DeMarco, on the other hand, is paid to get his hands dirty. So, when John Mahoney, the former Speaker of the House, calls, DeMarco knows it’s time to get to work. Brian Lewis, an intern who worked for Mahoney, has been found dead, seemingly from a drug overdose. But Brian didn’t seem like a drug user, and even more concerning, he seemed to be on the cusp of releasing a report that identified a group of politicians who had taken bribes.

 

Bloodman, Robert Pobi
FBI independent contractor Jake Cole deciphers the language of murderers by reconstructing three-dimensional crime scene models in his head – a grim gift that has left his nerves frayed and his psyche fragile. When his father, an important American painter, is almost killed in an Alzheimer’s-fueled accident, Jake is forced to come home and confront a past he spent a quarter of a century trying to forget. Once there, a brutal double homicide teachers Jake that even though he has forgotten about the past, it has not yet forgotten about him.

 

The Women, Kristin Hannah
Twenty-year-old nursing student Frances “Frankie” McGrath was raised in the sun-drenched, idyllic world of Southern California and sheltered by her conservative parents. She has always prided herself on doing the right thing. But in 1965, the world is changing, and she suddenly dares to imagine a different future for herself. When her brother ships out to serve in Vietnam, she joins the Army Nurse Corps and follows his path. As green and inexperienced as the men sent to Vietnam to fight, Frankie is overwhelmed by the chaos and destruction of war. Each day is a gamble of life and death, hope and betrayal; friendships run deep and can be shattered in an instant. In war, she meets―and becomes one of―the lucky, the brave, the broken, and the lost.

 

Cahokia Jazz, Francis Spufford
On a snowy night at the end of winter, Barrow and his partner find a body on the roof of a skyscraper. Down below, streetcar bells ring, factory whistles blow, Americans drink in speakeasies and dance to the tempo of modern times. But this is Cahokia, the ancient indigenous city beside the Mississippi living on as a teeming industrial metropolis, filled with people of every race and creed. Among them, peace holds. Just about. But that corpse on the roof will spark a week of drama in which this altered world will spill its secrets and be brought, against a soundtrack of jazz clarinets and wailing streetcars, either to destruction or rebirth.

 

Leave No Trace, A.J. Landau
In a daring, brutal act of terrorism, an explosion rocks and topples the Statue of Liberty. Special Agent Michael Walker of the National Park Service is awakened by his boss with that news and sent to New York as the agent-in-charge. Not long after he lands, he learns two things – one that Gina Delgado of the FBI has been placed in charge of the investigation as the lead of the Joint Terrorism Task Force and two, that threats of a second terrorism attack are already being called into the media. While barred from the meetings of the Joint Task Force for his lack of security clearance, Walker finds a young boy among the survivors with a critical piece of information – a video linking the attackers to the assault.

 

The American Daughters, Maurice Carlos Ruffin
Ady, a curious, sharp-witted girl, and her fierce mother, Sanite, are inseparable. Enslaved to a businessman in the French Quarter of New Orleans, the pair spend their days dreaming of a loving future and reminiscing about their family’s rebellious and storied history. When mother and daughter are separated, Ady is left hopeless and directionless until she stumbles into the Mockingbird Inn and meets Lenore, a free Black woman with whom she becomes fast friends. Lenore invites Ady to join a clandestine society of spies called the Daughters. With the courage instilled in her by Sanite—and with help from these strong women—Ady learns how to put herself first. So begins her journey toward liberation and imagining a new future.

 

The Last Days of the Midnight Ramblers, Sarah Tomlinson
Anke Berben is ready to tell all. A legendary model and style icon, she reveled in headline-grabbing romances with not one but three members of the hugely influential rock band the Midnight Ramblers. The band members were as famous for their backstage drama as for their music, and Anke is the only one who fully understands the tangled relationships, betrayals, and suspicions that have added to the Ramblers’ enduring appeal and mystique. That is most evident in the mystery around Anke’s role in the death of Mal, the band’s founder and Anke’s husband, in 1969. When Mari Hawthorn accepts the job to work with Anke on her memoir, she is dead set on getting to the truth of Mal’s death. She has always been deft at navigating the fatal charms of celebrities, having grown up with a narcissistic, alcoholic father. As she ingratiates herself into the world of the band, she grows enchanted, against her better judgment, by these legendary rock stars. She knows she can’t get pulled in too deep, otherwise she’ll compromise her objectivity—and her integrity.

 

Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop, Hwang Bo-Reum
Yeongju is burned out. She did everything she was supposed to do: go to school, marry a decent man, get a respectable job. Then it all fell apart. In a leap of faith, Yeongju abandons her old life, quits her high-flying career, and follows her dream: she opens a bookshop.In a quaint neighborhood in Seoul, surrounded by books, Yeongju and her customers take refuge. The Hyunam-Dong Bookshop becomes the place where they all learn how to truly live.

 

Mystery

 

Murder By Lamplight, Patrice McDonough
November 1866: The grisly murder site in London’s East End is thronged with onlookers. None of them expect the calmly efficient young woman among them to be a medical doctor, arrived to examine the corpse. Inspector Richard Tennant, overseeing the investigation, at first makes no effort to disguise his skepticism. But Dr. Julia Lewis is accustomed to such condescension. To study medicine, Julia had to leave Britain, where universities still bar their doors to women, and travel to America. She returned home to work in her grandfather’s practice—and to find London in the grip of a devastating cholera epidemic. In four years, however, she has seen nothing quite like this—a local clergyman’s body sexually mutilated and displayed in a manner that she—and Tennant—both suspect is personal.

 

Three-Inch Teeth (Joe Pickett novel), C.J. Box
A rogue grizzly bear has gone on a rampage — killing, among others, the potential fiance of Joe’s daughter. At the same time, Dallas Cates, whom Joe helped lock up years ago, is released from prison with a special list tattooed on his skin. He wants revenge on the people who sent him away. Using the grizzly attacks as cover, Cates sets out to methodically check off his list. And Joe Pickett is on it.

 

The Hunter, Tana French
Cal Hooper took early retirement from Chicago PD and moved to rural Ireland looking for peace. He’s found it, more or less: he’s built a relationship with a local woman, Lena, and he’s gradually turning Trey Reddy from a half-feral teenager into a good kid going good places. But then Trey’s long-absent father reappears, bringing along an English millionaire and a scheme to find gold in the townland, and suddenly everything the three of them have been building is under threat. Cal and Lena are both ready to do whatever it takes to protect Trey, but Trey doesn’t want protecting. What she wants is revenge.

 

Fantasy

 

Wild and Wicked Things, Francesca May
On Crow Island, people whisper that real magic lurks just below the surface. But magic doesn’t interest Annie Mason. Not after it stole her future. She’s on the island to settle her late father’s estate and, hopefully, reconnect with her long-absent best friend, Beatrice. Yet Crow Island is brimming with temptation and the most mesmerizing may be Annie’s new neighbor. Mysterious and alluring, Emmeline Delacroix is a figure shadowed by rumors of witchcraft. Soon, Annie is drawn into a glittering world filled with extravagant parties, where the boundaries of wickedness are tested and the cost of illicit magic might be death.

 

Romance

 

The League of Gentlewomen Witches, India Holton
Miss Charlotte Pettifer belongs to a secret league of women skilled in the subtle arts. That is to say – although it must never be said – witchcraft. Using magic, they tidy, correct, and manipulate according to their notions of what is proper. When the long-lost amulet of Black Beryl is discovered, it is up to Charlotte to make sure the powerful talisman does not fall into the wrong hands. Therefore, it is most unfortunate when she crosses paths with Alex O’Riley, a pirate who is no Mr. Darcy.

 

Wolf Gone Wild (Stay a Spell Book One), Juliette Cross
What’s the worst thing that can happen to a werewolf? Unable to shift into his wolf form for three months, Matteo Cruz knows all too well. His wolf alter ego has taken up residence in his head, taunting him night and day with vividly violent and carnal thoughts. Convinced he’s been cursed, he seeks the help of a powerful witch before he literally goes insane. Evie Savoie has always obeyed the house rules of her coven – no werewolves. But her heart softens when she sees the desperation in his eyes as he begs for her help. Maybe she can bend the rules, just this once.

 

Graphic Novels

 

Transitions: A Mother’s Journey, Élodie Durand
When university biologist Anne Marbot learns that the 19-year-old she raised as “Lucie” is a transgender man named Alex, she’s overwhelmed by questions. How can this be? Who put these ideas in your head? What if you regret it? Am I overreacting? How will your grandparents react? Why didn’t I see it coming? Why is this so easy for others? Am I a bigot? What does gender really mean, anyway? How can I be the parent my child needs? It soon becomes clear that Alex is not the only one embarking on a journey of self-discovery. The road is not easy, and sometimes their relationship is bitterly strained. But Alex is sure of himself, and Anne is determined to be strong for his sake. With time, she too will be transformed, rediscovering her identity as a mother in profound new ways.

 

Barnstormers: A Ballad of Love and Murder, Tula Lotay & Scott Snyder
It’s 1927 – the late days of the barnstorming era, when pilots competed with each other by performing deadlier and more wondrous feats. Pilot Hawk E. Baron, who claims to be a survivor of the horrors of the Great War, now lives his life adventuring from town to town in his plane, entertaining the common folks. His world changes when he meets Tillie, a young woman who shares his passion for aviation and adventure. They become a traveling act, delighting people with their antics. When they learn they are suspected of a horrific crime, their journey becomes an even deadlier race against time.

 

Cat + Gamer Volume 4, Wataru Nadatani
A second cat joins the household! As a new furry friend joins the fray, avid gamer Riko discovers what it’s like living with two cats. Time to level up more skills, surprises, and real life adventures.

 

A Boy Named Rose, Gaelle Geniller
Paris. The 1920s. Rose is a boy and, like all the girls he’s spent time with since he was born, he wants to dance at “Le Jardin”, the cabaret managed by his mother. As Rose blossoms into a young man, he discovers love and tries to find his place in a society that’s not ready to welcome true love between two men.

 

Nonfiction

 

Sunny Days: The Children’s Television Revolution That Changed America, David Kamp
In 1970, on a soundstage on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, a group of men, women, and Muppets of various ages and colors worked doggedly to finish the first season of a children’s TV program that was not yet assured a second season: Sesame Street. They were conducting an experiment to see if television could be used to better prepare disadvantaged preschoolers for kindergarten. What they didn’t know then was that they were starting a cultural revolution that would affect all American kids. David Kamp captures the unique political and social moment that gave us not only Sesame Street, but also Fred Rogers’s gentle yet brave Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood; Marlo Thomas’s unabashed gender politics primer Free to Be…You and Me; Schoolhouse Rock!, an infectious series of educational shorts dreamed up by Madison Ave admen; and more.

 

Big Meg: The Story of the Largest and Most Mysterious Predator that Ever Lived, Tim Flannery & Emma Flannery
When Tim Flannery was a boy he found a fossilized tooth of the giant shark megalodon at a beach near his home in Australia. This remarkable find–the tooth was large enough to cover his palm–sparked an interest in paleontology that was to inform his life’s work and a lifelong quest to uncover the secrets of the great shark Otodus megalodon. Tim passed on his love of the natural world and interest in the fossil record to his daughter, Emma, a scientist and writer. And now, together, they have written a fascinating account of this ancient marine creature. Big Meg charts the evolution of megalodon, its super-predator status for about fifteen million years and its decline and extinction.

 

Medgar & Myrlie: Medgar Evers and the Love Story That Awakened America, Joy-Ann Reid
Myrlie Louise Beasley met Medgar Evers on her first day of college. Medgar became the field secretary for the Mississippi branch of the NAACP, charged with beating back the most intractable and violent resistance to black voting rights in the country. Myrlie served as Medgar’s secretary and confidant, working hand in hand with him as they struggled against public accommodations and school segregation, lynching, violence, and sheer despair within their state. In 1963, Medgar Evers became the highest profile victim of Klan-related assassination of a black civil rights leader at that time. In the wake of his tragic death, Myrlie carried on their civil rights legacy; writing a book about Medgar’s fight, trying to win a congressional seat, and becoming a leader of the NAACP in her own right.

 

The Ramayana: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic, R.K. Narayan
A sweeping tale of abduction, battle, and courtship played out in a universe thronged with heroes, deities, and demons, The Ramayana has been thrilling readers and listeners since the fourth century BC. Here, R.K. Narayan draws mostly on the work of the eleventh-century Tamil poet Kamban and recounts it with the narrative flair of a master novelist.

 

Otter Country: An Unexpected Adventure in the Natural World, Miriam Darlington
Over the course of a single year, Darlington takes readers on a winding expedition in pursuit of otters―from her home in Devon, England, and through the wilds of Scotland, Wales, the Lake District, and the countryside of Cornwall. As she’s drawn deeper into wilder habitats, trekking through changing landscapes, seasons, and weather, Darlington meets biologists, conservationists, fishing and hunting enthusiasts, and poets―enriching her understanding, admiration, and awe of the wild otter. With each encounter, she reveals the scientific, environmental, and cultural importance of this creature and the places it calls home.

 

How We Ended Racism: Realizing a New Possibility in One Generation, Justin Michael Williams & Shelly Tygielski
“It’s the year 2050… and racism has ended.” Could this really be our future? If so, what has to happen now to achieve such a radical change? In How We Ended Racism, Justin Michael Williams and Shelly Tygielski reveal a path for real and lasting global impact―not just talking about it, studying it, or making small steps, but actually ending racism in one generation. Williams and Tygielski draw from a wide array of scientific studies, as well as their practical successes in teaching a multitude of diverse groups across perceived “divides,” to show us how to shift our perspective and enact lasting change in our families, workplaces, communities, and beyond.

 

Intuitive Eating for Every Day: 365 Daily Practices & Inspirations to Rediscover the Pleasures of Eating, Evelyn Tribole
A year’s worth of guidance to illuminate and encourage your Intuitive Eating journey. Discover one thing every day that will inspire and cultivate connection with your mind and body in this inviting and practical introduction to Intuitive Eating from award-winning dietician and cofounder of the Intuitive Eating movement Evelyn Tribole.

 

Humanly Possible: Seven Hundred Years of Humanist Freethinking, Inquiry, and Hope, Sarah Bakewell
Humanism is an expansive tradition of thought that places shared humanity, cultural vibrancy, and moral responsibility at the center of our lives. For centuries, this worldview has inspired people to make their choices by principles of freethinking, intellectual inquiry, fellow feeling, and optimism. In this sweeping new history, Sarah Bakewell, herself a lifelong humanist, illuminates the very personal, individual, and, well, human matter of humanism and takes readers on a grand intellectual adventure. Voyaging from the literary enthusiasts of the fourteenth century to the secular campaigners of our own time, from Voltaire to Zora Neale Hurston, Bakewell brings together extraordinary humanists across history. She explores their immense variety: some sought to promote scientific and rationalist ideas, others put more emphasis on moral living, and still others were concerned with the cultural and literary studies known as “the humanities.” Humanly Possible asks not only what unites all these meanings of humanism but why it has such enduring power, despite opposition from fanatics, mystics, and tyrants.

 

The Killing Ground: A Biography of Thermopylae, Myke Cole & Michael Livingston
While the epic events of 480 BC when Leonidas and 300 Spartans attempted to hold the pass at Thermopylae have been immortalized in poetry, art, literature, and film, no history has ever before detailed the other battles and engagements that took place at this exact same location. From the very first action between rival Ancient Greeks through to the battles fought by Romans and Byzantines, Huns and Ottomans, and the struggles against German occupying forces in WWII, The Killing Ground details the background and history of each conflict. With a captivating narrative and meticulous attention to detail, this book breathes life into the sacred and blood-soaked ground of Thermopylae.

 

Biography

 

James Baldwin: Living in Fire, Bill V. Mullen
James Baldwin is an icon of liberation who created some of the most important literary works of his time, including the novels Go Tell It on the Mountain and If Beale Street Could Talk. As a lifelong anti-imperialist, black queer advocate, activist, and feminist, James Baldwin was a passionate chronicler of the rise of the Civil Rights movement, the US war in Vietnam, the Palestinian liberation struggle, and the rise of LGBTQ+ rights. Mullen pays homage to Baldwin’s truly radical approach to his life, writing, and activism.

 

Large Print

 

Three-Inch Teeth (Joe Pickett novel), C.J. Box
A rogue grizzly bear has gone on a rampage — killing, among others, the potential fiance of Joe’s daughter. At the same time, Dallas Cates, whom Joe helped lock up years ago, is released from prison with a special list tattooed on his skin. He wants revenge on the people who sent him away. Using the grizzly attacks as cover, Cates sets out to methodically check off his list. And Joe Pickett is on it.

 

Untouchable, Jayne Ann Krentz
Jack Lancaster, consultant to the FBI, has always been drawn to the coldest of cold cases, the kind that law enforcement either considers unsolvable or else has chalked up to accidents or suicides. As a survivor of a fire, he finds himself uniquely compelled by arson cases. His almost preternatural ability to get inside the killer’s head has garnered him a reputation in some circles–and complicated his personal life. The more cases Jack solves, the closer he slips into the darkness. His only solace is Winter Meadows, a meditation therapist. After particularly grisly cases, Winter can lead Jack back to peace. But as long as Quinton Zane is alive, Jack will not be at peace for long. Having solidified his position as the power behind the throne of his biological family’s hedge fund, Zane sets out to get rid of Anson Salinas’s foster sons, starting with Jack.

 

The Bone Code (A Temperance Brennan novel), Kathy Reichs
On the way to hurricane-ravaged Isle of Palms, a barrier island off the South Carolina coast, Tempe receives a call from the Charleston coroner. The storm has tossed ashore a medical waste container. Inside are two decomposed bodies wrapped in plastic and bound with electrical wire. Tempe recognizes many of the details as identical to those of an unsolved case she handled in Quebec fifteen years earlier. With a growing sense of foreboding, she travels to Montreal to gather evidence. Meanwhile, health authorities in South Carolina become increasingly alarmed as a human flesh-eating contagion spreads. So focused is Tempe on identifying the container victims that, initially, she doesn’t register how their murders and the pestilence may be related. But she does recognize one unsettling fact. Someone is protecting a dark secret—and willing to do anything to keep it hidden.

 

Audiobooks

 

Soil: The Story of a Black Mother’s Garden, Camille T. Dungy
Poet and scholar Camille T. Dungy recounts the seven-year odyssey to diversify her garden in the predominantly white community of Fort Collins, Colorado. When she moved there in 2013, with her husband and daughter, the community held strict restrictions about what residents could and could not plant in their gardens. In resistance to the homogenous policies that limited the possibility and wonder that grows from the earth, Dungy employs the various plants, herbs, vegetables, and flowers she grows in her garden as metaphor and treatise for how homogeneity threatens the future of our planet, and why cultivating diverse and intersectional language in our national discourse about the environment is the best means of protecting it.

 

All the Sinners Bleed, S.A. Cosby
(Playaway audio player) Titus Crown is the first Black sheriff in the history of Charon County, Virginia. In recent decades, quiet Charon has had only two murders. Then a year to the day after Titus’s election, a school teacher is killed by a former student and the student is fatally shot by Titus’s deputies. As Titus investigates the shootings, he unearths terrible crimes and a serial killer who has been hiding in plain sight, haunting the dirt lanes and woodland clearings of Charon. With the killer’s possible connections to a local church and the town’s harrowing history weighing on him, Titus projects confidence about closing the case while concealing a painful secret from his own past.

 

Starling House, Alix E. Harrow
(Playaway audio player) Opal is a lot of things—orphan, high school dropout, full-time cynic and part-time cashier—but above all, she’s determined to find a better life for her younger brother Jasper. One that gets them out of Eden, Kentucky, a town remarkable for only two things: bad luck and E. Starling, the reclusive nineteenth century author of The Underland, who disappeared over a hundred years ago. All she left behind were dark rumors—and her home. Everyone agrees that it’s best to ignore the uncanny mansion and its misanthropic heir, Arthur. Almost everyone, anyway.

 

Family Lore, Elizabeth Acevedo
(Playaway audio player) Flor has a gift: she can predict, to the day, when someone will die. So when she decides she wants a living wake—a party to bring her family and community together to celebrate the long life she’s led—her sisters are surprised. Has Flor foreseen her own death, or someone else’s? Does she have other motives? She refuses to tell her sisters, Matilde, Pastora, and Camila. But Flor isn’t the only person with secrets: her sisters are hiding things, too. And the next generation, cousins Ona and Yadi, face tumult of their own.

 

Finlay Donovan is Killing It, Elle Cosimano
(Playaway audio player) Finlay Donovan is killing it. Except, she’s really not. She’s a stressed-out single-mom of two and struggling novelist, Finlay’s life is in chaos: the new book she promised her literary agent isn’t written, her ex-husband fired the nanny without telling her, and this morning she had to send her four-year-old to school with hair duct-taped to her head after an incident with scissors. When Finlay is overheard discussing the plot of her new suspense novel with her agent over lunch, she’s mistaken for a contract killer, and inadvertently accepts an offer to dispose of a problem husband in order to make ends meet. Soon, Finlay discovers that crime in real life is a lot more difficult than its fictional counterpart, as she becomes tangled in a real-life murder investigation.

 

Finlay Donocan Knocks ‘Em Dead, Elle Cosimano
(Playaway audio player) Finlay Donovan is―once again―struggling to finish her next novel and keep her head above water as a single mother of two. On the bright side, she has her live-in nanny and confidant Vero to rely on, and the only dead body she’s dealt with lately is that of her daughter’s pet goldfish.On the not-so-bright side, someone out there wants her ex-husband, Steven, out of the picture. Permanently. Whatever else Steven may be, he’s a good father, but saving him will send her down a rabbit hole of hit-women disguised as soccer moms, and a little bit more involvement with the Russian mob than she’d like.

 

Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers, Jesse Q. Sutanto
(Playaway audio player) Vera Wong is a lonely little old lady—ah, lady of a certain age—who lives above her forgotten tea shop in the middle of San Francisco’s Chinatown. Despite living alone, Vera is not needy, oh no. She likes nothing more than sipping on a good cup of Wulong and doing some healthy detective work on the Internet about what her Gen-Z son is up to. Then one morning, Vera trudges downstairs to find a curious thing—a dead man in the middle of her tea shop. In his outstretched hand, a flash drive. 

 

The Oceans and the Stars, Mark Helprin
(Playaway audio player) A Navy captain near the end of a decorated career, Stephen Rensselaer is disciplined, intelligent, and determined to always do what’s right. In defending the development of a new variant of warship, he makes an enemy of the president of the United States, who assigns him to command the doomed line’s only prototype––Athena, Patrol Coastal 15––with the intent to humiliate a man who should have been an admiral. Rather than resign, Rensselaer takes the new assignment in stride, and while supervising Athena’s fitting out in New Orleans, encounters a brilliant lawyer, Katy Farrar, with whom he falls in last-chance love. Soon thereafter, he is deployed on a mission that subjects his integrity, morality, and skill to the ultimate test, and ensures that Athena will live forever in the annals of the Navy.

 

The River We Remember, William Kent Krueger
As the people of Jewel, Minnesota, gather on Memorial Day, 1958, the half-clothed body of wealthy Jimmy Quinn is found floating in the Alabaster River. Investigation of his death falls to Sheriff Brody Dern, a highly decorated war hero who still carries the physical and emotional scars from his military service. Even before Dern has the results of the autopsy, vicious rumors begin to circulate that the killer must be Noah Bluestone, a Native American WWII veteran who has recently returned to town with a Japanese wife. As suspicions and accusations mount and the town teeters on the edge of more violence, Dern struggles to find the truth and put to rest demons from the past.