STAFF PICKS

Watch this page every other month or so for more staff picks and suggestions for you reading pleasure.

Staff Picks for July & August by Mark Kalish

Do you miss Tony Soprano and his boys?  Check out Norman Green's crew of  disreputable individuals in "Dead Cat Bounce", "The angel of Montague Street", "Shooting Dr. jack", and "Way beyond Legal"  The first three are set in New York City; teh fourth takes our character way, way out of his element.  Missing these guys would be a crime. (FIC GREE & NEW FIC GREE)

Veteran newsman C.R. Corwin has finally released the third book in his "Morgue Momma" series.  Resisiting the change from paper files and cabinets to computers, the newspaper's very senior librarian lives up to her life as the morgue momma.  this time cantankerous Maddy Sprowls must first unravel the identity of the victim before solving the murder in "The unraveling of Violeta Bell." (NEW MYS CORW)

Mma. Ramotswe of Botswana's No 1 ladies Detective Agency is back in the ninth volume in the popular series, "The Good Husband of Zebra Drive"  Author Alexander McCall Smith's gentle approach to problem-solving (and his character's common sense) highlights universal truths to which we can all relate.  This time the "traditionally built" detective delves into family ties. (NEW MYS MCCA)

Prefer your mysteries closer to home?  Read Karen Olson's "Sacred Cows" and "Second Hand Smoke" set in New Haven.  You will recognize many places, and probably some of the characters, too.  Her third book, "Dead of the Day", with featuring reporter Annie Seymour, starts with a body floating in New Haven Harbor, and gets real interesting when somebody shoots the new Chief of Police. (MYS OLSE & NEW MYS OLSE)

Any book which can quote the Bible, Confucius, and Tony Soprano on the same page has got to be worth reading.  "Plato and a Platypus: understanding philosophy through humor" brings together Existentialism, Nietzsche, some very bad jokes and, yes, Tony Soprano (The Golden Rule:whack the next guy with the same respect you'd like to be whacked with, you know?) (NEW NON-FIC 102 CATH)

Carol Ralston's May & June Picks

Non-fiction suggestions for your reading pleasure ...

All the King's Men by Steven Kinzer - 955.053 KINZ - riveting account of CIA machinations in Iran in the 1950's - Read like a thriller.

On the Water by Nathaniel Stone - 917.304 STON - take a trip around the Eastern region of the US - up the Hudson, down the Mississippi and around the Florida Keys - in a rowboat.

The Trout Pool Paradox: the American lives of three rivers by George Black - 304.2 BLAC - local natural history-trout fishing and river management on the Housatonic, the Naugatuck and the Shebaug rivers.

Becoming Charlemagne by Jeff Sypeck - 944.01 SYPE - how a charismatic local war lord became a legend in the world of the Middle Ages.

Little Money Street by Fernande Eberstadt - 306.891 EBER - intriguing glimpse into gypsie music and culture in 1990's Perpignan, France.