Staff picks

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

STAFF PICK FOR SEPT/OCT by LISA OMLOR

Author J.A. KONRATH books are packed full of suspense, action and humor. If you are looking for the perfect blend of gore and laugh-out-loud funny, The “Jack Daniels” series is definitely worth reading. We don’t own all in the series but we can reserve them for you. You can find the books: NEW MYS KONR

I've become addicted to the COFFEEHOUSE MYSTERY SERIES BY CLEO COYLE. This series is lots of fun, and they involve good mysteries and coffee recipes. The Village Blend, a coffeehouse managed by Clare and owned by her former mother-in-law, offer a scrumptious atmosphere, likable characters that make a great cozy mystery!

("Cleo Coyle" is really the husband and wife writing team of Alice Alfonsi and Marc Cerasini. They are also "ALICE KIMBERLY", who writes the Haunted Bookshop Mysteries, also a good Cozy mystery series.) Check out the web site, www.coffeehousemystery.com. You will find the books: LP MYS COYL & LP MYS KIMB

BEAUTIFUL LIES BY LISA UNGER is a psychological thriller! This is a great, fast read and I recommend it for readers who appreciate good story telling and down to earth characters.

Ridley Jones is the New York City hero of the week when she saves a toddler from being run down in the street. Her face is plastered all over the papers and she makes an appearance on all the morning news shows. Everyone recognizes her wherever she goes. Then she receives a package in the mail, in it is a photograph of a man, a woman and their baby. And suddenly she begins to question everything she thought she knew about herself, her life and the people she loves. Then follow up with SILVER OF TRUTH and continue to follow Ridley on her adventures. You can find the books in adult fiction: UNGER, LISA

MICHAEL CONNELLY, as a Connelly addict I have to say the place to begin... is the beginning. One read and you too will be hooked. The first book in the Harry Bosch series is “THE BLACK ICE” followed by “THE BLACK ECHO,” pay close attention to this book it will be important when you finally get to “THE LINCOLN LAWYER” were we met Mickey Haller who turns out to have a link to Harry Bosch. Connelly also writes THE POET, and BLOOD WORK, the book is much better than the movie. The follow up to The Lincoln Lawyer is The Brass Verdict when Haller and Bosch meet. That is coming out in Oct. You will find Connelly books in mystery, fiction and paperback.

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)

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.