A Penny For The Old Guy

hen Amanda’s young son is drowned in the River Cam in Cambridge, Roberts goes to work. But, surprisingly, the mystery takes Roberts to Amsterdam where political intrigue complicates the case. Gaylord Dold is the author of fifteen works of fiction including the highly acclaimed private detective series featuring Mitch Roberts, a well as numerous contemporary crime thrillers. Many of his novels have been singled out for awards and praise by a number of critics and writer’s organizations.

"Like A Wrinkle in Time (Miranda's favorite book), When You Reach Me far surpasses the usual whodunit or sci-fi adventure to become an incandescent exploration of 'life, death, and the beauty of it all.'" —The Washington Post This Newbery Medal winner that has been called "smart and mesmerizing," (The New York Times) and "superb" (The Wall Street Journal) will appeal to readers of all types, especially those who are looking for a thought-provoking mystery with a mind-blowing twist. Shortly after a fall-out with her best friend, sixth grader Miranda starts receiving mysterious notes, and she doesn’t know what to do. The notes tell her that she must write a letter—a true story, and that she can’t share her mission with anyone. It would be easy to ignore the strange messages, except that whoever is leaving them has an uncanny ability to predict the future. If that is the case, then Miranda has a big problem—because the notes tell her that someone is going to die, and she might be too late to stop it. Winner of the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award for Fiction A New York Times Bestseller and Notable Book Five Starred Reviews A Junior Library Guild Selection "Absorbing." —People "Readers ... are likely to find themselves chewing over the details of this superb and intricate tale long afterward." —The Wall Street Journal "Lovely and almost impossibly clever." —The Philadelphia Inquirer "It's easy to imagine readers studying Miranda's story as many times as she's read L'Engle's, and spending hours pondering the provocative questions it raises." —Publishers Weekly, Starred review

Two Yellow Lab Puppies and an Old Guy by H. G. Hastings-Duffield Like the author’s other books, this, too, is a miscellany. However, unlike all the others, Two Yellow Lab Puppies and an Old Guy aims at humor, even in the discussions that definitely are intended as edification for the reader. Readers might smile, maybe even laugh, at the observations, questions, and conclusions of the most erudite puppies ever to exist. “How Do You Know If What You Do Is Right?” is a fascinating discussion between Shaker, the male pup, and the old guy. The text contains sixteen discussions of various subjects. Besides the subject matter is the entertaining back and forth between Shaker and Emmy, his sister. The author skillfully delineates them as quite different personalities. Shaker is no dummy, of course, but his interests and values are often at odds with his sister’s. Emmy is not a prude, but she is very formal and strongly opinionated about what is the proper way to behave and to speak, among other things. Despite the quarrelling, the author never allows the reader to think anything other than they dearly love each other.

Enid Porter spent many years collecting and recording from Cambridgeshire people the folk beliefs and customs held and observed in the country, both past and present. The subjects covered in the book, first published in 1969, range from the folklore of courtship, marriage, birth and death, of trees and plants and the whole world of nature to traditional Cambridgeshire food and drink; from ghosts and witchcraft and the cure of disease to charity and land-letting customs. The traditional occupations of the county, as well as the dress worn by the workers in the various crafts and the tools and implements they used, are also recorded, and there are accounts of various Cambridgeshire sports and pastimes. There is a section on University customs, ranging from the ancient procedure observed at examinations and degree ceremonies, through College Stamps and Mock Funerals, to the appointment made formerly of a Christmas Lord in the Colleges. Miss Porter spent most of her life in Cambridge and her mother’s family have lived there since the sixteenth century, so she includes information based on her own observations and on those of members of her family. The Fenland material has largely been provided by W. H. Barrett, well known through his collections of Fen Tales.

Thom Mullens mentor Dr. Yvonne Ward writes What is a poet? A poet is someone who takes the raw material of his life and makes something new and beautiful with it. What is ugly becomes beautiful. A poet takes his disappointments, fears, trauma, loneliness, and joy and creates something with words that stirs the human soul. A poet takes what his life is made of and creates an artistic form such as an artist paints her soul onto the canvas. Thom Mullens poems are about current events, heroic veterans and firefighters, love, alcoholism, and his joyful life now.

Now an original series from FX starring Jeff Bridges, John Lithgow, and Amy Brenneman: a retired intelligence officer living off the grid is caught in “[a] harrowing hunt-and-hide adventure” (The New York Times). To all appearances, Dan Chase is a harmless retiree in Vermont with two big mutts and a grown daughter he keeps in touch with by phone. But most sixty-year-old widowers don’t have multiple driver’s licenses, savings stockpiled in banks across the country, or two Beretta Nanos stashed in the spare bedroom closet. Most have not spent decades on the run. Thirty-five years ago, as a young army intelligence hotshot, Chase was sent to Libya to covertly assist a rebel army. When the plan turned sour, Chase acted according to his conscience—and triggered consequences he never could have anticipated. To this day, someone still wants him dead. And just when he thought he was finally safe, Chase is confronted with the history he spent much of his life trying to escape. Edgar Award–winning author Thomas Perry writes thrillers that move “almost faster than a speeding bullet” (Wall Street Journal). The Old Man is his latest whip-smart standalone novel, and has been adapted into a critically acclaimed television series starring Jeff Bridges as retired CIA Agent Dan Chase. “Perry drives deep into Jack Reacher territory in this stand-alone [novel] . . . Swift, unsentimental, and deeply satisfying.” —Kirkus Reviews