Spooky nights and good reads
By Assistant Director Sudie Blanchard
YORK VILLAGE - As the nights grow colder and the time for ghosts and goblins approaches, children's librarian and mystery reader Kathleen Whalin urges you to settle down with a good mystery.Thrills and chills from the comfort of your living room - what could be better?
Here are 13 mysteries she's found a particular treat to read. The key element of a good book, she feels, is the sort of suspenseful plot that tempts the reader to peek at the ending.
Barnard, Robert: "The Case of the Missing Bronte." An old lady may own a very valuable manuscript.
Brett, Simon: "The Dead Side of the Mike." Down-and-out actor Charles Paris gets a chance to work for the BBC.
Brown, Dan: "The Da Vinci Code." Some historical secrets are worth killing to keep.
Byatt, AS: "Possession." Who would think literary criticism could produce murder?
Christie, Agatha: "The ABC Murders." A serial killer knows his railway schedules.
Du Maurier, Daphne: "Rebecca." All other romantic suspense novels pale before this one.
Fforde, Jasper: "The Big Over Easy." It's Easter time in Swinden, a bad time for eggs- especially the famous Humpty.
Forsyth, Frederick: "The Day of the Jackal." No assassin has a better plan.
Francis, Dick: "Reflex." A race track photographer's death is not the accident it first seems.
Hansen, Brooks: "The Chess Garden." Dayton, Ohio, the Boer War, imaginary islands and chess pieces that move combine to form an unforgettable narrative.
Lovesey, Peter: "Bloodhounds." A murder mystery club thought all their discussions completely academic until one of their members turns up dead.
McCrumb, Sharyn: "Bimbos of the Death Sun." No one could possibly recognize a respectable professor at a science fiction and fantasy convention.
Winspear, Jacqueline: "Pardonable Lies." Maisie Dobbs must confront her war-torn past.
LIBRARY DISPLAYS
October 6 was "National Diversity Day." This month, the library will be recognizing diversity with an exhibit of books and other materials on that topic. The exhibit is co-sponsored with the York Diversity Forum, whose goals are to increase understanding and acceptance of people of different races, cultures, sexual orientations, religions, ages and abilities, and to reduce the incidence of prejudicial language and action in our community.
October is also Domestic Violence Awareness Month. The Maine Coalition to End Domestic Violence has donated several books on that topic which will be on display, along with information about local organizations that are available to help.
Celebrate your right to read. Be sure to stop by the library and see the eye-catching Banned Books display mounted by Library Assistant Jeannine Means. Viewers will be amazed at the books that have been questioned over the years!
ART EXHIBITS
Fran Scully's watercolors are on display in the library during October and November.
York Art Association artist Alice B. Hogan's watercolors are on display in the Kennebunk Room. Subjects of her work include Maine seascapes and landscapes of Maine and the Southwest. Hogan has been a part-time resident of York since the late '50s. She spends the rest of the year in Maryland.
