Long After We Are Gone by Terah Shelton Harris

"Don't let the white man take the house."

These are the last words King Solomon says to his son before he dies. Now all four Solomon siblings must return to North Carolina to save the Kingdom, their ancestral home and 200 acres of land, from a development company that has their sights set on turning the valuable waterfront property into a luxury resort.

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Summers at the Saint by Mary Kay Andrews

May 2024

I love big hotels that have a lot of history to them, so I was immediately drawn to SUMMERS AT THE SAINT. Here, Mary Kay Andrews has all the elements for a perfect beach read --- a beloved hotel with a storied reputation, a great cast of characters, and a few mysteries that include a murder. And she parlays this into a page-turning story!

The St. Cecelia (which everyone refers to as “the Saint”) is being run by Traci Eddings, who grew up as “an Ain't,” meaning that she was not wealthy or connected enough to frequent the resort. She married a man whose family owned the hotel and took over his position running it when he died in a plane crash.

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I Will Ruin You by Linwood Barclay

May 2024

I am a longtime fan of Linwood Barclay’s books, and I think I have read them all. I especially love the characters he delivers, all of whom are well drawn and relatable. Then he puts them in circumstances that upend their lives. Often I think, What would *I* do? And yes, I am happy that these are his characters’ problems, not mine.

In I WILL RUIN YOU, we start with a sadly familiar situation. A teacher is confronted by a former student armed with dynamite who is ready to blow up the school building and himself. Just as Richard has talked Mark into walking away, fate intervenes, and the young man trips. Bang! That is on page 11.

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Best Books for Dad 2024

Father’s Day is a time to celebrate the men in our lives who have raised and loved us. Why not show him your appreciation by inspiring him with a great book? We have seven titles that are perfect gift-giving suggestions for Dad, keeping him busy through the rest of the year.

Congratulations to the five winners of our 19th Annual Father’s Day Contest! Each winner received all seven books in this year’s feature.

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A.J. Jacobs, author of The Year of Living Constitutionally: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Constitution's Original Meaning

A.J. Jacobs tries to get inside the minds of the Founding Fathers by living as closely as possible to the original meaning of the Constitution. He asserts his right to free speech by writing his opinions on parchment with a quill and handing them out to strangers in Times Square. He consents to quartering a soldier, as is his Third Amendment right. He turns his home into a traditional 1790s household by lighting candles instead of using electricity, boiling mutton, and --- because women were not allowed to sign contracts --- feebly attempting to take over his wife’s day job, which involves a lot of contract negotiations. The book blends unforgettable adventures --- delivering a handwritten petition to Congress, battling redcoats as part of a Revolutionary War reenactment group --- with dozens of interviews from constitutional experts from both sides.

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Kaliane Bradley, author of The Ministry of Time

In the near future, a civil servant is offered the salary of her dreams and shortly afterward is told what project she’ll be working on. A recently established government ministry is gathering “expats” from across history to determine if time travel is feasible --- for the body, but also for the fabric of space-time. She is tasked with working as a “bridge”: living with, assisting and monitoring the expat known as “1847,” or Commander Graham Gore. Over the next year, what the bridge initially thought would be, at best, a horrifically uncomfortable roommate dynamic evolves into something much deeper. By the time the true shape of the Ministry’s project comes to light, the bridge has fallen haphazardly, fervently in love, with consequences she never could have imagined.

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Linwood Barclay, author of I Will Ruin You

English teacher Richard Boyle certainly never thought he would find himself talking down a former student intent on harming others. But when Mark LeDrew shows up at Richard’s school with a bomb strapped to his chest, Richard immediately jumps into action. Thanks to some quick thinking, he averts a major tragedy and is hailed as a hero. However, Richard’s brief moment in the spotlight puts him in the sights of a deranged blackmailer with a score to settle. The situation rapidly spirals out of control, drawing Richard into a fraught web of salacious accusations and deadly secrets. As he tries to uncover the truth, he discovers that there’s something deeply wrong in the town --- something that ties together Mark, the blackmailer and a gang of ruthless drug dealers, and Richard has landed smack in the middle of it. What price will he pay for one good deed?

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