Library Love: Mini Reviews of Library Borrows

by Donna Huber

You seemed to like my library round-up that I posted last month, so I thought I would share what I checked out of the library in June. I mostly use Libby because I love audiobooks,  but I did check something out of my local library, and for work I borrowed a book from the university library.  What are you borrowing from your library?

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The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York by Deborah Blum

I participated in a science writer workshop at work many years ago and Deborah Blum led my small group. I wanted to read her books, but as life and time passed, they fell off my radar. Recently, something made me think about them, and I looked them up in Libby. Both books were available as audiobooks! The Poisoner's Handbook is a mix of true crime and forensic science history. It was really interesting (and I'm not a big fan of true crime). I found it entertaining and have recommended it to my mystery book club. The audiobook was easy to listen to.

Drama unfolds case by case as the heroes of The Poisoner's Handbook—chief medical examiner Charles Norris and toxicologist Alexander Gettler—investigate a family mysteriously stricken bald, Barnum and Bailey's Famous Blue Man, factory workers with crumbling bones, a diner serving poisoned pies, and many others. Each case presents a deadly new puzzle and Norris and Gettler work with a creativity that rivals that of the most imaginative murderer, creating revolutionary experiments to tease out even the wiliest compounds from human tissue. Yet in the tricky game of toxins, even science can't always be trusted, as proven when one of Gettler's experiments erroneously sets free a suburban housewife later nicknamed "America's Lucretia Borgia" to continue her nefarious work. (Goodreads)

Buy The Poisoner's Handbook at Amazon

Marble Hall Murders by Anthony Horowitz

I listened to this for the June meeting of my mystery book club. I wasn't really looking forward to reading it since I didn't enjoy Moonflower Murders when we read it last year. But I'm glad I did since I really enjoyed it. Probably because the book within the book is an unfinished work, so we didn't have to sit through another book before getting on to the original mystery. Even with the last book, I liked Susan, and partly why I didn't like Moonflower Murders was because she wasn't really in the book so much. This book has a lot more of Susan. 

Freelancing for Causton Books, she’s working on the manuscript of a novel, Pund’s Last Case, by a young author named Eliot Crace, a continuation of the popular Alan Conway series. Susan is surprised to learn that Eliot is the grandson of legendary children’s author Marian Crace, who died some fifteen years ago—murdered, Elliot insists, by poison. (Goodreads)

Buy Marble Hall Murders at Amazon

Double Fudge Brownie Murder by Joanne Fluke

I normally wouldn't have listened to another Hannah Swanson novel so soon, but since the last book ended with a cliffhanger, I felt like I should pick it up sooner rather than later. The conclusion to the cliffhanger was unsatisfactory and definitely was just a plot device to put Hannah where she needed to be to "stumble" upon the dead body in this novel. There was a stretch of books that I didn't really enjoy, and I think this is where that arc began. There were a number of recipes that I would love to make, and I hope they are in the Lake Eden Cookbook because it is hard to get the recipes written down while listening to the audiobook.

Life in tiny Lake Eden, Minnesota, is usually pleasantly uneventful. Lately, though, it seems everyone has more than their fair share of drama—especially the Swensen family. With so much on her plate, Hannah Swensen can hardly find the time to think about her bakery—let alone the town’s most recent murder… (Goodreads)

Buy Double Fudge Brownie Murder at Amazon

A Pair of Aces by Marie Benedict

I've read a couple of Marie Benedict's novels and have really enjoyed them. This book was no exception. I haven't read much about the mob in the 1930s, but I love books that feature women who have been mostly overlooked in history. It made me think of the movie The Untouchables. If you like books such as Hidden Figures, then you should read this book. While the book is told from multiple POVs, the audiobook was easy to follow, and the multiple narrators helped. I received an ARC of this book so I wrote a full review if you want to read it.

Eunice Carter, assistant district attorney for the City of New York and Manhattan’s first Black female prosecutor, has her sights set on the one and only Lucky Luciano, head of New York City’s five largest organized crime families. Other prosecutors have tried to bring down Lucky, but they’ve all focused on the crime syndicate’s traditional businesses—bootlegging, gambling, loan sharking, and drug dealing—or tax evasion. No one has thought to approach the mob through its hand in prostitution. Until Eunice. But she can’t get Luciano alone. (Goodreads)

Buy A Pair of Aces at Amazon

The Searcher by Tana French

Years and years ago, I reviewed one of Tana French's books, but I didn't really enjoy it, so I haven't read any more of her books. My mystery book club is reading this for our July meeting. My hold came in a little sooner than I thought it would, but that's not a bad thing since I have a couple of other audiobooks on hold but nothing else to listen to right now. I'm not really into the story. I don't feel an emotional connection to any of the characters or the plot. It's going to be a long 13 hours (well not actually that long since I listen at 1.45x)

Retired detective Cal Hooper moves to a remote village in rural Ireland. His plans are to fix up the dilapidated cottage he's bought, to walk the mountains, to put his old police instincts to bed forever. (Goodreads)

Buy The Searcher at Amazon

Progress in Parasitology by P.C.C. Garnham

At work, I'm working on a history project, and I ran across this book because my organization was mentioned in it. It was published in the early 1970s, so I decided to read it to get an idea of what the field of parasitology was like back then. I got this through the university's library but it came from another university as our copy has gone missing. It's no longer in print nor is there a digital copy available. It doesn't even have a real cover. It's just a plain green hardback

Georgia State Parks Parking Pass

In Georgia, many attractions offer an Experience Pass through the local library. There are passes for museums, the Center of Puppetry Arts, Historic sites, and more. Many states offer similar passes, so you should check them out. I checked out the state park parking pass while I was on vacation. It now costs $10 a day to park at a state park, and I had plans to visit 4 state parks (I only made it to 3). It saved me $30! Now I'm considering getting an annual pass to the parks. These parks ranged from 25 minutes to 1.75 hours away, and there are several more parks in that radius that I would love to visit. I can't check this pass out again for 6 months, which is why I'm considering the annual pass.

Donna Huber is an avid reader and natural encourager. She is the founder of Girl Who Reads and the author of how-to marketing book Secrets to a Successful Blog Tour.

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