Every month, we’re profiling new-ish releases that are getting critical and commercial buzz. For March, we’re looking at funny Christian romances, an eerie new mystery about family secrets, a series about a young Ojibwe woman who finds herself in the middle of crime cases in the 1970s Midwest, a classic thriller that may be new to you, historical fiction about 1920s carnivals, a Western series that follows a mountain man and his adventures, dragon fantasy horror, and nonfiction that ranges from celebrity memoir to true crime to constitutional history to self-help.
Continue reading “Book Buzz: Sweet Rom-Coms, New Mysteries, Classic Thrillers, Horse Diving, Mountain Men, Dragon Horror, and Nonfiction for Everyone”Category: true crime (books)
Book Buzz: Local True Crime
Usually the Book Buzz posts are a round-up of new-ish books in the library, but today we’re doing something a little different!
A couple of weeks ago, Jason Harmon reached out to our library system to let us know he would be appearing on the new Ozarks-themed podcast Ozarkian Folk Chronicles.
Back in 2003, he worked with David McElyea on his memoir When Money Grew on Trees: The True Tale of a Marijuana Moonshiner and the Outlaw Sheriff of Madison County, Arkansas. Written under the pen name of David Mac, the book recounts how McElyea grew an illegal marijuana farm in Madison County in the 1980s and 1990s under the protection of the then-sheriff Ralph Baker. It recounts both McElyea’s and Baker’s rise and fall, and it is a perennial favorite with patrons in our library system.
Continue reading “Book Buzz: Local True Crime”Doubleheader True Crime Review: Valerie Bauerlein’s The Devil at His Elbow and Abbott Kahler’s Eden Undone
Thanks so much to Julie for ordering both of these books for the collection! I was intrigued by both of them when I first heard about them, and they’re excellent reads that are very different from each other but pair well together.
Continue reading “Doubleheader True Crime Review: Valerie Bauerlein’s The Devil at His Elbow and Abbott Kahler’s Eden Undone”Book Buzz: Tennis Spies, Dracula Retellings, Flowers, Ninevah Tales, Wind Farms, and New England True Crime
Every month, we’re profiling new-ish releases that are getting critical and commercial buzz. For April, we’re looking at historical fiction that depicts a fascinating little known WWII story, horror that sets Dracula in the present from Mina’s point of view, a heartwarming tale of grief and flowers and Titanic on audiobook, as well as historical fiction that weaves an epic tale of the city of Ninevah on audio, and nonfiction about environmental battles in Montana and true crime in 19th century New England.
Continue reading “Book Buzz: Tennis Spies, Dracula Retellings, Flowers, Ninevah Tales, Wind Farms, and New England True Crime”Sean Fitzgibbon’s What Follows Is True
The Crescent Hotel is one of the most famous attractions in Eureka Springs, so it is also one of the most famous attractions in Carroll County. It has a long history and not just as a hotel. For a few infamous years in the 1930s, it was also a quack cancer hospital run by the infamous Norman Baker, who fleeced desperate patients and their families out of money.
Sean Fitzgibbon’s stunning graphic novel What Follows Is True: Crescent Hotel documents Baker’s rise and fall and his time at the Crescent while also contextualizing the story within the backdrop of the hotel and town’s more general history and the author’s time researching it all.
Continue reading “Sean Fitzgibbon’s What Follows Is True”Book Buzz: Jamaican Fiction, Historical Fiction, Social Satire, Funny Romances, Outlaws, and Midwives
Every month, we’re profiling new-ish releases that are getting critical and commercial buzz. For August, we’re looking at a coming-of-age novel set in Jamaica, historical fiction that ranges from the Napoleonic Era to the mid-20th century, Kevin Kwan’s latest book, an amusing contemporary romance about cyclists, new Western reads, glamorous historic true crime, and a historical romance audiobook set in the American West.
Continue reading “Book Buzz: Jamaican Fiction, Historical Fiction, Social Satire, Funny Romances, Outlaws, and Midwives”Local Roots: June
Lots has changed in the years the Berryville Library has been in our current building. We expect lots will change in the years the library will be housed in the new building we are hoping to break ground on soon. That’s why we think it is so important as we move towards this bigger, better future to remember our roots. To that end, we have created the Berryville Library Legacy Project, which lets donors highlight a piece of local history of their choice by selecting photographs to be displayed on the end of a shelving unit at the new library. We also remain committed to helping create a sense of place through our collection, so we are going to highlight our Arkansas section this year. Each month, we’ll look at some of the different books and resources in that collection that feature unique parts of the history and culture of Berryville, Carroll County, the Ozarks, and Arkansas. There’s lots to explore about this place we call home! For June, we’re looking at true crime.
Continue reading “Local Roots: June”Book Buzz: Summer Reads
Every month, we’re profiling new-ish releases that are getting critical and commercial buzz. For June, we’re looking at this year’s If All Arkansas Read the Same Book selection, historical fiction about the Gilded Age, an anthology of Western mysteries, a family saga set in 1970s Mississippi, a vampire fantasy romance, a guide to eating around the United States, true crime about gator poaching, encouragement for writers, and audiobook memoirs, romances, chick lit, and mysteries.
Continue reading “Book Buzz: Summer Reads”Book Buzz: Literary Puzzles, Westerns, Espionage Thrillers, Morbid Memoirs, and Suspenseful Audiobooks
Every month, we’re profiling new-ish releases that are getting critical and commercial buzz. For March, we’re looking at a fiendishly difficult book puzzle, two Westerns based on real-life events, a spy novel, a memoir about being a death investigator for Manhattan’s Medical Examiner office, and a literary suspense audiobook.
Continue reading “Book Buzz: Literary Puzzles, Westerns, Espionage Thrillers, Morbid Memoirs, and Suspenseful Audiobooks”Book Buzz: Nonfiction Extravaganza
Every month, we’re profiling new-ish releases that are getting critical and commercial buzz. For December, we’re looking at travel-themed memoirs, new cookbooks, history (both American and ancient), heartwarming pet stories, and adventure gone wrong. We have lots of holiday-themed books and movies too, but if you’re looking for a change of pace from that, well, this post is for you!
Continue reading “Book Buzz: Nonfiction Extravaganza”
Berryville Book Buzz 