Imagine waking up every day and not recognizing the person looking back at you in the mirror. That’s how the main character, Eleanor, felt every day. Imagine waking up every day and not recognizing the person looking back at you in the mirror. That’s how the main character, Eleanor, felt every day. Eleanor witnesses the death of her grandmother and saw the killer, but the problem is that she can’t describe what the person looks like to the police due to prosopagnosia.
I didn’t know much about the book before I read it other than the fact that I like previous books by the author, and that it takes place in Sweden.
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Following the murder of Eleanor’s grandmother, Vivianne, she tries to piece her life back together as she starts to see things that aren’t there. She is informed by lawyers that she is the heir to the giant summer home that Vivianne kept secret from her.
Eleanor joins a cast of characters to help inventory the old mansion. Eleanor though feels like they are not alone on this giant estate and begins to think that the things she hears and sees around the house are not just hallucinations after all.
The police never caught the murderer, and Eleanor fears the killer might have followed them there. She must navigate large family secrets long buried in the past. Maybe she can even find the groundskeeper who no one can get a hold of.
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I wasn’t really sure what to expect of the book considering the premise of the author’s last book. It ended up being a murder-mystery-whodunit trapped on a Swedish gothic estate. The story follows two storylines throughout most of the book, with the first being in the present following Eleanor.
The second story line took place decades ago, following Anushka, who worked as the help for the family. I was glad that the past storyline only had a few pages at most every time it interjected the present timeline.
The prose flowed well through the translation. I thought as with other books by the author that she addressed prosopagnosia and other mental disorders well. The characters were written well, with unique personalities, where prosopagnosia didn’t solely define Eleanor at all.
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The plot was driven by both the mystery and the characters. Eleanor was a great main character with faults that were not just her own, but she tried to work through everything, which was enjoyable to cheer for. Sebastian and Veronika both felt unique instead of cardboard cutouts (unlike the lawyer) where each of them had well-defined motivations for their actions.
Vivianne though...Vivianne was well-written, but I disliked her on almost EVERY level in both the present and past storylines. Anushka though kind of felt like a cliché at times. She was written well enough, but there was just something missing.
I sympathized with some of the rest of the supporting cast too. (view spoiler)[ Annika completely lost any form of enjoyment or sympathy that I had for her as the plot kept chugging along with so many motivations questionable later on. (hide spoiler)]
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This book had quite a lot of twists both big and small where I guessed most of them, yet a few did surprise me. I liked the overall mystery, and the conclusion was satisfying too. The author sprinkled in minor red herrings for misdirects, but the biggest misdirects were some of the smaller mysteries I kept trying to discover instead.
The "author notes" section at the end of the book mentioned that a major character named Alexia got cut in the final draft because she distracted too much from other characters and the plot. I honestly would have liked that character, which could have maybe even elevated the story to a 5 stars for me (I’m stuck between a 4 and a 4.5 tbh). (view spoiler)[ I really wished Kickli would have been told the actual fate of her mother. I can kind of understand the initial subterfuge but to keep it going was malicious.
Now, I am going to really go in on Vivianne, so when it’s tagged spoiler I mean spoiler! I just cannot fathom the compete personality change of Annika. It seemed she embodied all the bad parts of Marta’s personality and kept up the act even when Evert died.
The really crappy thing is how she mistreated Veronika. I thought maybe either Veronika having a different mother or father would have been the reason why she treated one daughter better than the other. Nope.
The innocent maid became a toxic entity who destroyed the lives of all those around her and kept doing so. They tried to do the POV of hers at the end, but at that point I just didn’t have an ounce of pity for her. She did not have to keep up with the secrets of her dead husband, but she did. She mistreated Victoria, who was supposedly all she had left. (She had a daughter and probably extended family still around for all we know.) I guess I’ll stop venting about the character because honestly I just loved to hate her, and it seems like it elevated the story for me too. (hide spoiler)]
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Overall, I liked the book and thought the mystery and dark family secrets were well done. I liked this book even more than The Lost Village by the same author, though the premise and atmosphere of that book was so good.
It was interesting as well to learn more about face blindness. I wouldn’t really tag this book as horror though. Otherwise, if you enjoyed this book, check out other works by Camilla Sten, or other similar authors such as Simone St. James, Ruth Ware, and others who write historical horror/mystery.
The Great Alone by Kristen Hannah, is a novel set in 1970s Alaska. Ernt Allbright is a Vietnam POW who suReview originally published November 2018
The Great Alone by Kristen Hannah, is a novel set in 1970s Alaska. Ernt Allbright is a Vietnam POW who suffers from PSTD. Because it is 1974, PSTD hadn’t been diagnosed nor recognized. His family just understands that he is “messed up” from the war.
Ernt has decided to pack up the family and move to Alaska after a fallen soldier buddy willed his little slice of desolate heaven to Ernt. Wife Cora and daughter Leni, 13, are apprehensive about the move, naturally, because Ernt suffers so terribly. The thought of Alaska sounds so appealing to Ernt, while both Cora and Leni believe his anxieties and depression will only amplify, especially when winter sets in and they are surrounded by snow and constant darkness. Despite her apprehension, Cora borrows a bit of cash from her parents, and they head off in their well-used VW van.
The family is always struggling financially as Ernt is unable to hold a job, so with the little cash they borrowed, the first place they visit before heading to the gifted cabin is an outpost to stock up on living supplies. Large Marge, as she is called, is a former prosecutor from a big city. Marge runs the outpost, and with her great intuition, she figures these three out straight away. She helps them get set up with the immediate essentials and doesn’t hold back with her warnings of all of the dangers lurking in remote Alaska.
Large Marge, and then later the other folks they meet, spend a lot of time warning of bears, and the merits of preparing for winter, even though it was early summer. They have all stressed the fact that living in Alaska during the winter took a special skillset that not everyone is equipped with.
After acquiring the supplies to get them started, the Allbrights head to the cabin, which is more primitive than they had imagined. No running water or electricity. Cora and Leni are anxious and weary at the prospect of their new living situation, while Ernt seemed energized by the challenges they face.
Surprisingly, Ernt manages to keep his mood swings and general mental health under control for a while, but it’s just a matter of time before he begins over-drinking, and his mood swings grow out of control. For years, Cora had been the target of Ernt’s violent outburst. Cora always accepted his apologies and made excuses for her bruises. When Leni becomes the target of Ernt’s physical violence, all things change.
If I had to do it over again, I wouldn’t have read this book before the holidays because it was an emotional read filled with heartbreak and frustration. However, I will say that the author did an amazing job at providing me a perfect visual of Alaska and the hardy folk that call Alaska home. I have a renewed respect for the land and its inhabitants. The desolation and winter darkness, along with imminent danger, were palpable.
See also:
My other favorite reads lately have been The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult; The Girl Who Came Home by Hazel Gaynor; Plainsong and Eventide, both by Ken Haruf; The Guest Room by Chris Bohjalian; and One Thousand White Women by Jim Fergus.
Please check out our website at www.lacrossecountylibrary.org for catalog resources or for upcoming programming schedules. Please visit and like us on Facebook as well!
In 2017, a mere two years away, the world will recognize the one hundredth anniversary of the Russian ReReview originally published September 2015
In 2017, a mere two years away, the world will recognize the one hundredth anniversary of the Russian Revolution: a violent, prolonged event that saw the demise of the nation’s once great tsarist empire and the rise of what would eventually become the Soviet Union. The first Soviet forced labor camps were established as early as 1918, and would quietly exist (in one form or another) for the next sixty-eight years, until Mikhail Gorbachev approved a general pardon for all Soviet political prisoners in 1986.
The Gulag, as this stunningly complex web of camps and government bureaucracy would become known, took the lives of millions of Soviet citizens and foreigners alike. It is estimated that between 1929 and 1953 alone, at least 18 million people were sent to the camps, and another six million exiled (actual numbers can never be known due to imprecise Soviet documentation and the destruction of records).
Yet, despite such staggering statistics, most people in the Western world have little, if any, knowledge of the Gulag system. It is a hidden history, but one that receives the delicate, insightful treatment it deserves in the well-researched Gulag: A History by Anne Applebaum.
For a history buff like myself, Applebaum’s book is a diamond in the rough, providing extensive survivor interviews, historical photographs and diagrams, and excerpts from poetry and prose written by both survivors and victims alike. The author reminds readers early on that this is not simply a technical, chronological history of the Gulag, but “[a]t the same time, this is a book about life in the Gulag” that explores every corner of a person’s time served in a camp.
In fact, Applebaum devotes an entire section of Gulag to this human aspect of the Soviet labor camp system, with chapters like “Work in the Camps,” “Women and Children,” and “Strategies of Survival.”
While perhaps not the cheeriest of reads, Gulag: A History provides a much needed introduction for general readers to an important facet of modern history that has remained incredibly enigmatic, even been avoided, for far too long. As Applebaum states, “[t]his book was not written ‘so that it will not happen again,” as the cliché would have it. This book was written because it almost certainly will happen again.” A thorough understanding of the past is therefore the only way to truly comprehend our future.
Find this book and more like it through the La Crosse County Library system, with locations in Holmen, Onalaska, West Salem, Bangor, and Campbell.
Imagine being a 12-year-old girl in the early 60’s trying to survive with a mother who is slowly losing a gReview originally published August 2013
Imagine being a 12-year-old girl in the early 60’s trying to survive with a mother who is slowly losing a grip on reality, a father who is gone for weeks at a time for work and doesn’t want to be home when he is, and your only friend is Mrs. Gertrude Odell, the elderly neighbor. This is the life CeeCee Honeycutt is living. If you’re looking for an easy end of the summer read that will make you laugh and cry, check out Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman.
CeeCee’s only source of fun is her Sunday mornings with Mrs. Odell. Every Sunday, she runs over to her house for pancakes and listens to the church station on the radio. Mrs. Odell was her best friend, and would make her school lunches everyday, and in return CeeCee would pull the weeds in her garden.
Her own mother was in no shape to care or provide for her. Camille Honeycutt could be found most days wearing a tiara and some sort of pageant dress she picked up at the Goodwill store, with bright pink lipstick smeared across her face. Always bringing up the fact that in 1951, she was the Vidalia Onion Queen, and thinks she still is. She would stand out in the front yard waving at folks as they drove by like she was in a parade.
With her mom’s behavior getting increasingly worse and embarrassing, CeeCee had to always watch her to keep her from hurting herself or making a fool of herself in front of the whole town. The town was not very forgiving, and never missed a chance to laugh or make fun of CeeCee and her mom.
After tragedy strikes, CeeCee’s great-aunt from Georgia comes to visit, and takes her back home with her to live, explaining to her father that this is the best thing for her, which he readily agrees. CeeCee doesn’t want to go. She doesn’t want to leave her best friend Mrs. Odell, the only happiness she knows, she’s scared and confused that her father would just make her leave.
What ensues is a life CeeCee could never imagine. Her great Aunt Tootie and her circle of friends fall in love with CeeCee from the start, and show her what it means to belong to a real family who love and take care of each other. This story shows the strength and power of women from different races and backgrounds and how they all impact this one little girl, and how she unknowingly impacts them.
Stop in to your local La Crosse County Library in Bangor, Campbell, Holmen, Onalaska, or West Salem and check out our website at lacrossecountylibrary.org for all your library needs.
Review originally published April 2012 Spoilers warning for the first book in this series, Whistling in the Dark
The year is 1959. Two sisters aReview originally published April 2012 Spoilers warning for the first book in this series, Whistling in the Dark
The year is 1959. Two sisters are fending for themselves most of the time in the Washington Park neighborhood of Milwaukee. The older girl, Sally, at age 11, has promised her dying father that she will keep her 10 year-old sister Margaret safe. If you knew her sister, nicknamed "Troo" for trooper, this is not an easy task!
Good Graces by Lesley Kagen is the sequel to Whistling in the Dark. Life has settled down since last summer when their mother was gravely ill. During her recovery, their mother rekindles an old romance with the neighborhood beat cop, Dave. He becomes the stable person in their lives even though it is difficult for the girls to trust him.
These girls have difficulty trusting people they should, and sometimes they trust people they shouldn’t. Most notable are Mrs. Galecki their neighbor, her housekeeper, Ethel, Father Mickey, Greasy Al, and the Goldman’s. Kagen uses in-depth descriptions of characters as observed by the girls, which in turn makes them rather believable.
This is a story of loyalty and friendships, of innocence and guilt, of childish flights of imagination and grown-up realities. At times, the neighborhood kids are too street-smart and beyond their years in their thoughts and speech. It is not the innocent 50’s neighborhood we like to remember, but sad as it is, these broken families and “adult” children exist.
There’s murder-mystery and adventure for these sisters whether they are at summer camp, visiting the playground, the corner five and dime, or Samson the gorilla at the Washington Park Zoo.
This book can be requested at any of the La Crosse County Libraries located in Onalaska, Campbell, West Salem, Holmen, and Bangor. You can also reserve a copy through our website at www.lacrossecountylibrary.org
Last month, American voters spoke loud and clear that our nation is in need of a change in the current poReview originally published December 2008
Last month, American voters spoke loud and clear that our nation is in need of a change in the current political atmosphere. After serving as President of the United States for eight years, George W. Bush will leave office with the lowest approval rating of any president in our recent memory.
Believe it or not, President Bush is not the first president to make catastrophic decisions while in office. Failures of the Presidents by Thomas J Craughwell is a fascinating book that details what really happened during many conflicts in American history, such as the Whiskey Rebellion under the presidency of George Washington and The Bay of Pigs under John F. Kennedy.
What do George W. Bush and our fourth president, James Madison, have in common? President Madison was convinced that that the British were responsible for recruiting Shawnee Chief Tecumseh and his brother Tenskwatawa to drive white settlers out of Illinois, Iowa, and Ohio, which would ease the way for the British to carry out a grand scheme to take over all of New England. Both claims were false.
President Madison then convinced Congress that the British were responsible for suffocating American commerce, as well as forcing American citizens to serve on British warships while violating American waters. Congress believed him, and by a narrow margin voted to declare war on the British, which resulted in The War of 1812.
Lasting two years and 8 months, 20,000 Americans lost their lives in addition to 17,000 lives lost due to disease in military camps and Indian raids. National debt doubled and by November of 1814, the federal government was virtually bankrupt.
Read about Richard Nixon’s part in the Watergate Scandal as well as the bombing of Cambodia, Grover Cleveland’s order to involve military forces to settle a strike by Pullman railroad workers, and Jimmy Carter’s mistakes during the Iran Hostage Crisis and many others.
This book and many other historical accounts of America’s past are available at the five County Libraries located in Holmen, Onalaska, West Salem, Bangor and Campbell or visit us online at www.lacrossecountylibrary.org.
It is almost de rigueur for librarians to tout the evils of television compared to the benefits of reading. AReview originally published July 2004
It is almost de rigueur for librarians to tout the evils of television compared to the benefits of reading. As librarians, and as parents and grandparents, we may not-so-discreetly suggest that a child turn off that electronic mind-waster, open a book, and use his or her imagination.
And yet, I always feel a slight tug of hypocrisy when I get on the "TV=bad/books=good" bandwagon since, as a front-line baby boomer, I was ecstatic when our family got its first television. No matter that we got only one station and that the reception was lousy. I was hooked. Is it a boast or an embarrassment to say that even today I can usually hum the melody and rattle off the words to commercials from 40-year-old TV shows? (Do you know what LSMFT means?)
Anyway, I have the perfect temporary solution to the read-or-watch conundrum. We just received the latest edition of The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present. You can read about those great old TV shows and thus participate in the best of both worlds!
Want to know what TV shows were spin-offs from other shows? What were the theme songs from your favorite shows from the 60s? What were the longest running series? What TV shows also aired on the radio? Want to verify the name of the actors in your favorite shows? Need some help remembering just what your favorite shows were? This is the book for you.
This is a reference book in a very user-friendly format. Undoubtedly, much of the information in it can be found on the Internet, but not in such an organized, fun-to-read way. Plus, it has a terrific appendix with the kind of trivia questions (and answers) we boomers love. What did Jim Anderson do for a living on Father Knows Best? Where did Ida Morgenstern live? Who played Miss Kitty on Gunsmoke? What was Maxwell Smart’s agent number on Get Smart?
Back when I was young and a million dollars went a lot further than it does today, there was a show I thought was the best. It was called, helpfully, The Millionaire, and I daydreamed about eccentric multibillionaire, Mr. John Beresford Tipton, sending his agent, Michael Anthony, to present me with that cashier’s check for one million dollars.
Well, Mr. Anthony never came, but just reading about that wonderful old series makes me feel wealthy. Chances are you, too, will find that this is one reference book that will jog your memory, make you wistful, and help you to enjoy those reruns even more!
William Kent Krueger is an author that is really popular among our patrons, and it doesn’t hurt that his books take place close to our location. I kneWilliam Kent Krueger is an author that is really popular among our patrons, and it doesn’t hurt that his books take place close to our location. I knew that this book is a prequel to his mystery series that I enjoy immensely, but I wasn’t sure if this book was going to be written like the other books in his series or like the standalone books of his such as This Tender Land .
I’m always surprised how some of his mystery books and other books written by veteran mystery writers are hardly ever nominated for the Goodreads Choice Awards in mystery, but I digress. Still, I was excited to read about the fictional town and characters I’ve grown to love in a different era than I am used to reading.
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The story follows a young Cork O’Connor and his father, Liam O’Connor, who is the sheriff in Aurora. Cork is playing with his friend when they stumble across the corpse of a friend’s relative. This starts to cause tension among the community where some think that it was a classic suicide while the Indigenous American community seems to think that foul deeds were afoot, and he was murdered.
Both Cork and Liam are torn between the communities they serve, where Liam has to the follow the facts of the case while getting admonished by friends and family alike. Memories of forced boarding schools for the residents of the reservation as well as predatory treaties and laws still sit in the mind of the tribal leaders who found it hard to trust a white man’s badge that was used in the past to drag them away from their families.
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After some heavy sleuthing by both Cork and his father, the mystery surrounding the dead man finally seems solved for better or for worse. That is until another body shows up in the form of an Indigenous American girl who went missing in a neighboring community. The tension between the Indigenous American reservation and the white community of Aurora is almost palpable and puts families at odds with each other including Cork’s family.
With a fast paced and heart pounding climax, this book offers all the elements that readers love in the mystery series written by William Kent Krueger. Old audience favorite characters are reintroduced in the form of Henry and Sam Winter while some other easter eggs are dropped here and there. The two best characters introduced in this book though are Cork’s mother and grandmother who have a compelling relationship with each other and the rest of the family.
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The best thing about this book for me other than the mystery was the supporting cast of characters. The grandmother was a breath of fresh air while familiar characters from the series give this book the same feel as the rest of the series. The relationship between Cork’s mother and father was also interesting and engaging for me when compared to Cork’s marriage in other books. Cork’s friends were also fun to read about since they were such a different cast of characters who each had their own struggles including with each other until they learn to resolve them.
The only POVs that this book followed were Cork and Liam. This was a blessing yet also a curse for me. First of all, I feel like this book followed the POV of Cork too much instead of his father which kind of took it away for me since the Liam is a new character that I wanted to explore more so than Cork. That is also because it just didn’t feel like Liam was a unique enough character.
It felt like an adult Cork POV from the rest of the series with some minor differences with the big one in not having indigenous blood running through his veins though his relations to friends, wife, and mother-in-law almost seemed to bridge the gap with some of the relationships that Cork developed with the Anishinaabe. Both though had problems fitting in with both of the communities in their own way. It was also fun though in seeing how both father and son were like-minded when it came to the same case they were trying to solve.
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We follow young Cork, but his POV just seems too good to be true almost like he is an investigative genius. He somehow finds clues or knows certain aspects leave the sheriff’s office baffled. Young Cork is so put together and mature for his age where even interactions with his friend and strangers at times feel too adult-like. We know for a fact that adult Cork in the series is nowhere near this perfect of a person and is more realistic.
It is kind of frustrating to see how his young mind works compared how he fumbled around in some of the first books of the series too. In contrast though, it is also fun and interesting to see his naïve and innocent POV before the mess of adulthood happens to him with problems he’s forced to persevere through.
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This book had twists and turns galore that kept me on my toes. Even when I thought I knew what happened, some element of the mysteries presented had me surprised. I was a bit surprised with the epilogue since I thought that either the whole book would have been about that, or that it would have been broached in another prequel book. I love this series so of course I was going to be impressed with this book almost no matter what happened. I recommend this book to fans of the series this is a prequel to and to mystery lovers in general.
In fact, other than the first book in the series, this would be a perfect place to start reading the William Kent Krueger’s mystery series as well.
Find this book and other titles within our catalog.
Until the Last of Me was a very unpredictable read, even if the historical background in which this story is playing out has already been established.Until the Last of Me was a very unpredictable read, even if the historical background in which this story is playing out has already been established.
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We pick up where A History of What Comes Next left off. Mia and her daughter, Lola, are still on the run from the Trackers, their historical enemies, but of course they keep busy. They've helped send astronauts to the moon, and are now helping with the Voyager 1 & 2 probe projects at NASA.
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Along the way, Mia hears from an old friend of her mother's, Xuesen, a pivotal figure in the Chinese space scene, and discovers that her mother was hiding things from her. For years, she had been pursuing a lead about their Kibsu heritage, curious to recover some knowledge of who their ancestors were, while admonishing Mia for the same curiosity.
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You see, the mission to take humanity into the stars always takes precedence, according to their rules, passed on for 100 generations. At best, indulging that ancestral curiosity is a vanity project, and at worst, provides a major distraction in a deadly race to escape the Trackers (ideally, eventually, off-planet).
These threads mesh together more naturally than one might imagine. While humanity is wrestling with the conflicts of the era, where after the initial moon landing, human space-travel has taken a back seat, and while Mia and Lola are doing their best to trace their roots, Voyager 1 & 2 are visiting the outer planets.
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The perspectives of the space probes are charmingly anthropomorphized, struggling like their human counterparts on Earth against forces much larger than themselves (in space, that being gravity, distance, and the debris of the solar system). I suspect that made it easier for general readers to connect with machines (perhaps like people getting to name our Mars rovers), but I think that this perspective hints at the future humanity could have in the stars and serves to highlight how our machines are an extension of humanity's curiosity and drive to explore.
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But, before I keep going on that tangent, let's return to the story!
For generations, the Kibsu have been on the run, but Lola is the one that ultimately makes a gambit to stop running (view spoiler)[I think the unexpected death of her mother solidified this choice (hide spoiler)] and make a stand against the Trackers.
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Is Lola's gambit worth it, or will it doom the Kibsu, and humanity's future in the stars? Read to find out!
I can't wait for the final volume of the trilogy, which is titled For the First Time, Again, to see where the author is going to take us. Let's just say the ending of Until the Last of Me sets up an intriguing evolution of the story so far.
Imagine a small, picture perfect town in the 1960s with a close nit community where nothing bad ever happens…allegedly. I was pleasantly surprised to Imagine a small, picture perfect town in the 1960s with a close nit community where nothing bad ever happens…allegedly. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Bloodline takes place around St. Cloud, Minnesota which isn’t too far from where I live. The main character, Joan, needs a new start with her fiancé after unfortunate circumstances keep happening to her.
They decide to move to Lilydale, which is the hometown of her fiancé for a pregnant Joan to have her baby. Like a colorful Band-Aid covering a festering wound, our main character pulls of the picture-perfect facade of the town to discover dark secrets that the inhabitants go to great lengths to conceal including a child kidnapping that happened many years ago. Maybe.
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Joan is not always the most reliable narrator as she tends to omit things from her own memories such as a friend’s suicide and replace them with more pleasant ones. She also has knack for stealing little trinkets that she picked up in her childhood to help her cope with stressful situations. At first, it was a bit annoying as it felt like she was ruining things for herself, but I eventually came around to cheering her on when her eye catches hold of something you just know she shouldn’t pilfer.
She was a strong fighter and well written character though. I felt her helplessness through the pages especially since she cared so much about others even at her own expense. I would have just driven away from the town earlier if I went through everything she had to experience. For real though, I would leave far, far away, especially since the community keeps too close of an eye on any dissidents making it too stressful by far.
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I enjoyed how the author described scenes through all five senses which made it easier to imagine. The prose was fun with how you would have separate small chapters taking place in the present of her waking up in a room. Her memories she forgot were slowly returning to her creating tension in the air that could be cut with a knife. The story felt like it was occurring in the 1960s as well with little events and news articles floating around further enhancing the feel of the era.
The mystery and twists behind the town were engaging where I kept trying to figure out what were red herrings and what weren’t. I kind of surmised the background of the town (truthfully, I’m giving myself too much credit here) and some mysteries, but there were enough twists and mysteries that surprised me all the same.
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I really enjoyed this book even if some of the ideas behind the book have been done before. The author, Jess Lourey, bases a lot of her stories in rural Minnesota where some locations might be familiar to some of our patrons. Another interesting thing about this book and the author is that each one of her books is based on a true crime that happened locally. I’m glad this is only the first book that I read by Jess Lourey since that means I have more to look forward to reading.
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