Heard Any Good Books Lately? May 2022 edition - Transcript [Music] [0:10] The content of this program is intended for people who are blind and print impaired. Hello and welcome to our May 2022 edition of Heard Any Good Books Lately, a program from the North Carolina Reading Service. I'm George Douglas. This program is brought to you by The Friends of the North Carolina Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. An organization of citizens volunteers and patrons all interested in supporting the library and the services it provides. The Friends Group was founded in 1989 and now has more than 300 members across North Carolina. If you'd like to join the friends group yourself we'll have information on how to do that later in this program. This program is all about books with special emphasis on those available from the North Carolina library for the blind the library has more than 86 000 titles in its collection. Books and magazines are available in large print, braille and talking books as well. The library has more than eleven thousand patrons across the state and if you're not a patron but are interested in becoming one I'll have more information at the end of this program. [1:27] This month we'll take a look at some of the most popular books checked out in the month of April at the State Library of North Carolina Accessible Books and Library Services. And by the way that is the brand-new name for the North Carolina Library for the Blind. I’ll repeat that again at the end of this program. [1:47] Let's begin with a book entitled Treachery at Lancaster Gate by Anne Perry. And this is a review that was written by Ray Palin back in March of 2016. The Victorian Era is an intriguing time-period in which to set a Historical mystery series and there's no better tour guide to lead you through it than the great Anne Perry. To categorize her novels as historical mysteries does not do them justice. There are equal parts political psychological and sociological elements at play in all her work. Treachery at Lancaster Gate is the latest in a long-running Charlotte and Thomas Pitt series and maybe one of the finest entries to date. What I found, says the reviewer morbidly ironic about the novel and its release date, is that it has at its centerpiece. At its centerpiece a brutal bombing that may have been set by anarchistic terrorists. In light of recent events in Belgium, I felt a chill down my spine as I tore through the pages of this intense tale. Thomas Pitt, Commander of the Special Branch, is depicted at the beginning of the book standing amidst the burn out ruins of a home at Lancaster Gate. Now it appears that it was a bomb blast that caused the damage. There were five people in the house at the time of the explosion, all of whom were police officers. Two were killed and the others badly injured, one possibly mortally. Pitt is not the least bit surprised that he was called first to investigate this tragedy. Special Branch is known for dealing with cases involving sabotage assassinations, bombings and any form of terrorism. When Pitt is able to interview one of the surviving officers, he is told that they were at that location in pursuit of an opium den that was illegally supplying the pain-relieving drug. Now this information provides Pitt and his team with a valuable lead and their focus shifts to an obvious suspect. Alexander Duncannon is the son of one of London’s wealthiest men, Sir Godfrey Duncannon. He is an art lover and a highly intelligent young man but also an opium addict. The motive, for his being involved in the bombing, is revenge. In this case revenge upon an allegedly corrupt group of officers who set up both himself and his dear friend Dylan Lazandt following a murder investigation. Lizant was found guilty and hung for the crime a crime for which Alexander feels responsible. Pitt is approached by his brother-in-law, Jack Radley, and urged to drop any investigations into Alexander. The reason for his plea is in fact that negotiations with China to stop the flow of opium into London are being led by Godfrey. How long can Pitt wait to apprehend a suspect he knows is guilty just to satisfy the political machinations that are in motion against the illegal opium trade? As always Anne Perry has spiced up what could be a standard mystery thriller with enough emotional subtext and complex moral issues. That it is impossible to put down and is continuously surprising. One thing she excels at is bringing to life controversial courtroom dramas and Treachery at Lancaster Gate has a whopper of a trial at its conclusion. Readers will be surprised at and quite satisfied with the electric ending which features instances that will continue to resonate long after the final page is turned. This was a review by Ray Palin from 2016 and it is entitled Treachery at Lancaster Gate by Anne Perry. [6:16] Next let's take a look at a book entitled Folly du Jour by Barbara Cleverley and this is a review in May. 1927 Scotland yard commander Joe Sandolans investigates a murder of which his former mentor is accused of the crime. In Folly du Jour the seventh mystery in this series by Barbara Cleverley. Here's the plot. Sir George Jardine a former British diplomat based in Paris is attending a performance at the Theater de Chamberlieze. After receiving a mysterious letter with an entry ticket signed just John, while seated in one of the best box seats, he sees a former colleague and nemesis on the opposite side of the theater one Lieutenant Colonel now Sir Stanley Somerton. Nothing to do now as the performance is just starting and a mesmerizing one it is. At its end George heads over to greet Somerton only to find him dead. His throat slashed. He's immediately arrested for the murder. Joe Sandolans, coincidentally in Paris to attend an Interpol conference, is asked to get involved and intervenes on George's behalf. He joins up with a French counterpart, Inspector Jean-Philippe Bonfoir, who's been investigating a multi-year series of bizarre unsolved murders. Though there doesn't seem to be a connection. The coroner isn't so sure. What is certain is the key to solving Somerton’s murder depends on finding out why someone may have wanted him dead. Folly du Jour is for the most part a delightful mystery. The well-drawn characters and atmospheric setting are spot-on. The disparate elements of the book including an intriguing though not obviously relevant at least initially. Prologue come together much as an intricate play in three acts does a strong opening to set the foundation for the story a middle act that moves the plot along and a conclusion that resolves the mystery. Though each component is generally well executed, the third and final act is probably the least successful primarily because it is overly and unnecessarily complicated. It's almost as if the author realized a rather predictable and simple resolution was in the offing. Not that there's anything wrong with that especially if it's as elegantly presented as the rest of the book. Instead she makes an abrupt and unexpected departure crafting a convoluted and ultimately less satisfying alternative ending. Still the root taken was an enjoyable one and definitely worth of a reader's consideration. And that was a review about the book Folly du Jour by Barbara Cleverley. [9:42] And next on Heard Any Good Books Lately, let's take a look at a book called The Murder of Mary Russell, a novel of suspense featuring Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes by Laurie R King. New York Times Bestseller Laurie R King's Mary Russell Sherlock Holmes series, weaves rich historical detail and provocative themes with intriguing characters and enthralling suspense. Russell and Holmes have become one of modern literature's most beloved teams but does this adventure end at all. Here's the plot, Mary Russell is used to dark secrets her own and those of her famous partner and husband Sherlock Holmes. Trust is a thing slowly given but over the course of a decade together the two have forged an indissoluble bond and what of the other person to whom Mary Russell has opened her heart, the couple's longtime housekeeper, Mrs Hudson. Well Russell’s faith and affection are suddenly shattered when a man arrives on the doorstep claiming to be Mrs Hudson’s son. What Samuel Hudson tells Russell cannot possibly be true, yet she believes him as surely as she believes the threat of the gun in his hand. In a devastating instant everything changes and when the scene is discovered a pool of blood on the floor, the smell of gunpowder in the air. The most shocking revelation of all is that the grim clues point directly to Clara Hudson or rather to Clarissa the woman she was before Baker Street. The key to Russell’s sacrifice lies in Mrs Hudson’s path to uncover the truth. Frantic Sherlock Holmes must put aside his anguish and push deep into his housekeeper's secrets to a time before her disguise was assumed before her crimes were buried away. There is death here and murder and trust betrayed, and nothing will ever be the same maybe you've read a couple of uh stories that have been offshoots from the Sherlock Holmes series by Conan Doyle. This sounds like a good one. It's called The Murder of Mary, a novel of suspense featuring Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes that was by author Laurie R King. [12:29] Next let's look at a book called Poison, a Dismal Hardy novel by John T Lescroart. In bestseller Lescroart satisfying 20th Dismal Hardy novel after 2016's The Fall, the San Francisco attorney, who's recovering from two gunshot wounds and looking forward to retiring soon, can't resist defending a former client Abby Jarvis against a murder charge. Now after committing vehicular manslaughter more than a decade earlier, and serving 22 months in prison, Abby has cleaned up her act become a parent and landed a steady job as a bookkeeper for a plumbing and fixtures company. After Abby's boss, wealthy Grant Wagner, recently died apparently from a heart attack. His daughter Gloria questioned that conclusion given her father's healthy lifestyle. The autopsy that Gloria pressed for revealed that Grant was poisoned with aconite and Abby, who stood to inherit one million dollars, was subsequently indicted for the crime believing Abby innocent. Hardy begins to search for plausible alternative suspects, though the final reveal won't shock veteran genre readers. Lescroart does a good job of balancing the whodunit plotline with well-developed portrayals of both major and secondary characters. Once again that's a book called Poison. It is the 20th novel by John T Lescroart. I'm going to spell that name for you because I’m not completely sure I’m pronouncing it correctly. It's l-e-s-c-r-o-a-r-t. John T Lescroart sounds like a good one. [14:34] Now let's take a look at a book called Aunt Dimity and The Widow's Curse by Nancy Atherton. Nancy Atherton 's 22nd cozy mystery in the beloved nationally best-selling Aunt Dimity Series. It's early April in the small English village of Finch. Lori Shepherd's husband and sons are spending Easter break camping and Lori is perfectly happy to be left at home with Bess, spared a week of roughing it with a curious toddler. The two attend a village events committee meeting and Lori is astonished when the elderly, soft-spoken, widow Mrs Annabelle Craven stands to make an announcement. She's decided to hold a quilting bee in the old schoolhouse. At the quilting bee Lori ends up seated beside Mrs Craven delighted at the opportunity to learn more about her neighbor's life in the Village of Old Cowarton. But dear sweet Mrs Craven's stories reveal a startling secret about her first husband's death. With Aunt Dimity’s advice, Laurie sets out to learn the truth about what the residents of Old Cowarton refer to as the Widow's Curse and the deeper she digs the more horrifying the tale becomes until she discovers the most astounding revelation of all. Again, that is called Aunt Dimity and The Widow's Curse by Nancy Atherton. It is the 22nd cozy mystery series in that beloved national bestselling series, the Aunt Dimity Series. Perhaps you have read or listened to a few of those already and this sounds like another good one. [16:37] And you're listening to Heard Any Good Books Lately, an exclusive presentation of the North Carolina Reading Service. I'm George Douglas thanks so much for joining me today. I hope you're enjoying the program. [16:50] Right now, we're going to take a look at a book called A Double Life and it's a novel by Flynn Barry. Why must so many revenge fantasies fixate in such detail on the physical mutilation of women's bodies as if the answer weren't depressingly obvious. Take Stieg Larsson's best seller The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo, which lingers unbearably for pages and pages over the description of Elizabeth’s rape. Why does the author feel the need to humiliate his heroine so completely? What a relief then for weary fans of the genre to discover Flynn Barry, who writes thrillingly about women raging against a world that protests cruel and careless men. She's less preoccupied by scenes of abuse than the psychological toll of its threat. Her protagonists seethe over their knowledge of violence and are fueled by a howling grief for its victims. Barry’s rich 2016 debut Under The Harrow, about a woman hell-bent on finding her sister's murderer, won the Edgar award for best first novel. Her latest A Double Life again takes us deep into an obsessed woman's head. On the surface Claire lives a tidy life in London. She's a doctor with friends to meet at the pub and a dog to walk and more than the average number of bolts on her apartment door, but Claire's world is a construct. She was born under a different name. The daughter of a charismatic, Eaton-bred, man of power, who's wanted for a decades-old murder. Claire's father based on the real-life bastard, Lord Lucan, loved her mother until he grew tired of her before their divorce was final. Her dispensed of mother stumbled half-dead into a bar drenched in blood and accused the future Earl of trying to kill her with a steel pipe. The last time Claire ever saw her father was the weekend before that attack, when he'd given her the peppermint from his ice cream. It's difficult for me to think of that visit, not because I could have stopped him, exactly. i was eight years old but the scene seems grotesque. The little girl accepting a stick of red and white candy from him it's like he made me complicit, Well she's been on her father's trail her whole adult life, anonymously skulking around. The case studies and true crime message boards and the high society borders of her father's friends who helped him escape, while cruelly trashing her mother. But a constant anxiety courses alongside her searching. Is there a chance her dad is somehow innocent and if not was any of his love for her true? Berry proved in under the harrow that her prose can be as blistering as it is lush. Here too the writing is rich and moody, without any unnecessary fuss. Every scene between Claire and her younger brother quaking under a noose of trauma doll addiction is breathtaking. Robbie looks like our father. Sometimes I wonder if that's why he mistreats himself. It's the only act of revenge he can take. I would read Barry’s view of sibling relationships in any genre, but there's the occasional sound of gears grinding and Barry’s sophomore effort. Claire secures an unlikely accomplice too easily she finds the final hasty pieces to her great life's puzzle in one stolen browser history and Barry's decision to shift perspectives throughout the first two thirds of the book from Claire’s slightly unhinged present-day head to a third person recounting of the past messes. With her momentum but you do so want Claire to get her man and the ending is as shocking as it is satisfying. As depressed desperate and consumed as our messy heroine may get in the process. Barry always lets her hold on to her humanity. That sounds like a pretty exciting book to me. It’s called A Double Life and it's a novel by Flynn Barry. [21:42] Now we're going to transition from a book called A Double Life to a book called Double Blind by Iris Johansen, the number one New York Times best-selling and Edgar award-winning author. Iris and Roy Johansen are back with Double Blind, an electrifying novel that will leave your heart racing. Here's the plot. Kendra Michaels formerly blind and now a hired gun for law enforcement agencies who relies on her razor-sharp powers of observation is reluctant to help the FBI with the most recent case that they've brought to her, but then she hears the details. The body was found just blocks away from Kendra’s condo. The young woman was carrying an envelope with Kendra's name on it and inside was an SD card with what appears to be an innocuous video of a wedding reception. The woman died trying to get the video to Kendra, but for what purpose. Before Kendra and the FBI can answer that question the bride is abducted from her suburban home and so the hunt is on for a killer whose nightmarish plan is slowly becoming clear. A plan that involves a powerful law firm and a multi-billion-dollar corporation. As the body count rises, Kendra joins forces with private investigator Jesse Mercado and agent for hire Adam Lynch to stop the plot as it grows ever closer to its terrifying conclusion. That's a book called Double Blind by Iris Johansen. [23:41] Next here's a book by Mary Balogh, B-A-L-O-G-H, and this one is entitled Someone to Hold. Humphrey Westcott Earl of Riverdale has died leaving behind a fortune and a scandalous secret that will forever alter the lives of his family sending one daughter on a journey of self-discovery. With her parents’ marriage declared bigamous Camille Wescott is now illegitimate and without a title. Looking to eschew the trappings of her old life she leaves London to teach at the Bath Orphanage where her newly discovered half-sister lived. But even as she settles in, she must sit for a portrait commissioned by her grandmother and endure an artist who riles her every nerve. An art teacher at the orphanage, that was once his home, Joel Cunningham, has been hired to paint the portrait of the haughty new teacher. But as Camille poses for Joel, their mutual contempt soon turns to desire and it is only the bond between them that will allow them to weather the rough storm that lies ahead. Sounds like a good story to me. It's called Someone to Hold by Mary Balogh. [25:14] Next on Heard Any Good Books Lately, here's a book called Blue Madonna: A Billy Boyle World War II mystery by James R Benn. Billy Boyle, World War II U.S. Army detective and ex-Boston cop, faces his toughest investigation yet, infiltrating enemy lines in France as the allies invade Normandy. May 1944, Captain Billy Boyle is convicted on spurious charges of black-market dealings. Stripped of his officer's rank, reduced to Private and sentenced to three months hard labor. But Billy is given an opportunity if he takes on the incredibly dangerous mission of investigating a set of murders at the Allies’ safe house in the French town of Chaumont, he can avoid his punishment. Parachuted in, as part of a three-man team, the night before the Normandy invasion, he has very little time to find the killer's identity and lead a group escape back to England, with a whole army of foes nipping at his heels. That sounds like a great World War II novel to me. Blue Madonna: A Billy Boyle World War II mystery by James R Benn. [26:44] And we have time for one more quick book before the program ends today. This one is a book entitled The Switch by Joseph Finder. Here's the plot. Michael Tanner is heading home from a business trip when he accidentally picks up the wrong laptop from security. What he doesn't know is that the owner is U.S. Senator Susan Robbins and her laptop contains top secret files that should never have been on there in the first place and Senator Robbins is not the only one who wants the laptop back. Suddenly Tanner is a hunted man on the run, terrified for the safety of his family, he is in desperate need of a plan. But who can he trust? The book is called The Switch and it's by Joseph Finder. [27:43] And that's about all the time we have for this month's edition of Heard Any Good Books Lately. I’m George Douglas. I hope you enjoyed the program today. If you'd like more information about how to become a patron of the State Library of North Carolina Accessible Books and Library Services simply Google or search for Accessible Books North Carolina Library or you can call 888-388-2460. Again that's 888-388-2460. You can also use those same numbers and website to join The Friends of the North Carolina Library for the Blind. It is that wonderful organization that sponsors this monthly feature on books. This program is intended for people who are blind or print impaired. Heard Any Good Books Lately will be available right after the broadcast at our website ncreadingservice.org. So long until next time. [28:49] [Music]