The Learned Owl Mystery Newsletter

Share The Owl 

 

Like us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter



Kate's Corner




Back to school already?! I can't even believe where the summer has gone. We have been very busy moving some sections around, expanding our title base as room allows.

We have also spent the last two months following the ongoing Amazon / Hachette dispute. They are still in a stalemate as other publishers gear up for their own negotiations. It would appear that even the all mighty empire of Disney is not exempt from Amazon's bullying tactics as preorders for some of their biggest blockbuster DVD releases are being denied. Amid all this madness and mudslinging I must remember how thankful I am for all the people and businesses standing up for a fair market place where one corporation is not allowed to control our thoughts and actions when it comes to purchasing products.

I am also extremely thankful for all of you who choose to make your voices heard by supporting us and our community! 

Happy reading!
- Kate
Coming up at
The Learned Owl

Sat., Aug. 16, 1-3 PM
(at The Owl)
Terry Sykes-Bradshaw visits to sign her newest book, Sibling Revelry, a thriller about two sisters whose vacation goes horribly wrong.

Sun., Aug. 17, 2 PM
(at The Owl)
Our History Book Club will meet to discuss the sinking of the Titanic. Authors Mary Ann Whitley and Tad Fitch will also be attending.

Sat., Aug. 23, 11 AM
(at The Owl)
Bring your kids to hear the hilarious story of Peanut Butter & Cupcake! Please call 330-653-2252 to sign up for this free event.

Tues., Aug. 26, 11 AM
(at The Owl)
Storytime with the brand-new book Hug Machine. Each child will receive a handmade "hug" to take home with them.

Thurs., Aug. 28, 7 PM
(location TBA)
Join us as our Book Club in a Bar meets to discuss White Heat by M. J. McGrath.

Sat., Aug. 30, 1-3 PM
(at The Owl)

Sun., Aug. 31, 2 PM
(at The Owl)
Meet author Julie Drew, who will be introducing her first YA novel Glimpse, first in the Tesla Effect trilogy.

Wed., Sept. 3, 5:30-9 PM (The Owl / Rosewood Grill)
Meet author Julia Keller, who will be signing her newest book, Summer of the Dead, at The Learned Owl from 5:30-7 PM. There will also be a ticketed dinner with Ms. Keller at the Rosewood Grill from 7:30 to 9. Tickets will be $55, and will include dinner and a copy of her new book. Space is limited; call or stop in for reservations.

Sun., Sept. 7, 5-7 PM
(at The Owl)
The second in our Writers' Workshop Summer Series will focus on The Practical Side of Creative Non-Fiction, led by Wayne Elliot. Space is limited; call 330-653-2252 to register. Cost is $45.
Quick Links
New mysteries

The Furies The Furies by Natalie Haynes
[St. Martin's Press, $25.99; available Aug. 26]
Linda recommends: There are few things better than settling in for a story filled with raw and real human emotion and characters who are as flawed and as confused as I am! This was a somewhat dark page-turner that taunted me as each chapter brought me closer to the event that was foreshadowed early on in the story. I look forward to Ms. Haynes' next offering!
Preorder bookGoogle PreviewPreorder eBook

Long Way Home The Long Way Home by Louise Penny
[Minotaur Books, $27.99; available Aug. 26]
Happily retired in the village of Three Pines, Armand Gamache, former Chief Inspector of Homicide with the Surete du Quebec, has found a peace he'd only imagined possible. On warm summer mornings he sits on a bench holding a small book, The Balm in Gilead, in his large hands. "There is a balm in Gilead," his neighbor Clara Morrow reads from the dust jacket, "to make the wounded whole."
While Gamache doesn't talk about his wounds and his balm, Clara tells him about hers. Peter, her artist husband, has failed to come home - failed to show up as promised on the first anniversary of their separation. She wants Gamache's help to find him. Having finally found sanctuary, Gamache feels a near revulsion at the thought of leaving Three Pines. "There's power enough in Heaven," he finishes the quote as he contemplates the quiet village, "to cure a sin-sick soul." And then he gets up and joins her.
Together with his former second-in-command, Jean-Guy Beauvoir, and Myrna Landers, they journey deeper and deeper into Quebec, and deeper and deeper into the soul of Peter Morrow: a man so desperate to recapture his fame as an artist, he would sell that soul. And he may have. The journey takes them further and further from Three Pines, to the very mouth of the great St. Lawrence river, to an area so desolate, so damned, the first mariners called it the land God gave to Cain. And there they discover the terrible damage done by a sin-sick soul.
Preorder bookGoogle PreviewPreorder eBook 

One of UsOne of Us by Tawni O'Dell
[Gallery Books, $25.00; available Aug. 19]
Linda recommends: I'd forgotten how captivating O'Dell's writing is, and her newest is every bit as good as the last one I read. She knows about the human psyche and the human spirit, and her stories ring true and honest.
Preorder bookPreorder eBook

PersonalPersonal by Lee Child
[Delacorte Press, $28.00; available Sept. 2]
"You can leave the army, but the army doesn't leave you. Not always. Not completely," notes Jack Reacher. And sure enough, the retired military cop is soon pulled back into service - this time, for the State Department and the CIA.
Someone has taken a shot at the president of France in the City of Light. The bullet was American. The distance between the gunman and the target was exceptional. How many snipers can shoot from three-quarters of a mile with total confidence? Very few, but John Kott - an American marksman gone bad - is one of them. And after fifteen years in prison, he's out, unaccounted for, and likely drawing a bead on a G-8 summit packed with enough world leaders to tempt any assassin.
If anyone can stop Kott, it's the man who beat him before: Reacher. And though he'd rather work alone, Reacher is teamed with Casey Nice, a rookie analyst who keeps her cool with Zoloft. But they're facing a rough road, full of ruthless mobsters, Serbian thugs, close calls, double-crosses... and no backup if they're caught. All the while, Reacher can't stop thinking about the woman he once failed to save. But he won't let that that happen again. Not this time. Not to Nice.
Reacher never gets too close. But now a killer is making it personal.
Preorder bookPreorder eBook

Paw and OrderPaw and Order by Spencer Quinn
[Atria Books, $25.00]
Chet and Bernie pay a visit to Bernie's girlfriend, Suzie Sanchez, a crack reporter living in far-off Washington, DC. She's working on a big story she can't talk about; but when her source, a mysterious Brit with possible intelligence connections, runs into trouble of the worst kind, Bernie suddenly finds himself under arrest. Meanwhile Chet gets to know a powerful DC operative who may or may not have the goods on an ambitious politician.
Soon Chet and Bernie are sucked into an international conspiracy, battling unfamiliar forces under the blinking red eyes of a strange bird that Chet notices from the get-go but that seems to have slipped by everybody else. Most menacing of all is Barnum, a guinea pig with the fate of the nation in his tiny paws. As Harry Truman famously quipped, "If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog." Too bad he didn't get to meet Chet!
Buy the bookBuy the eBook

Thanks for supporting your local independent bookstore.
Happy reading!