The Learned Owl Book Shop, January 15, 2016

Kate's Corner

Wow, what a sad start to 2016. I was shocked by the news of David Bowie passing earlier this week. All in my family have been big fans ever since I was young. I have vivid memories of putting on his records and dancing around my parents' living room, and yes I said records. He was so many things to so many people, not least of which was an avid reader and advocate for books.

Then yesterday we lost Alan Rickman, who brought to life one of my favorite villain/ heroes of all time, Severus Snape. Both men will be missed dearly by their family, friends, and legions of adoring fans.

With them in mind this weekend, please join me in raising a glass and a book in their honor. Thank you for your support, and happy reading!

- Kate

Share The Owl

Subscribe me!

Other upcoming events

Saturday, Jan. 16, 11 AM-12:30 PM (at The Owl)

Special storytime: Dewey Bob by Judy Schachner. Join us for the story and a fun craft activity!

Saturday, Jan. 16, 1-3 PM

(at The Owl)

Local author Matt Stansberry with Redhorse: The Rust Belt Bestiary. This book is perfect for those who appreciate the outdoors and all it has to offer.

Sunday, Jan. 17, 2-4 PM

(at The Owl)

Our Learned Owl History Book Club discusses Presidential Also-Rans. Read any book on the topic and join the discussion.

Thursday, Jan. 21, 6:30 PM (at the Hudson Library)

Cupcake Decorating Lab with Luna Bakery's Bridget Thibeault (Cupcake Decorating Lab). Please register online, or call 330.653.6658 x1010.

Saturday, Jan. 23, 11 AM-

1 PM (at The Owl)

Author Burton Cole will visit with his books Bash and the Pirate Pig, Bash and the Chocolate Milk Cows, and Bash and the Chicken Coop Caper. The books, for kids 8 to 14, are about the zany adventures of a city boy who visits his crazy farm cousin.

Quick Links

Mysterious events at
The Learned Owl

Thursday, Jan. 21, 7 PM (location TBA)

Our Book Club in a Bar meets to discuss The Bishop's Wife by Mette Ivie Harrison.

Saturday, Jan. 30, 1-3 PM (at The Owl)

Mystery author Shelley Costa with her new book, Practical Sins for Cold Climates.

Wednesday, Feb. 3, 5:30 PM (at The Owl)

Author Michael Sears will be signing his books - including his new book Saving Jason - at The Learned Owl at 5:30, then joining our Book Club in a Bar to discuss his books (location TBA).

New mysteries

The Girls She Left Behind

by Sarah Graves

[Bantam, $26.00]

After ten years as a captive of kidnapper Henry Gemmerle, Joan Crimmins eludes the media and spurns the family who failed to search for her. Instead, she settles in the remote Maine town of Bearkill. But when Gemmerle flees a prison clinic and a 16-year-old Bearkill girl vanishes, Aroostook County Sheriff's deputy Lizzie Snow knows that Joan's painful past has just become another young woman's horrifying future.

Hour of the Wolf by Hakan Nesser

[Pantheon Books, $25.95]

In the middle of a damp, dark night, a young man is struck by a car after leaving his girlfriend's house. The driver, drunk, leaves the body by the side of the road. Wrestling with guilt, the driver tries to put the murder out of his mind - until a blackmail note arrives, setting in motion a chain of events that will draw everyone involved into a fog of crime. Reinhart, the new chief inspector of the Maardam police force, sets his team to work. But when the victim of a second, possibly related, killing is identified, Reinhart realizes that this is no ordinary investigation.

Even the Dead by Benjamin Black

[Henry Holt & Co., $27.00]

Perhaps Quirke has been down among the dead too long. Lately the Irish pathologist has suffered hallucinations and blackouts, and he fears the cause is a brain tumor. A specialist diagnoses an old head injury caused by a savage beating; all that's needed, the doctor declares, is an extended rest. But Quirke, ever intent on finding his place among the living, is not about to retire.

One night during a June heat wave, a car crashes into a tree in central Dublin and bursts into flames. The police assume the driver's death was either an accident or a suicide, but Quirke's examination of the body leads him to believe otherwise. Then his daughter Phoebe gets a mysterious visit from an acquaintance: The woman says she's pregnant and that she fears for her life, though she won't say why. When the woman later disappears, Phoebe asks her father for help, and Quirke in turn seeks the assistance of his old friend Inspector Hackett. Before long the two men find themselves untangling a twisted string of events that takes them deep into a shadowy world where one of the city's most powerful men uses the cover of politics and religion to make obscene profits.

A Taste for Nightshade

by Martine Bailey

[Thomas Dunne Books, $27.99]

Manchester 1787. When budding young criminal Mary Jebb swindles Michael Croxon's brother with a blank pound note, he chases her into the night and sets in motion a train of sinister events. Condemned to seven years of transportation to Australia, Mary sends him a 'Penny Heart' - a token of her vow of revenge.

Two years later, Michael marries naive young Grace Moore. Although initially overjoyed at the union, Grace quickly realizes that her husband is more interested in her fortune than her company. Lonely and desperate for companionship, she turns to her new cook to help mend her ailing marriage. But Mary Jebb, shipwrecked, maltreated, and recently hired, has different plans for the unsuspecting owners of Delafosse Hall.

I Am Your Judge by Nele Heuhaus

[Minotaur Books, $26.99]

Police Detective Pia Kirchhoff is about to leave on her long-delayed honeymoon when she receives a phone call. An elderly woman has been shot and killed while walking her dog. A short while later another murder is committed, and the modus operandi is eerily similar: A woman is killed by a bullet that smashes through her kitchen window... and in both cases, the same weapon fired the shot. Two more murders follow in short order. None of the victims had enemies and no one knows why they were singled out.

As fear of the Taunus Sniper grows among the local residents, the pressure rises on Detective Kirchhoff. She and her partner, Oliver von Bodenstein, search for a suspect who appears to murder at will; but as the investigation progresses, the police officers uncover a human tragedy.

I Am Your Judge is tightly plotted, delivering surprise twists at every turn with a story that is ripped from the headlines.

Thanks for supporting your local independent bookstore.

Happy reading!