Mastics-Moriches-Shirley Community Library Reader Advisory Blog: The Peculiar Crimes Unit is Back on a Case!

Peculiar Crimes Unit detectives, Arthur Bryant and John May, are back and are faced with the most confusing and bizarre case of their careers!

The Peculiar Crimes Unit is given London's most puzzling murders to solve, and the latest is no exception. A woman dies in St. Bride's Church with no signs of struggle, however, the investigation is surprisingly handed over to the city police and not the Peculiar Crimes Unit. Instead, Bryant and May are asked to investigate why the head of Home Office security's wife has been acting so strangely, claiming that an evil presence is haunting her for one thing. A second death reveals a link between the cases and Bryant and May are set on the loose to track down the tricky killer.

"Witty, charming, intelligent, wonderfully atmospheric and enthusiastically plotted." - The Times (UK)

Looking for more books in the Peculiar Crimes Unit Mystery series? Here they are!

Full Dark House (2004)
The Water Room (2004)
Seventy-Seven Clocks (2005)
Ten Second Staircase (2006)
White Corridor (2007)
The Victoria Vanishes (2008)
Bryant and May on the Loose (2009)
Bryant and May Off the Rails (2010)
The Memory of Blood (2011)

Being Mortal by Atul Gawande

Genre: Adult Non-Fiction
Rating: 5 out of 5

"Being Mortal is about the limitations of what modern medicine can provide for people as their lives draw to a close. Gawande argues that the objective of medicine should not merely be treatment and survival; medical care should also ensure dignity in death and having control over one's final moments. He argues that instead of aggressively fighting the inescapable realities of aging, we should ask the hard questions of ourselves and our loved ones -- What makes life worth living? When should we try to extend our lives, and when should we choose a better quality of our remaining days over extending their quantity?

This book is difficult to read. Not because of the way Gawande writes -- his style is highly engaging, and he never lapses into excessively scientific jargon or overly simplistic explanations -- but because of the tough subject matter. Gawande draws on his own experiences as a doctor and peppers his book with honest and humane stories of his patients, friends, and family; the stories he tells make the book more accessible, and also more heartbreaking. (And that's not a bad thing.)

No one likes to think about their loved ones', or their own, impending mortality. But it's important to have these hard conversations, because as Gawande says, "endings matter." - Amanda

The Peculiar Crimes Unit is Back on a Case!

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