Mastics-Moriches-Shirley Community Library Reader Advisory Blog: Fall Into a Good Mystery

There's always plenty of new mysteries to choose from at the Community Library, including the following:

Murder at Honeychurch Hall by Hannah Dennison

Bordeaux: the Bitter Finish by Janet Hubbard

Coldsleep Lullaby by Andrew Brown

A U.S. release of a prize-winning series from South Africa follows Detective Eberard Februarie's investigation of the murder of a young woman in the underworld of an old university town that is fraught with prejudice and sexual hedonism. (Publisher Summary)

Hanging by a Hair by Nancy J. Cohen

After beauty salon owner Marla Shore and her detective husband Dalton move into a new community, Dalton get into an argument with a neighbor who later turns up dead and Marla discovers disturbing secrets about the community and a possible motive for the murder. (Publisher Summary)

Murder at Honeychurch Hall by Hannah Dennison

When her reckless mother reveals that she has been writing steamy best-selling romances, former television host Kat Stanford is targeted with suspicion at her mother's carriage house, a situation that is complicated by a housekeeper's murder. (Publisher Summary)

Bordeaux: the Bitter Finish by Janet Hubbard

Assigned to protect a famous wine critic who is traveling to Bordeaux to taste some of the most expensive wines in the world, NYPD detective Max Maguire must team up with her ex-lover, a French magistrate, when their trip takes a tragic turn. (Publisher Summary)

Need help finding the perfect mystery novel? Ask a librarian, we love to help!

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

Fall Into a Good Mystery

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