Books Can Be Deceiving by Jenn McKinlay

Jenn McKinlay, author of the Cupcake Bakery Mysteries, whipped up a new recipe for success with Books Can Be Deceiving. This time, she takes readers to the charming town of Briar Creek, Connecticut in the first Library Lover's Mystery.

Lindsey Norris has only been the library director in Briar Creek for six months. Her best friend, Beth Stanley, is the children's librarian there. Lindsey has made a number of friends in town, from her motherly landlord to the eighty-year-old library board president, who regularly practices yoga in the library. But, she can't warm up to Beth's boyfriend, Rick, a successful children's book illustrator. Rick and Beth argue in public when he tries to stop her from showing her artwork to a visiting children's book editor. And, both women are furious when they find out why Rick has been so secretive. Their plan to confront Rick ends in disaster when they find him dead, and the police chief zeroes in on Beth as his number one suspect. It might take some research, but Lindsey is up to the task of proving Beth didn't kill her boyfriend.

Knowing Jenn McKinlay's other books, I was surprised to find Lindsey Norris to be so naive. She failed in so many ways common to mystery heroines, from leaving a door unlocked to failing to contact the police while going off on her own. Those are qualities I dislike in an amateur sleuth. Saying that, I loved Lindsey as a librarian and library director. The stories of library life, staff and patrons were believable. And, Briar Creek is everything you could want in a small mystery town, a "Decidedly quirky but incredibly kind community." I like Lindsey, Beth, the possibility of a love interest for Lindsey, and so many of the people of Briar Creek. And, the book discussion group is fun, combining knitting and books. In the long run, one of the charms of cozy mysteries is community.And, Jenn McKinlay has created a wonderful community in Briar Creek. So, I'll give Lindsey Norris a chance to grow into her role as amateur sleuth. After all, she's just learning that Books Can Be Deceiving.

Jenn McKinlay's website is www.JennMcKinlay.com

Books Can Be Deceiving by Jenn McKinlay. Berkley Prime Crime.©2011. ISBN 9780425242186 (paperback), 291p.

*****
FTC Full Disclosure - The publisher and the author sent me copies of the book, hoping I would review it.

Tony Hays, Guest Blogger

It's National Library Week, the perfect time for Tony Hays' guest blog about reading and libraries. Hays' third Arthurian mystery novel, The Beloved Dead, was just released a couple weeks ago. Hays received his third starred review from both Publishers Weekly and Library Journal for The Beloved Dead. According to Publishers Weekly, “Both Arthur fans and historical whodunit devotees will be more than satisfied.” Library Journal writes “Many complex plot threads and believable characters make this a series to be savored by historical mystery and Arthurian fiction fans.” Hays previously received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Library Journal for The Divine Sacrifice and The Killing Way. Here's Tony Hays, talking about libraries.

My daddy just didn’t seem to like reading. He just didn’t. He didn’t say exactly “don’t read,” but he grumbled. And that led to my first love.


I love libraries. I do. They took me to so many worlds, so many times. Libraries brought me to Troy. They brought me to the Civil War. They brought me to Camelot.

We were not poor, at home. But there was little left over with which to buy books. Daddy seemed to grumble when we did buy them. Of course, he also grumped when we read them morning, noon or night. And we read them all the time, all the time – in the tub, on the toilet, at the dinner table. But we ignored him as much as possible.

But the library! The library was Heaven on Earth. Daddy couldn’t fuss on us there. Those books didn’t cost us anything. They were free. (Well, sort of, but we didn’t understand taxes then). I read Ellery Queen and Agatha Christie (though I found her less to my liking). And the magazine section was incredible! I gloried in Punch and Time. I stayed in the school library as much as possible. That’s where I first read To Kill a Mockingbird and hope for more from Harper Lee. That’s where I picked up the Time magazine that had the article on the digs at South Cadbury, excavations that would eventually lead me to my new Arthurian series.

That was far in the future though. I still had hours of Civil War history, British history to learn. And I gloried in true crime – Lizzie Bordon, Bonnie and Clyde. My school library was the greatest place in the world. It took me to Heinrich Schliemann’s discoveries to London and Rome. It gave me my first gleam of the world beyond Nashville, TN. And that was worth all the stolen hours on its couches and side chairs.

While, as I grew, so did the spendable cash in my pocket, and I spent it at the local bookshops. I never gave up my love affair with my library. Daddy still grumbled some, about how I spent my hard earned money. But I found the public library and loved that too. It was a tad more risqué than the school library, but that was okay.

Time passed. I was to become a bit of a writer myself. Not published, of course. But I was submitting stories. Daddy had a heart attack. I went to college. Daddy died.

I kept submitting short stories. Kept getting rejected.

Until that beautiful, flat envelope showed up with that equally beautiful acceptance letter. No cash. But that would come later. I wondered what Daddy would say about that acceptance. Probably not much.

Years later, a couple of books, a hundred newspaper and magazine articles under my belt, I was having dinner with my uncle. He asked about my latest book, and we talked a bit about its success. “Daddy wouldn’t be impressed,” I ventured, absently.

My uncle snapped his head up. “What you do you mean?”

“Oh, Daddy hated it when we read, grumbled about it all the time.”

My uncle chuckled. “Your daddy read everything he got his hands on. Why, I know for a fact he once spent the last dollar he had for a book. We didn’t have much of a library at school, but he gobbled it up like a Christmas turkey.”

“Then why did he grumble so much?’

Daddy’s brother just shook his head. “I don’t know, son. Probably because if he encouraged you, you probably wouldn’t have done it. Besides, if he complained around the house, that would just drive you to the library, and that’s where he did most of his reading.”

Thank you, Tony, for a beautiful story about family and libraries. Visit TonyHays.com to find out more about Tony and his novels, including information about the historical Arthur (http://tonyhays.com/page5.html) and photo galleries (http://tonyhays.com/page4.html).

Tony Hays' latest book is The Beloved Dead. Tom Doherty Associates. 2011. ISBN 9780765326287 (hardcover), 400p.

Brad Parks, Guest Blogger

Brad Parks won both the Shamus and Nero Awards for his debut novel, Faces of the Gone, a first time achievement for an author.  His second Carter Ross mystery, Eyes of the Innocent, is due out tomorrow.   I know Brad is funny because I follow his posts on Twitter.  So, when I asked Brad to do a guest blog, I suggested he write something funny that readers would enjoy.  Instead, he wrote something that touched my heart, and made me cry.   Thank you, Brad, for an untraditional guest blog.

By Brad Parks                                                                                        


Guest Blogger

Exactly twenty-six years and five months ago, at the end of a hot and dusty Connecticut summer, in a time of desperation the likes of which I can now barely describe, I committed a heinous crime.

I stole from a public library.

Let me explain. I was 10 years old. I had a bad case of swimmer’s ear, which meant I couldn’t go in the neighborhood pool. For the first time in my life, all I could do is read. And the book that ignited my imagination was “Gentle Ben,” Walt Morey’s classic story about a boy and his pet grizzly bear.

According to the fading stamp on the title page, I checked it out of the Ridgefield (Conn.) Public Library on Aug. 9, 1984. It was due back 21 days later. As such, on Aug. 31, 1984, I became a criminal. And I have been one every day since, because I still have the book, dog-eared, water-stained and sun-faded from the dozens of readings to which I ultimately subjected it.

I think of “Gentle Ben” often these days, every time I read about another library having to slash its budget, eliminate staff or close down branches. It makes me wonder if some kid out there is going to lose a chance to find his own “Gentle Ben,” a book that fuels a lifelong love of written words.

There’s no question this is a discouraging time for libraries, those who value them and those who work in them. Across the country, library budgets are being assaulted, and not just with the kind of single-digit cuts that can be swallowed by bumping down the thermostat a few degrees. These are major, double-digit hacks.

I got an e-mail last month from a dear librarian friend of mine talking about just how devastating it’s been. She’s the director of a large library system in New Jersey and she catalogued her list of woes – having to fire dozens of employees, putting her entire staff on rotating furlough, closing down branches.

But the really heartbreaking part of the e-mail was when she talked about her fear of what might come next, how paralyzing the uncertainty was, and how she felt like it was interfering with how well she could do her job.

And, believe me, I understand how that feels. I know what it’s like to see good friends and valued colleagues walk out the door because no one wants to pay their salaries anymore; to live with the anxiety of knowing the worst might not be over; to feel like you are failing a public that put its trust in you to deliver something so vital to Democracy.

I know, because I used to be a newspaper reporter.

The financial difficulty libraries are going through now is sort of like what newspapers began experiencing in about 2001. Or maybe it was 2004. It was a storm that eventually claimed me as a victim – I took a buyout in 2008 to pursue a career as a novelist – but not before I spent several long years working in an industry immersed in a total financial apocalypse.

And, yeah, I let it get to me. It got to everyone at times. Newsroom morale was in the tank. We walked around like zombies half the time. We consumed endless energy speculating when the next staff cut or pay cut was coming. It was depressing and debilitating.

So it’s hard to watch the public library, this institution I value so much, go through its own bloodletting.

I’m not here to opine about how wrong it is from a policy standpoint (though, unquestionably, it is). I’m not here to debate the wisdom of savings pennies at the library when there are still twenties and fifties to be saved elsewhere (though, really, libraries are such a slim portion of municipal spending, can’t you balance your budget somewhere else?). I’m not even here to point out that the library is the one public amenity that serves absolutely everyone in a community (though it does).

I’m here to say to all you library scientists out there:

Don’t give up.

Don’t let it get to you.

Don’t be discouraged.

We need you. Now more than ever. Many of our most cherished American ideals – like the concept that a poor, mixed-race kid could grow up to be President – are predicated on the notion that knowledge is available to all, not just those wealthy and privileged enough to afford Kindles and trips to Barnes & Noble.

And, yeah, it’s easy to get dragged down in the gloom. But if I learned one thing from watching a newspaper melt down around me, it’s that you can also make the choice not to get derailed by it. You can realize you’re still fortunate enough to do a fulfilling job, a profession that you (and a whole lot of other people) really value, whether they remember to stop and take the time to say it or not.

For me, I worked hard to find satisfaction in putting a well-written story in the newspaper, something that touched people, exposed a wrong, or made the world better in some small way. Those kinds of victories are always out there to be found. You just have to remember to look for them and hold onto them.

Think back to why you became a librarian. Was it because the duly elected knuckleheads on the town council would show the wisdom to keep your funding at an appropriate level? Was it because of some action in the state legislature? Of course not. It’s because you love books and connecting readers to the wisdom and wonder that lies inside of them.

It’s because somewhere out there, there’s a kid looking for his own “Gentle Ben.” Please help him find it.

Just make sure he returns it.

Brad Parks’s debut, FACES OF THE GONE, became the first book ever to win the Nero Award and Shamus Award, two of crime fiction’s most prestigious prizes. His next book, EYES OF THE INNOCENT, releases tomorrow from St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books. Library Journal gave it a starred review, calling it “as good if not better (than) his acclaimed debut.” For more Brad, visit his website (http://www.bradparksbooks.com/), follow him on Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/brad_parks) or became a fan of Brad Parks Books on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/#/pages/Brad-Parks-Books/137190195628?ref=ts).

And, thank you, Brad, for reminding me, in what is a hard time for librarians, why I originally went into the profession, for boys who loved Gentle Ben, and for boys like my husband, who loved a book so much, he hid it under his bed so he didn't have to return it to the library, and, to the day he died, was proud of reading the most books one summer at his library's summer reading club.  Libraries, and librarians, do make a difference in people's lives.

Eyes of the Innocent by Brad Parks.  St. Martin's Minotaur, ©2011. ISBN 9780312574789 (hardcover), 304p.

Dewey's Nine Lives by Vicki Myron and Bret Witter

I'll admit, when I learned there would be a new Dewey book, I was afraid it wouldn't measure up to the first one about the library cat from Spencer, Iowa.  But, Vicki Myron and her co-author, Bret Witter, have managed to put together a book that made me start crying on page 9, and I cried off and on throughout the book.  Tomorrow is release date for Dewey's Nine Lives: The Legacy of the Small-Town Library Cat Who Inspired Millions.  I have the feeling this book, with the two new Dewey stories, and seven other stories of cats and their people will climb the bestseller lists as well.  So, here's a sneak peek at the book, the trailer for this new book of cats and the people who love them.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bb3gcR2emMw&feature=search

When librarian Vicki Myron told the story of her relationship with Dewey Readmore Books, the cat who inspired a town, she never expected that Dewey's story would top the New York Times Bestseller List.   And, she never expected to receive over 3,000 letters, some about Dewey, but many relating how a cat had changed someone's life.   In the new book, she tells some of those stories about the special bond between a cat and a person, and how loving a cat changed lives.  She tells of a Vietnam vet whose cat literally fell from the sky into his life.  There's a story of a strong single mother in Alaska.  There's a story of a church cat, named Church Cat.  My favorite story was the one about Cookie, a New York cat.

For me, cats and cat books are summed up in one paragraph in this book.  "We don't love cats out of need.  We don't love them as symbols or projections.  We love them individually, in the complex manner of all human love, because cats are living creatures.  They have personalities and quirks, good traits and flaws.  Sometimes they fit us, and they make us laugh in our darkest moments.  And then we love them.  It's really as simple as that." 

Dewey's Nine Lives is a touching book in which a number of people share the special cats in their lives.  If you'd like to share your own special story, you can enter a contest the publisher is holding, "I Believe in Dewey's Magic."  You can tell your own story, and it might be selected for the paperback edition of the book.  Enter here.  www.us.penguingroup.com/static/pages/features/dewey/index.html  Or, you can share your cat's picture with other cat lovers at Dewey's Magic Facebook page, www.facebook.com/pages/Deweys-Magic/111732485524854?ref=search.

Last week, when I launched the contests for dog lovers, I promised a future contest for cat lovers.  Watch for Thursday night's contest, when I'll launch a giveaway of two copies of Dewey's Nine Lives.   It's a book for all of us who have been lucky enough to share our lives with a special cat, or two, or five.

(If you'd like to read a Q & A with some of the contributors to this book, check below the publication information.)

Dewey's Nine Lives: The Legacy of the Small-Town Library Cat Who Inspired Millions by Vicki Myron with Bret Witter.  Penguin Group (USA), ©2010. ISBN  9780525951865 (hardcover), 320p.

*****

Q&A with the Contributors to DEWEY’S NINE LIVES

Why did Dewey’s story inspire you?

Lynda Caira (Cookie Cat): Dewey's story inspired me because it is so unfathomable to conceive that a cat could change the lives of so many people. It makes me think, if we tried, how could people change each others’ lives?

Kristie Graham (Marshmallow): Dewey's story inspired me throughout his entire life. I have known Vicki since I was 2 years old. … Dewey's Magic is real. It has opened the door to my heart to make sure people know what they have done for me.

Bill Bezanson (Spooky): I wouldn’t say it “inspired” me so much as it touched my soul. I saw a LOT of the feelings Spooky and I shared throughout the story.

Barbara Lajiness (Sir Bob Kittens): I have always loved animals-- especially cats. So many things about Dewey spoke to me and my own experiences in life. Dewey was rescued, we rescued animals. Vicki only had one child, a daughter; I only had one child, a daughter; and many of those moments during teen years between a daughter and a mother were very similar to my own feelings as a mom of a teenager. Also the effects of poverty and alcoholism on my childhood were all themes I could easily relate to in Dewey. Although I didn’t know it at the time…I would also face my own battle with breast cancer. So as you can see my connection and inspiration to the book really happened on many levels, not just how deeply I can appreciate and relate to that significant bond and relationship with a cat.

Kim Knox (Church Cat): I know cats are known for having "nine lives" but I was really impressed by the toughness of that little kitten in the book drop off box. It's like he knew if he could just hang on, something so much better was coming his way!

Vicki Kleuver (Christmas Cat): Dewey's story inspired me because it is a story of Life. Not only Dewey's amazing life, but also Vicki Myron's life. Life can really throw us into the toilet or into a book drop on a frigid winter night, yet there is a spark, or a will to live that ignites within us to survive and thrive through the adversity of life. There were many similarities to the story of my “CC,” or Christmas Cat. … I was also amazed at the similarities between Vicki Myron's life story and my own.


What do you hope readers will take away from your story?

Barbara Lajiness (Sir Bob Kittens): That every one and everything, no matter how quirky or unusual, no matter if they are animal or human, has its place, meaning and value in the world. That we need to slow down, relax and realize how important all of us animals and humans, and even moments are. We all may be different shaped and colored pieces of a puzzle, but you need us all to make a complete picture.

Lynda Caira (Cookie Cat): What I hope that people see in my Cookie's story is that she was in a way, a life safer to me! I have had cats before and after Cookie, but Cookie just ingratiated herself into my life in a way that most people haven't even been able to do!

Kristie Graham (Marshmallow): I hope readers take away from my story that relationships are important. I think [my connection with my cat Marshmallow] was so valuable. He was always there. He was a symbol of my childhood. He was part of my identity.

Bill Bezanson (Spooky): If you relax the little guards we put up each day and let an animal just be itself, it will show you love and affection without boundaries. As humans we put up small (and even large) walls when dealing with each other. But an animal doesn’t have an ego. It just knows whether it likes you or not.

Carol Ann Riggs (Church Cat): Church Cat was "Special" to a lot of the members of the Camden United Methodist Church. She was a rescue cat and that made us happy too!

Kim Knox (Church Cat): You don't always know why God puts someone or "somepet" into your life and we shouldn't take something like that for granted.

Vicki Kleuver (Christmas Cat): I hope readers will gain from my story about CC a sense of understanding that love comes from many different sources in our lives, often when we least expect it and even at times from a source that we would never have considered, and we should approach each situation with an open mind. When CC came into my life, I didn't want a cat. I didn't even like cats! Or so I thought. CC was intended as a gift for my young daughter. Yet he turned out to be mine. Or as my mother says, I became "his people."

I also hope readers will find in themselves a desire to do something new or different, to live life to its fullest. Norman Vaughn said "dream big, dare to fail."

I would also like readers to come explore Alaska, the land of my people. It is a great land, enormous with cultural history, diversity, opportunity, adventure, and tranquility.

As your story and all the stories in Dewey’s Nine Lives show, the bond between humans and cats can be very special. Why do you think this is?

Barbara Lajiness (Sir Bob Kittens): I love all animals, but I really think cats have complicated personalities that create more complicated relationships with their owners. I have often heard that cats do not have owners, they have staff, which I think kind of sums up the playing field we are all on when building that bond with our feline friends.

Bill Bezanson (Spooky): I don’t think it’s any different between a human and any animal. In Spooky’s story there’s a story about Pierre, my raccoon. It shows the amount of love we shared. I’ve had foxes, skunks, deer, even opossums demonstrate love toward me. There were times in my life when I thought I’d never see real love in a person. But I found it in nature. I think that it would be a real healing point for veterans suffering the ugliness of PTSD to work with rescued animals and feel what that kind of love is like.

Lynda Caira (Cookie Cat): I think it depends on the cat and the person, and if they came into each others’ lives at the right time. I've had cats I've taken care of, and cats (strays) who I have felt that I HAD to take care of. My Cookie was the only cat who took care of me!

Carol Ann Riggs (Church Cat): Animals can become members of your family just like humans. Church Cat became a beloved member of our family when we brought her home with us.

Kim Knox (Church Cat): I have had a number of cats in my life and I don't think any two were ever alike! There is just something in their personality that clicks with your personality and next thing you know you're in love.

Vicki Kleuver (Christmas Cat): As I said to Vicki Myron several times, I believe God brings these little critters into our life so we can rescue them, while they help to rescue us too. Whether it's a cat or a dog or another animal, there can be a strong bond. Cats have very unique personalities. I particularly enjoy cats that are independent, like me.


What’s the most surprising or unexpected thing you learned from your cat?

Bill Bezanson (Spooky): Unrequited love. And I’m still learning and trying to lower my walls like my animals and really love again.

Lynda Caira (Cookie Cat): The most surprising thing I learned about Cookie was that she completely killed the stereotypical idea of how aloof cats can be. She had an actual personality! She treated people exactly the way they treated her! Another surprise was how for a small little cat that she was, she was more ferocious than a lion in her protection of me! If she thought someone was upsetting me or hurtling me, they had better watch out!

Kristie Graham (Marshmallow): The most unexpected thing I learned from Marshmallow is that he would leave such a legacy. I really didn't acknowledge the impact he made on my life and the power he would have on my future. When I told [my acquaintances] that I participated in [Dewey’s Nine Lives], it surprised me how many people knew how close we were and how "different" our relationship was.

Barbara Lajiness (Sir Bob Kittens): [I learned] that love comes in many forms and to enjoy every one. Sir Bob Kittens is not, nor will he ever be, the beloved lap cat Smokey from my childhood. He doesn’t sit on laps, and you can only tell he is purring if you are lucky enough to place a gentle finger on his throat at just the right moment. But he has his moments where he will look up at us with this look of happiness/love and very slowly, in unison, open and close his eyes; you can just tell he is trying to let us know he cares about us. And on those nights when he is lonely or nervous, he will come and snooze against my chest, face-to-face. It may sound funny, but I really believe that is his way of telling us he cares.

Kim Knox (Church Cat): Church Cat seemed very lost and somewhat needy when she turned up at the church office. I felt like she needed to be taken care of. This was true, but what was so surprising was how street savvy she was. She always looked both ways and made sure it was safe before she crossed! She may not have needed me nearly as much as I thought.

Mary Nan Evans (The Cats of Sanibel Island): [I was surprised to learn] that so many cats get along, and not a fight between them!

Vicki Kleuver (Christmas Cat): The most surprising thing I learned from CC is that I like cats! CC was loyal, loving, affectionate, playful. He was adventurous--it was that sense of adventure that landed him in the toilet that Christmas eve night, and it was his sense of adventure that cost him his life. Some people, some animals, become afraid when they have experienced trauma. Not my CC. Not me either. I like that. While it broke my heart that CC died at such a young age, I respect that he died while doing something he loved; it takes a bit of the sting out of our loss. Regardless if we're a cat or a humanoid, isn't life what we make of it?


Do you currently have a cat in your life?

Barbara Lajiness (Sir Bob Kittens): Yes Mister Kittens is still alive and well. Even though he attacks our ankles when we walk up the steps, and runs at us on his hind legs, sideways down the hall, he is a special spirit that is a very important part of my life, and my family’s. I have often told people that he is the one member of the household that no matter what, when he walks in a room, everyone says “Mister Kittens!” (Similar to when Norm would walk into the Cheers bar.) I am sure he thinks he is famous.

Lynda Caira (Cookie Cat): My Cookie died at the age of 19 , on July 31, 2009. I am blessed with another kitty named Chloe who is now Sweet 16, and I do have a wonderful little girl named Lucy, who was born in my garden two years ago, and has lived there ever since!

Vicki Kleuver (Christmas Cat): Sadly, right now I don't have any cats. Two years ago we adopted an older dog from the Kodiak Animal Shelter and right now, due to frequent travel, he is our only pet. It is our hope to adopt from the animal shelter this winter either a cat or another dog.

Kristie Graham (Marshmallow): I do not have a cat right now. I have a Red Fox Lab. My husband is a dog person. But I am a goal setter—I have a bucket list. Owning a cat is on the list.

Kim Knox (Church Cat): After we lost Church Cat's son ChiChi we were catless for a couple of years. We now have two orange tabbies named Marmalade (2 yrs) and Macaroon (3 months). Both are house cats and help make our house a home.

Bill Bezanson (Spooky): I have a dog and two cats. (Spooky and Zippo taught me that a cat needs another cat to pal around with. We humans have boundaries. Another cat doesn’t.)

*****
FTC Full Disclosure - The publicist sent me a review copy and two copies to give away, with no promises of a positive review.