Friday, June 30, 2006

Mystery Book Review

The Cold Moon
By Jeffery Deaver

Forensic Investigator Lincoln Rhyme and Detective Amelia Sachs are back tracking a serial killer in the seventh book in the series. Sachs is Rhyme’s eyes and legs at the crime scenes as Rhyme, a quadriplegic, communicates with her by radio from his forensic lab located in his New York townhouse. Twists and turns keep the suspense enjoyable as Rhyme and Sachs hunt the Watchmaker. The Watchmaker commits murder and leaves a clock at each crime scene as a calling card.

As a side note:
“The Bone Collector,” first in the series and made into a movie, stars Lincoln Rhyme (Denzel Washington), the quadriplegic criminologist and Detective Amelia Sachs (Angelina Jolie). A serial killer taunts the pair by leaving a bone at each crime scene as a clue.

For more information about Jeffery Deaver, visit the website: http://www.jefferydeaver.com

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Air Conditioning

Bids for the air conditioning project are due on June 29th. Once the project has been awarded to a contractor by the Hibbing City Council (July 6), the project will move another step forward.

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Hibbing Public Library

Mystery Book Review

The Blood-Dimmed Tide
By Rennie Airth

Rural England, 1932
Alice and Sally, both 12, set out shortly before noon to attend a birthday party in a nearby village. Sally, realizing that that she had forgotten the birthday gift, left Alice waiting for her at the halfway point along a path through Capel Wood. But when Sally got back to where she had left her friend, the path was empty. Sally, thinking her friend had gone ahead, continued on to the friend’s house, but Alice had not arrived. Searchers were soon called in and Inspector John Madden, retired from Scotland Yard and living nearby is asked to help with the investigation of the disappearance of the young girl.
For further reading:
http://home.comcast.net/~dwtaylor1/oleksiw.html
A Reader’s Guide to the Classic British Mystery by Susan Oleksiw lists 100 Classic British mystery novels.

Friday, June 16, 2006

Hibbing Public Library

Mystery Book Review

The Book of the Dead
By Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

Enjoy the exciting conclusion to the Pendergast Trilogy, by reading THE BOOK OF THE DEAD. Previous books in the series were BRIMSTONE and DANCE OF DEATH.

FBI Agent Pendergast is currently in a maximum security prison for crimes his brother, Diogenes Pendergast committed. By framing his brother for murder, Diogenes has cleared the way to set up a diabolical crime involving the New York Museum of Natural History, a suspicious package of pulverized diamonds, and the Tomb of Senef cursed and forgotten for seventy years in the basement of the museum.
Characters previously featured in Preston/Child books will be reintroduced and some mysteries will be solved.

For further information on books by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child written together and separately, see the website: www.prestonchild.com

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Sharks

Take a bit out of this – on Thursday, June 15 at 2:00 p.m. the Hibbing Public Library is hosting a live shark in the Library. The Underwater Adventure Aquarium will be presenting a 90-minute multi-media program on sharks. There will be lots of artifacts and live shark to touch. This program is sponsored by AAUW, Hibbing Cooperative Credit Union, Hibbing Rotary Club, Hibbing Chisholm Rotary Club, Security State Bank Foundation and Wal-Mart.
Audience is limited to 250 people.

Monday, June 12, 2006

Database Review

ReferenceUSA

If you need addresses and phone numbers for either business or personal use, try ReferenceUSA. The library subscribes to this database and it can be accessed from any public computer in the library.

The Residential portion includes 115 million U.S. households and 230 million U.S. residents. The information has been gathered from 3,800 White Page directories.

You can use the database when planning family reunions, weddings, and class reunions; finding ex-neighbors, long-lost friends or relatives.

The Business section is recommended because of it huge size and scope. It provides company and industry details including number of employees, estimated sales volume range, subsidiaries, branches, ticker symbols, and stock exchanges and much more.

Use it when starting your own small business; find all the Greek restaurants in Minneapolis or where to purchase a bike in Hibbing.

The database is updated monthly.

Check out ReferenceUSA at the Hibbing Public Library.

Friday, June 09, 2006

Mystery Book Review

Mystery Book Review

If you enjoy mysteries, watch this blog for reviews of titles you might otherwise miss.

Dark Light
By Randy Wayne White

Doc Ford, marine biologist and his hippy friend, Tomlinson are back in Randy Wayne White’s latest book, “Dark Light.” A hurricane sweeps through Sanibel Island, a shipwreck is uncovered and a beach house emerges. Local residents regard the house and its owner with some puzzlement. Few remembered the house even existed. The owner is even more mysterious. She appears to Tomlinson and Ford, but only entertains at night. Ford and Tomlinson set out to selvage the sunken pleasure cruiser, “Dark Light” sunk during in hurricane in 1944 but not without competition from a local marina owner and his thugs. The mystery woman and the cruiser share a history involving Nazi artifacts, World War II, and doomed romance. 13th in the series, the quirky residents of Sanibel Island make this book an enjoyable read.

To see more on Randy Wayne White, go to his website: http://rwwhite.com/

Thursday, June 01, 2006

Conspiracy Theory Fiction

Conspiracy Theory Fiction
According to Merle Jacob a Readers' Advisory Consultant, "Conspiracy theory novels can be highly improbable with fantastical implausibilities, or can be frighteningly realistic with very probable events. The plot twists and turns build suspense and draw the reader into the battle between good and evil. What the reader is seeking is the answer to the mystery--who is behind the conspiracy and why."

A controversial religious conspiracy title is Dan Brown's, The Da Vinci Code. Some readers loved it and some have hated it. If you would like to try similar titles pick up one of the following at the library:

C. J. Box, Savage Run. Putnam, 2002. Environmentalists, ranchers, a killer winter storm, and a conspiracy!

John Le Carre, The Constant Gardener. Scribner, 2001. Pharmaceutical companies testing new drugs on Africans, people are dying and the main character follows the conspiracy from Africa to Italy, to Canada, and back to Africa.

David Liss, A spectacle of Corruption. Random House, 2004. Eighteenth century London and a conspiracy that threatens the national election and even the king.

Katherine Neville, The Eight. Ballantine, 1988. An accountant in Algeria, a legendary chess set given to Charlemagne, and a search throughout Europe for the scattered pieces.

Daniel Silva, A Death in Vienna. Putnam, 2004. The Holocaust and cover-ups by the CIA, the Vatican, and the Austrian government.

Robert Smith, A Small Death in Lisbon. Harcourt, 2000. A long hidden conspiracy that ties important people in Portugal to the Nazis.

For more suggestions check the library website at www.hibbing.lib.mn.us. Also try the NoveList database that is on the website.