Berry Memorial Library

With all of this beautiful weather we're having, you might be looking for a great beach read. There are dozens waiting for you in the stacks.

Death Benefit by David Heilbroner. In 1987, Steve Keeney, a Louisville, Kentucky, corporate attorney totally unfamiliar with criminal law, was approached by Bobbie Jo Roberts for advice because her insurance company would not pay the proceeds of her daughter's life insurance policy. Keeney quickly discovered that Virginia McGinnis, the woman with Roberts's daughter when she fell to her death from a cliff in Big Sur, California, had an astonishing history. McGinnis had lived in six homes, all of which had burned to the ground; her three-year-old daughter had died of accidental hanging; her mother and second husband perished mysteriously while under her care. Yet McGinnis had avoided suspicion for more than 30 years. Freelance writer Heilbroner recounts Keeney's tireless efforts to bring McGinnis to justice in a nonfiction narrative that reads like a classic thriller. Readers will find it very difficult to put down. As reviewed by The Library Journal. 

Maine author, Linda Greenlaw's introduces an indomitable heroine, Jane Bunker, in her strong mystery debut in Slipknot, which finds the former Dade County, Fla., chief detective seeking her roots and a slower pace of life in her coastal childhood hometown of Green Haven, Maine. Starting over as a marine investigator for an insurance company, Jane happens upon the body of alcoholic cod fisherman Nick Dow, who washes ashore with a crushed skull beneath the docks of the fish plant Jane means to assess. The state police don't suspect foul play, but she does. Chasing the murderer, Jane becomes an accidental stowaway aboard a boat that heads into a fierce storm at sea. A cast of memorable New Englanders—especially fish plant foreman Cal Dunham and Jane's kooky but caring landlords, Henry and Alice Vickerson—enhance a fast-moving plot, while the nautical details will appeal to fans of Greenlaw's nonfiction books such as The Hungry Ocean and The Lobster Chronicles.

You've watched it on television, now read about it on paper, Discovery Channel’s Deadliest Catch: Desperate Hours. From the book: “In their own words, the fearless men you’ve seen on Discovery Channel’s "Deadliest Catch" describe the majesty, bravery, and terror they’ve witnessed–in true and personal tales that go beyond the view of TV camers.  This vivid book takes you into the homes, boats, brawls, and bars of real-life guys in the world’s most dangerous occupation:  carb fishing near the frigid crest of the world.”