Monthly Archives: August 2008

by | August 29, 2008 · 10:13 am

James Swain. Mr. Lucky. New York: Ballentine Books, 2005.

Don’t you love it when a country boy makes good? Ricky Smith was nothing special in his hometown of Slippery Rock, North Carolina. One night in Las Vegas changed all that. After jumping from the balcony of a burning hotel, Ricky begins to burn up blackjack, roulette, and crap tables all along The Strip. Investigator Tony Valentine is hired by casino owners to discover the reason for Ricky’s incredible luck. Valentine follows Ricky back to Slippery Rock where he finds it’s hard for an ex-cop from New Jersey to blend in. It turns out that Ricky is not the only guy from Slippery Rock who has hit the big time, and Valentine is up against bigger challenges and greater dangers than he ever thought one little town could spawn.

This is the fifth Tony Valentine book; it is the only one set in North Carolina.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2005, Mountains, Novels Set in Fictional Places, Suspense/Thriller, Swain, James

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by | August 28, 2008 · 4:10 pm

Ann B. Ross. Miss Julia Paints the Town. New York: Viking, 2008.

What’s up with the men in Abbotsville??!! Mildred Allen’s husband has disappeared, Richard Stroud might have had his hand in the till, Pastor Ledbetter is toying with the idea of accepting a call to another church, and even Julia’s reliable Sam is acting suspiciously. And as if that isn’t enough, a developer wants to tear down the historic courthouse and redevelop the courthouse square. Miss Julia has a plan to scare off the developer, but it’s anything but a quiet spring in Abbotsville.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library Catalog.

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2008, Henderson, Humor, Mountains, Novels in Series, Novels Set in Fictional Places, Ross, Ann B.

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by | · 3:57 pm

P. T. Deutermann. The Moonpool. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2008.

Cam Ritcher leaves his home turf in the mountains of western North Carolina when one of his employees dies in Wilmington. Allie Gardner was doing simple surveillance of a wayward spouse when she died of radiation poisoning. No divorce case is that hot, so Cam begins his own investigation. His inquiries lead him Helios, the nearby nuclear power plant, and before long he is threatened by the head of their physical security squad. As Cam investigates Allie’s death he gets crosswise with not just the power plant staff but also the local police and several federal agencies.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library Catalog.

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2008, Coast, Deutermann, Peter T., New Hanover, Novels in Series, Suspense/Thriller

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by | August 20, 2008 · 11:38 am

Joan Medlicott. The Ladies of Covington Send Their Love. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2000.

Amelia, Hannah, and Grace have a lot in common: they are all in their 60s, disconnected from their remaining family members, and living unhappily in a gloomy Pennsylvania boardinghouse. When Amelia inherits a North Carolina farmhouse and its surrounding land, the three women pile into Hannah’s station wagon and drive to the fictional mountain town of Covington. This short visit to see the property is just the start of their adventure. After renovating the house and moving to N.C., the women begin to discover new interests and start to reconnect with their families. A Publisher’s Weekly reviewer has compared Medlicott’s Covington (which is located near Mars Hill and Asheville) with Jan Karon’s town of Mitford.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC Library Catalog.

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Filed under 2000, 2000-2009, Medlicott, Joan, Mountains, Novels in Series, Novels Set in Fictional Places

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by | August 19, 2008 · 12:14 pm

Sarah Shaber. Simon Said. New York: St. Martin’s, 1997.

Professor Simon Shaw knows everything there is to know about Kenan College’s Bloodworth House–in fact, he literally wrote the book on the historic home. So, when a 50-year old corpse with a bullet-hole in its skull is uncovered during an archaeological dig on the house’s grounds, Shaw is asked to help identify the body. He believes that the body is that of an heiress who disappeared in 1926 and tries solve the murder with the help of an archaeologist and a police attorney. This novel is full of Raleigh history, but Shaw’s life also includes a number of modern-day details that may be familiar to locals, including going to a Durham Bulls game, eating at Raleigh’s Hillsborough Street IHOP, and researching in UNC’s own Southern Historical Collection.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC Library Catalog.

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Filed under 1990-1999, 1997, Mystery, Novels in Series, Piedmont, Shaber, Sarah, Wake

by | August 18, 2008 · 12:14 pm

Katy Munger. Legwork. New York: Avon Books, 1997.

Casey Jones wants to be a private detective, but due to a felony conviction in the distant past she cannot get a license. Instead, she does the next best thing and works for a legitimate P.I., answering his phone, bodyguarding, and doing the legwork on some of his cases. In Legwork, the first novel in the Casey Jones series, Casey’s bodyguarding client is arrested for murdering a powerful and lecherous real estate developer. The arrestee is political candidate Mary Lee Masters–a “New Southern Woman” who could be the first female U.S. Senator from N.C–and she offers Casey twice her normal pay to find out who’s trying to frame her.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC Library Catalog.

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Filed under 1990-1999, 1997, Durham, Munger, Katy, Mystery, Novels in Series, Wake

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by | August 12, 2008 · 3:05 pm

Janet Evanovich. Motor Mouth. New York: HarperCollins, 2006.

At the opening of Evanovich’s second Alexandra “Barney” Barnaby thriller, Barney is just finishing up her first season as a mechanic and spotter for her NASCAR-driving ex-boyfriend, Sam Hooker. While watching the season’s last race in Florida, she becomes convinced that one of the teams is cheating. Her suspicions–combined with the bumbling of a desperate friend and co-worker–lead her and Hooker to “borrow” an 18-wheeler carrying two racecars and a shrink-wrapped corpse and starts them on an action-packed adventure that includes stops in Concord, NC. Quirky characters abound, including Beans the drooling St. Bernard. The action in the series’ first book, Metro Girl, takes place mainly in South Florida.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC Library Catalog.

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2006, Cabarrus, Evanovich, Janet, Novels in Series, Piedmont, Suspense/Thriller

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by | August 8, 2008 · 11:49 am

Vicki Lane. In a Dark Season. New York: Bantam Dell, 2008.

Elizabeth Goodweather has never liked the look of the old house called Gudger’s Stand. Dolls hanging from the porch, an angry old man, stories of runaway wives and violence–Elizabeth has ignored all that until one December day when she sees an elderly woman jump from the upstairs porch. It’s Miss Nola Barrett and Miz Barrett did not seem deranged or suicidal when Elizabeth met her a month before. Miz Barrett survives the jump, and as Elizabeth tries to help her she is drawn into the dark history of the house, a history that a murderer will do anything to hide.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC Library Catalog.

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2008, Lane, Vicki, Mountains, Mystery, Novels in Series, Novels Set in Fictional Places

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by | · 11:41 am

Paul Robertson. Road to Nowhere. Minneapolis, MN: Bethany House, 2008.

Wardsville, North Carolina is a small, quiet mountain town, off the beaten path. That could change if Jefferson County receives state funding to complete the Gold River Highway that would connect Wardsville to the world on the other side of Ayawisgi Mountain. The highway construction and future development will create winners and losers. Knowing that, town residents argue and divide into factions. Someone turns to murder and Joe Esterhouse, octogenarian member of the Jefferson County Board of Supervisors, must confront the greed and violence that the highway project has unleashed.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC library catalog.

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2008, Mountains, Mystery, Novels Set in Fictional Places, Robertson, Paul

by | · 10:08 am

Donald Secreast. White Trash, Red Velvet. New York: HarperCollins, 1993.

Although it technically consists of short stories, White Trash, Red Velvet can be read as a novel. When taken as a whole, the book tells the story of Curtis and Adele Holsclaw, their three children, and their friends and relatives in the fictional town of Hibriten (likely based on Lenoir, NC). The first story takes place in 1952 and the other eleven follow the family and town through several decades of blue-collar southern life.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC Library Catalog.

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Filed under 1990-1999, 1993, Caldwell, Mountains, Novels Set in Fictional Places, Seacrest, Donald

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