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Cindy: If Annie Oakley had to solve her sister’s mysterious disappearance…you’d have One Came Home (Random/Knopf 2013) and one of the best books I’ve read so far this year. 13-year-old Georgia is a whiz with a rifle and is helpful in her family’s general store in Placid, Wisconsin. The book opens with this intriguing passage: [...]

Lynn:  Most mystery fans love sequels.  We fall in love with a character and can’t wait to read along as he or she takes on a new case.  I’m in that camp and I love nothing more than another installment of my favorite sleuth.  So for our continuing celebration of Mystery Month, here are two [...]

Cindy: Sometimes the biggest mystery about a book is the cover art! When Lynn and I worked together in the library we did tandem booktalking a lot. It was good for the students since we each had our own genre strengths and preferences (hers were science fiction and mystery and I favored horror and sad [...]

Cindy: Mystery Month is coming to Booklist in May. It’s an annual event and we can’t wait! Bookends has some special posts planned and Booklist magazine and Booklist Online will have more mystery fun than Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys combined. You’ll want to grab your magnifying glass and keep a close eye on [...]

Cindy: Well, I’m probably the last one on the trolley to read Bray’s new book. As you can see by Lynn’s comments below, I picked up this book early at the summer ALA Conference, gave it to Lynn first and then didn’t get it read myself. I have no good excuse. This week I finished [...]

Cindy: When Lynn thrust this book at me and said, “You’re going to love this!,” all I had to do was look at the cover and page count and knew I’d agree. Liar & Spy (Random/Wendy Lamb 2012) didn’t resemble a dystopian novel and at 180 pages it was a third of the size of [...]

Cindy: Booklist might have officially wrapped up Mystery Month, but Bookends is still on the case! We love mysteries and won’t stop covering them just because May is over.  The Case of the Ruby Slippers (Holiday House 2012) is a fun addition to the First Kids Mystery series. This was my introduction to the series [...]

Lynn: Eleven-year-old Moses LoBeau already has all the mysteries she can handle when “trouble cruised into Tupelo Landing, at exactly seven minutes past noon…”  Mo yearns to find her “Upstream Mother,” the mother who tied her to a billboard during a hurricane to save her life.  And then there’s the Colonel who found Mo floating [...]

Lynn: I confess that since coming home from the Newbery deliberations I have been indulging myself shamelessly and have been reading for pure fun!  I haven’t taken a single note, searched for deeper meaning or examined the use of literary elements.  Glorious!  One of the  fun books I’ve read is Hiassen’s newest romp for middle grade [...]

Lynn: Edgar Allan Poe’s work is part of the canon of American literature – and rightly so!  Poe was the master of the macabre and knew the secret dark places the lurk in all of us.  But what was he like as a child?  Information is slim and basic – just a few facts.  Scott [...]