Has it been cold enough for you?  These are certainly the days to stay inside with a warm cup of liquid and a good book.  Your Finley Library has the books, so all you have to supply is the liquid refreshment!  Be sure to stop in and check us out!  Also, remember to "like" us on face book at Finley Public Library.
 
A Dark Coffin by Gwendoline Butler.  (PB)  (John Coffin series #26)  John Coffin is now the Commander of London's Second City  and married to  a lovely actress who has purchased St. Luke's Theater.  On opening night there are two deaths in the audience and the tickets they used were complimentary.  Further investigations leads them to other bodies, but it seems they are not related.  With the theater's economic problems due to the murders and the inability of Coffin's second  in command to solve the murders, coffin decides to take the case under his wing and see what he comes up with.  Though the writing, plot and story line are a bit "British," the book move along quite well with a surprise ending.  Don't cheat and check it out; you will be sorry!
 
Falconer by John Cheever.  (HC/LP) (NDSL)  John Cheever is a Pulitzer Prize winning author of four novels and hundreds of short stories, most of which were published in the New Yorker Magazine.  He was for much of his life an alcoholic, a self-hater and bisexual.  Because homosexuality was not widely accepted during his lifetime (1912-1982), much of his self-hatred had to do with his inability to alter his sexual preferences.  Though he was married and had three children, he seemed most happy in a homosexual relationship.  All this information has been included here to help the reader understand the author.  And although, Cheever was/is a great writer, his writing is very gripping and gritty.  Falconer is no exception.  It is the story of a college professor who killed his brother and was sent to prison.  Falconer is the name of the prison.  Ezekiel Farragut is the the very intelligent killer and also a dope addict.  The book does two things--details the terrible life of prisoners in all its pettiness and sadness and wastefulness and flashes back introducing various characters in his past that Ezekiel felt led him to murdering his brother.  The book flap describes this book as "tough" and "relentless."  I agree, so be aware.