Shelf Life is our library's column of books and recommendations
that appears in the El Dorado News-Times.
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Lately I’ve been intrigued with an online puzzle game called “Connections” in which you group a set of words into categories that have something in common. It’s not easy, because sometimes the answers are not the obvious ones.  That’s why I really love books like The Marlow Murder Club by Robert Thorogood. It’s a mystery about figuring out connections.

Lately there are several series about a quirky bunch of senior citizens who aren’t minding their own business and like to solve mysteries. Sometimes, well every time, they wind up getting into a bit of trouble. Here, the ringleader is Judith Potts, a seventy plus lady living life as she pleases in the quaint little village of Marlow. However, she’s disturbed after learning about two of her neighbors who are found dead in suspicious circumstances. Despite her advanced age, Judith goes into action and begins to look for clues.  Very soon she has two other unlikely accomplices: Becks, the prudish vicar’s wife and Suzie, an eccentric dog walker. Naturally, each one has secrets that will be revealed when the time is right. But when the trio hears about another murder, they fear there’s a real serial killer at work. As a creator of crossword puzzles, Judith is intrigued, but can she persuade the other two amateur detectives to help her solve this enigma? It’s light and entertaining reading, perfect for vacation and beach time. Thorogood is also the author of the Death in Paradise series. His books are available as ebooks through Hoopla at our library.

Connections, from the present and the past, are everywhere in The God of the Woods by Liz Moore. I raced through this big book about a summer camp in the summer of 1975. It’s an ordinary morning when a camp counselor discovers an empty bunk in her cabin. But the missing girl is not just a regular camper. She’s Barbara Van Laar, whose family owns the summer camp and employs most of the locals. A frantic search begins and amid the chaos of searching for Barbara, questions arise about an earlier unsolved disappearance – Barbara’s brother, Bear, who went missing back in 1961. A coincidence or a connection? Moore keeps the reader in suspense as she takes us back and forth between 1961 and 1975, pulling in the various parts of the story and introducing characters with connections. This is one of the best books I’ve read all year, and all I could think at the ending was just “wow”.

A novel like Brooklyn by Colm Toibin, although not as enthralling as a mystery, is full of interwoven storylines of its own. Brooklyn takes us from a small Irish village in the 1950s to New York City.  Eilis is a young woman living with her mother and older sister Rose in Ireland. She is persuaded that she should travel to the U.S. to find work after being unable to find a job in her town. Even though she’s reluctant, she finds the courage to go and with the help of her priest, she finds a place to live and a job.  It’s a simple but compelling story of learning how to cope with living in a new country and the many changes in her life.  Some people might find the story slow, but I thought it was a good interpretation of the immigrant experience. My favorite part was reading about how family life has changed over the years. Eilis’s story doesn’t end here, but continues in Long Island, published in May of this year.

My latest fantasy pick is The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman. It’s a new look at an old story. King Arthur is dead, as are most of the Knights of the Round Table. No one is left except a few not-so heroic survivors and a young wanna-be knight named Collum from the Out Isles. Their only connection? To find the next true king of England, even if it means adventuring through a disintegrating kingdom. I’ll read almost anything related to Arthurian legend, and I loved this unconventional version of the legend.

Puzzled about your next read? Come see us!

Lauri Wilson is the Library Operations Specialist at the Mahony Family Library at South Arkansas College.