Monthly Archives: July 2008

Lewis Shiner. Black & White. Burton, MI: Subterranean Press, 2008.

Robert Cooper has lived in Texas most of his adult life, so why does he come to the VA hospital in Durham to die? His son, Michael, senses that there is something that Robert has kept to himself but now wants told. Michael hopes that his father’s deathbed revelations will clear up certain mysteries regarding his birth and his parents’ estrangement from his mother’s North Carolina relatives. Robert’s construction work in Durham in the 1960s is the key to these mysteries, and the novel links the Cooper family story to the larger tale of the destruction of Durham’s Hayti neighborhood. This is a satisfying work that is a thriller, a study of family dynamics, and a meditation on race.

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Comments Off on Lewis Shiner. Black & White. Burton, MI: Subterranean Press, 2008.

Filed under 2000-2009, 2008, Durham, Mystery, Piedmont, Shiner, Lewis

Diane Chamberlain. Before the Storm. Don Mills, Ontario: MIRA Books, 2008.

Topsail Islanders have room in their hearts for a flawed mother with a son who is a bit ‘different’ and a daughter who seems to have her act together. That changes after young Andy Lockwood becomes a hero for saving other children from a church fire. The fire, and the media attention it receives, unsettles the community. Perhaps things are not as they seemed. As the story unfolds, Laurel Lockwood has to defend her son from suspicion even as she mulls over the mistakes that she has made in her life and those that her children may have made.

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Comments Off on Diane Chamberlain. Before the Storm. Don Mills, Ontario: MIRA Books, 2008.

Filed under 2000-2009, 2008, Chamberlain, Diane, Coast, Pender

Toni L.P. Kelner. Wed and Buried. New York: Kensington Books, 2003.

Computer programmer and amateur sleuth Laura Fleming is once again visiting the fictional town of Byerly, and this time she not only has her actor-husband with her, but also her seven-month-old baby daughter. The initial reason for their visit is the recent marriage of Laura’s Aunt Maggie to Big Bill Walters, the wealthiest man in town, but after their arrival Maggie reveals that she married Bill to protect him from whoever has been trying to kill him. While wedding celebrations commence and her relatives babysit little Alice, Laura begins snooping around town and tries to determine the identity of the would-be killer.

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Comments Off on Toni L.P. Kelner. Wed and Buried. New York: Kensington Books, 2003.

Filed under 2000-2009, 2003, Catawba, Kelner, Toni L. P., Mountains, Mystery, Novels in Series, Novels Set in Fictional Places

Ellen Gilchrist. A Dangerous Age. Chapel Hill: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2008.

The women of the Hand family live in the post-9/11 world. Winifred had the invitations printed for a December wedding in Raleigh, but her fiancĂ© died at the World Trade Center. Her cousins Louise and Olivia are there to help her, but their lives are soon touched by the war in Iraq. Each woman suffers and each has to find a way to carry on. Family ties, female friendship, the strength of tradition, and a willingness to begin anew contribute to the characters’ ability to endure. The Iraq War creates the context within which this character development takes place. Although the Hand family is from North Carolina, much of the action takes places in Washington D.C. and Oklahoma.

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Comments Off on Ellen Gilchrist. A Dangerous Age. Chapel Hill: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2008.

Filed under 2000-2009, 2008, Gilchrist, Ellen, Piedmont

Sarah Addison Allen. The Sugar Queen. New York: Bantam Books, 2008.

Josey Cirrini, the main character in this novel, is not doing much with her life. At 27 she is still under the thumb of her cold, beautiful mother. Josey likes to stay in her room, reading and eating candy. One day, Della Lee Baker, the town’s tough-talking, bad-girl waitress takes refuge in Josey’s closet. Josey wants Della out, but Della’s strong personality gives her the upper hand. Della fills Josey’s head with new ideas and gets Josey to do her favors. Doing Della’s bidding launches Josey out into the world, which is much more complex and wonderful than she ever imagined. With nudging from Della and help from a new friend, Josey makes a better life for herself.

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Comments Off on Sarah Addison Allen. The Sugar Queen. New York: Bantam Books, 2008.

Filed under 2000-2009, 2008, Allen, Sarah Addison, Mountains, Novels Set in Fictional Places

Randall Kenan. Let the Dead Bury Their Dead. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1992.

Randall Kenan introduced readers to the fictional town of Tims Creek in his 1989 novel A Visitation of Spirits and continued its story in his second book, Let the Dead Bury Their Dead. Its twelve short stories are connected by the town, a cast of recurring characters, and the themes of death, sex, and poverty. The title story is a parody of a scholarly article, complete with a deceased fictional author and extensive footnotes. Let the Dead Bury Their Dead was named a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award, was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and won the Lambda Award.

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Comments Off on Randall Kenan. Let the Dead Bury Their Dead. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1992.

Filed under 1990-1999, 1992, Coastal Plain, Kenan, Randall, Novels Set in Fictional Places

Diane Chamberlain. Kiss River. Don Mills, Ontario: MIRA, 2003.

More than 10 years ago a hurricane damaged the Kiss River lighthouse, destroying the top of the tower and sending its Fresnel lens to the ocean floor. For reasons she is unwilling to share, Gina Higgins has traveled from Seattle to see the lighthouse and when she discovers the damage it sustained she becomes determined to find the lost lens. The current residents of the lightkeeper’s house–a recent widower and his artist sister–invite Gina to stay with them and she begins her quest. Gina’s modern story is interspersed with the World War II-era diary entries of Bess Poor, the teen-aged daughter of one of the previous Kiss River lighthouse-keepers. This is the second book in a loosely-connected trilogy focused on the O’Neill family and their fictional town of Kiss River, N.C.

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2003, Chamberlain, Diane, Coast, Dare, Mystery, Novels Set in Fictional Places, Romance/Relationship

Nicholas Sparks. At First Sight. New York: Warner Books, 2005.

The first time writer Jeremy March visited Boone Creek, NC, he met and fell in love with the town librarian, Lexie Darnell. Now their whirlwind romance and Lexie’s pregnancy is forcing big changes in Jeremy’s life. He leaves New York to move to the fictional town of Boone Creek, where he works on renovating a house, planning his wedding, and preparing for fatherhood. Meanwhile, his writers-block becomes more frustrating and a series of anonymous emails make him doubt the strength of his relationship. At First Sight continues the story started in Sparks’ True Believer.

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2005, Coast, Novels Set in Fictional Places, Pamlico, Romance/Relationship, Sparks, Nicholas

Jan Karon. In This Mountain. New York: Viking, 2002.

After spending time as an interim minister on Whitecap Island, Father Tim Kavanagh and his wife Cynthia have returned to live full-time in Mitford. Father Tim is having a rough time, though. He is in his late sixties, has some health problems, and doesn’t really know what to do with himself now that he is retired. At the same time, his wife Cynthia is receiving attention and awards for her children’s books. Amidst serious life changes and problems, the mundane issues in Tim’s life–like learning to use email–keep the story from getting too heavy. In This Mountain, the seventh in Karon’s series, is populated with familiar Mitford residents, including former jewel thief George Gaynor, but also expands on the stories of several lesser known characters.

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Comments Off on Jan Karon. In This Mountain. New York: Viking, 2002.

Filed under 2000-2009, 2002, Karon, Jan, Novels in Series, Novels Set in Fictional Places, Religious/Inspirational

Patti Callahan Henry. The Art of Keeping Secrets. New York: New American Library, 2008.

South Carolinian Annabelle Murphy is able to come to terms with her husband’s unexpected death in a plane crash in a remote area of Colorado. That is, until the wreckage of the plane is found to contain two bodies. In her quest to find the identity of her husband’s traveling companion, Annabelle comes to Newboro (New Bern) North Carolina where she learns how her life intersects with that of Sophie Milstead and Sophie’s late mother, an art gallery owner on the run from her past.

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Comments Off on Patti Callahan Henry. The Art of Keeping Secrets. New York: New American Library, 2008.

Filed under 2000-2009, 2008, Coast, Craven, Henry, Patti Callahan