Monthly Archives: September 2008

Elmore Elliott Peake. The Darlingtons. New York: McClure, Phillips & Co., 1900.

Melodramatic story of Carol Darlington, a beautiful and intelligent member of Asheboro’s social elite, and Stephen Kaltenborn, an independent-minded Methodist minister. Carol and Stephen grow in their love and learn to appreciate the opinions and experiences of others. Their happy story is contrasted with that of Carol’s brother who struggles with alcoholism.

Check this title’s availability and access an online copy through the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

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Filed under 1900, 1900-1909, Novels to Read Online, Peake, Elmore Elliott, Piedmont, Randolph

William Farquhar Payson. John Vytal: A Tale of the Lost Colony. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1901.

This alternative telling of the Lost Colony story adds some new figures, including 16th century bad-boy dramatist Christopher Marlowe and the main character, Captain John Vytal. Spanish invaders, hostile Native Americans, and internal dissent doom the colony. Marlowe returns to England and meets his fate at that tavern in Deptford. White Doe (Virginia Dare), Dark Eyes (Manteo’s son) and Eleanor Dare flee to the forest, along with Vytal who has long pined for Eleanor.

Check this title’s availability and access an online copy through the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

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Filed under 1900-1909, 1901, Coast, Dare, Historical, Novels to Read Online, Payson, William Farquhar

Dorothy C. Paine. A Maid of the Mountains. Philadelphia: George W. Jacobs & Co., 1906.

When a wealthy family buys a summer home in the North Carolina mountains, their children get to know some of the locals. Wealthy Beth Davenport befriends Carol, a mountain girl with a talent for singing. Misunderstandings and misadventures put the girls, and Beth’s faithful dog in peril, but Beth’s plans to assist Carol bear fruit when a member of the Davenport’s social circle offers to take Carol north for an education.

Check this title’s availability and access an online copy through the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

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Filed under 1900-1909, 1906, Mountains, Novels to Read Online, Paine, Dorothy C.

Clyde Edgerton. The Bible Salesman. New York: Little, Brown and Co., 2008.

Innocent Henry Dampier seems no match for career criminal Preston Clearwater. Henry is a young door-to-door Bible salesman. Clearwater convinces Henry that he is an undercover FBI agent and that he needs Henry’s help. Soon Henry is driving the cars that Clearwater steals. It’s along and winding road, with many detours into Henry’s past, but Henry wises up–to his upbringing, to women, to Clearwater, to life. Edgerton’s warm humor is again on display in this tale about the people and mores of North Carolina in the years immediately before and after World War II.

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

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2008, Coast, Edgerton, Clyde, Piedmont

Christy Tillery French. Chasing Demons. New York: Mystery and Suspense Press, 2003.

Black Mountain is a refuge for Kendra Salvatori. There she feels safe and loved, but she is haunted by the fear that her abusive husband will find her. Garth Fisher has been with Kendra from her first day in Black Mountain, giving her love and helping her rebuild physically and emotionally. Knowing that Tony Salvatori and his gang will come for Kendra, Garth and Kendra prepare for the worst. Tony comes, and they battle in the woods to the death.

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

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2003, Buncombe, French, Christy Tillery, Mountains, Romance/Relationship, Suspense/Thriller

J. D. Rhoades. Breaking Cover. New York: St. Martin’s Minotaur, 2008.

Author J. D. Rhoades has taken a break from his Jack Keller series to create a thriller about undercover FBI agent Tony Wolf. Wolf has been on the lam (or deeply undercover) in rural North Carolina for four years. When he intervenes to rescue two boys from a kidnapper, his cover is blown. For Wolf, it becomes a case of “no good deed goes unpunished” as a biker gang he double-crossed and his old colleagues come after him to get some answers and to settle scores.

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

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2008, Novels Set in Fictional Places, Rhoades, J.D., Suspense/Thriller

Margaret Maron. Death’s Half Acre. New York: Grand Central Publishing, 2008.

Now that fictional Colleton County is one of the fastest growing counties in the nation, life in the formerly rural community is changing dramatically. New housing developments are springing up adjacent to farms, a strip-mall is proposed, and people are talking about how to slow or limit the growth. With all the change comes conflicts, meaning Judge Deborah Knott’s small claims cases center on chickens in subdivisions and con artist real-estate agents. When a corrupt county commissioner’s apparent-suicide is ruled a murder, people wonder if she was the only dishonest commissioner and Deborah and her sheriff’s deputy husband get involved in the investigation. This is the 14th mystery about Judge Knott and familiar characters from previous books, including Deborah’s “reformed” father, figure large in the plot.

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

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2008, Coastal Plain, Maron, Margaret, Mystery, Novels in Series, Novels Set in Fictional Places

Waldron Baily. The Homeward Trail. New York: W. J. Watt & Co., 1916.

David Simmons and Ruth Swaim were childhood playmates, growing up on adjacent farms by the Yadkin River. Their parents assumed that the young people would some day wed, but when David bungles a sale of Mr. Swaim’s apples, he leaves the area. David’s plan is to earn the money to repay Mr. Swaim. Thus begin a picaresque tale in which David encounters an escaped Union prisoner and an Indian princess. David enjoys his time among the Croatan Indians (Lumbees) and comes to love the Princess Elizabeth. That in itself is a complicated situation, but the plot thickens when the Union soldier turns up where Ruth is staying and tells her about David’s new love. Ruth goes to David, and overhears David confess to Elizabeth his prior relationship with Ruth. Ruth and David recognize that their future is together, but leaving the Croatan settlement proves difficult.

Check this title’s availability and access an online copy through the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

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Filed under 1910-1919, 1916, Baily, Waldron, Novels to Read Online, Piedmont

Waldron Baily. When the Cock Crows. New York: Bedford Publishing, 1918.

Beaufort fisherman Ichabod Jones attempts to rescue New York socialite Ethel Marion from a nefarious opium-crazed doctor who has kidnapped her. While tracking down Miss Marion and her kidnapper, Captain Jones is reunited with an old love. Captain Jones’ pet rooster, Shrimp, is delightful addition to the plot.

Check this title’s availability and access an online copy through the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

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Filed under 1910-1919, 1918, Baily, Waldron, Carteret, Coast, Novels to Read Online

Georgia Hooker McNeill. Tired of Being a Pastor’s Wife. Cameron, NC: MJC Publishing, 2007.

Being a pastor’s wife is a hard row to hoe, so the Pastors’ Wives Alliance was formed. The women meet each Saturday to share their frustrations over demanding church members, expectations of extreme propriety, endless fund raising, their husbands’ long hours, and the ups and downs that most couples endure. This particular Saturday the meeting become more serious when one of the group announces that she is leaving her husband and shares the reasons why.

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

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2007, Coastal Plain, Cumberland, McNeill, Georgia Hooker