Category Archives: Coastal Plain

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by | February 1, 2010 · 9:01 am

Holly Lisle. Memory of Fire. New York: EOS, 2002.

Usually when people consider magic, the end result is something that benefits them. Who wouldn’t want a million dollars to magically appear in his or her pocket? Who wouldn’t want to walk in the warm sands of Bali? Unfortunately, there are some who would use magic for evil. Such is the case in the town of Cat Creek, North Carolina.  Cat Creek, located in Richmond County, is a special place because it is home to the Sentinels, individuals who are capable of magic and who are the gatekeepers of an alternate universe called Oria. When one of the Sentinels turns on his allies, he not only puts them in danger but also causes an epidemic, called the Carolina Flu, which puts humans the world over in danger. As the Sentinels try to make peace between the two worlds, an unlikely pair of strangers provides indispensable help. Lauren Dane, the daughter of Sentinels who were killed for being suspected traitors, has special magical powers that allow her to be one of the rare gateweavers. Molly McColl, who has just been kidnapped by Oria natives and is believed by them to be a Vodi (Orian goddess), is Lauren’s long-lost half-sister. The two women use their talents to save both worlds and to reclaim the honor that their families deserve.

Memory of Fire is book one of Lisle’s The World Gates series.

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

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2002, Coastal Plain, Lisle, Holly, Novels in Series, Richmond, Science Fiction/Fantasy

by | January 29, 2010 · 1:46 pm

Edward Vaughn. The Paths of Glory. Charleston, SC: BookSurge, 2009.

The reader is introduced to Mac McDermott as he is contemplating suicide. Although he once led a happy, successful life, Mac’s nasty divorce from his vindictive second wife, Martha, his estrangement from his son and two stepsons, and the loss of his high-paying job has led to a deep depression. The mounting bills and his dependence on alcohol have not helped his situation, and he concludes that a boating accident is his best way “out.” While at sea, Mac is mysteriously saved by the spirit of his stepfather, who encourages Mac to abandon his plans. That night, Mac wins the lottery. The $40 million prize takes care of his money problems, and he finds a new lease on life, which includes trying to make peace with his former wives.

Things are going well for Mac and his girlfriend, Loretta, until Martha is found dead in her swimming pool the day after Mac’s visit. He is immediately suspected of her murder, and after a quick trial, the jury finds him guilty. Z, the private investigator Mac enlisted before and during the trial, will not rest after Mac is put on death row, and he continues searching for clues. Z reaches the conclusion that Martha faked her death to collect her life insurance money and that she had no problem incriminating Mac in her scheme. Her plan almost works, but Z finds justice for Mac, and he is once again able to find contentment.

The Paths of Glory is Edward Vaughn’s fourth novel in his “Cumberland County Series.”

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

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2009, Coastal Plain, Cumberland, Novels in Series, Suspense/Thriller, Vaughn, Edward

by | January 19, 2010 · 9:13 am

Fern Michaels. Collateral Damage. New York: Kensington Publishing Corp., 2008.

The women of the Sisterhood are at it again. Although this group of vigilante women has done good in ridding the world of evil individuals, their unlawful methods have forced them to go into hiding. Now back at their secret Yancey County retreat on Big Pine Mountain, the fugitives are tempted to get back to work after being promised a presidential pardon. Donor databases of both the Democratic and Republican parties have been hacked, and with the election just a year away, both organizations approach the Sisterhood for their help. The thought of being free again is tantalizing to the women, but they soon realize that the deal is simply a ploy by the unpopular incumbent president to have them arrested. With the FBI hot on their trail, the women must travel to Washington, D.C. to kidnap the president’s chief of staff and an important GOP fundraiser, the two men at the center of the scandal. Once they have the criminals, the Sisterhood transports them to the CIA’s Harvey Point location in Hertford where the women position the crooks right where they belong: dangling twelve inches above a quicksand pond in the Great Dismal Swamp. Once again, the Sisters prove that they can protect themselves and their enterprise.

This is the eleventh novel in Fern Michaels’ Sisterhood Series, but not all of the novels in the series are set in North Carolina.

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

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2008, Coastal Plain, Michaels, Fern, Mountains, Novels in Series, Perquimans, Suspense/Thriller, Yancey

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by | January 13, 2010 · 9:00 am

John H. Hyman. The Relationship. Manassas, VA: E.M. Press, 1995.

Scotland Neck, North Carolina, in 1944 is a typically charming Southern town. Everyone knows everyone, and people generally look out for one another. Johnnie, the nine year-old narrator, describes the many adventures he and his best friend Wormy encounter that summer. Although Johnnie is white and Wormy is black, the two boys do not allow the racial tensions of the segregated South to disturb their relationship. They daydream about concocting solutions that will make them invisible so that they can both take part in activities such as buying a Coke and a moon pie at the local grocery.

The two boys seem to have a penchant for mischief; examples include the time Johnnie’s father’s taxicab ended up at the bottom of Scout Pond and the day the boys hopped a train thinking it would take them to the next town but ended up in Norfolk, Virginia. As Johnnie grows up, he recognizes more often the discrimination Wormy endures, especially after Wormy is attacked for taking part in a whites-only activity. Although Johnnie acknowledges that Scotland Neck is not perfect, he appreciates the lessons he learns over the summer of 1944 before he and his newly-widowed mother move to northern Virginia. Most of all, he is grateful for his time there with Wormy.

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

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Filed under 1990-1999, 1995, Coastal Plain, Halifax, Historical, Hyman, John H.

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by | January 8, 2010 · 11:06 am

Edward Vaughn. The Evil That Men Do. Bloomington, IN: AuthorHouse, 2007.

The Ku Klux Klan was a dividing force in many southern families in the middle of the twentieth century. For the Morris-McConnell family of Cumberland County this is especially true. In a story that spans the 1930s to the early 1960s, the reader witnesses how the hate group affected relationships as well as influenced opinions. Opening on the day of LT McConnell’s birth, this novel reveals how ingrained the KKK is in the lives of Wadesville men. LT’s father, grandfather, and doctor are all members. However, LT’s strong-willed mother, Birdie, has no respect for the group, and she teaches her son to be accepting of all people. For example, one of Birdie’s best friends is Sara Willis, the black woman she insisted deliver LT, much to her husband’s displeasure. Birdie’s resolute attitude against the KKK puts her at odds with many member of the community, including her husband and father.

When LT’s father is away serving in World War II, Birdie takes over his poorly-run weekly newspaper, turning it into a respected daily publication and fulfilling her dream of a career in journalism. Because she writes with a liberal tilt and encourages Sara to write a medical column in the paper, Birdie captures the attention of the local KKK. When she and her friends find suspicious fires set on their properties, they persuade LT, who is now a Duke medical student, to infiltrate the KKK so that they will be aware of the group’s next move. Tricking his grandfather into believing that he disagrees with his mother’s “socialist” ideas, LT joins the KKK and learns that members plan to burn down Sara’s house – with her in it. With the help of the FBI, LT is able to protect his mother and her friends from danger and to shut down the local KKK. LT and Birdie are willing to take a stand against the hate group, even if it means going against his or her father’s wishes and putting their lives in peril.

The Evil That Men Do is Edward Vaughn’s first novel in his “Cumberland County Series.”

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

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2007, Coastal Plain, Cumberland, Historical, Novels in Series, Novels Set in Fictional Places, Vaughn, Edward

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by | December 30, 2009 · 10:37 am

Tim Downs. Ends of the Earth. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2009.

A call from the sheriff’s department in Sampson County gives North Carolina State University professor Nick Polchak a chance to escape the beginning-of-the-school- year receptions that he abhors.  Professor Polchack is known as “the Bug Man” and he assumes that Sampson County authorities know his reputation and requested his services.  But they didn’t.  It’s the dead man’s wife who asked for Nick.  Kathryn Guilford made her first series appearance in Shoofly Pie, but in the intervening years a lot has happened, including her marriage to a bi-polar man who is the murder victim.

The authorities think that the killing is drug-related but early on readers learn that the victim was connected to a new NCSU graduate student with ties to a sinister, wealthy Russian.  What takes Nick time to discover is that the grad student’s interest in Nick’s work may be his way to keep track of the investigation.  Nick can be forgiven for being a little slow on the uptake.  His feelings for Kathryn re-emerge as they eat meals together and he sees how she mothers her autistic daughter.  Alena Savard, the dog trainer from series novel Less than Dead, has also come to the farm to aid in the investigation. She’s clear on her feelings for Nick and she knows that Kathryn and her daughter are rivals for Nick’s heart.  Bioterrorism, entomology, and matters of the heart vie for center stage in this book.  Rest easy, the terrorism threat is resolved; romantic matters will be settled later.

This is the fifth  novel in the Bug Man series. Not all of the books in the series are set in North Carolina.

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

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2009, Coastal Plain, Downs, Tim, Novels in Series, Sampson, Suspense/Thriller, Wake

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by | December 26, 2009 · 1:38 pm

Stephen March. Armadillo. Huntsville, TX: Texas Review Press, 2003.

Chuck is renting a rather depressing trailer from his older cousin Cross, who owns and operates the body shop where Chuck works.  Chuck gets into trouble working for his cousin at the body shop, which has a successful after-hours program of stripping and repainting stolen cars.  An unlikely partner named Wanda falls into Chuck’s life, bringing with her mischief, sensuality, whimsy, and a love of animals.

Cross is a violent man with a shady past, and when Chuck begins to stand up to him, Cross takes out his anger on Wanda and her pet armadillo and canary.  Chuck and Wanda retaliate by seeking revenge and a new life far from their Eastern North Carolina trailer park.

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2003, Coastal Plain, March, Stephen, Novels Set in Fictional Places

by | December 21, 2009 · 8:38 am

Marilyn Denny Thomas. Sweet Beulah Land. Longwood, FL: Xulon Press, 2008.

This novel opens with the buzzing activities of Election Day in Beulah, North Carolina. As Marilyn Denny Thomas describes that day in 1900 and the days following, she introduces the reader to a wide cast of characters. There are the members of the Gresham family (Jeb and Sarah Jane and their five daughters) who are well-established in Duplin County. They have formed strong bonds with their friends, such as the Thomases and the Williamses, and relatives (some of whom spell their last name Grisham or Grissom) in this tightly knit community. Residents of Beulah share their many joys, such as marriages, births, and successful tobacco crops as well as many disappointments, such as wayward family members, unfulfilled dreams, and deaths.  Beulah is not unlike other small towns; it has its share of darkness, such as the murder of a former slave, and as well as shared curiosities, such as the total solar eclipse that townspeople witnessed as they collected tobacco from the fields. Thomas exposes the happenings of a small southern town at the turn of the century.

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

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2008, Coastal Plain, Duplin, Historical, Novels by County, Thomas, Marilyn Denny, Year of Publication

by | December 8, 2009 · 8:54 am

Clay Carmichael. Wild Things. Honesdale, PA: Front Street, 2009.

Zoë and Mr. C’mere approach people the same way.  Both are skeptical and skittish of others.  Both are fiercely independent and would be more than happy to live alone.  Both have been described as “feral.”  However, there is one distinction: Mr. C’mere is a cat, as one might assume, but Zoë is an eleven-year old girl.  Zoë Royster’s short life has been full of uncertainty and instability.  Her mother, who has just passed away, was mentally ill and neglectful, and Zoë never met her father.  When her paternal uncle Henry (who Zoë had never even heard of) comes to the hospital in Farmville to take her home with him, Zoë is distrustful of the new adult in her life.  However, Henry, a renowned sculptor and former successful naval cardiologist, is different.  While he does make her go to school for the first time, he also provides her with a secure home life and compassionate grown-up friends.

This new home includes Mr. C’mere, who wearily befriends Zoë, although it takes time and coaxing.  Zoë’s explorations of  the woods behind Henry’s home leads her to a forgotten cabin and a mysterious boy who roams the forest with a beautiful, rare albino deer that he calls “Sister.”  The bizarre boy watches over Zoë and his desire to protect her gets them both into some trouble, but it ultimately teaches Zoë the value of family in ways she’s never imagined.

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

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2009, Carmichael, Clay, Children & Young Adults, Coastal Plain, Pitt, Scotland

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by | November 26, 2009 · 9:09 am

Suzetta Perkins. Déjà Vu. Largo, MD: Strebor Books, 2009.

In Suzetta Perkins’ earlier novel, Behind the Veil,  Margo Myles is betrayed by her closest confidants: her husband of twenty-five years, her long-term next door neighbor, and her very best friend in the world. In  Déjà Vu, Angelica Barnes (Margo’s best friend) is at the center of the drama.  Recently released from prison after being caught up in the “Operation Stingray” that got Margo’s husband into trouble, Angelica is trying to get her life back on track and to mend broken relationships.  However, she finds that making a new life in North Carolina will be too difficult; everyone in Fayetteville knows all about her past.  Angelica decides to move to New York City after being offered a job as a model, but the turmoil from her previous life follows her.  Robert Santiago, the ringleader of the criminal organization Operation Stingray finds her so that she can “repay her debt” to him.  Angelica, her family, and her friends are in danger as Santiago terrorizes and kills those who undid his schemes five years ago.  Angelica hopes that Margo will forgive her and help her, but Margo is struggling to reconnect with her husband who has just been released from prison.  Finally, it takes intervention from an outsider who is not what he appears to be to prevent Santiago from harming more people.

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

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2009, Coastal Plain, Cumberland, Perkins, Suzetta, Suspense/Thriller

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