Category Archives: 2003

2003

Tim Myers. At Wick’s End. New York: Berkley Prime Crime, 2003.

Harrison Black is working a dead-end job selling computers when he gets the phone call. His beloved great-aunt Belle has just passed away, and he needs to meet with her attorney immediately. Little does he know that this meeting will change his life. In her will Belle left Harrison her candle shop, At Wick’s End, with the wish that he will move to Micah’s Ridge and be fully involved in the day-to-day activities of the store. With no better option and a desire to stay true to his great-aunt, Harrison decides to move into her apartment at River’s Edge, the mixed-use property she also left him.

Harrison likes this new, warm community and he finds he has a talent for candle making. Everything would be just as Belle wished if Harrison didn’t have a sneaking suspicion that Belle’s death was not an accident. Her death is suspicious because it appears she fell from a ladder, but she was afraid of heights. Additionally, a strange series of break-ins and robberies occur at River’s Edge, and a diamond jeweler is murdered. Just when he starts to despair that he will never find the answer, Harrison discovers a large diamond hidden inside the last candle Belle ever made – her secret clue. Harrison, a devoted Agatha Christie fan, makes an identical candle and puts it on display with the hope that it will draw the murderer into At Wick’s End. When an unlikely but armed individual comes into the store after hours looking for the diamond, Harrison uses the only weapon available to protect himself and the store while finding his great-aunt’s killer – hot wax!

At Wick’s End is Tim Myer’s first novel in the “Candlemaking Mystery” series.

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

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2003, Myers, Tim, Mystery, Novels in Series, Novels Set in Fictional Places

Lynne Hinton. Forever Friends. San Francisco, CA: HarperSanFrancisco, 2003.

The women of Hope Springs Community Church enjoy a strong bond. In the first two novels in Hinton’s Hope Springs series, the women compiled a church cookbook to energize their Women’s Guild and discovered how much they cherished the relationships formed in that experience.

In Forever Friends, the women are once again present for each others’ hardships as well as their joys. Margaret has just discovered that she is cancer-free, and the women are delighted with the news. Jessie finally fulfills a lifelong dream to travel to Africa, and she returns with a renewed spirit. After Beatrice’s husband shares a family secret with her, she feels the satisfaction as well as responsibility of being “in” on information at last. Louise offers her friends sincere advice. And Charlotte, upon helping a parishioner’s jailed grandson, realizes that the ministry is not for her and decides to move West. The theme throughout this novel is friendship, which Hinton shows in the devotion, support, honesty, and humor that characterize their relationships. The nickname that the dedicated women given themselves, “Forever Friends”, is appropriate.

Hope Springs is Lynn Hinton’s third book in her Hope Springs series.

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

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2003, Hinton, Lynne, Novels in Series, Novels Set in Fictional Places, Religious/Inspirational

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

Lori Foster. Say No To Joe? New York: Zebra, 2003.

Joe Winston is the type of guy that girls flock to.  He has no problem with getting his pick of the litter until he meets Luna Clark.   Luna knows better than to fall for Joe’s usually irresistible charms and, of course, this drives Joe crazy.  He pursues and she ignores until Luna finds herself the new guardian of her two young cousins.   Now Luna needs Joe’s help to protect the kids.   The group becomes an instant family as Joe and Luna grow closer, realizing their true feelings.

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

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2003, Foster, Lori, Romance/Relationship

Dixie Browning. Beckett’s Convenient Bride. New York: Silhouette Books, 2003.

Like the other men in his generation of the Beckett clan, Carson Beckett has been avoiding the altar.  His job as a police detective in Charleston, South Carolina has kept him busy–and banged up.  As he recovers from a particularly bad scrape, he begins to think that it’s time to marry his long-time girlfriend Margaret. But before he commits to wedding preparations, Carson decides he should make good on a promise to his late grandfather to clear up a debt owed by the Becketts to a family named Chandler. (A century earlier a Chandler had give a Beckett money to invest.  The investment was a good one, but no one could find Chandler to give him his profits.) Carson needs to find the last Chandler heir, Kit Dixon. Kit is a children’s book author and illustrator who makes a living as a waitress on the Outer Banks.  Unfortunately for both Kit and Carson, Kit came close to witnessing a murder.  When Carson comes around asking questions about Kit, she assumes that he is the murderer. Kit runs down Carson with her distinctive VW Beetle, then when it’s clear he’s not a killer, she takes him in while he heals.  You know where it goes from there.

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

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2003, Browning, Dixie, Coast, Novels in Series, Romance/Relationship

Michael Phillips. A Day to Pick Your Own Cotton. Minneapolis, MN: Bethany House, 2003.

Although Katie and Mayme are only teenagers, they are trying to run the Rosewood Plantation on their own and convince everyone in the nearby town of Greens Crossing that nothing is amiss. Under their watch, Rosewood becomes a sanctuary for several other young women in trouble, including a girl whose mother died when she and her daughter were fleeing her abusive husband, and an ex-slave who is hiding herself and her new baby from a cruel former master. Throughout the novel the four girls struggle to survive, keep one step ahead of those who would harm them, and find a way to pay the bank loans against the property. A Day to Pick Your Own Cotton is the the second book of the historical, faith-based Shenandoah Sisters series.

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

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2003, Historical, Novels in Series, Novels Set in Fictional Places, Phillips, Michael, Piedmont, Religious/Inspirational

Ann B. Ross. Miss Julia Hits the Road. New York: Viking, 2003.

Miss Julia can’t figure out what is wrong with her friend Sam. He is too old for a mid-life crisis and too young for senility, but he inexplicably shows up in her driveway one day wearing a leather jacket and riding a Harley. Although she can’t seem to wrap her mind around it, he also begins courting her in earnest: flowers, bad poetry, and calling “just to talk.” However, the real problem in this book is that Miss Julia’s housekeeper Lillian and all her neighbors are in danger of being evicted by their shady landlord. Miss Julia comes to the rescue by organizing a Poker Run motorcycle fundraiser, but must also dodge the unwanted attentions of the event’s biggest benefactor. This is the fourth book about the proper widow’s adventures in the fictional town of Abbotsville.

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

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2003, Henderson, Humor, Mountains, Mystery, Novels in Series, Novels Set in Fictional Places, Ross, Ann B.

Kathy Reichs. Bare Bones. New York: Scribner, 2003.

Medical examiner Tempe Brennan never gets to take a break! She is back in North Carolina and planning on taking her first non-family vacation in years (with her Montreal detective-boyfriend, Andrew Ryan), but those plans are ruined by the appearance of a string of bodies that may be connected. The first is a baby found in a drug dealer’s house, and then human and bear remains surface while she is at a pig pickin’ with her daughter. A small plane crash and the discovery of more human and bear bones increase the mystery. Brennan’s dog features prominently in this novel, the 6th in the Temperance Brennan mystery series.

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

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2003, Mecklenburg, Mystery, Novels in Series, Piedmont, Reichs, Kathy

Wendy Alexia Rountree. Lost Soul. Baltimore, MD: PublishAmerica, 2003.

The teenage years are hard for everyone, but they are especially tough for Elisa Matthews.  Her family is comfortably middle class, she has good grades, and she has dreams for future.  These things set her apart from many of the other African American teens in her small home town. When her best friend, Rachel, joins the clique that calls her an “Oreo”, Elisa  starts to feel that she doesn’t have a friend in the world. But she does. Jen has had Elisa’s back when the clique has mocked her, but when Elisa starts spending time with a new boy, Scott, it’s Jen who feels vulnerable.  The novel is in Elisa’s voice; the technique nicely captures her thought processes and her growth.

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

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2003, Children & Young Adults, Coastal Plain, Rountree, Wendy Alexia

Yvonne Lehman. His Hands. Urichsville, OH: Barbour Publishing, 2003.

We each react in our own way to the misfortunes that befall us.  Artist Matthew MacEwen risked his life to save a young girl from the flames of a wrecked plane.  Was he aware that he might die in the rescue and, if so, did he intend to take that risk?  When he ends up alive, but with scarred hands that end his career as an artist, he has to struggle to overcome bitterness. He returns to the mountains of North Carolina where he builds a new life as an art teacher and a rafting instructor.  His scarred hands have also kept him from dating.  When a beautiful young woman comes to his rafting camp, he is drawn to her.   Little does Matthew know that this beautiful woman is tied to the tragedy in his past.  In this short novel, Matthew and Christine hope that God will to lead them to a better life, a life together.

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

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2003, Graham, Lehman, Yvonne, Mountains, Religious/Inspirational, Romance/Relationship, Swain