Blue Calhoun narrates the story of his adult years in Raleigh during the 1950s from the distance of old age.  He begins his story in his mid-thirties, when he is working at a store that sells sheet music and instruments.  One day at work, an old friend from school stops by the store with her daughter Luna, who is not much older than Blue’s daughter Madelyn.  At 16, Luna is a talented young musician, and her dark hair, good looks, and confidence catch Blue’s interest.  As the story unfolds, Blue has to grapple with his feelings for Luna and wanting to protect his wife and daughter.  Second and third chances can’t prevent how the reverberations of how Blue’s unfaithful actions will affect his family, including his granddaughter, for whom the story is narrated.

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

Posted: November 20th, 2009 under 1990-1999, 1992, Piedmont, Price, Reynolds, Wake.
Comments: none

In this introspective novel we follow the narrator, Mandy, from her early childhood through to middle age.  Initially, her family is poor, but stable, in Depression-era North Carolina.  When her brothers leave the farm and her mother dies, Mandy’s life takes a turn for the worse. One day she kills her drunken, abusive father and then is sent to Dorothea Dix Hospital.  During her years at Dix, she comes to understand herself and other people, and upon release finds her way to love and a more normal life.

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Posted: September 21st, 2009 under 2000-, 2008, Cocolin, Theresa, Piedmont, Wake.
Comments: none

After the death of her parents, Corlis McCrea finds herself in the familiar (and inherent?) position of the middle child: having to choose a side. Her two siblings, self-serving older brother Mordecai and younger, diffident brother Truman, are at odds. The issue: what to do with their parents’ southern mansion, and everything in it, that is willed to all three.  The real problem: the brothers have different ideas on what to do with the house. Truman has spent all his life in the mansion and has no desire to let go of his memories. On the other hand, Mordecai sees the monetary potential in this inheritance and wants to sell. The only way either can win is to obtain Corlis’s allegiance so that two siblings can buy out the third.

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

Posted: August 18th, 2009 under 2000-, 2007, Novels by Region, Piedmont, Shriver, Lionel, Wake.
Comments: none

This is generally considered a roman a clef of the vicious 1950 Democratic primary campaign for the United States Senate seat held by Frank Porter Graham.  The action is centered in the state capital where Bill Tucker, a political operative, works maniacally to tip the election away from the moderate candidate.  Tucker’s candidate, Colonel Harvey Pollock, lost the initial primary to the incumbent despite possessing the advantages of a good family name, a wealthy, attractive wife, and a substantial campaign chest.  Now it’s the run-off primary and Tucker wants to pull out all the stops to win. When the book opens, Tucker is no Boy Scout, but as he masters dirty dealing and race baiting in his pursuit of victory, he goes past the point of no return. Tucker’s man wins the election, but Tucker has lost his moral compass, the woman he loves, and his future.

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

Posted: August 8th, 2009 under 1950-1959, 1953, Historical, Piedmont, Wake, Wicker, Tom.
Comments: none

In 1958 Roy Freeman, a Melungeon man from Kentucky, plead guilty to murdering his girlfriend to avoid being lynched or facing the death penalty. When the girlfriend’s remains are found more than 40 years later in a rusty pickup in the Blue Ridge Parkway, Freedman escapes prison and turns up in Professor Simon Shaw’s living room. After the convict asks the “forensic historian” to help prove his innocence and turns himself in, Shaw travels to his hometown of Boone to visit family and investigate Freeman’s claims. This is the third book in the Professor Simon Shaw series of mysteries.

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Posted: May 4th, 2009 under 2000-, 2002, Mountains, Mystery, Piedmont, Shaber, Sarah, Wake, Watauga.
Comments: none

In the second book of the Casey Jones series, it is Casey’s client who is running out of time. Gail Honeycutt is on death row for killing her husband, her appeals are pretty much exhausted, and she only has a month before her execution, but she continues to declare her innocence. Unfortunately, Gail’s husband was a cop (maybe a dirty one) and Casey’s investigation into his death puts her on the wrong side of the local P.D., including her non-boyfriend Bill. Fingers are pointed at Casey when people connected to the case start dying and the donut-loving private detective has to find the killer before she is framed for his work.

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

Posted: February 5th, 2009 under 1990-1999, 1998, Durham, Humor, Munger, Katy, Mystery, Novels in Series, Orange, Piedmont, Wake.
Comments: 2

Forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan is caught in the middle of an outlaw biker gang-war in Deadly Decisions, the fourth book in Reich’s series of mysteries. While investigating the deaths of both bikers and innocents caught in their crossfire, Tempe finds a connection to a North Carolina teenager’s death in 1984. In the midst of her investigation she also has to deal with three very different men: a sleazy TV reporter who keeps hanging around, her cop boyfriend who has been arrested for dealing in drugs and stolen property, and her 19-year-old nephew who is fascinated by all things motorcycle-related.

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

Posted: January 26th, 2009 under 2000, 2000-, Mystery, Novels in Series, Piedmont, Reichs, Kathy, Suspense/Thriller, Wake.
Comments: none

Even a good man can make a bad mistake.  When a drunken college student runs a stop sign and kills Wadus Strickland’s son, Strickland responds by beating the driver and his passenger with his son’s baseball bat.  The driver has political connections and Strickland doesn’t mount a defense, so he is sentenced to twenty six years in Central Prison. This is meant to be hard time, but Strickland’s personal disciple, open-mindedness, and wisdom help him navigate prison life.  He does well when he is assigned to work at the Governor’s mansion, and he becomes involved in the life of the governor and his family.  This is more than the story of one man’s redemption; it is a novel of how one person’s positive influence can reshape the lives of many people.

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

Posted: January 12th, 2009 under 1990-1999, 1999, Piedmont, Religious/Inspirational, Wake, Young, Roy E..
Comments: none

When Becca takes off, her skizzer (sister) Claire feels compelled to search for her.  Claire has a sense that Becca has gone back to North Carolina and a place in the woods where the sisters played.  A note found there, and a locket, send Claire on a trans-Atlantic search for Becca. To find Becca Claire has to delve into her family’s history–a history far more complicated than she ever imagined. This novel is a story of family secrets, nicely linking contemporary North Carolinians to people and events of early centuries in England.

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Posted: December 29th, 2008 under 2000-, 2008, Kiesling, A. J., Mystery, Novels Set in Fictional Places, Piedmont, Wake.
Comments: none

This young adult novel is set in Wake County in the 1880s. The Beauchamp family lives in reduced circumstances as the widowed Mr. Beauchamp tries to raise his three daughters, with help from his sisters and the family’s servants. Rowena, the eldest daughter, is bored and chafes at the family’s relative poverty. Rowena longs for excitement and a chance to study music. She finds both when a cousin from the black sheep side of the family arrives. Through her boldness and open-heartedness, Rowena makes new friends and heals a family rift.

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

Posted: October 24th, 2008 under 1910-1919, 1912, Children & Young Adults, Novels to Read Online, Piedmont, Robinson, Celia Myrover, Wake.
Comments: none