Tag Archives: Gambling

Mark Phialas. Who Killed 20G? Williamsburg, VA: Cherokee McGhee, 2011.

Trent Jones is a has-been M.P. with a penchant for poker and scotch, and a passion for UNC basketball. The obsession with liquor and gambling means that he’s often drunk, broke, or some combination of the two, and that his … Continue reading

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Filed under 2010-2019, 2011, Mecklenburg, Mountains, Novels Set in Fictional Places, Phialas, Mark, Piedmont, Suspense/Thriller

N.W. “Red” Pope. The Sweet Potato Caper. Scottsdale, AZ: Five Points Publishing, 2009.

Benson, North Carolina, in the fall of 1959 may appear to be a typically sleepy, small Southern town, but that simplicity is deceiving. Sure, traditional mores still dictate interactions and stores close for the noontime meal (“dinner,” not “supper”). However, … Continue reading

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2009, Coastal Plain, Johnston, Pope, N. W., Suspense/Thriller, Wake

Burgess Leonard. Phantom of the Foul-Lines. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1952.

A new college basketball season is just around the corner, so it’s an appropriate time to add this novel to your reading list. Mickey Barton was the captain of his high school basketball team–a team that won the state championship … Continue reading

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Filed under 1950-1959, 1952, Children & Young Adults, Leonard, Burgess

Wille Thompson. Scratch Golfer. Hickory, NC: Mainland Press, 2008.

Webster (Web) Daniels’ life is a little down in the dumps lately; everything, from his advertising job to his golf game is a bit off. When the newest hire at Hay/Biggs/Pender Advertising, Richards Thomas III, is about to land the … Continue reading

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2008, Humor, Mecklenburg, Piedmont, Thompson, Wille

T. Lynn Ocean. Southern Fatality. New York : St. Martin’s Minotaur, 2007.

At the opening of Southern Fatality, Jersey Barnes retires from the day-to-day business of her security firm to concentrate on her other Wilmington business, a pub called the Barter’s Block. She has plans for living a (more) quiet life and … Continue reading

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2007, Coast, Humor, Mystery, New Hanover, Novels in Series, Ocean, T. Lynn, Romance/Relationship

James Swain. Mr. Lucky. New York: Ballentine Books, 2005.

Don’t you love it when a country boy makes good? Ricky Smith was nothing special in his hometown of Slippery Rock, North Carolina. One night in Las Vegas changed all that. After jumping from the balcony of a burning hotel, … Continue reading

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2005, Mountains, Novels Set in Fictional Places, Suspense/Thriller, Swain, James

Julia Nunnally Duncan. Drops of the Night. Boone, N.C.: Parkway Publishers, 2006.

Drops of the Night, a North Carolina novel set in 1988, is the story of Nora Lynch, a childless farmer’s wife who faces her husband’s jealous rages and intentions to sell the family farm – a plan that threatens the … Continue reading

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2006, Duncan, Julia Nunnally, McDowell, Mountains, Novels Set in Fictional Places

Charles Price. The Cock’s Spur. Winston-Salem: John F. Blair, 2002.

In the mountains of western North Carolina in the 1880s, moonshining and cockfighting are a regular part of the rough-and-tumble life. Webb Darling, the self-proclaimed king of the moonshiners, rules the region from his hilltop cabin. In contrast to the … Continue reading

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2002, Coast, Historical, Mountains, Piedmont, Price, Charles

Robert Morgan. This Rock. Chapel Hill: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2001.

Set in the North Carolina mountains in the 1920s, This Rock continues to explore the themes and setting used by Morgan in his popular 2000 novel Gap Creek. The story follows the young brothers Muir and Moody Powell. Muir is … Continue reading

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2002, Historical, Morgan, Robert, Mountains