Ten best mystery novels

I am still on this topic. My personal list is fluid.

1. City of Bones, Michael Connelly
2. Eight Million Ways to Die, Lawrence Block
3. L.A. Requiem, Robert Crais
4. Killing Floor, Lee Child
5. Death of a Red Heroine, Qiu Xiaolong
   
6. Listening Woman, Tony Hillerman
7. The Dogs of Riga, Henning Mankell
8. Night Passage, Robert B. Parker (Jesse Stone not Spenser)
   
9. Open Season, C. J. Box
10. New Hope for the Dead, Charles Willeford

That's my list for today. I am going to keep Willeford on the list because I still enjoy reading his four mysteries. They are hard to find but worth the effort.

I will be making room on the list for some of the new authors that are coming along. As I noted in my last posting, Calumet City was a terrific story and it won't be long until Charlie Newton takes up residence on many "Favorite" lists.

Disagree? Who and how? Let me know.

If I only had a brain

It is not often that I want to insist that others do something but I do now. GO TO TED AND SPEND SOME TIME. Lectures, demonstrations, performances, and talks by inventors, artists, physicists, philosophers, physicians, writers, and the gifted are offered. None are more that 18 minutes and many are shorter. Most are shorter than one might wish because the presenters are important thinkers talking about important things. They are the people you hear about and read about and if you rely on television sound bites for information you will not get the message that is available.

Go to TED and look into the possibilities, I dare you.

A taste: Jeff Han: Unveiling the genius of multi-touch interface design



They are not selling anything, nothing is asked of the viewer you can just go there and spend some time learning. Have fun.

Best I've read in years

Dark, gritty, action-filled, and fast. This one got me on page one and I could not stop reading it. Great plotting, good story, excellent dialog, Charlie Newton got it right the very first time (eighth novel, first published.) It rolls along better than a movie.

I'll be passing this one on to my mystery reading friends, Patti Black has a story to tell. This first novel does not end as though it is the first in a series but if Charlie Newton is asking opinions, my vote is for more.

What about those teens at the library?

I think this is a question some regular library users might be asking at the dinner table. Recently a couple of teens caused some heads to turn when they threw fist-sized chunks of concrete into the building from outside, through open front doors. The two boys in question had been asked to leave the building and library property because of a loud and ongoing disturbance in the building. Their response, once outside the building was to throw these potentially damaging chunks of concrete into the building. Luckily no one was hit by the objects. This is perhaps the low-point in dozens and dozens of difficult confrontations with teens over maintaining order in the library and protecting library property from damage.

Over the course of our time in our new building we have welcomed people from all corners of the Independence community to the library. Most are happy with what they find and use the facility in a reasonable manner but not all. The police have been called to the library multiple times to help with the orderly removal of groups of teens when events and emotions escalated to a level where physical harm seemed close at hand.

Positive and constructive efforts to engage teens have been fruitless.

Some regular library users are reluctant to come to the library because of the uproar that may breakout as teens act out unruly behavior. I think we have lost some customers who have been intimidated by them.

In spite of our tight funding I am asking the Library Board to authorize me to hire security guards to help protect the public, library staff, and library property from those who are unable to control themselves. What a time we live in.