Here is a thing the world cannot get enough of: British Historical Mysteries. Like my children’s appetite for dessert, readers are insatiable when it comes to murder served with a spot of tea and possibly a biscuit. (Lest you think I am being judgy, you should know that I am a fan of both sweets…
Professor Chandra, noted Cambridge economics professor, has been passed over for the Nobel Prize. Again. Estranged from his family, and realizing that the prize may be forever out of his reach, he finds himself adrift. After an unexpected bicycle accident, he takes a temporary position in Orange County and tries to reconnect with his ex-wife…
If you haven’t already heard, Elizabeth McCracken’s Bowlaway is one of the Buzzy Books Of Spring, for obvious reasons: it’s been seventeen years since her last novel, and the premise of this new book – a family saga about a bowling alley – is a perfect fit for McCracken's offbeat but heartfelt type of storytelling.…
Do you find yourself fiddling your thumbs, looking around the room for something to do? Do you feel you're behind your peers at work when it comes to a particular software? I bet you'd like to hear about a productive and helpful tool named Lynda! Lynda.com offers courses ranging from Animation to Programming Foundations to…
American heiress Jennie Jerome, known for her beauty, was the mother of Winston Churchill. Three American heiresses from the Gilded Age have inspired their own biographical novels that validate the old Beatles tune, “money can’t buy me love’’. Stephanie Barron, who writes the popular Jane Austen mystery series, has captured the life of Jennie Jerome…
The name Petranek's has been on the storefront at 426 N. Milwaukee Avenue since about 1950, but the drug store can trace its lineage back at least 140 years. A drug store has been in business in this same location since the 1870s. Through a series of posts, I will trace the history of the…
Elly Griffiths, who is probably best known as the author of the popular Ruth Galloway mystery series, has written an eerie stand-alone Gothic murder mystery, The Stranger Diaries, set in a haunted British boarding school. I had high hopes for this book and was not disappointed! Claire Cassidy teaches English and creative writing at Talgarth…
It is Women's History Month and when it comes to Libertyville history there is no shortage of inspiring women who have lived and served in this town to make it what it is today. Our local history librarian Jenny Barry is back for a special edition of The Past is Present, highlighting 3 such women.…
Martin Scarsden is a journalist whose career has stalled. After surviving a terrifying incident in the Middle East, he has returned to his job in Sydney but is struggling with PTSD. His editor, hoping to give Martin a way back, sends him to Riversend, a drought-ridden rural Australian town, where a mass shooting occurred a…
Have you heard of Lynda? No, not Lynda Barry, the famous cartoonist and author. The Lynda I am referring to is a very helpful and just as inspiring website. Lynda.com offers courses in just about anything! You can master a class in animation or an operating system you need to familiarize yourself with for work.…
