Iola Public Library
Alex Grecian made his name with the Scotland Yard Murder Squad series, set in Victorian England. Leaving that series behind, he has now written a standalone thriller The Saint of Wolves of Butchers set in his home state, Kansas. A sadistic Nazi who in the early 1950s made his way under an assumed name to Kansas and has developed a following here, a Nazi hunter on his trail, and an African-American Kansas State Trooper are the characters.
Charles Frazier returns to the Civil War era (and decades following) in Varina. Its title character is Varina Howell Davis, wife and widow of Confederate president Jefferson Davis. It also involves Jimmie Limber, an orphaned African American whom she adopted as a boy and was separated from at the end of the Civil War. Limber really existed, but this book envisions him reuniting with Varina late in life, with her relating her lifes story to him. Its a sad story for the most part: marriage to a much older widower, disliked for unconventional opinions and attitudes, first lady of a cause she didnt really believe in, and more. Frazier is best known for writing Cold Mountain, a National Book Award winner which was also turned into a movie.
In Hotel on Shadow Lake by Daniela Tully, 16-year old Mayas beloved grandmother disappears in Munich in 1990. Maya doesnt know that grandmother Martha received a letter from her long-dead twin brother which had been trapped in East Germany for four decades. Twenty-seven years later, Maya learns that Marthas body has been unearthed in upstate New York, a place she had no known connection to. Dropping everything, Marta flies to New York to see if she can learn her grandmothers story.
Storm chaser Tim Samaras, well known for the Discovery Channel show Storm Chasers, lost his life to a tornado in 2013, along with his 24-year old son. The Man Who Caught the Storm is a biography of Samaras by Brantley Hargrove.
Fred Kipp grew up at Piqua and went on to play professional baseball. Kipp is the last surviving person to play for both the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Yankees. Kipp, with his son, Scott Kipp, wrote a memoir, The Last Yankee Dodger. Whether you like local-boy-makes-good stories or are a baseball fan, you might want to come in and check out this book. (Shameless plug here: Fred Kipp will speak at the library on June 4 at 7 p.m. Books will also be available for purchase at the program).
