Ageless, Timeless Fiction at JCPL!

I’m not one of those women who hate to admit their age. I don’t advertise it, but if I it happens to come up in conversation, I’ll admit how old I am. I have, however, been known to be wrong about how old I really am. An honest mistake, so to speak. One year, as my birthday got closer, a friend of ours was visiting, and the fact that my birthday was a month away was mentioned. When asked how old my upcoming birthday would make me, I answered, “I’ll be thirty eight.” Several beats went by, and finally, my friend said, “I could be wrong, but haven’t you been thirty eight for an awfully long time now?” Hmmm…Maybe the age thing is more of an issue than I thought. When it comes to that subject, I guess I’m sort of on the same page with India Bishop, a thirty eight (really forty three) year old woman who has literally reinvented herself and then falls for a wealthy older man named Marcus Croft. The only thing missing from her life now is a baby, and when her attempts at pregnancy fail, she turns to technology, her life intersecting with the lives of Jules Strauss and Annie Barrow, leading readers into the hearts of women’s lives in unforgettable and tender ways in “Then Came You” by Jennifer Weiner.


I could describe this book as “not old” at the Jasper County Public Library. In fact, it’s NEW, and so are the following titles! Read on!


Banished from New York to the balmy seaside resort of Port Fontaine, Florida due to political fallout, forensic pathologist, Dr. Edward Jenner hopes that the change of scenery will do him good. Jenner’s hopes are dashed, however, when he finds himself embroiled in another death investigation, this one hitting close to home, because the corpse belongs to his former mentor, Dr. Martin Roburn. Putting the pieces together gets a little dicey when four more corpses turn up, seemingly tied to the murder of Roburn and an up and coming drug trade, common in the sleepy little town in “A Hard Death,” the sequel to “Precious Blood” by Jonathan Hayes.


With prominent canines, an uncommon affinity for plants like blood-wart and Dracula orchid, Vlad Servan dresses entirely in black and hails from Romania. Could it be that this friend of Abby Knight’s fiancé is truly a vampire? When a local woman’s corpse is found drained of blood, the search for a killer is on. With Vlad as suspect #1, Abby and her fiancé, Marco, must race against time to prove him innocent in “Night of the Living Dandelion: A Flower Shop Mystery” by Kate Collins.


Retired American schoolteacher, Dorothy Martin has chosen to live out her retirement enjoying the English countryside. Invited to celebrate Guy Fawkes Night at the fully restored Branston Abbey, a major storm blows through, dimming the festive nature of the party. When a tree blows over, revealing a human skeleton tangled within its roots, intrigue follows in “A Dark and Stormy Night” by Jeanne M. Dams.


These “not old” books from JCPL would be great ways to celebrate, say, your 38th birthday. Mark Twain had it right when he quipped, “There is no cure for the common birthday.” Not your 38th birthday? Mine, either, but I still plan to make a trip to JCPL, where the new fiction on the shelves are as ageless as we all are, because, after all, age is just a number, and you can never have enough to read, no matter how old you are!