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Keith Russo, a 37-year-old small town lawyer, is found dead late one night in his office in the rural backwaters of Seabrook, Florida. His wife Diana discovers Keith on the floor behind his desk with two bullets in his head. There are blood splatters on the rug, the wall, everywhere. No real clues are left behind. No motive seems to exist until Diana mentions a disgruntled former client – Quincy Miller, a young black man with a grudge and a past. Miller is arrested, tried, and sentenced to life in prison. All along he had pleaded his innocence, but now after 22 years of neglect in the state penitentiary with no help or hope, he desperately writes a letter. Cullen Post works for Guardian Ministries in Savannah. It’s a small non-profit with only three full-time employees and a part-timer. Post, a lawyer and an Episcopal priest, travels up and down the Death Belt from North Carolina to Texas in his rust bucket vehicle trying to exonerate men on death row or with life sentences who have been wrongly convicted. Cullen doesn’t accept many cases, but when he receives Quincy’s letter, Cullen is moved to help him. Little does he know that sinister forces are against Quincy being set free from prison. And they will kill anyone who stands in their way. 375 pages FIC GRI
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Monica can’t believe it’s been over twenty-five years since she and Gus left England to start a vineyard in Spain. She was hesitant at the time, but now their business is successful with their award-winning wines. Monica loves the easygoing lifestyle and her beautiful terraced house overlooking the Mediterranean. All is well until Gus has a debilitating stroke. Then it’s chaos. Realizing that their mother needs help, the three adult children living in London descend on the parents to help sort things out. They each have their own ideas as to what is best for their parents and the business. The situation is ripe for family discord and dysfunction. The children have their own problems. Sebastian, the oldest, runs his own business and his wife Anna has never gotten along with her mother-in-law. Kate, the middle child, is a solicitor and lives with Nic, her partner of 20 years, and their three daughters. There is a crisis at her own home that Kate can’t solve. And Jake, the youngest, is married to Bella and they have an 18-month old daughter named Mouse. He would love to move back to Spain, but would Bella be willing to come? Long simmering resentments and rivalries arise. Miscues and miscommunications by long distances exacerbate the tensions until secrets explode. How can they come together as a family and support each other? 325 pages FIC TRO
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Have you ever wondered why you like the music you enjoy? What makes a song appeal to you? Is it the percussive rhythm of your morning workout music? The rise and fall of the melodic line of that song that helps you relax? The tension of the harmonic progression that moves your soul? Dr. Nolan Gasser, a musicologist, pianist and composer, wanted to know: “What is musical taste?” As chief architect of the Music Genome Project at the streaming start-up Pandora Radio, Gasser was tasked with defining which elements define our musical preferences. Pandora was among the first to match listeners’ tastes with recommendations of other recordings that held similar attributes. Gasser analyzed songs from pop, rock, jazz, classical, hip-hop, and world music identifying “focus traits” in each such as melody, rhythm, harmony, and form structure. By examining the musical DNA of each, Gassner was able to determine a listener’s “music genotype”. For example, if you like Pink Floyd’s “Money” you might like Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring”. Bizarre as it sounds, it’s that both pieces have an unusual rhythmic meter of 7/4 time that surprises and delights the ear. Gasser explores the science behind music, how our brain processes music, and the impact of psychology, anthropology and sociology on our musical choices. There is also a heavy dose of music theory. Dr. Gasser is a man of encyclopedic knowledge and this book reflects it. Anyone from music novice to professional will be able to glean something from it. However, many may wish to treat it as an encyclopedia and dip in here or there and read what appeals to them. Most recommended are the first 40 pages giving an overview and an intriguing account of Gasser’s start with Pandora. 706 pages 781.17 GAS
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Words are the main way we express ourselves and communicate. But sometimes a word may pop up in conversation that we think we might know, but we aren’t really sure. How many of these words do you know? bespoke doppelgänger ennui fungible peripatetic risible solecism sub rosa Perhaps you’ve seen that word before in print and can sort of figure it out, but could you give a correct definition? Hmm, maybe not? To the rescue are language experts Ross Petra and his sister Kathryn Petras, hosts of NPR’s “You’re Saying It Wrong”, a popular podcast on language. Their latest little gem of a book presents 100 words gleaned from “The Most Often Looked-up” lists or commonly misunderstood words from online dictionaries, the Washington Post and the NY Times. These are words smart people should know – words extracted from the realms of science, arts, philosophy as well as Latin phrases and other languages. The authors present a brief etymology of each word and provide the concepts you need to know to truly understand it. This is a truly engaging venture into wordplay. 183 pages 428.1 PET
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