by Beth Cronk, Meeker County Librarian

The library is hopping now that summer has started. Families are looking for ways to keep the kids entertained, both at library programs and at home with stacks of books. Some school employees have more time to catch up on reading in the summer. Some community clubs and activities take a break in the summer months, giving their members more free time for a few months. Plus it’s easier to get to the library when we have so many hours of daylight and we’re not dealing with winter roads. We’ll see how the summer roads are once the local road construction projects get going.

So what’s new for adults at the library? There’s always something new, so I’ll highlight a handful of the latest additions to the fiction collection at the Litchfield Library to give you some ideas.

The Murder Wheel by Tom Mead is an old-fashioned locked-room mystery. In 1938 London, a man is shot and killed at the top of a Ferris wheel. His wife was the only other person in his carriage, and she insists that she’s innocent. As the wife’s lawyer investigates, he finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time during two other crimes that are impossible to explain. The lawyer turns to retired stage magician Joseph Spector for help in solving the illusions of the three cases. This is the second book in the Joseph Spector Locked-Room Mysteries series. Reviewers say that the clues are there for the reader to solve the case, but the novel is likely to outwit you.

City in Ruins is Don Winslow’s third and final book in the Danny Ryan series. This crime thriller is likely to appeal to fans of The Godfather, Scarface, and Goodfellas. Danny Ryan has risen from humble beginnings as a dock worker and low-level Irish mobster to respectability and immense wealth as a Las Vegas casino and hotel mogul. But when he tries to buy some prime real estate to build his dream resort, the FBI, Las Vegas business rivals, and old enemies go after him. Danny reluctantly becomes the kind of fighter he used to be, to save his son and his own life. Litchfield’s copy of this novel is in large print.

Lost Birds by Anne Hillerman is the 27^th book in the Leaphorn, Chee, & Manuelito mystery series. Joe Leaphorn retired long ago from the Navajo Tribal Police but still works as a private detective. He is hired to find the birth parents of a woman who believes she may be Diné (Navajo) although her adoptive parents are white. Leaphorn finds evidence of a questionable adoption and parents who are keeping secrets. Meanwhile, Leaphorn receives a call from someone he knew decades ago, a call that suddenly ends with the sound of an explosion. Anne Hillerman is continuing the series started by her father Tony Hillerman.

Embers in the London Sky by Sarah Sundin is Christian fiction, with a blend of historical fiction, mystery, and romance. Aleida, a young widow, flees to London from the Netherlands when Germany invades in 1940, and she is separated from her three-year-old son. She goes to work for an agency evacuating children to the countryside as she searches for him. In the midst of the Blitz, a series of unsolved murders also endangers Londoners, and BBC Radio correspondent Hugh Collingwood is affected by both perils. Aleida and Hugh grow close as they seek answers to their mysteries.

Chasing the Horizon by Mary Connealy is another Christian historical romance, and it’s also a Western. Beth Rutledge discovers that her tyrannical father plots to have her committed to an asylum, where he has already sent her mother. Beth rescues her mother, and the two set out on a wagon train to Idaho, posing as sisters. A wagon-train scout suspects that Beth is a wanted criminal until she tells him the truth. This is the first book in the planned Western Light series. Litchfield’s copy is in large print.

The Friends of the Litchfield Public Library will hold their quarterly meeting on Monday, June 17, at 4:00 p.m. in the library’s meeting room. New members are always welcome.

Litchfield Library’s Knitting Club will meet on the third Thursday of each month this summer. This month it will be on June 20. Adults and children are welcome to bring a knitting or crochet project to the meeting room between 12:30 and 1:30 p.m. The program is informal, with an opportunity to ask questions of an expert knitter from the library staff, or just share ideas and enthusiasm for fiber arts with others who share the hobby.

Pioneerland libraries will be closed on Wednesday, June 19, for the Juneteenth holiday. Hours will be normal the rest of the week.

Whether you come to the library for an event, or to stock up on your reading material, the library is the place to be this summer.