• Eleven Days
• Known Dead
• The Big Thaw

A very close friend of mine went to a book-signing for Mr. Harstad (in Iowa) and got a signed copy of his first book for me! She also handed him a copy of an e-mail fan letter I wrote.... and he responded. He's given me permission to display it at the Break Room (you'll see why I asked, once you read it), so I put it with other "pro-dispatcher" letters for everyone to enjoy. Since then, she's been to another book-signing and now I have two signed hard-backs - the latest is specifically signed for "GryEyes" - how cool! ;-)

Mary Daheim -- "Emma Lord" Mysteries

The setting is a semi-fictional small town in Washington state. The Alpine Advocate is the first of the series and the rest follow in alphabetical order. (Somewhat akin to Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Milhone mysteries.)

Emma Lord is no professional private investigator; instead, she’s a never-married single mother who’s managed to purchase a small-town newspaper. (Circumstances allowing her to raise the capital are interestingly explained.) As editor and publisher of the Alpine Advocate, she’s got a business to run, facts to furrow out and news to print.

Her staff is comprised of characters, as is everyone in town. Emma herself is fairly quirky, having fallen in love with a married man and borne his son about twenty years earlier than the opening of this novel. She’s a newcomer to Alpine, and must rely upon her staff to keep the convoluted small-town personalities and their relationships straight. Just about everyone is related to someone else and "newcomers" are looked upon with suspicion.

She’s been in Alpine only a year when the grandson of a rich old Alpine resident is murdered; the prime suspect is the visiting friend of her son Adam - who’s away at college in Hawaii. Emma doesn’t want to believe Chris - who happens to be a grandson of the same old curmudgeon -- could be guilty of the crime, so she gets involved in squirreling out the truth.

Author Mary Daheim infuses her characters with believable qualities. You’re privy to Emma’s ruminations and motives as she handles various incidents surrounding the murder and her own life’s hitches and get-alongs. And, if you enjoy this novel as much as I did, you’ll open the next book in the series almost as soon as you read the last page of The Alpine Advocate.

• The Alpine Advocate
  
• The Alpine Betrayal
  
• The Alpine Christmas
  
• The Alpine Decoy
  
• The Alpine Escape
  
• Alpine Fury
  
• The Alpine Gamble
  
• The Alpine Hero
  
• Alpine Icon
  
• The Alpine Journey
  

Sue Grafton -- "Kinsey Millhone" Mysteries

• A is for Alibi (paperback) or A is for Alibi (audio cassette)
  
• B is for Burglar (paperback) or B is for Burglar (audio cassette)
  
• C is for Corpse (paperback) or C is for Corpse (audio cassette)
  
• D is for Deadbeat (paperback) or D is for Deadbeat (audio cassette)
  
• E is for Evidence (paperback) or E is for Evidence (audio cassette)
  
• F is for Fugitive (paperback) or F is for Fugitive (audio cassette)
  
• G is for Gumshoe (paperback) or G is for Gumshoe (audio cassette)
  
• H is for Homicide (paperback) or H is for Homicide (audio cassette)
  
• I is for Innocent (paperback) or I is for Innocent (audio cassette)
  
• J is for Judgement (paperback) or J is for Judgement (audio cassette)
  
• K is for Killer (paperback) or K is for Killer (audio cassette)
  
• L is for Lawless (paperback) or L is for Lawless (audio cassette)
  
• M is for Malice (paperback) or M is for Malice (audio cassette)
  
• N is for Noose (hardcover) Just Released - not yet in paperback or audio cassette
  

Ed McBain - "87th Precinct" Mysteries

McBain got me hooked on "police procedural" mysteries nearly 20 years ago. I discovered his books in the library and would check them out in chronological order of publication so I could read them as the characters aged (and McBain updated the procedures). It's interesting to follow the lives of his detectives as they handle their cases; you'll no doubt develop your own favorite characters along the way.

Now I snap up any of his stuff as soon as it hits the shelves!

• Ax
  
• Bread
  
• The Con Man
  
• Doll
  

Various Other Authors
Above the Law Patricia D. Benke (paperback)
Bitch Factor Chris Rogers (hardback)
The I-5 Killer Ann Rule - NON-Fiction paperback

• The Complete Idiot's Guide to Creating an HTML webpage
  
• 10-Minute Guide to HTML 4.0
  
• HTML in Plain English
  
• Creating Cool Web Pages in HTML 3.2
  
• Creating Cool Web Pages in HTML 4.0
  
• HTML 3.2 Quick Reference
  
• HTML - The Definitive Guide
  
• Beyond HTML
  

Science Fiction & Fantasy

Arthur C. Clarke

Clarke writes "hard" science fiction as well as science fact. You'll learn while being entertained with rousing adventures and sweeping vistas of the future.

• The City and the Stars Out of Print! Keep checking!
  
• 2001 - A Space Odyssey (Special Edition paperback)
  
• 2010 - Odyssey Two (paperback)
  
• 2061 - Odyssey Three (paperback)
  
• 3001 - The Final Odyssey (paperback)
  

Patricia A. McKillip

Lyrical stories populated by characters who struggle with hopes and desires not unlike our own -- but with magic added!

• The Forgotten Beasts of Eld
• The Changeling Sea
• Riddlemaster of Hed #1 in a Trilogy
  
• Harpist in the Wind #3 in a Trilogy
  

Click ahead for MORE Science Fiction & Fantasy

Special Break Room Selections

(personal favorites of mine)

• California Highway Patrol - Yesterday and Today (paperback)
  
• Highway 17 - The Road to Santa Cruz
  

Miscellaneous Subjects

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