Check out what’s happening at the Library
Howard
County Library is open from 9 AM to 6 PM Monday through Friday, the computer room closes at 5:30 PM. You may reach us at (432) 264-2260 and our fax number is (432) 264-2263. Please visit our website at http://howard-county.ploud.net and our Facebook page at www.facebook. com/howardcolibrary for more information about our services and any updates.
Join us every Thursday from March 7-May 9, from 4:30-5:30 PM for our new program Color Me Healthy! This program was designed as an interactive learning opportunity on physical activity and healthy eating. It is designed to stimulate all the senses of young children, through color, music, and exploration of the senses. The intended audience is 4-5 years old, but all ages are welcome. It's free and open to all! Tax forms for tax year 2023 are now available first come first served. We have 1040 and 1040-SR instruction booklet and 1040 and 1040SR forms. You can request a booklet at the circulation desk. Any other instructions or schedules can be found at the Internal Revenue Service's website at https://www.irs.gov/. There are still League of Women Voters of Texas, Nonpartisan Voter Guide available. Election Day is March 5, voter guides are by the circulation desk.
This week's reviews are fiction and mystery titles.
For a century, the Panama Canal has served as the path between the seas. Control of this vital waterway is the difference between free trade and chaos in world markets in Tom Clancy Command and Control- Jack Ryan Universe #37 (F CLA T) by Tom Clancy. So, when Panamanian President Rafael Botero asks for a show of support against the socialist opposition, his old friend President Jack Ryan can't turn down an invitation to visit the country, but what seems like an ordinary opportunity to preach the values of democracy quickly turns into a nightmare when a full-blown coup d'état erupts. President Ryan and his Secret Service team are cut off and out of communication. In Washington, the Vice President is coordinating a military response, but there's still one more obstacle. One of the main forces behind the coup is the ruthless criminal organization known as the Camarilla. They've had their tentacles deep inside the plot to overthrow the government. All their hard work has just presented them with an unexpected opportunity they can't resist the chance to kill President Jack Ryan.
Robin Lockwood is now a prominent defense attorney in Portland, Oregon but a decade ago, she was a ranked and rising MMA fighter in BetrayalRobin Lockwood #7 (M MAR P) by Phillip Margolin. Her career ended quickly when she was knocked out and concussed in the first round by Mandy Kerrigan, a more talented fighter. Now the situation couldn't be more different, with Kerrigan on her last legs, her career nearly over, arrested for the quadruple murder of the entire Finch family and Kerrigan's only possible friend is the attorney she beat so many years ago. For Robin, it's no simple Margaret Finch was a lawyer working for vicious Russian mobsters, and was in the cross-hairs of both the mobsters and the widower of a woman a client killed; her husband Nathan Finch was deeply in debt to a bookie who threatened his life; her son Ryan was the one who sold Kerrigan illegal performance enhancing drugs and was beaten severely by her when Kerrigan failed her drug test. To complicate matters further, the DA that Robin is facing is the man she's just started dating, the first person she's begun seeing seriously after her husband was killed. In a case where the stakes are high and the truth is elusive, where each new fact twists the case in a new direction, there is seemingly no way to win or direction to turn that will leave Robin Lockwood unscathed.
It's rarely a quiet day for the Thursday Murder Club. Shocking news reaches them an old friend has been killed, and a dangerous package he was protecting has gone missing in The Last Devil to
Die- Thursday Murder Club #4 (M OSM R) by Richard Osman. The gang's search leads them into the antiques business, where the tricks of the trade are as old as the objects themselves. As they encounter drug dealers, art forgers, and online fraudsters as well as heartache close to home Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron, and Ibrahim have no idea whom to trust. With the body count rising, the clock ticking down, and trouble firmly on their tail, has their luck finally run out? And who will be the last devil to die?
Not far from the sprawling grounds of Wyndham Hall, longtime MI6 agent John Repton's body is found with a bullet hole through the heart in A Traitor Among Us- Elena Standish #5 (M PER A) by Anne Perry. The corpse's proximity to the estate sends ripples of concern through the intelligence community. Repton was killed while surveilling the members of a household with alleged ties to fascists who threaten the security of the country as Hitler's control spreads across Europe. Elena Standish is assigned the case since she has a connection to the Wyndham family; Lady Wyndham's brother is courting Elena's older sister Margot. Elena secures an invitation to Wyndham Hall for herself and a "date," her colleague James Allenby. To covertly investigate Repton's murder, the pair must uncover the true loyalties of the people in the house while protecting Margot from her beau's potentially dangerous relatives. But Elena is torn, for her sister has finally found happiness after years of heartbreak and sorrow, and having to take down the Wyndham's would destroy her new relationship. As Elena and Allenby dig deeper into the Wyndham family's nefarious connections, Margot grows suspicious. Can Elena reconcile her political and professional obligations with her loyalty and love for her sister? Will Elena and Allenby get to the bottom of their colleague's murder?
“I think writing really helps you heal yourself. I think if you write long enough, you will be a healthy person. That is, if you write what you need to write, as opposed to what will make money, or what will make fame.” – Alice Walker