In Cold Blood, written by Truman Capote, was first published in 1966. It follows the 1959 murders of the Herbert Clutter family in a small community in Kansas. When Capote learned of the murders, he decided to travel to Kansas to write about the crimes. He was accompanied by his friend, Harper Lee.

This month a title similar in topic was published.  Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee by Casey Cep gives an account of Harper Lee's fascination with the 1979 trial of Reverend Willie Maxwell. Reverend Maxwell was accused of killing five of his family members for insurance money. Eventually he was acquitted, but Reverend Maxwell was then gunned down by a family member in an act of vigilante justice.

Sitting in the audience during the vigilante's trial was Harper Lee, who traveled from New York City to her native Alabama with the idea of writing her own In Cold Blood.

Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee outlines the trial of Reverend Maxwell, his killer's trial, and Harper Lee's efforts to write about the trial--similar to that of her friend Truman Capote.

Look below for more books like this and In Cold Blood.

The stunning story of an Alabama serial killer and the true-crime book that Harper Lee worked on obsessively in the years after To Kill a Mockingbird. Reverend Willie Maxwell was a rural preacher accused of murdering five of his family members for insurance money in the 1970s. With the help of a savvy lawyer, he escaped justice for years until a relative shot him dead at the funeral of his last victim. Despite hundreds of witnesses, Maxwell's murderer was acquitted--thanks to the same attorney who had previously defended the Reverend. Sitting in the audience during the vigilante's trial was Harper Lee, who had traveled from New York City to her native Alabama with the idea of writing her own In Cold Blood, the true-crime classic she had helped her friend Truman Capote research seventeen years earlier. Lee spent a year in town reporting, and many more working on her own version of the case. Now Casey Cep brings this nearly inconceivable story to life, from the shocking murders to the courtroom drama to the racial politics of the Deep South. At the same time, she offers a deeply moving portrait of one of the country's most beloved writers and her struggle with fame, success, and the mystery of artistic creativity.

Also available in: e-book | audiobook | e-audiobook | video

On November 15, 1959, in the small town of Holcomb, Kansas, four members of the Clutter family were savagely murdered by blasts from a shotgun held a few inches from their faces. There was no apparent motive for the crime, and there were almost no clues. As Truman Capote reconstructs the murder and the investigation that led to the capture, trial, and execution of the killers, he generates both mesmerizing suspense and astonishing empathy.

New this month in the Large Print collection are a variety of romance, mystery, and thriller titles. A few are featured below, with additional new titles available in the Large Print collection at the Library.

Sunset beach [large print] by 1954- Mary Kay Andrews
Also available in: print | audiobook

Pull up a lounge chair and have a cocktail at Sunset Beach - it comes with a twist. Drue Campbell's life is adrift. Out of a job and down on her luck, life doesn't seem to be getting any better when her estranged father, Brice Campbell, a flamboyant personal injury attorney, shows up at her mother's funeral after a twenty-year absence. Worse, he's remarried - to Drue's eighth grade frenemy, Wendy, now his office manager. And they're offering her a job. It seems like the job from hell, but the offer is sweetened by the news of her inheritance - her grandparents' beach bungalow in the sleepy town of Sunset Beach, a charming but storm-damaged eyesore now surrounded by waterfront McMansions. With no other prospects, Drue begrudgingly joins the firm, spendingher days screening out the grifters whose phone calls flood the law office. Working with Wendy is no picnic either. But when a suspicious death at an exclusive beach resort nearby exposes possible corruption at her father's firm, she goes from unwilling cubicle rat to unwitting investigator, and is drawn into a case that may - or may not - involve her father. With an office romance building, a decades-old missing persons case re-opened, and a cottage in rehab, one thing is for sure at Sunset Beach: there's a storm on the horizon. 

Queen bee : a novel by Dorothea Benton Frank
Also available in: print | audiobook

Beekeeper Holly McNee Kensen quietly lives in a world of her own on Sullivans Island, tending her hives and working at the local island library. Holly calls her mother The Queen Bee because she's a demanding hulk of a woman. Her mother, a devoted hypochondriac, might be unaware that she's quite ill but that doesn't stop her from tormenting Holly. To escape the drama, Holly's sister Leslie married and moved away, wanting little to do with island life. Holly's escape is to submerge herself in the lives of the two young boys next door and their widowed father, Archie.

Her world is upended when the more flamboyant Leslie returns and both sisters, polar opposites, fixate on what's happening in their neighbor's home. Is Archie really in love with that awful ice queen of a woman? If Archie marries her, what will become of his little boys? Restless Leslie is desperate for validation after her imploded marriage, squandering her favors on any and all takers. Their mother ups her game in an uproarious and theatrical downward spiral. Scandalized Holly is talking to her honey bees a mile a minute, as though they'll give her a solution to all the chaos. Maybe they will.

Queen Bee is a classic Lowcountry Tale--warm, wise and hilarious, it roars with humanity and a dropperful of whodunit added for good measure by an unseen hand.

What do cozy mystery books and romance books have in common? An affinity for silly titles such as:

Mulch Ado About Murder

Chili Con Corpses

How to Flirt with a Naked Werewolf

So I Married a Sorcerer

We've created a Battle of the Bad Books. Vote for your favorite "bad" mystery or romance title each week and watch how the bracket is narrowed to the ultimate winner. Check out the display and related books available for check-out at CPL.

The summer months are a boom time for publishing and anticipated new titles being released, both stand-alones and books continuing a series.

While a book may not hit the library shelves until near its publication date, the library regularly orders titles far in advance which allows library users to search for it in the library Catalog and place a hold on it. CPL prides itself on a robust collection, and we are happy to ensure that users have access to the materials they are interested in.

Check out the list below to get an idea of some of the highly anticipated mystery titles coming to shelves this summer.

Such a perfect wife by 1950- Kate White

Blonde. Beautiful. A loving mother.

And missing since Monday.

On a sunny morning in late September, Shannon Blaine sets off for a jog along the rural roads near her home in Lake George, New York.  It's her usual a.m. routine, her "me time" after dropping the kids off at school...except on this day she never returns.

Is her husband lying when he says he has no clue where she is? Could Shannon have split on her own, overwhelmed by the pressures of her life? Or is she the victim of a sexual predator who had been prowling the area and snatched her before she knew what was happening.

True crime writer Bailey Weggins, on assignment for the website Crime Beat, heads north from New York City to report on the mysterious disappearance. An anonymous tip soon leads Bailey to a grisly, bone-chilling discovery. Every town has its secrets, Bailey reminds herself, and nothing is ever as perfect as it seems. She keeps digging for answers until--when it's almost too late--she unearths the terrifying truth. 

Terns of Endearment by Donna Andrews
Also available in: audiobook

Meg Langslow's grandfather has been booked by a cruise line to give lectures on birds and other environmental topics as part of their ship's education/entertainment itinerary, and Grandfather has arranged for a passel of family members to join him.

The passengers' vacation quickly becomes a nightmare when they wake up to find themselves broken down and in need of repairs in the Bermuda Triangle. To keep the stranded passengers calm, Meg's family and friends band together to keep things organized and provide entertainment. Some even take up the cause of nursing an injured tern back to health.

But things get even worse when a crew member announces to all that a woman has jumped overboard, leaving behind her shoes, shawl, and a note. The note reveals she's the mortal enemy of group of writers who came on board for a retreat, and the group is split on whether suicide is in-character for her. Meanwhile, grandfather's assistant Trevor seems to have gone missing too!

The captain decides not to investigate, saying he'll notify American authorities when they reach their destination. But Meg's father thinks they should find out whether there was foul play while the prime suspects are all stuck on board. Who wanted the writer dead? Why doesn't the captain seem concerned? What happened to Trevor? It'll be a race against the clock to solve these mysteries before they make the necessary repairs and return to shore.

Terns of Endearment is the twenty-fifth book in New York Times bestselling author Donna Andrews' hilarious Mag Langslow mystery series. 

The 17th Annual Canton Senior Summit hosted by Canton Leisure Services in conjunction with the Supervisor's office will be held on Wednesday, May 15 from 9:00am-2:00pm at Canton's Summit on the Park. 

During the Senior Summit, citizens who are 55+ enjoy a continental breakfast, box lunch, goody bag, and door prizes. The day includes a variety of workshops, health screenings, and informational booths hosted by area community service and health providers. Afternoon BINGO is also being offered! Tickets are free but participants are asked to please pre-register in person at the Summit, over the phone at 734.394.5858, or online through Canton Leisure Services.

The Library will be there sharing how we help community members live their best lives with our materials, services, and programs. We hope to see you at the Summit on Wednesday, May 15!

With the weather turning warmer, open the windows and grab a new book to read. Featured below are a sampling of new large print books available in the library. Other new titles can be found on the library website under "Catalog."

Also available in: print | audiobook

Barbara Pierce Bush was one of the country's most popular and powerful figures, yet her full story has never been told. 

The Matriarch tells the riveting tale of a woman who helped define two American presidencies and an entire political era. Written by USA TODAY's Washington Bureau chief Susan Page, this biography is informed by more than one hundred interviews with Bush friends and family members, hours of conversation with Mrs. Bush herself in the final six months of her life, and access to her diaries that spanned decades. The Matriarch examines not only her public persona but also less well-known aspects of her remarkable life. As a girl in Rye, New York, Barbara Bush weathered criticism of her weight from her mother, barbs that left lifelong scars. As a young wife, she coped with the death of her three-year-old daughter from leukemia, a loss that changed her forever. In middle age, she grappled with depression so serious that she contemplated suicide. And as first the wife and then the mother of American presidents, she made history as the only woman to see -- and advise -- both her husband and son in the Oval Office. 

As with many women of her era, Barbara Bush was routinely underestimated, her contributions often neither recognized nor acknowledged. But she became an astute and trusted political campaign strategist and a beloved First Lady. She invested herself deeply in expanding literacy programs in America, played a critical role in the end of the Cold War, and led the way in demonstrating love and compassion to those with HIV/AIDS. With her cooperation, this book offers Barbara Bush's last words for history -- on the evolution of her party, on the role of women, on Donald Trump, and on her family's legacy. 
 

Redemption [large print] by David Baldacci
Also available in: print | audiobook

Decker is visiting his hometown of Burlington, Ohio, when he's approached by a man named Meryl Hawkins. Hawkins is a convicted murderer. In fact, he's the very first killer Decker ever put behind bars. But he's innocent, he claims. Now suffering from terminal cancer, it's his dying wish that Decker clear his name.
It's unthinkable. The case was open and shut, with rock solid forensic evidence. But then Hawkins later turns up dead with a bullet in his head, and even Decker begins to have doubts. Is it possible that he really did get it wrong, all those years ago?
Decker's determined to uncover the truth, no matter the personal cost. But solving a case this cold may be impossible, especially when it becomes clear that someone doesn't want the old case reopened. Someone who is willing to kill to keep the truth buried, and hide a decades-old secret that may have devastating repercussions....
 

From podcasts like "My Favorite Murder" to the award winning Showtime miniseries, "Escape at Dannemora," true crime stories are everywhere. The people, motives, emotional fall-out, and ensuing court cases can be fascinating for listeners, watchers, and readers of the genre.

Below are a few of the new true crime books available on library shelves.

The story of poison is the story of power. For centuries, royal families have feared the gut-roiling, vomit-inducing agony of a little something added to their food or wine by an enemy. To avoid poison, they depended on tasters, unicorn horns, and antidotes tested on condemned prisoners. Servants licked the royal family's spoons, tried on their underpants and tested their chamber pots.

Ironically, royals terrified of poison were unknowingly poisoning themselves daily with their cosmetics, medications, and filthy living conditions. Women wore makeup made with mercury and lead. Men rubbed turds on their bald spots. Physicians prescribed mercury enemas, arsenic skin cream, drinks of lead filings, and potions of human fat and skull, fresh from the executioner. The most gorgeous palaces were little better than filthy latrines. Gazing at gorgeous portraits of centuries past, wedon't see what lies beneath the royal robes and the stench of unwashed bodies; the lice feasting on private parts; and worms nesting in the intestines.

In The Royal Art of Poison, Eleanor Herman combines her unique access to royal archives with cutting-edge forensic discoveries to tell the true story of Europe's glittering palaces: one of medical bafflement, poisonous cosmetics, ever-present excrement, festering natural illness, and, sometimes, murder. 

What is it like to learn that your ordinary, loving father is a serial killer?

In 2005, Kerri Rawson heard a knock on the door of her apartment. When she opened it, an FBI agent informed her that her father had been arrested for murdering ten people, including two children. It was then that she learned her father was the notorious serial killer known as BTK, a name he'd given himself that described the horrific way he committed his crimes: bind, torture, kill. As news of his capture spread, Wichitacelebrated the end of a thirty-one-year nightmare.

For Kerri Rawson, another was just beginning. She was plunged into a black hole of horror and disbelief. The same man who had been a loving father, a devoted husband, church president, Boy Scout leader, and a public servant had been using their family as a cover for his heinous crimes since before she was born. Everything she had believed about her life had been a lie.

Written with candor and extraordinary courage, A Serial Killer's Daughter is an unflinching exploration of life with one of America's most infamous killers and an astonishing tale of personal and spiritual transformation. For all who suffer from unhealed wounds or the crippling effects of violence, betrayal, and anger, Kerri Rawson's story offers the hope of reclaiming sanity in the midst of madness, rebuilding a life in the shadow of death, and learning to forgive the unforgivable.

Winter may be slowly (so very slowly) fading away, but tucking in with a good book isn't exclusive to the cold outdoors. The Canton Public Library is dedicated to purchasing new titles year 'round so that you may always have something to read.

Below is a sample of new titles available in Large Print. 

From her Italian-American childhood through raising and feeding a growing family and cooking with her new husband, food writer Michael Ruhlman, Ann Hood has long appreciated the power of a good meal. Growing up, she tasted love in her grandmother's tomato sauce and dreamed of her mother's special-occasion Fancy Lady Sandwiches. Later, the kitchen became the heart of Hood's own home. She cooked pork roast to warm her first apartment, used two cups of dried basil for her first attempt at making pesto, taught her children how to make their favorite potatoes, found hope in her daughter's omelet after a divorce, and fell in love again--with both her husband and his foolproof chicken stock.

With her signature humor and tenderness, Hood details all these recipes and more in Kitchen Yarns, along with tales of loss and starting from scratch, family love and feasts with friends, and how the perfect meal is one that tastes like home.

Also available in: print | e-book

She possessed a stunning beauty. She also possessed a stunning mind. Could the world handle both?

Her beauty almost certainly saved her from the rising Nazi party and led to marriage with an Austrian arms dealer. Underestimated in everything else, she overheard the Third Reich's plans while at her husband's side, understanding more than anyone would guess. She devised a plan to flee in disguise from their castle, and thewhirlwind escape landed her in Hollywood. She became Hedy Lamarr, screen star.

But she kept a secret more shocking than her heritage or her marriage: she was a scientist. And she knew a few secrets about the enemy. She had an idea that might help the country fight the Nazis...if anyone would listen to her.

A powerful novel based on the incredible true story of the glamour icon and scientist whose groundbreaking invention revolutionized modern communication, The Only Woman in the Room is a masterpiece. 

Recently, two publishers decided to reissue mystery classics from the "Golden Age" of crime writing.

Penzler Publishers created its imprint, American Mystery Classics, to re-release classic American mystery and detective fiction in hardcover and paperback. Ellery Queen, Mary Roberts Rinehart, Dorothy B. Hughes, and Craig Rice will be featured. 

Poisoned Pen Press will also be publishing mystery classics, with a focus on titles originally published across the pond. Their focus will be on books from the British Crime Classic series and the British Library Spy Classics series. 

Robert Rosenwald, President at Poisoned Pen Press, shares, "The British Library Crime and Spy Classics series provides important historical context for mystery enthusiasts. These titles are written by authors who were pioneers in crime fiction..." Source. 

Below are just a few of the American Mystery Classics and British Crime Classics the Library titles has available for mystery devotees. 

The offices of foreign literature publisher and renowned stamp collector Donald Kirk are often host to strange activities, but the most recent occurrence­--the murder of an unknown caller, found dead in an empty waiting room--is unlike any that has come before. Nobody, it seems, entered or exited the room, and yet the crime scene clearly has been manipulated, leaving everything in the room turned backwards and upside down. Stuck through the back of the corpse's shirt are two long spears--and a tangerine is missing from the fruit bowl. Enter amateur sleuth Ellery Queen, who arrives just in time to witness the discovery of the body, only to be immediately drawn into a complex case in which no clue is too minor or too glaring to warrant careful consideration.

Home sweet homicide by 1908-1957 Craig Rice

Unoccupied and unsupervised while mother is working, the children of widowed crime writer Marion Carstairs find diversion wherever they can. So when the kids hear gunshots at the house next door, they jump at the chance to launch their own amateur investigation--and after all, why shouldn't they? They know everything the cops do about crime scenes, having read about them in mother's novels. They know what her literary detectives would do in such a situation, how they would interpret the clues and handle witnesses. Plus, if the children solve the puzzle before the cops, it will do wonders for the sales of mother's novels. But this crime scene isn't a game at all; the murder is real, and when its details prove more twisted than anything in mother's fiction, they'll have to enlist Marion's help to sort them out. Or is that just part of their plan to hook her up with the lead detective on the case? 

While fiction titles are often what is featured in the monthly "Look What's In Large Print..." blog posts, did you know that CPL also regularly purchases non-fiction titles in large print? Shelved at the beginning of the Large Print collection (with new titles displayed on top of the shelves), our non-fiction Large Print titles range from a large print thesaurus to "Alexander Hamilton" by Ron Chernow to various biographies on a wide range of popular individuals like Jimmy Carter, Michael Caine, and Sally Field. 

Below is a sampling of new non-fiction titles available in large print.

Becoming [large print] by 1964- Michelle Obama
Also available in: print | e-book | audiobook | e-audiobook

An intimate, powerful, and inspiring memoir by the former First Lady of the United States In a life filled with meaning and accomplishment, Michelle Obama has emerged as one of the most iconic and compelling women of our era. As First Lady of the United States of America--the first African American to serve in that role--she helped create the most welcoming and inclusive White House in history, while also establishing herself as a powerful advocate for women and girls in the U.S. and around the world, dramatically changing the ways that families pursue healthier and more active lives, and standing with her husband as he led America through some of its most harrowing moments. Along the way, she showed us a few dance moves, crushed Carpool Karaoke, and raised two down-to-earth daughters under an unforgiving media glare. In her memoir, a work of deep reflection and mesmerizing storytelling, Michelle Obama invites readers into her world, chronicling the experiences that have shaped her--from her childhood on the South Side of Chicago to her years as an executive balancing the demands of motherhood and work, to her time spent at the world's most famous address. With unerring honesty and lively wit, she describes her triumphs and her disappointments, both public and private, telling her full story as she has lived it--in her own words and on her own terms. 

Also available in: print

John Kerry tells the story of his remarkable American life -- from son of a diplomat to decorated Vietnam veteran, five-term United States senator, 2004 Democratic presidential nominee and secretary of state. A Yale graduate, Kerry enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1966 and served in Vietnam. He returned home highly decorated but disillusioned, and testified powerfully before Congress as a young veteran opposed to the war. Kerry served as a prosecutor in Massachusetts, then as lieutenant governor, and was elected to the Senate in 1984, eventually serving five terms. In 2004, he was the Democratic presidential nominee and came within one state -- Ohio -- of winning. Kerry returned to the Senate, chaired the important Foreign Relations Committee and succeeded Hillary Clinton as secretary of state in 2013. In that position he tried to find peace in the Middle East, dealt with the Syrian civil war while combating ISIS, and negotiated the Iran nuclear deal and the Paris climate agreement. Kerry tells stories about colleagues Ted Kennedy and John McCain, as well as President Obama and other major figures. He writes of recovering his faith while in the Senate, and deplores the hyper-partisanship that has infected Washington.

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