One of my childhood memories is our family’s visits to Colonial Williamsburg and touring the various houses and shops on Duke of Gloucester Street. No visit was complete without a tour through the Governor’s Mansion and afterwards through the George Wythe House, situated along the green. In spring, the herb gardens scented the air and the buzzing of many bees could be heard as we passed by. To top it off, one year we also went on a ghost tour which involved going into some of the buildings at night and listening to stories of the long dead that still inhabited these houses. The tour we took ended up at the Wythe house which was gothically spooky at night.

 I preface my blog post with such a reminiscence because my choice for subject this week is I am Murdered : George Wythe, Thomas Jefferson and the Killing that shocked a New Nation by Bruce Chadwick. I was familiar with the story that George Wythe had died in Richmond and that his grandnephew had been guilty of the murder because he was anxious to inherit his eighty year old uncle’s fortune. George Wythe Sweeney was undoubtedly guilty of this heinous crime, but for some reason, he was never charged. His uncle lived long enough to disinherit his nephew, so in the end, while the teen had his freedom, he did not receive the money he sought.

 This book goes into exhaustive detail of the life and times of George Wythe who was a gifted lawyer, judge and teacher and signer of the Declaration of Independence. He is also responsible for many of Virginia’s founding documents such as the Religious Bill of Rights. His close friend and pupil was Thomas Jefferson who tried to emulate him in life and work. He was beloved in Williamsburg and later in Richmond. And his death from arsenical poison was mourned in the White House.

 This book is not for the faint if heart as it goes into the details of autopsy in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, a history of arsenic as a means of murder, the judicial system both before and after the Revolution, doctoring in the colonial period and other topics. Further, it delves into the lives of not only George Wythe and Thomas Jefferson, but those of the defense attorneys of Sweeney, the doctors that performed the autopsy, and Lydia Broadnax, a freed slave who worked for Wythe, witnessed the murder, and was not allowed to testify at trial.

 Those who like Virginia history with a bit of mystery and CSI added will love this book. You will find this book under my name in the staff picks section.

 Enjoy!

Normally graphic novels and manga do not appear in this blog, but I thought I’d take a chance and suggest Queenie Chan’s The Dreaming. In this tale of mystery and horror, girls who attend Greenwich Private School, an exclusive boarding school, have been known to wander out into the surrounding bushland, never to be seen again. Add to this the assistant principal’s strange aversion to twins; you have the makings of a spine tingling tale. The story follows twin sisters, Amber and Jeanie who have been sent to Greenwich after their house has been sold and their father transferred to Singapore.

 The creepy surroundings with the strange paintings of Victorian girls make the strange dreams that the girls share all the more vivid. In fact, several of the girls share haunting dreams of being led or chased into the bush and when Millie disappears before exams, the fear on the campus reaches a near fever pitch.

 Queenie Chan manages to weave an original story from an incident from her own childhood as well as from the rich mythology of the Aborigines of Australia. Good artwork and memorable characters make this a graphic novel not to missed, nor be dismissed lightly. You, like me, will be on the edge of your seat until the last page. You can find this selection under my name in the Staff Picks.

 Enjoy!

The Adventure of the Dancing Men, The Five Orange Pips, The Adventure of the Red-Headed League, The Musgrave Ritual – These and many more that Dr. Watson carefully told of the adventures of his friend, Sherlock Holmes. I have been in a mystery mood of late and when in such a mood, I reach for the classics of the genre. This time my hand went to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s works which we have in different compilations.

The four listed above are a few of my favorite stories, though I would be hard pressed to pick a favorite. Each story is easily read in about 20 to 30 minutes, and while I don’t normally like short stories, these are full and entertaining enough to make be wish my breaks were longer.

Sherlock Holmes, of course, lived in Victorian London where crime was rampant and the authorities seemed powerless to stop them. In reality, this was the time of such criminals as Jack the Ripper. Holmes was of superior intellect and even more of observation. He played the violin and boxed, honing physical skills to increase his mental ones. His catch phrase, “Elementary, my dear Watson,” is probably one of the most famous lines. He undertook clients from the richest to the poverty stricken based mainly on the interest of the case. He failed only four times in his count to solve the cases that were placed before him.

By his side for most of these adventures was his friend, Dr. John Watson who became the chronicler of his cases. Even when he wasn’t present, he would write up cases as Sherlock narrated them to him. Always amazed at his friend’s deductions, Watson, nevertheless occasionally provided needed insight which was needed to solve a case.

The library owns The Complete Sherlock Holmes as well as The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, and The Return of Sherlock Holmes as well as the individual novels of The Hound of the Baskervilles. We also have several of his adventures on DVD. So if you get into a mystery mood, give Doyle a try!

Enjoy!

The Library will close tonight at 5:30 so that the staff can all get home safely. We will open tomorrow morning at 10:00, pending the weather. Check channel 12′s listings; if the county government offices aren’t listed as being closed, then neither are we!

See you tomorrow!

Being an avid reader of mysteries, my book of choice this week is a little bit of a stretch for me. I do like learning about World War II and I have always loved the Outer Banks, it being the beach of choice for my childhood vacations. The Keeper’s Son by Homer Hickman combines both of these in a novel about war being brought to the barrier islands of North Carolina.

This book is told from several perspectives, though the main two are Josh Thurlow and Otto Krebs. Josh is the eldest son of the Killakeet Island lighthouse keeper and at fourteen, feels that he has the maturity to both take care of his two-year-old son Jacob and tend the light while their father is away. When a storm blows a small boat toward the shore, he forgets his duty, and taking Jacob with him, he tries to snare the boat only to have boat and brother be carried out to sea. Lashed with guilt, he eventually leaves his home and enlists in the Coast Guard where he stays as far away from the Island as possible until Doctor Folsom convinces him to return.

Otto Krebs is the captain of the U-560, a U-boat with scores of victories to its credit. He is admired by his crew for his shrewdness in battle and his lack of self-importance. During shore leave as the submarine is being overhauled after sustaining damage, he visits the orphanage which raised him, falls in love, and agrees to take on another of the orphans into his command.

The stage is set when Admiral Doenitz orders the U-560 to the barrier islands of North Carolina to sink American ships and harass the neutral Americans. It is his belief that if he spills American blood, they will be too afraid to enter the war, thus giving Germany the ability to finish off Britain. This fateful decision will bring together several people while causing other beliefs to fall and the innocence of an island people to vanish.

I really enjoyed the twists and turns of this novel and found myself wanting to know more about the characters as well as the facts behind this battle. I would highly recommend this to anyone interesting in history, military history, or even the Outer Banks. You will find this book on my Staff Picks.

Enjoy!