aired the week of January 27, 2020

Two Girls Down by Lisa Luna is a mother's nightmare.  Jamie Brant's two young daughters have disappeared out of the family car in the K-Mart parking lot.  Jamie's family hires former bounty hunter Alice Vega to find the girls and she contracts with local, PI Max Caplin to help her.  Will their combined efforts be enough to find Kylie and Bailey before it is too late?

1.  Two Girls Down
2.  The Janes

aired the week of January 20, 2020

The House on Foster Hill by Jaime Jo Wright is an inspirational mystery with a twist of suspense.  Kaine Prescott has just purchased an old fixer-upper of a house that may be more than she has bargained for.  It seems someone doesn't want her in town or in this house and they are trying to scare her off.  What is the story with the old house on Foster Hill?

aired the week of January 13, 2020

The Ninja Daughter by Tori Eldridge introduces Lily better known as Dumpling.  Lily has trained in the ninja arts in order to help vulnerable women.  Right now waitress Mia Mikkelsen is pretty vulnerable after an attack and no legal help, but why did this man attack her.  Lily knows there is more going on than meets the eye and she wants to get to the bottom of this mystery.

aired the week of January 6, 2020

Hillbilly Elegy: a Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J.D. Vance follows Vance's life growing up in Middletown, Ohio raised by former hill people from Kentucky.  It is a look at life for the working poor.  Vance recounts what he had to do to eventually graduate from Yale Law School.

aired the week of December 30, 2019

Carrie's Top 10 Reads for 2019

1.  The War Bride's Scrapbook by Caroline Preston
2.  Freefall by Jessica Barry
3.  The Branson Beauty by Claire Booth
4.  Mr. Gandy's Grand Tour by Alan Tichmarsh
5.  Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
6.  The Optimists Guide to Letting Go by Amy Reichert
7.  People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks
8.  The Library Book by Susan Orlean
9.  What Rose Forgot by Nevada Barr
10. The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes

These are the top 10 of the 74 titles I read this year.  They are listed in the order they were read.

aired the week of December 23, 2019

Mr. Dickens and his Carol by Samantha Silva is a novella about the creation of Charles Dickens' famous story.  Everything is festive until Dickens finds out his current book series isn't selling well and he has lots of debts.  His publishers expect him to just whip out a Christmas story for them, but how can he do that when all his Christmas spirit has deserted him?

aired the week of December 16, 2019

Christmas at Rosie Hopkins' Sweetshop by Jenny Colgan continues Rosie's story as she runs her Aunt Lillian' sweet shop and gets ready for Christmas.  The only catch is her family is coming for a visit and she hasn't told her boyfriend yet.  How will he react?

1.  Sweetshop of Dreams
2. Christmas at Rosie Hopkins' Sweetshop

aired the week of December 9, 2019

The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes follows newlywed Alice Van Cleve as she adjusts to life in the small Kentucky town where she now lives.  She finds acceptance and friendship when she volunteers to become part of the community's pack horse library that was started through Mrs. Roosevelt's initiative and run by the WPA.  However when the library gets crosswise with Alice's father-in-law it is up to the young women at the library to save this service the mountain folk have come to depend on.

aired the week of December 2, 2019

Relative Fortunes by Marlowe Benn is a cozy mystery set in 1924.  Julia Kydd is about to lose her half of the family estate unless she can win a bet with her half brother.  She must find proof that her good friend's older sister, suffragette Naomi Rankin did not commit suicide.  Julia believes she was murdered but lacks any evidence.  Time to get sleuthing. 

aired the week of November 25, 2019

Arrowood by Laura McHugh is an atmospheric Gothic tale set in Keokuk, Iowa.  Arden Arrowood was 8 years old when her two-year-old twin sisters disappeared on her watch.  She hopes that by moving home to Keokuk she will be able to figure out what happened to them.

aired the week of November 18, 2019

What Rose Forgot by Nevada Barr is a stand alone mystery that introduces Rose, an older woman who is lost and confused. She doesn't think she really has dementia but she is pretty sure someone is out to kill her.  How she survives long enough to answer these important questions makes this book an entertaining romp of a mystery/thriller.

aired the week of November 11, 2019

The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning by Margareta Magnusson outlines the author's suggestions for cleaning out your house and downsizing, so your family doesn't have to do it for you later.  She sees this as a freeing activity not something that is depressing.  This slim volume gives a person the starting place to begin de-cluttering.

aired the week of November 4, 2019

Three Graves Full by Jamie Mason is a debut mystery featuring a comedy of errors and coincidences where people are in the wrong place at the wrong time.  Jason Getty is shocked when his landscapers find bodies buried in his front yard, especially since they aren't the body he put in his back yard.  What will the police find next?

aired the week of October 28, 2019

The Sweet Life in Paris by David Lebovitz tells the tale of David's move to Paris.  It is a collection of stories about how he adjusted to life in the city that won his heart.  David is a well known pastry chef, blogger and author of several cookbooks, so recipes are included.

aired the week of October 21, 2019

Mr. Churchill's Secretary by Susan Elia MacNeal is the first in a mystery series featuring Maggie Hope who has started working at 10 Downing Street as a secretary for the Prime Minister.  She feels it is her duty to help the war effort but someone seems to be targeting the secretaries.

aired the week of October 14, 2019

The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams is a beloved classic published in 1922.  It tells the story of one stuffed rabbit who dreams of becoming real.  He learns from the skin horse in the nursery that if a child loves you for a long long time, not just to play with, but really loves you then you become real.  The process may be painful and you may look dingy, but love is worth it.

aired the week of October 7, 2019

Scrublands by Chris Hammer introduces journalist Martin Scarsden who has been sent to southeastern Australia to do a follow up story on a town devastated by a brutal shooting that left 5 men dead on the steps of the local church.  It has been a year since the local priest shot these men and it is Martin's job to find out how the town of Riversend is surviving.  Little does Martin know what his information gathering will uncover.

aired the week of September 30, 2019

The Library Book by Susan Orlean tells the story of the 1986 fire that destroyed over 400,000 volumes in Los Angeles' downtown library.  Orlean researched the history of the library and followed staff and patrons gathering stories about what makes libraries special to each of us.