On the shelves

The following books are available for checkout:

Clovis-Carver Public Library

The Searchers: The Making of an American Legend by Glen Frankel explores the background of John Ford’s 1956 masterpiece film starring John Wayne and based on the life of Cynthia Ann Parker who was kidnapped by Comanche Indians at the age of nine and became the wife of a warrior and the mother of future chief Quanah Parker.

A Step of Faith by Richard Evans continues the story of Seattle ad executive Alan Christoffersen who, after losing his job, his home, and the love of his life, sets off in angry loneliness to walk to Key West, Florida, little expecting that the people he meets along the way will share lessons that can change his life.

Frozen in Time: An Epic Story of Survival and a Modern Quest for Lost Heroes of World War II by Mitchell Zuckoff delivers a gripping true story of endurance, bravery, ingenuity, and honor set in the vast Arctic wilderness of Greenland following the crash of a US cargo plane as well as the search and rescue plane sent to find it.

The English Girl by Daniel Silva thrusts Gabriel Allon into a game of shadows when he is asked to find a young British woman who vanished on the island of Corsica, but he has only seven days to find one girl before a prime minister’s career is destroyed by scandal.

A Call to Arms: Mobilizing America For World War II by Maury Klein vividly captures the titanic struggle to turn a Depression-wracked country into a superpower, all driven forward by the complicated man in the White House who believed that America could begin with nothing yet out-produce all enemies combined, enabling the Allies to win the war.

Agony of the Leaves: A Tea Shop Mystery by Laura Childs lands Indigo Tea Shop owner Theodosia Browning in hot water when she caters refreshments at the grand opening of Charleston’s Neptune Aquarium only to find the body of a man entangled in a net and drowned in one of the aquarium’s state-of-the-art tanks.

Bunker Hill: A City, a Siege, a Revolution by Nathaniel Philbrick illuminates the interplay of ideologies and personalities that provoked a group of merchants, farmers, artisans, and sailors to take up arms against their mother country in the bloodiest battle of the American Revolution.

Portales Public Library

The First Phone Call From Heaven by Mitch Albom: In the small town of Coldwater, Michigan, the phones start ringing one morning and the voices on the other end say they are calling from heaven. Is it some cruel hoax or one of the greatest miracles ever? As the news spreads, outsiders flock to Coldwater hoping for a call of their own. During this same time, a disgraced pilot named Sully Harding returns to Coldwater from prison to discover his hometown gripped by “miracle fever”. Even his own young son carries a toy phone with him hoping to hear from his mother in heaven. Proof of an afterlife begins to surface as the calls increase, and the world transforms. Convinced there is nothing beyond this sad life, only Sully digs into the phenomenon, determined to disprove it for his child and his own broken heart.

Dust by Patricia Cornwell: Having just returned from working one of the worst mass murders in U.S. history, Massachusetts Chief Medical Examiner Kay Scarpetta is awakened at an early hour by Detective Pete Marino. A body has just been discovered inside the sheltered gates of MIT, and it's suspected the identity is that of missing computer engineer Gail Shipman. It appears she's been murdered just weeks before her $100 million lawsuit against her former financial managers. Doubting it's a coincidence, Scarpetta also fears the case may have a connection to her computer genius niece, Lucy. There is no sign of what killed Gail, but she's covered in a fine dust that leaves a mineral fingerprint meant to shock. Scarpetta has reason to worry that the person responsible is the Capital Murderer, whose most recent sexual homicides have terrorized Washington, D.C., but stunningly, Scarpetta will discover that her FBI profiler husband is convinced that certain people in the government, including his boss, don't want the killer caught.

The Second Chance Dog: A Love Story by Jon Katz: A few years after purchasing Bedlam Farm in upstate New York, Jon Katz met Maria Wulf. Jon felt a connection with Maria immediately, but a formidable obstacle stood in the way: Maria's dog, Frieda. A Rottweiler-shepherd mix who had been abandoned by her previous owner in the Adirondacks, where she lived in the wild for several years, Frieda was ferociously protective and barely tame. She charged and roared at almost anyone who came near, but to Maria, Frieda was sweet and loyal, her devoted friend and beloved guard dog. Jon quickly realized that to win over Maria, he'd have to win Frieda's affections as well. Although he and Maria grew closer, Jon was having a tougher time charming Frieda. Yet armed with a singular determination, unlimited patience and five hundred dollars' worth of beef jerky, Jon refused to give up on Frieda or on his chance with Maria.