On the shelves — July 12

The following books are available for checkout at:

Portales Public Library

Twice in a Lifetime by Dorothy Garlock

Clara Sinclair's life has not quite turned out the way he had hoped. Once happily married, she lost her husband in battle during World War II, and years later in 1954, she is still moving forward by taking each day one at a time, trying her best to raise their son by herself.

But now her son is a headstrong teenager who doesn't want to listen to his mother, and Clara herself worries about how she can continue to support the two of them as her finances start to decline. Lonely and feeling utterly alone, Clara doesn't know where to turn to make her life better, but then she meets Drake McCoy.

Drake is a drag racer who loves what he does; he loves the speed, the thrill, the danger, and the fact that he is good at it. One night he drives into town with the single intention of racing, winning, and driving out of town with the prize money.

When he happens to meet Clara, however, Drake is instantly drawn to her beauty, both inside and out, and finds himself wanting to stay and become the last thing he ever expected to be — part of a family. Clara hasn't loved anyone since her husband, but as she gets to know Drake, she begins to hope that her future might finally be about to change.

Bull Mountain by Brian Panowich

In his debut novel, Brian Panowich writes a story of family and loyalty and the line between right and wrong in the mountains of North Georgia.

The Burroughs family has lived on Bull Mountain for generations, and they have made their part of the world a place that does not bend to the law. Over the years they have prospered in the making and selling of moonshine, then marijuana, and now meth, their business and influence crossing more than six state lines, always under the table and under the radar of the state police.

Clayton Burroughs, having been raised to be an outlaw, rejects his family's lifestyle and chooses to go into law enforcement instead, becoming the county sheriff. Clayton does his best to keep peace in the community and turn a blind eye to most of his family's activities, knowing that their criminal behavior supports many of the other residents on Bull Mountain as well.

When Simon Holly, a federal agent for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, arrives with the intention of shutting down the mountain — and the Burroughs' reign of lawlessness — Clayton warns him that it is dangerous to try to tell his family what to do. Simon asks Clayton to help him, a choice that Clayton may not be able to make despite his own desire to protect and uphold the law, because to do so would force him to betray his own family, including his brother Halford, who isn't willing to have the status quo disrupted.

Nemesis by Catherine Coulter

In the newest installment in Catherine Coulter's FBI series featuring Dillon Savich and Lacey Sherlock, Special Agent Sherlock has just averted a terrorist attack at JFK airport in New York, and gratefully hands the case over to the city's local police to finish up, thinking that stopping a single grenade-toting man was the end of her involvement.

However, a bombing happens at almost the exact same time at St. Patrick Cathedral, and when the terrorist responsible for that attack refuses to talk to anybody but Sherlock herself, she believes the cases may be linked and realizes that her involvement is just beginning.

While Sherlock returns to the station with Special Agent Cal McLain to question him, Savich has his own hands full as he and Agent Griffin Hammersmith do their best to track down a murderer who dresses like a Hollywood-style Dracula.

Dracula, however, knows that Savich is on his trial and tries to kill him, which inadvertently causes them to cross paths with Sherlock's case.

When even stranger events arise involving both Dracula and the terrorists, both Savich and Sherlock begin to wonder if the two cases are related in some way, and if so, how they can possibly stop more killing.

— Summaries by library staff