On the shelves - Aug. 21

The books listed below are now available for checkout at the Clovis-Carver Public Library. The library is open to the public, but patrons can still visit the online catalog at cloviscarverpl.booksys.net/opac/ccpl or call 575-769-7840 to request a specific item for curbside pickup.

“The Justice Rider” by James Clay. Raffe Driscoll is a killer and thief who is falsely known as a saintly avenger who aids the poor. An unscrupulous newspaper man has bestowed the title of “Justice Rider” on the vicious hoodlum in a move to accrue power. Josephine Barrett, a British novelist who is touring America, has become fascinated by the stories of the Robin Hood of the wild west. Barrett arranges for a personal interview with the Justice Rider, and her agent hires Range Detective Rance Dehner to protect her. To get to the Justice Rider, the detective must do battle with a corrupt press, a swarm of hired killers, and foolish idealists with gun-filled hands.

“Witch for Hire” by Molly Fitz. My name is Tawny Bigford. I’m 35, single, and I love hot showers. Seriously, all I wanted was a hot shower to start my day off right, but when I went to confront my landlady about the broken plumbing, I wound up talking to her corpse instead. Now everyone thinks I’m to blame for her murder—not the best way to make an impression on the new neighbors, let me tell you. But how can I prove I’m innocent when I know practically nothing about the woman I supposedly killed? Now I need to solve my landlady’s murder and maybe even find a way to fit in around here.

“Dragons of Deceit” by Margret Weis & Tracy Hickman. Destina Rosethorn—as her name implies—believes herself to be a favored child of destiny. But when her father dies in the War of the Lance, she watches her carefully constructed world come crashing down. To save her father, she hatches a bold plan—to go back in time and prevent his death. But to change time, she’ll need the most powerful and dangerous artifact ever created. Destina’s quest takes her from the dwarven kingdom of Thorbardin to the town of Solace and beyond, setting in motion a chain of disastrous events that threaten to divert the course of the River of Time, alter the past, and forever change the future.

“The Rise and Reign of the Mammals” by Steve Brusatte. We humans are the inheritors of a dynasty that has reigned over the planet for nearly 66 million years, through fiery cataclysm and ice ages: the mammals. Our lineage includes saber-toothed tigers, woolly mammoths, armadillos the size of a car, cave bears three times the weight of a grizzly, clever scurriers that outlasted Tyrannosaurus rex, and even other types of humans, like Neanderthals. Indeed humankind and many of the beloved fellow mammals we share the planet with today—lions, whales, dogs—represent only the few survivors of a sprawling and astonishing family tree that has been pruned by time and mass extinctions.

“Me and Sister Bobbie” by Willie Nelson & Bobbie Nelson. Abandoned by their parents as toddlers, Willie and Bobbie Nelson found their love of music almost immediately through their grandparents, who raised them in a small Texas town. In alternating chapters, this heartfelt dual memoir weaves together both their stories as they experienced them side by side and apart. Their story is an inspiring, lyrical statement of how family always finds the way.

”Undelivered: The Never-Heard Speeches that Would Have Rewritten History” by Jeff Nussbaum. Political speechwriter Jeff Nussbaum presents the most notable speeches the public never heard, from Dwight Eisenhower’s apology for a D-Day failure to Richard Nixon’s refusal to resign the presidency, and even Hillary Clinton’s acceptance for a 2016 victory―the latter never seen until now.

— Summaries provided by library staff