All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brandon Kiely

Told in alternating voices (and written by two stellar authors), this book offers an intense, interesting dual-view of police and race issues straight from the news.

Both are good boys, one white and one black. The main conflict arises from an innocent exchange, but leads to a shakeup in the entire community's perspectives. It was awesome to hear from both sides of an issue, to feel the conflict within different families and as individuals process the events.

We picked this one for an all-aged discussion at the library, and I'm sorry I had to miss talking about it - it's really a book you want to discuss.

Everybody's Fool by Richard Russo

I love funny, true, heart-tugging literary fiction about small towns and the people you meet who live in them. Every town's unique, yet there's a commonality in all of them.

Sully's a crusty geezer with a short life expectancy due to a bad heart. Rub is Sully's needy best friend - Rub's also the name of Sully's mangy little dog because he loves barking orders and seeing which of them responds. Then there's Sully's former lover Ruth, who owns the diner, and her husband the junk man. Get the picture?

The other part of the story lies with police chief Doug Raymer, who's coming unraveled faster by the minute as the story goes on. He starts out by obsessing over his dead wife while standing at attention in the sun in uniform during a funeral, where he eventually faints and lands in the fresh-dug hole. That's just the start of his problems.

I loved, loved, LOVED this book. I adored this book. It's smart and funny, and the audiobook narration by Mark Bramhall was stellar. That's not to say I couldn't see through the plot in several places (I right away knew the identity of Becca's lover), but I was willing to overlook that for the startling turns the plot made elsewhere.

There are a few loose ends not wrapped up at the end, but I'm also OK with that. This was the second time Russo has presented us with life from North Bath, New York, so perhaps we can hope for more someday (but I won't hold my breath: there were 22 years between "Nobody's Fool" and this one).

The Button Man by Mark Pryor

While babysitting a Hollywood celebrity shouldn't be a huge challenge for the U.S. embassy security chief, you know these things have a way of turning quickly and heading south. It begins with the also-famous wife's strange death, and then turns into a manhunt - for which the embassy has no jurisdiction.

In this prequel to the other Hugo Marston novels (The Crypt Thief, The Bookseller, The Blood Promise), Hugo's new to his job at the London U.S. embassy. His wife's in Houston, he's in England, and he's having a tough time adjusting to the gloom.

Marston's a smart character (a former FBI profiler) who's comfortable with a gun but doesn't need it to do his job. He's brave and driven by the search for truth and justice, but isn't too bombastically macho. He wears cowboy boots, but he isn't a "cowboy" cop.

I really enjoy Pryor's writing and I especially enjoyed this peek into Marston's service before he landed in Paris. I love that it gave Pryor a way to explore new territory with the same familiar main character. There are a couple passing tidbits for fans which refer to the other books - for example, in this one, Hugo meets the bookseller Max for the first time. But you don't have to have read any other Marston books - this easily could be used as an entry point to the series.

Drunken Fireworks by Stephen King

In the form of a police interview, local lake-shack owner Alden McCausland explains how the escalating July 4th fireworks battle between himself and the rich summer-homeowners across the water got out of hand.

Narrator Tim Sample does a marvelous job with Alden's thick, sloshed Mainer accent and his only slightly apologetic account of the rivalry. And since I live in a lake (Lake Wisconsin) community, this short story rang especially true concerning the brooding tension between the locals and the summer people. Plus, it's very funny, with lots of strong language used to express intense emotion (my very favorite kind of vulgarity).

This is the wonderful, non-scary kind of Stephen King story people often forget he writes; no vampires or monsters, just real people and the kind crazy things that actually happen in life.

*This book has been released ONLY in audiobook format.

The Wife, The Maid, and The Mistress by Lawhon

The real-life disappearance of a New York judge in 1930 spurred this fictional whodunit of political intrigue, crooked cops, and the behind-the-scenes power of women.

Judge Joseph Crater is a slimeball from page one - from every perspective we see, he's got "bad news" written all over him. But where did he end up, and who's behind it all?

His wife has retired to her beloved lake cottage, and isn't going to deal with any of the mess surrounding his disappearance. The maid has seen way more than she lets on, and is desperately trying to get pregnant with her politically compromised police detective husband. And then there's the showgirl who's a mob moll and compromised in a million different ways.

The result is a twisty, sudsy, rumors-and-lies kind of book. I'm always fascinated by unsolved crimes and the idea that SOMEONE knows and doesn't tell - and this is one of those stories. It was a quick read, and I think mystery lovers will enjoy the tale.

The Bookseller by Mark Pryor

Hugo Marston isn't your traditional investigator - he's not a cop, he's the chief of security for the US Embassy in Paris. But somehow, he just can't keep to himself when he sees wrong being done.

Here, the wrong is the abduction of a Paris bookseller, a man Hugo counts as a friend. The fact that everyone else on the street lied to police and said that Max went willingly means only Hugo is really investigating. Good thing he's on "vacation" this week.

I recently read the second in this series (The Crypt Thief) and enjoyed it enough I hunted down this first in the series, too. Unlike that book, in The Bookseller the reader doesn't know any more than Hugo does - we're piecing together the puzzle as he is.

The Borden Tragedy: A Memoir of the Infamous Double Murder at Fall River, Mass., 1892 by Rick Geary

Based on an unsigned journal, this black-and-white graphic novel presents the facts and speculation surrounding this infamous turn-of-the-century murder and media spectacle. Lots of research is pulled together here; fans of true crime will find this brief volume concise yet thorough.

Geary's illustration style is both gothic and contemporary, and works beautifully for his subject. He presents maps, diagrams, portraits and rumor in a simple, yet detailed manner. The gruesome murder scenes are depicted without being overly sensationalized - he couldn't really shy away from it, since actual pictures from the murder scene were widely published at the time and easily obtainable today.

And I like the fact that the unsolved mysteries aren't wrapped up here, either - he offers multiple theories and options, but draws no conclusions for you.

A Rip in Heaven by Jeanine Cummins

Somewhere I read about this 2004 nonfiction book and decided to give it a try. Written by a family member, the book details the 1991 brutal assault of 3 teens on the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge over the Mississippi River at St. Louis.

True-crime books always have a bit of a rubber-neck appeal - they're horrifying, yet we want to know all the sickening details. Here, the author tries to stand apart from the action and report the events as if she's not involved - showing varying points of view to give a multi-faceted look at the crime, investigation, trials, and media frenzy.

Unfortunately, that approach isn't as strong as it could be. I think it might have been a better narrative if she'd picked one angle and stayed with it; by creating that distance away from her own involvement, she loses a lot of the heart of the tale. Additionally, in trying to bring a scholarly angle to the reportage she sometimes throws in a paragraph or two about psychology or police investigative theory that just throw the brakes on the whole flow.

I stuck it out til the end, but I'm not sure I would recommend it.

No Angel by Jay Dobyns

Over the course of Operation Black Biscuit, ATF undercover agent Jay Dobyns nearly lost himself into his role of "Bird" Davis, bad-ass biker. Dobyns became so focused on his work attempting to infiltrate Arizona's outlaw motorcycle gang scene that eventually he resented time away - to visit his kids - and he quit returning wife Gwen's phone calls.

This is a good book, and a very engrossing read. It's gives an interesting look at police investigations and also the Hells Angels from the inside. I was especially intrigued by the history, organization, and culture within the HA.

I won't hesitate to recommend this book to either bikers or police-supporters: It's a fair book that clearly shows the appeal these communities have for those who live "outside the law," but it's also clear on why fewer gangs with less power would be a good thing.