October is always one of the busiest months of the year for the Delaware County District Library. The Great GeekFest comic-con typically takes place early in the month and there are fall festivals and candy-collecting events happening across the county. So far, the library has already received nine invitations to participate in events happening this month alone.
While we might not be able to make it out to all these fun happenings, we know our patrons are on the hunt for fun things to do this month, both with and without the kids. So, to add to the list, check out some of these upcoming opportunities presented by our Friends of the Delaware County District Library.
The Friends’ regular Bargain Book events have returned! Stop by the Delaware Main Library Oct. 15-16 to add more books, DVDs, and resources to your personal library at a bargain. Books will be sold in the garage on Friday, Oct. 15 from 5-8 p.m. Then on Saturday, the book sale will continue and be supplemented with a CD, DVD and audiobook sale in the Community Room from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. This will be the only Friends sale this fall, so patrons can stock up through winter.
Next, you’ll want to add the evening of Monday, Oct. 25 to your calendar for a Central Ohio Mystery Authors Night. The Friends are calling the evening “Authors & Ales” as it will take place at Ill Mannered Brewing Company in downtown Powell. The event will feature local authors Andrew Welsh-Huggins, Connie Berry and Robin Yokum. Tickets are available on Eventbrite when you search “Authors and Ales.”
Doors open at 6:30 p.m., and the author event will begin at 7 p.m. Beanbag Books in downtown Delaware has copies of the books available, and Birdie Books in Westerville will take advanced orders and deliver for free to Delaware and Franklin county residents. Books will also be available for purchase on-site.
This week, I recommend you first add the above events to your calendar, then pick up a copy of one of these excellent books by our featured authors. Happy mystery reading!
• “The Art of Betrayal” by Connie Berry. Spring is a magical time in England—bluebells massing along the woodland paths, primrose and wild thyme dotting the meadows. Antiques dealer Kate Hamilton is spending the month of May in the Suffolk village of Long Barston, enjoying precious time with Detective Inspector Tom Mallory. While attending the May Fair, the annual pageant based on a well-known Anglo-Saxon folktale, a body turns up in the middle of the festivities.
• “An Empty Grave” by Andrew Welsh-Huggins. In 1979, a high-profile burglar shot a cop, was apprehended, and then disappeared without ever being prosecuted. Forty years later, after the wounded cop’s suicide, his son, Preston Campbell, is convinced there’s been a cover-up that allowed his father’s attacker to go free. At first, Hayes dismisses Campbell’s outlandish conspiracy theories. But when a mysterious Cold War connection to the burglar emerges, the investigation heats up, and Hayes discovers a series of deaths that seem to be connected, one way or another, to the missing criminal. Nothing seems to add up, though, and Hayes finds himself hurtling headlong down a decades-old path of deadly secrets.
• “The Sacrifice of Lester Yates” by Robin Yocum. Lester Yates is the notorious Egypt Valley Strangler, one of the country’s most prolific serial killers. Or, is he? Yates is two months from his date with the executioner when Ohio Attorney General Hutch Van Buren is presented with evidence that could exonerate him. But Yates is a political pawn, and forces exist that don’t want him exonerated, regardless of the evidence. To do so could derail presidential aspirations and change the national political landscape. Yates’ execution will clear a wide political path for many influential people, including Van Buren, who must battle both the clock and a political machine of which he is a part.
