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Reprieve : a novel / by Mattson, James Han,author.;
"On April 27, 1997, four contestants make it to the final cell of the Quigley House, a full-contact haunted escape room in Lincoln, Nebraska, made famous for its monstrosities, booby-traps, and ghoulishly costumed actors. If the group can endure these horrors without shouting the safe word, "reprieve," they'll win a substantial cash prize--a startling feat accomplished only by one other group in the house's long history. But before they can complete the challenge, a man breaks into the cell and kills one of the contestants. Those who were present on that fateful night lend their points of view: Kendra Brown, a teenager who's been uprooted from her childhood home after the sudden loss of her father; Leonard Grandton, a desperate and impressionable hotel manager caught in a series of toxic entanglements; and Jaidee Charoensuk, a gay international student who came to the United States in a besotted search for his former English teacher. As each character's journey unfurls and overlaps, deceits and misunderstandings fueled by obsession and prejudice are revealed--forcing all to reckon with the ways in which their beliefs and actions contributed to a horrifying catastrophe. A startlingly soulful exploration of complicity and masquerade, Reprieve combines the psychological tension of classic horror with searing social criticism, and seamlessly threads together trial transcripts, evidence descriptions, and deeply layered individual narratives to present a chilling portrait of this tangled American life"--
Subjects: Horror fiction.; Psychological fiction.; Escape room games; Haunted houses (Amusements); Murder; Prejudices;
Available copies: 2 / Total copies: 2
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Writers and liars : a novel / by Goodman, Carol,author.;
"Fifteen years ago, Maia Gold attended a prestigious -- and very exclusive -- writers retreat hosted by billionaire Argos Alexander on the Greek island of Eris. It's where she wrote her first book, the one that should have launched a brilliant career. But something dark happened on that island, a betrayal that has hung over Maia ever since. Now, Maia finds a familiar envelope in the mail. It's an invitation to return to Eris, and according to social media, she's not the only one from that first retreat who's been invited back. This could be the second chance Maia needs to jump-start her dreams. A chance for reconciliation ... or revenge. Almost all of the writers from fifteen years before have returned to Eris, bringing unresolved resentments with them. Soon, the guests learn that their illustrious host is absent, though he has left instructions for them to participate in a contest: whoever can write the most suspenseful mystery while on the island will win a fortune and literary acclaim. But this is no harmless game -- when the guests gather in the morning to share their first chapters, they find Argos Alexander, dead. Tensions simmer as the guests try to determine who's capable of murder, not just on the page, but in real life. On an island full of mystery writers, anyone could be the killer -- and anyone could be the next victim. Trapped together until the next boat arrives from the mainland, they must sort out old grievances and figure out how to trust one another ... or die one by one."--
Subjects: Thrillers (Fiction); Novels.; Authors; Betrayal; Murder; Secrecy; Writers' retreats;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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How about never--is never good for you? : my life in cartoons / by Mankoff, Robert.;
"Memoir in cartoons by the longtime cartoon editor of The New Yorker. People tell Bob Mankoff that as the cartoon editor of The New Yorker he has the best job in the world. Never one to beat around the bush, he explains to us, in the opening of this singular, delightfully eccentric book, that because he is also a cartoonist at the magazine he actually has two of the best jobs in the world. With the help of myriad images and his funniest, most beloved cartoons, he traces his love of the craft all the way back to his childhood, when he started doing funny drawings at the age of eight. After meeting his mother, we follow his unlikely stints as a high-school basketball star, draft dodger, and sociology grad student. Though Mankoff abandoned the study of psychology in the seventies to become a cartoonist, he recently realized that the field he abandoned could help him better understand the field he was in, and here he takes up the psychology of cartooning, analyzing why some cartoons make us laugh and others don't. He allows us into the hallowed halls of The New Yorker to show us the soup-to-nuts process of cartoon creation, giving us a detailed look not only at his own work, but that of the other talented cartoonists who keep us laughing week after week. For desert, he reveals the secrets to winning the magazine's caption contest. Throughout, we see his commitment to the motto "Anything worth saying is worth saying funny."--Provided by publisher.
Subjects: Mankoff, Robert.; New Yorker (New York, N.Y. : 1925); Cartoonists; Periodical editors;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The paper caper / by Carlisle, Kate,1951-author.;
"San Francisco book-restoration expert Brooklyn Wainwright is back with an intriguing new mystery in the New York Times bestselling Bibliophile Mystery series. Joseph Cabot is a very popular wealthy San Franciscan who owns the main newspaper in town, as well as radio stations and TV. Years ago, Brooklyn's husband Derek and his security team rescued Joseph from an assassination attempt and now the man and his wife are friendly with Derek and Brooklyn. The friendship is helped along by the fact that Joseph is a big book lover and contributes lavishly to the Covington Library. His favorite author is Mark Twain (another newspaperman) and he's underwritten the first annual Mark Twain Festival at the Covington. As part of the festival activities, Brooklyn will spend a few hours every day at the Library, giving demonstrations of her work at re-binding an old copy of The Prince and the Pauper. There will be events all week, all around town, celebrating the time Twain spent in the city. But the biggest event is being run by Joseph's newspaper: a citywide contest based on The Prince and The Pauper-they want to find someone who looks like Joseph! The two men will trade places for a week as part of a huge publicity campaign to raise money for the Covington Library. But the fun turns frantic when a murder occurs right before Brooklyn's eyes! Now Brooklyn and Derek will have to chase clues all over their beloved city to solve the murder before another death becomes front-page news"--
Subjects: Detective and mystery fiction.; Novels.; Books; Festivals; Murder; Wainwright, Brooklyn (Fictitious character); Women bookbinders; Women detectives;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Christmas in Blue Dog Valley : a novel / by Noblin, Annie England,author.;
When Goldie McKenzie, DVM, vet to the L.A. pet stars, arrives from Los Angeles to Blue Dog Valley she realizes three things. Never agree to upend your life when you're hungover. Pot-belly pigs are not true farm animals. She's going to need a warmer coat. At first Goldie is nothing more than a fish out of water, with few clients and few friends. But after a less than pleasant encounter with a man whose dog is suffering from a possibly fatal case of bloat, she's finally earning the trust and goodwill from her fellow Blue Dog Valley citizens. Her clientele grows to include the many farm animals in the town, including a horse named Large Marge, a cape-wearing therapy alpaca, and a yardful of sweater-wearing goats. Add in Kevin, the "worst sheepdog in Blue Dog Valley," and a Sphinx cat named Airport, and Goldie is having the best time a vet can have ... aside from the annoying attractive town grump, Cohen, who seems intent on making sure she always feels like an outsider. With her newfound goodwill, Goldie comes up with an idea to reinvigorate the once flourishing Blue Dog Valley: a Christmas carnival. A petting zoo, pictures with Santa, a baking contest, what more could they want? After only some brief resistance from Cohen and his father, they begin the great plan to reinvigorate Blue Dog Valley. Will Christmas be enough to salvage this dying town--and be enough to bring Goldie closer to a certain grumpy man?
Subjects: Christmas fiction.; Psychological fiction.; Recipes.; Novels.; Animals; Man-woman relationships; Small cities; Women veterinarians;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The rom-commers / by Center, Katherine,author.;
"She's rewriting his love story. But can she rewrite her own? Emma Wheeler desperately longs to be a screenwriter. She's spent her life studying, obsessing over, and writing romantic comedies-good ones! That win contests! But she's also been the sole caretaker for her kind-hearted dad, who needs full-time care. Now, when she gets a chance to re-write a script for famous screenwriter Charlie Yates-The Charlie Yates! Her personal writing god!-it's a break too big to pass up. Emma's younger sister steps in for caretaking duties, and Emma moves to L.A. for six weeks for the writing gig of a lifetime. But what is it they say? Don't meet your heroes? Charlie Yates doesn't want to write with anyone-much less "a failed, nobody screenwriter." Worse, the romantic comedy he's written is so terrible it might actually bring on the apocalypse. Plus! He doesn't even care about the script-it's just a means to get a different one green-lit. Oh, and he thinks love is an emotional Ponzi scheme. But Emma's not going down without a fight. She will stand up for herself, and for rom-coms, and for love itself. She will convince him that love stories matter-even if she has to kiss him senseless to do it. But ... what if that kiss is accidentally amazing? What if real life turns out to be so much ... more real than fiction? What if the love story they're writing breaks all Emma's rules-and comes true?"--
Subjects: Romance fiction.; Humorous fiction.; Novels.; Love; Man-woman relationships; Screenwriters; Women authors; Women screenwriters;
Available copies: 2 / Total copies: 3
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Written on the Dark [electronic resource] : by Kay, Guy Gavriel.aut; CloudLibrary;
From the internationally bestselling author of Tigana, All the Seas of the World, and A Brightness Long Ago comes a majestic new novel of love and war that brilliantly evokes the drama and turbulence of medieval France. Thierry Villar is a well-known—even notorious—tavern poet, intimately familiar with the rogues and shadows of that world, but not at all with courts and power. He is an unlikely person, despite his quickness, to be swept into the deadly contests of ambitious royals, assassins, and invading armies. But he is indeed drawn into all these things on a savagely cold night in his beloved city of Orane. And so Thierry must use all the intelligence and charm he can muster as power struggles merge with a decades-long war to bring his country to the brink of destruction. As he does, he meets his poetic equal in an aristocratic woman and is drawn to more than one unsettling person with a connection to the world beyond this one. He also crosses paths with an extraordinary young woman driven by voices within to try to heal the ailing king — and help his forces in war. A wide and varied set of people from all walks of life take their places in the rich tapestry of this story. Both sweeping and intimate, Written on the Dark is an elegant tour de force about power and ambition playing out amid the equally intense human need for art and beauty, and memories to be left behind.
Subjects: Electronic books.; Historical; Romantic; Action & Adventure;
© 2025., Penguin Canada,
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Writers and liars [text (large print)] : a novel / by Goodman, Carol,author.;
"Fifteen years ago, Maia Gold attended a prestigious -- and very exclusive -- writers retreat hosted by billionaire Argos Alexander on the Greek island of Eris. It's where she wrote her first book, the one that should have launched a brilliant career. But something dark happened on that island, a betrayal that has hung over Maia ever since. Now, Maia finds a familiar envelope in the mail. It's an invitation to return to Eris, and according to social media, she's not the only one from that first retreat who's been invited back. This could be the second chance Maia needs to jump-start her dreams. A chance for reconciliation ... or revenge. Almost all of the writers from fifteen years before have returned to Eris, bringing unresolved resentments with them. Soon, the guests learn that their illustrious host is absent, though he has left instructions for them to participate in a contest: whoever can write the most suspenseful mystery while on the island will win a fortune and literary acclaim. But this is no harmless game -- when the guests gather in the morning to share their first chapters, they find Argos Alexander, dead. Tensions simmer as the guests try to determine who's capable of murder, not just on the page, but in real life. On an island full of mystery writers, anyone could be the killer -- and anyone could be the next victim. Trapped together until the next boat arrives from the mainland, they must sort out old grievances and figure out how to trust one another ... or die one by one."--
Subjects: Thrillers (Fiction); Large print books.; Novels.; Authors; Betrayal; Murder; Secrecy; Writers' retreats;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The Rom-Commers A Novel [electronic resource] : by Center, Katherine.aut; cloudLibrary;
She’s rewriting his love story. But can she rewrite her own? Emma Wheeler desperately longs to be a screenwriter. She’s spent her life studying, obsessing over, and writing romantic comedies—good ones! That win contests! But she’s also been the sole caretaker for her kind-hearted dad, who needs full-time care. Now, when she gets a chance to re-write a script for famous screenwriter Charlie Yates—The Charlie Yates! Her personal writing god!—it’s a break too big to pass up. Emma’s younger sister steps in for caretaking duties, and Emma moves to L.A. for six weeks for the writing gig of a lifetime. But what is it they say? Don’t meet your heroes? Charlie Yates doesn’t want to write with anyone—much less “a failed, nobody screenwriter.” Worse, the romantic comedy he’s written is so terrible it might actually bring on the apocalypse. Plus! He doesn’t even care about the script—it’s just a means to get a different one green-lit. Oh, and he thinks love is an emotional Ponzi scheme. But Emma’s not going down without a fight. She will stand up for herself, and for rom-coms, and for love itself. She will convince him that love stories matter—even if she has to kiss him senseless to do it. But . . . what if that kiss is accidentally amazing? What if real life turns out to be so much . . . more real than fiction? What if the love story they’re writing breaks all Emma’s rules—and comes true?General adult.
Subjects: Electronic books.; Romantic Comedy; Contemporary Women;
© 2024., St. Martin's Publishing Group,
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The rom-commers [sound recording] / by Center, Katherine,author.; Murin, Patti,narrator.; Macmillan Audio (Firm),publisher.;
Read by Patti Murin."She's rewriting his love story. But can she rewrite her own? Emma Wheeler desperately longs to be a screenwriter. She's spent her life studying, obsessing over, and writing romantic comedies-good ones! That win contests! But she's also been the sole caretaker for her kind-hearted dad, who needs full-time care. Now, when she gets a chance to re-write a script for famous screenwriter Charlie Yates-The Charlie Yates! Her personal writing god!-it's a break too big to pass up. Emma's younger sister steps in for caretaking duties, and Emma moves to L.A. for six weeks for the writing gig of a lifetime. But what is it they say? Don't meet your heroes? Charlie Yates doesn't want to write with anyone-much less "a failed, nobody screenwriter." Worse, the romantic comedy he's written is so terrible it might actually bring on the apocalypse. Plus! He doesn't even care about the script-it's just a means to get a different one green-lit. Oh, and he thinks love is an emotional Ponzi scheme. But Emma's not going down without a fight. She will stand up for herself, and for rom-coms, and for love itself. She will convince him that love stories matter-even if she has to kiss him senseless to do it. But ... what if that kiss is accidentally amazing? What if real life turns out to be so much ... more real than fiction? What if the love story they're writing breaks all Emma's rules-and comes true?"--
Subjects: Audiobooks.; Humorous fiction.; Novels.; Romance fiction.; Love; Man-woman relationships; Screenwriters; Women authors; Women screenwriters;
Available copies: 0 / Total copies: 1
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