Anne's Arts & Activities Blog

Lisa Gardner on Before She Disappeared https://soundcloud.com/wesbnews1/lisa-gardner-before-she-disappeared

Baby of the Family by Maura Roosevelt My rating: 4 of 5 stars Roger Whitby dies and leaves what's left of his fortune to his youngest and "adopted" son Nick, much to the dismay of two of his half sisters who are living in family-owned homes. But Nick has disappeared and, as long as he doesn't know about his father's death and the change to the will, Brooke and Shelley are in no hurry to find him. Nick's mother, Susan, would like to find him, though, because she wants a piece of the inheritance as payback for what Roger did to her (his fourth wife) and Nick. Shelley's mother, Elizabeth, also plays a role in the story as Brooke, not Shelley, is forced to deal with a medical emergency. We get a look into Brooke's private life -- a break-up, an unexpected pregnancy, a turned-down wedding proposal, and the possibility that she'll have to find a new place to live if Nick finds out he owns her house. Shelley, who is the closest to ...

Wolf Pack by C.J. Box My rating: 5 of 5 stars I'm pretty sure there's not an emotion the latest Joe Pickett novel didn't evoke. Not only that, it was packed with action and suspense from beginning to -- literally -- the end. It starts with Joe and female game warden Katelyn Hamm trying to figure out who is operating a drone that she saw run a mule deer and elk herd, exhausting the animals to the point that some of the died. As they get closing to getting information about the mysterious drone operator, things get really complicated as the FBI enters the picture with dire warnings for both Joe and Katelyn. While all of this is going on the vicious, brutal and cruel Wolf Pack -- led by the beautiful but heartless Abriella -- is on a mission that will eventually have them crossing paths with Joe, Katelyn and Joe's friend, falconer Nate Romanowski. The penultimate chapter is so action-packed you will not be able to turn the pages fast enough. Wolf ...

The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century by Kirk W. Johnson My rating: 5 of 5 stars During almost the entire reading of this book I had to remind myself it was a true story. I think if the author had gone to his publisher with a story about a 20-year-old American student at the Royal Academy of Music in London who broke into a natural history museum to steal rare bird skins/feathers -- some collected by a colleague of Charles Darwin -- so he could sell them to Victorian salmon fly-tying enthusiasts. The authorities do catch up with the thief, Edwin Rist, but his punishment is less-than-satisfying when you consider the enormity of the crime. Johnson does explain the importance of these skins and feathers, and how/why he got personally involved, which is just as interesting as the weird crime. You can hear my interview with Kirk Wallace Johnson here View all my reviews

If you've wished you could read more about Louisa Clark from Me Before You and After You , JoJo Moyes has granted your wish. You can hear my conversation with JoJo here: Interview with JoJo Moyes

Marc Cameron, best known for his "Jericho Quinn" series, is the latest author to continue telling the story of characters created by Tom Clancy. His first book in the Jack Ryan series is "Power and Empire," and it's everything you'd want in a Tom Clancy/Jack Ryan thriller. He can tell the story better than I can, so listen to him here: http://wesb.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/LiveLine-12-05-17-Author-Marc-Cameron-on-Tom-Clancys-Power-and-Empire.mp3

From Penguin Random House: In this extraordinary debut novel with its deft nod to Dickensian heroes and rogues, Mira Bartók tells the story of Arthur, a shy, fox-like foundling with only one ear and a desperate desire to belong, as he seeks his destiny. If you're looking for a book to read to your kids for a few nights "The Wonderling" is an excellent choice. Not only is it entertaining (for adults, too!) it'll be a great jumping off point for a number of issues. Listen to my chat with author Mira Bartok to hear about some of them: http://wesb.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/LiveLine-12-11-17-Author-Mira-Bartok-on-The-Wonderling.mp3

If you’ve been thinking you’d like to learn more about Jerusalem, photographer Ziv Koren’s book “My Jerusalem” features a unique collection of photos showing the real people who live, work, worship and demonstrate in Jerusalem. In a recent interview, Ziv told me some of the things that make Jerusalem unique. http://wesb.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/LiveLine-11-27-17-Picture-Books-Night-Vision-and-My-Jerusalem.mp3 (This interview starts at 8:18)

I just finished an interview with my friend, author Ann McCauley, about her brand new book, "Pressure Cooker Christmas." (It is not cookbook.) It's been getting great reviews, and I'm so happy for her! She's doing a book signing Friday at On the Side Books on Kennedy Street, and then another December 9 at the Main Street Mercantile. You can hear the interview here: http://wesb.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/LiveLine-11-30-17-Author-Ann-McCauley-on-Pressure-Cooker-Christmas-not-a-cookbook.mp3

I had the pleasure of chatting with authors Preston Rice and TK Bethea (separately) recently. You can hear the interviews here: http://wesb.com/liveline-ondemand/ Preston, and his brother Brock, have written these adventure stories to help promote good behavior and outdoor play for young children. The latest is "Little Forces and the Haunted House," just in time for Halloween. http://www.littleforces.com/ TK Bethea has written about a single dad and his son who adopt a dog, Doc Holliday, who overhears a conversation that makes him think the father and son don't want him, so he sets off to find his birth parents. You can also go to https://www.adventuresofdoc.com/ for lots of very cool surprises.

FINALLY: The interviews are finally uploaded! You can listen here . UPDATE: Spoke too soon on that. No one is more frustrated than I am. Believe me. (See what I did there?) We've been having problems with our website all summer and I have been able to upload interviews sporadically at best. There is a light at the end of the tunnel, however. I was able to upload the show featuring Linda Fairstein and Ace Atkins, but the page it's on -- http://wesb.com/liveline-ondemand -- won't load. Baby steps, I suppose. Baby steps. Other interviews coming up include T. Jefferson Parker, Katherine Nouri Hughes, Augustus Rose. Stay tuned!

The radio station's website has been kind of wacky lately so I haven't been able to upload everything on a timely basis. And, even if I could have, you might not have been able to get there because we were getting "400" and "500" errors/messages. So, while it seems to be somewhat normal right now I'll let you know you can go to the "on-demand" page at wesb.com . You can check out Fiona Barton, Mary Higgins Clark, CJ Box, Joseph Finder, Steve Berry, Christina Baker Kline, Reed Farrell Coleman, Robert Knott Alex George, Brad Taylor, and more. I have more that have to be uploaded, including Ace Atkins and Linda Fairstein. Stay tuned.