My LINKcat AccountI heard my first crickets singing last week. Now, the weather lore I was taught said that the first frost was due to arrive six weeks (or possibly 60 days) after the crickets first started chirping which would put that date anywhere from the end of August to the start of the second week of September. Yes. The second week of September is only sixty days away. There is a competing lore that says that it's the annual cicadas (the dog-day kind) whose singing starts the six week to sixty day clock ticking. I haven't heard any cicadas yet so - possibly-good news. "Frost" is a somewhat vague term in regards to weather. A light freeze is defined as 29-32 degrees which might kill tender plants. A moderate freeze (25-28 degrees) will kill a lot of vegetation and a severe freeze 24 degrees and colder will wipe out most plants. But we all know that weather forecasters predict frosts of varying degree - "light", "widely scattered", and "heavy" to name just a few. So the odds of a weather person predicting a frost by the beginning of September seem a lot more likely. Anyway, crickets and cicadas too emerge when the soil temperature reaches a certain mark (cicadas like 64 degrees) and in typical years this occurs the end of July to the middle of August which puts their emergence about 6 weeks to 60 days from those cold nights you get at the end of the August. While you're waiting to hear cicadas and for the seasons to start their subtle shift, there are plenty of new books to keep you busy. Scroll your eyes down the page to see some of the new titles that arrived recently. Enjoy!
New Non-Fiction
Blue mind : the surprising science that shows how being near, in, on, or under water can make you happier, healthier, more connected and better at what you do / by Wallace Nichols. Discusses the importance of humans' connection to water and how people are drawn to being in, on or around oceans, rivers and lakes and points to recent findings in neuroscience that indicate that proximity to water can improve mood, performance, health and success.
New Fiction
A perfect life : a novel / by Danielle Steel. A mother and daughter confront respective challenges, cope with celebrity and work through tragedy while maintaining an idyllic façade to the outside world, in an uplifting tale by the best-selling author of "Until the End of Time".
The death of pie / by Tamar Myers. When a scandal-provoking, best-selling novelist falls face-down dead into a prize-winning apple pie during the village of Hernia's 110th Annual Festival of Pies, Magdalena searches through a bushel of suspects to determine who is responsible for the poison-penned writer's demise.
Enemies at home by Lindsey Davis. A follow-up to "The Ides of April" finds the first-century Roman daughter of Marcus Didius Falco investigating a murder and burglary for which the victims' innocent slaves will be executed unless the real culprit is found.
Last to know / by Elizabeth Adler. When the lakeside getaway where Detective Harry Jordan escapes his stressful job is rocked by an explosion targeting an enigmatic newcomer's house, Harry discovers that a victim did not die in the explosion and that the son of a famous local author may have seen the killer.
Margaret Truman's undiplomatic murder : a capital crimes novel / by Donald Bain. After a suicide bomber kills his youngest daughter at an outdoor cafe in Washington, D.C., private investigator Robert Brixton seeks revenge and answers in the latest novel of the series following "Experiment in Murder".
Remains of innocence / by J.A. Jance. While investigating two separate cases, Sheriff Joanna Brady must discover if the death of a family friend whose body was found in a limestone cavern is linked to the discovery of a fortune in $100 bills hidden in the house of a hoarder.
Strangers / by Bill Pronzini. Cheryl seeks assistance from Nameless when her son, Cody Hatcher, is accused of three rapes in Mineral Springs, in the latest novel of the mystery series following "Nemesis".
Born of fury / by Sherrilyn Kenyon. A founding member of the Sentella organization that has declared war on the League, Hauk ruthlessly protects his brethren only to meet his match in Sumi Antaxas, a determined League assassin. By the best-selling author of the Chronicles of Nick series.
The care and management of lies : a novel of the Great War / by Jacqueline Winspear. In this poignant novel of love and friendship tested by separation and war, Kezia struggles to keep her ordered life from unraveling after her husband enlists to fight for his country, while Thea, her best friend, sister-in-law and suffragette, is drawn reluctantly to the battlefield.
For all time / by Jude Deveraux. A follow-up to "True Love" finds Lanconian heir Graydon Montgomery bonding with hardworking Toby Wyndam, who is fatefully able to tell him apart from his twin but who he cannot pursue because of his arranged marriage to a woman he does not love.