26 M yste r y F i c ti o n
Help for the Haunted by John Searles
F SEARLES, J.
A perfect read for a dark, scary Halloween night, or for that matter, anytime one wants to journey into the paranormal. Introduce the Masons, who technically are ghost hunters, traveling around giving lectures and assisting people haunted by otherworldly spirits. One night, they are called to the old stone church and are later found cruelly murdered. Their young daughter, Sylvia, is a witness to the murder, but can only remember a dark shadow running away from the crime. She is put in the custody of her sister, Rose, who has always acted bizarre. Through interviews with the police, Sylvia is determined to piece together the details of that fateful night and find out who murdered her parents. Between strange and horrific events happening in the basement and noises being heard in the house, this book will keep you guessing until the very end what happened that fateful night. Warning: Try not to read this book alone! – Donna Hausmann
Uncommon Clay by Margaret Maron
F MARON, M.
After the Durham Reads Together series featuring Margaret Maron, I appreciate her books even more. One of the aspects of her books that she discussed was setting lots of her Deborah Knott novels in different, interesting parts of North Carolina. This one is set in the pottery rich area in and around Randolph County. As she explained when she was here, she immersed herself in learning how potters work with clay so she could incorporate aspects of that in her book. This novel brings back characters from prior books in the series, adds new characters who have relationships to earlier characters and, of course, has lots of twists and turns before the crimes are finally solved. Great reading! – Joyce Sykes