Frank Carlson Library

"Virginia is for lovers--and Storyton Hall is its best vacation spot for lovers of books. The big event this summer at Jane Steward's resort is A Bookish Cook-Off. It's a blend of the literary and the culinary--but someone's headed for the mortuary ... Six chefs are preparing to compete in an outdoor tent at Storyton Hall for prizes that will boost their careers--but is there someone who can't stand the heat? It looks that way when one of the contestants...

"They were cowriting literary darlings until they hit a plot hole that turned their lives upside down. Three years ago, Katrina Freeling and Nathan Van Huysen were the brightest literary stars on the horizon, their cowritten book topping bestseller lists. But on the heels of their greatest success, they ended their partnership on bad terms, for reasons neither would divulge to the public. They haven't spoken since, and never planned to, except they...

"Briar Creek Public Library director Lindsey Norris and her husband, Sully, are at a popular archivist conference in Chicago to hear book restoration specialist Brooklyn Wainwright give a keynote address. After the lecture, Lindsey looks under her seat and finds a tote bag containing a first edition of Patricia Highsmith's Strangers on a Train, inscribed to Alfred Hitchcock. Brooklyn determines the novel is one of a kind and quite valuable, so Lindsey...