by Shelley Civkin Richmond Public Library

Sleuths deal with murder, Shelley deals with decoupage

Well the prolific James Patterson is back with a vengeance. The latest in his new series featuring the Women’s Murder Club, is called 2nd Chance and is even hotter and more riveting than 1st To Die. Working with the Murder Club’s members - a police detective, a reporter, a medical examiner and an assistant DA - newly promoted lieutenant Lindsay Boxer sets out to solve a series of grisly murders. As if the murders aren’t bad enough, the killer taunts police by leaving deliberate clues, which send law enforcement agents and the ladies of the Murder Club scrambling to find the psycho before there’s another casualty.

The creepy part is that a couple of the victims were related to cops. Then when two cops are murdered the stakes are raised even higher. Signs point to the involvement of a racist hate group and the reader begins to wonder if the killer is possibly a cop himself.

Patterson, who co-authored this book with Andrew Gross, is at his finest in this book. His story twists and turns and takes the reader on a roller coaster of clues, dead-ends and possibilities. Adding to the story’s depth and texture is some background about lieutenant Boxer’s personal life. Throughout all the commotion surrounding the search for the serial killer, lieutenant Boxer is recovering from the death of her lover and the reappearance on the scene of her long-estranged father. The book is full of surprises action and suspense and there’s never a dull moment. You won’t want to miss this one!

If suspense isn’t your thing but arts and crafts are, then you might want to take a gander at a new book on decoupage called Decorating With Decoupage by Francesca Besso. For those of you who don’t know what decoupage is, in a nutshell, it’s cutting out shapes, pictures or designs from paper, photographs, or other material and gluing them onto a surface for a decorative effect. Then the work is finished off with any number of varnishes or waxes.

Filled with dozens of rich photographs and a plethora of ideas, this book will please crafters who are a step above the basic cut-and-glue school of decoupage. Along with background about the materials needed, there is also a good section on the various techniques that can be used. The author refers to them as “basic” techniques, but for anyone other than seasoned (or very ambitious) crafters, some of the techniques look as though they’d require an awful lot of patience as well as skill. These are not instant gratification projects, so prepare to spend several days at some of them. The projects that Besso suggests include things like a tea caddy, a toy chest, a terracotta vase and a frame. So as you can see, it’s not the item to be decorated, but rather the process, that takes time. But the outcome can be quite attractive and very original.

Shelley J. Civkin is the head of the Readers' Advisory Department at the Richmond Public Library. For other popular reading suggestions, check out Richmond Public Library's Web site at www.yourlibrary.ca/goodbooks .