There you are (I can just picture you, gentle souls and--I hope--faithful readers), sitting down over a cup of coffee or an iced tea or a glass of wine or, in the case of my neighbor and nice friend across the street, Pat Utz, a lemonade reading this article. . I wish all of you, ahead of time, I realize, a very "Happy Egg Day" and may you receive a large chocolate bunny in a green grass nest.   Personally, the Hershey's kisses--WITH ALMONDS--are a treat to me and I ration myself to 2 (or maybe 2 more, in case I don't really remember if I had the first 2 and if THAT rationale doesn't sound like Kris Jones I don't know Kris!) so I don't need a big choc. bunny but I tell you one thing for darned sure--it's hard to hide those little balls of colored foil off the kisses! 

If you haven't read any of Maeve Binchy's novels, you've been in space too long. She's an Irish storyteller, well loved by her readers and people have been urging me FOR YEARS to read her and her new one I might.--""Whitethorn Woods" is actually slated to be cut through when a new highway bypasses the town of Rossmore.  Now, St. Ann's Well is set at the edge of the woods and would be demolished when the highway goes through, so, naturally, passions and opinions run high as to whether this destruction of a place where, over many years, people have come to pray and bring their problems should be allowed. On the other hand (and there's always one, isn't there?), others says it's a bunch of superstition and  SHOULD be torn down and the people and town get into the modern century.And can't you just hear both sides--loudly?  So, young FAther Flynn--who will probably become much OLDER before the debate is over!--listens to all those who have such definite opinions "deciding between the traditions of the past and the promises of the future."  So, these voices are the stories in this book from young adults to senior citizens, people in love--or lust--, people who think the well helped them and those who would never ask a well FOR HELP.  Delightful stories and come get it to find out the ending--do they tear down the old well or not?

"Requiem for a Dealer", by Jo Bannister, interested me because it includes not only a mystery but horses!  It's a charming little book, gives the right info on ponies, middle-class life and pace of the story is "pulling the reader long".  It will not hit Best Seller list or be considered for a National Book Award, but it is a "good read", as reviewers say, so come and look through it.  A reviewer said, about M.C. Beaton and her award-winning series featuring the Scottish constable, Hamish Macbeth and his province of the Scots village of Lochdubh, in the Scottish HIghlands, "With residents and a constable so authentic, it won't be long before tourists will be seeking out Lochdubh and believing in the reality of Hamish Macbeth as surely as they believed in Sherlock Holmes" (Denver Rocky Mountain News)Well, with "Death of a Maid" Hamish has won, in a church raffle, the cleaning services of Mrs Gillespie of whom it is said she breaks things rather than clean them! 

Yet there are more important things to think about i.e. his former girlfriend, reporter Elspeth Grant, is back in Lochdubh with a new boyfriend and tormenting poor Hamish. Add to that, a TV crew is in town to do a documentary on HIM and while its airing is sure to get him promoted--it means he'll have to leave the village--and boiling in oil is preferable to that.  The big reason he'd hate it?  It would mean transfer to a big city!  Add to that, Mrs Gillespie is found dead--and then several people tell Hamish she was blackmailing them and what for, so the suspects begin to accumulate. Beaton does an excellent (read; "believable") job of description of scenery, human foibles, and "Who Dunnit?" to the point where you think, as you near the end--"Ha! That wasn't too difficult! I know who the murderer is!" and then you find out, 2 pages from the end, you were wrong!  This is not a "blood and guts" kind of mystery but yet is entertaining and character-driven. 

These next 2 weeks are for the membership drive of Live Onstage as they spread the news that we will have, for the NEW CONCERT SERIES 6 ARTISTS TO CELEBRATE THEIR 60 YEARS OF BRINGING LIVE ENTERTAINERS TO LIBERAL.!  I have new memberships available, at $45 for all 6 concerts beginning in the Fall of 07, and if you purchase one BEFORE our last concert in this current series, which is April 19, you will get to attend that concert--Baystreet Brass--as a bonus.  So, counting that one concert and the 6 for the new concert series, you'll be attending 7 concerts altogether! Neat, huh?  You can call James Jackson, 624-5995 or Lora Hershey, 624-4348 or me, 624-3400 for memberships, questions, or suggestions and after our membership drive is over, the only way you can buy a membership is if you're new in town.

Back to the written word. Dane Stabenow has a new Kate Shugak story, "A Deeper Sleep', that is set in her beloved Alaska where she was born and raised and still resides.  Kate is a Private Investigator and has been working on a case for the Anchorage D.A. which involves that murder of a woman by her husband, Louis Deem, a most unsavory character who's been the subject of other investigations BUT NEVER BEEN CONVICTED. But this time Kate and "her on-again, off-again lover, state trooper, Jim Chopin,"  are convinced that THIS time there's no escape for Deem. 

However, the jury, as juries sometimes willfully do, found him Not Guilty and Kate and Jim are firmly convinced that he will begin to kill again"and, sure enough, a few weeks later a shooting leaves two dead in an apparent robbery."  But this time they have a witness and they are positive that, THIS TIME, Deem will go to prison for Life.  I love Kate's love and concern for friends, her love of her dog, I'm puzzled by her answer to Johnny as to how she regards God, and happy at her philosiphy for living. I have always liked the Alaskan mysteries by Stabenow and feel there's a very good "hidden quality" to her stories. Come read this one!

Remember that the poems for our Annual Poetry Contest are due in April 14, have your contact information on the back, our Coffeehouse is May 4 from 6:00 until 8:00 and we will NOT be returning poems. We will have 3 qualified judges deciding who the first, second, and third place winners are in all 3 categories (and the prizes are money), Children, Young Adults (up to age 18) and Adults.  We request no more than 3 poems, as an entry, for each person, and we will be serving refreshments at the Coffeehouse!  Please bring in your poems and be prepared to read them--or any favorite of yours--at the Coffeehouse. 

One last book that I think would be delightful--"The Friday Night Knitting Club", by Kate Jacobs, which brings together a disparate group of women for preparing their projects and advice for preparing their relationships and lives. They gather once a week to "chat--and, occasionally, clash--over their stories of love, life, and everything in between." There's Georgia, who runs the yarn shop, her teen daughter, Dakota, and Anita, Peri, Darwin, and Lucie---then, there's James, Georgia's ex, to add to the mix. I've read a little bit and it looks like a good read.

Hey! Take care of yourselves, I'm about to go buy "Half-Mine Manny", Dinnis Riney's wonderful German Shepherd whom I practically raised by myself!, a new toy for Easter, and I'll be back from Kerrville in time for Easter Sunday. Why doesn't some group organize an Easter Parade right down Main Street--the only requirement being that all the ladies wear hats? Don't yell at me--I'm just a poor working girl and doing the best I can!  Mow your yard, make sure your pets have all their shots and save an Easter iced sugar cookie for me. Bye!