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In the Stacks is a weekly newspaper column by librarian Kathy Ward that highlights parts of the Juneau Public Library's collection by topic. You can browse these columns by date or by topic.

Fiction

“Red Dog,” by Louis de Bernieres Roll over, Patsy Ann, here is a dog with more stories than you can throw a stick at. The sight of a bronze statue of a dog in Dampier, Australia, prompted the author’s curiosity, and the more people he talked with, the more stories he collected. Tally Ho was a sheepdog with roaming paws who left his happy home to become a “professional traveler” in Australia, with his own transportation system and a new name. Dubbed “Red Dog,” he covered a territory hundreds of miles wide, adopting people and being adopted, but always coming home to Dampier.

“The Scared Stiff,” by Judson Jack Carmichael What if you were down so low that the only asset you had left was your life insurance policy? Barry Lee is at that point, and his South American wife knows just the place to pull the scheme off - her native country of Guerrera. But there is a problem: after he’s been declared dead, Barry has no recourse against his wife’s family, who have decided that Barry isn’t quite dead enough.

“The Getaway Special,” by Jerry Oltion Allen Meisner is a card-carrying mad scientist, a member of INSANE (International Network of Scientists Against Nuclear Extermination), who has invented a hyperdrive engine capable of going to the stars for next to nothing. Instead of insuring the safety of the planet, the engine becomes a catalyst for nuclear war, and Allen and his shuttle pilot head off into space in a home-made ship on a desperate search for habitable planets.

“Spadework,” by Timothy Findley Have you ever wondered what the consequences of your accidents might be? In “Spadework,” a gardener accidentally slices through a buried telephone cable, which leads to lost phone calls, which in turn result in blackmail and murder. And then the phone repair man shows up and further complicates the lives of the residents…

“Fair Warning,” by Robert Olen Butler An intimate and meditative book about owning or being owned, and how what you own defines you. Amy Dickerson feels that her future was foretold when, as a child, she sold her 3-year old sister. Now she is an auction house’s star salesperson, wondering if her romantic prospects are really as entertwined with her business as they seem, and who to trust in matters of life and heart.

“Dialogues of the Dead,” by Reginald Hill Well-known for his sly humor and complex plots, Hill centers this mystery around word games. The Wordman is a sociopath who leaves clues for detectives Pascoe and Dalziel in pieces submitted to literary competitions. Will they be able to pull the clues together and solve the puzzle before the Wordman takes more lives?

“Billie’s Kiss,” by Elizabeth Knox At twenty, Billie can’t read or tell time, but she can tell that she is in over her head with her sister’s husband. While the ship they are traveling on is docked at a remote Scottish island, she makes her escape, mere seconds before the ship explodes. A fellow survivor of the explosion, Murdo Hesketh, is determined to uncover the truth about Billie’s role in the disaster, even as Billie tries to make a new place for herself.

“The Dark Clue,” by James Wilson Written in the style of Wilkie Collins’ “The Moonstone,” and with the aid of two characters from that book, here is an exploration of the life of J.M.W. Turner, one of England’s greatest Victorian painters. The deeper Walter Hartright and his sister-in-law Marian delve into Turner’s past, the darker his life looks. Are the answers Walter and Marian get worth the risks they take?

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