By Dr. Betty Middleton
Rowan Public Library
We are blessed with a bounty of authors who are either from or write about North Carolina.
Rowan County’s own Kurt Corriher and John Hart are on that list. If you have not read their novels, why not add them to your list of books to read for the summer?
Mignon Ballard, who lives with her husband in Fort Mill, S.C., has written the Augusta Goodnight angel mystery series. “The Angel and the Jabberwocky Murders” is the newest in the series with “Hark! The Herald Angel Screamed” coming out in November.Jerry Bledsoe, who grew up in Thomasville, has been a newspaper journalist in Kannapolis, Greensboro, Charlotte, Louisville and with Esquire Magazine. His bestselling, true-crime books are about events that enveloped North Carolina families and communities. Some of his books, including “The Angel Doll,” “Before He Wakes,” “Bitter Blood” and “Blood Games,” have been made into movies.
Joan Medlicott, who lives in Barnardsville, is known for her Ladies of Covington series. This eight-volume series, beginning with “The Ladies of Covington Send Their Love,” follows the joy and tragedy in the lives of three older women from Covington.
Michael Malone, from Durham, has composed plays, screenplays, nonfiction and was an Emmy Award winner as head writer of the ABC-TV soap opera “One Life to Live.” Among the many genres he has conquered, his mysteries have received the most acclaim. “Uncivilized Seasons,” “Times Witness” and “First Lady” all take place in fictional Hillston.
Two police officers, Lt. Savile (black sheep of the town’s founding family and head of the homicide division) and Chief Mangum (Vietnam vet), are charged with investigating a murder in “Uncivilized Seasons” and pursuing the possibility of a serial killer in “First Lady.”
All titles listed are available at Rowan Public Library. Just as we were all excited at George Clooney’s filmmaking in Salisbury, it is equally exciting to read fiction or nonfiction which includes locations or implied locations, that are familiar to the southern side of us.
Children’s programs: Summer Reading Program, “Catch the Reading Bug!” continues at headquarters and East and South branches. Storyteller Willie Claflin comes in Monday through Wednesday.
Movies in June ó Heroic Tuesday Nights is the theme. “Batman Begins” showing Tuesday. All movies start at 6:30 p.m. Refreshments will be served.
Displays: Headquarters ó Price High School by Eleanor Qadirah; South ó Build-a-Bear by Diane Brideson.Literacy: Call the Rowan County Literacy Council at 704-216-8266 for more information on teaching or receiving literacy tutoring for English speakers or for those for whom English is a second language.
Web site: For a listing of all library programs at all library locations, www.rowanpubliclibrary .org.