Albany Public Library discussion

Welcome to Week 9! This week we have a list of true crime titles for you to enjoy.

Titles listed below are available online with Overdrive or Hoopla. You can also request a physical copy from the catalog to pickup at an APL curbside location.

Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family by Robert Kolker

Gone at Midnight: The Mysterious Death of Elisa Lam by Jake Anderson

The Kidnap Years:The Astonishing True History of the Forgotten Kidnapping Epidemic That Shook Depression-Era America by David Stout

Murder in the Garment District:The Grip of Organized Crime and the Decline of Labor in the United States by David Witwer

Hunting Whitey: The Inside Story of the Capture & Killing of America's Most Wanted Crime Boss by Casey Sherman

Hell in the Heartland: Murder, Meth, and the Case of Two Missing Girls by Jax Miller

American Predator: The Hunt for the Most Meticulous Serial Killer of the 21st Century by Maureen Callahan

Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee by Casey Cep

The Killer Across the Table: Unlocking the Secrets of Serial Killers and Predators with the FBI's Original Mindhunter by John E. Douglas

The Professor and the Parson: A Story of Desire, Deceit and Defrocking by Adam Sisman

The Falcon Thief: A True Tale of Adventure, Treachery, and the Hunt for the Perfect Bird by Joshua Hammer

Yellow Bird: Oil Murder and a Woman's Search for Justice in Indian Territory by Sierra Crane Murdoch

A Tangled Web by Leslie Rule

Doris Diamond: The True Story of the World's Most Notorious Jewel Thief by Doris Payne

Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators by Ronan Farrow

I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer by Michelle McNamara

Lost Girls: An Unsolved American Mystery by Robert Kolker

My Friend Dahmer: a graphic novel by Derf Backderf


As always, let us know what we should add to your reading records!

EEEEXCELLENT, I just started In Cold Blood!!

I'm listening to the book written by Dylan Klebold's mother from the Columbine shooting, so this fits right in.

Not true crime, but I just read The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie! The typical scene of the killer confronting the detective at the end is way more perilous when it's an eleven-year-old investigating.

Kathleen wrote: "Not true crime, but I just read The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie! The typical scene of the killer confronting the detective at the end is way more perilous when it's an eleven-year-old invest..."

@ Kathleen I have added your book. You have completed the APL SRC!

Alicia wrote: "I'm listening to the book written by Dylan Klebold's mother from the Columbine shooting, so this fits right in."

In case you are interested (after you're done!) here is my review. I forgot that I'd read this for summer reading three years ago!

I’m reading Double Play by Robert B Parker. It’s 1947. Jackie Robinson and his bodyguard, a WW2 vet named Burke need to find out who is trying to keep him from finishing his first season with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Robinson is the first player to break major league Baseball’s color barrier and does it with grace and pride; he never loses his cool. Burke never lets the goons have their day. If you like “Green book”, this noir mystery is right up your alley.

I’m also listening to the “Hollywood Daughter” by Kate Alcott.

Also - I finished “Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman” by Lindy West on audio. She is f#^*€? awesome!!!

I finished Not in the Flesh by Ruth Rendell.
The Chief Inspector Wexford series is set in Quebec.
I don't mind dropping in on series without having read all the previous volumes, but there are some unclear moments in the beginning - like who knows whom and how they are related.
Basically the plot can be understood as a stand alone.

Just finished Sadie.

Abi wrote: "Just finished Sadie."

Abi I added your book. How did you like Sadie?

Today, I finished One of Us Is Next (the sequel to One of Us Is Lying ). I recommend it to readers who enjoyed the first book.

Mirkat wrote: "Today, I finished One of Us Is Next (the sequel to One of Us Is Lying). I recommend it to readers who enjoyed the first book."

@ Mirkat I have added your book. You have completed the APL SRC!

Today I finished “Double Play” by Robert B. Parker. It was a very satisfying end, tied up in Parker’s typical uneffusive way. So few words but nothing is left out.

Jody wrote: "Today I finished “Double Play” by Robert B. Parker. It was a very satisfying end, tied up in Parker’s typical uneffusive way. So few words but nothing is left out."

@ Jody I have added your book. You have completed the APL SRC!

I finished Normal People by Sally Rooney and The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton this week, which I think brings me to 10 books for the summer!

Mirkat wrote: "Today, I finished One of Us Is Next (the sequel to One of Us Is Lying). I recommend it to readers who enjoyed the first book."
Thanks for the reminder! This might be what I need right now, a quick book to get engrossed in and take my mind off of everything else. I put it on my "To Read" list before it was published.

Jane wrote: "I finished Normal People by Sally Rooney and The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton this week, which I think brings me to 10 books for the summer!"

@ Jane I have added your books. Yes, you have 10 books now. You have completed the APL SRC!

Susan, I've returned the audiobook and Kindle edition I'd checked out from Overdrive, so they should be available....

Mirkat wrote: "Susan, I've returned the audiobook and Kindle edition I'd checked out from Overdrive, so they should be available...." thanks!

Read Up at Butternut Lake which was a well-done light summer book with some corny romance. It appears to be the first in a long series. I want one of them to be set in the middle of winter on this northern Minnesota lake, but looks like none are. :-(

Just finished I am not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika Sanchez.

Just finished In Cold Blood. I know it’s a true crime staple, but it’s written in a style that’s very unique, so at times I forgot I was reading nonfiction.

I've completed My Friend Dahmer .

I have added all the books above!

This past week I finished two books. The first was Off Limits a fun romance. The second was another romance by Vi Keeland Bossman. Hope you have a good week.

Got your titles, Paul! Looks like you have completed the Summer Reading Program, if you'd like to email albanyreads@albanypubliclibrary.org with your tshirt size and which branch you'd like to pick up from (Delaware, Bach, or Pine Hills). Congrats!

For Week 9, I read the Forested Landscape by Tom Wessels. Really enjoyed this book, especially as we escape to nature during the time of COVID, and used it to scan the forests behind the family camp in Vermont on Lake Champlain. The book focuses on the ecology of central New England and offers wonderful black and white paintings of select forested landscapes (around Vermont, New Hampshire and Massachusetts) and teases out how the featured landscape in question was informed by nature or humankind over the ages.

@Rich, got your book!