A Hunt for Justice: The True Story of a Woman Undercover Wildlife Agent
by Lucinda Delaney Schroeder
Published 2006 by Lyons Press

Hardcover, English. ISBN: 1592288820

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Jacket Notes:

In the heart of the Alaskan wilderness, a clandestine and unscrupulous hunting outfitter is illegally killing untold numbers of big game animals. His wealthy clients, mostly from Europe, insist that they hunt only the biggest and best of Alaska's wildlife.

In this rare look inside an undercover wildlife investigation, Lucinda Delaney Schroeder reveals how she infiltrates this iron-clad camp by posing as a trophy hunter. For eleven nerve-racking days, she gathers evidence intended to shut down what had become an out-of-control, international poaching ring. But in the end, would it be enough?

A Hunt for Justice takes readers along on Schroeder's dangerous and exciting mission as she puts her life on the line to crack this illegal hunting operation and bring to justice those who lived by the "creed of greed." More than an adventure, this true-crime story unveils the perils faced by a woman as she courageously pits herself against the Alaskan wilderness and goes undercover in a man's world to risk it all for a cause she believes in.

REVIEW: Publisher's Weekly 01/09/2006

This consistently engrossing first-person account by a retired special agent with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service gives readers the inside track on a 1992 undercover hunt for illegal poachers in the Alaskan wilderness. One of nine women in an often misogynist agency of 210, Schroeder brings to life a motley crew of characters. Lewd, unreliable and usually drunk Roy Hanson is a paid informant who poses as the happily married Schroeder's "boyfriend" and hunting partner. Moose James, a poacher and cunning guide who treats his wife like a servant, bolsters his big ego with the carcasses of hundreds of grizzly bears, bighorn sheep and other trophy animals. The mastermind behind a secret operation that guarantees rich hunters their quarry by herding animals with small planes, Bob Bowman brags that he'll kill any undercover cop who infiltrates his camp. A Spanish client, Pedro, is shameless about his greed: "Every hunter should get what they want, no matter what it takes." Although the penalties imposed by the undercover sting seem unusually light given the danger, and the time, money and energy expended, and the line between legal "harvesting" and illegal poaching will blur for nonhunters, Schroeder illuminates an unusual, insular world with unflinching grit and good humor.(Apr.)

A Death in Belmont
by Sebastian Junger
Published 2006 by W. W. Norton & Company

Hardcover, English. ISBN: 0393059804

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Jacket Notes:

In the spring of 1963, the quiet suburb of Belmont, Massachusetts, is rocked by a shocking sex murder that exactly fits the pattern of the Boston Strangler. This spare, powerful narrative chronicles three lives that collide--and ultimately are destroyed--in the vortex of one of the first and most controversial serial murder cases in America.

REVIEW: Publisher's Weekly 02/13/2006

Bessie Goldberg was strangled to death in her home in Belmont, a Boston suburb, in March of 1963-right in the middle of the Boston Strangler's killing spree. Her death has not usually been associated with the other Strangler killings because Roy Smith, a black man who was working in Goldberg's house that day, was convicted of her murder on strong circumstantial evidence. But another man was working in Belmont that day: Albert DeSalvo, who later confessed to being the Boston Strangler, was doing construction work in the home of Junger's parents (the author himself was a baby). Could DeSalvo have slipped away and killed Bessie Goldberg- Junger's taut narrative makes dizzying hairpin turns as he considers all the evidence for, and against, Smith or DeSalvo being Goldberg's killer; he also reviews the more familiar case for and against DeSalvo being the Strangler-for there are serious questions about his confession. As Junger showed in his bestsellingThe Perfect Storm , he's a hell of a storyteller, and here he intertwines underlying moral quandaries-was racism a factor in Smith's conviction- How to judge when the truth in this case is probably unknowable--with the tales of two men: Smith, a ne'er-do-well from a racist South who rehabilitated himself before dying in prison; DeSalvo, a sexual predator raised by a violent father who was stabbed to death in prison. This perplexing story gains an extra degree of creepiness from Junger's personal connection to it.First serial to Vanity Fair;19-city author tour. (May 1)

The $64 Tomato
by William Alexander
Published 2006 by Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill

Hardcover, English. ISBN: 1565125037

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William Alexander had a simple dream of having a vegetable garden and small orchard in his backyard. It was a dream that would lead to life-and-death battles with groundhogs, webworms, and weeds; midnight expeditions in the dead of winter to dig up fresh thyme; skirmishes with neighbors who feed the vermin (i.e., deer); the near electrocution of the tree man; and the pity of his wife and children.

When Alexander decided to run a cost-benefit analysis, adding up everything from the Havahart animal trap ($60) to the Velcro tomato wraps ($5) to the steel edging ($1,200), then amortizing it over the life of his garden, it came as quite a shock to learn that it cost him a staggering $64 to grow each tomato.

A gardener with an existential bent, Alexander gives excellent advice about everything from peaches to leeks, while tackling such questions as What do our gardens tell us about ourselves? Do we get the gardens we deserve? And why does the groundhog have to take one bite from half a dozen tomatoes when any gardener would gladly grant him six bites of just one?

REVIEW: Publisher's Weekly 11/21/2005

When the author of this hilarious horticultural memoir plants a large vegetable garden and a small orchard on his Hudson Valley farmstead, he finds himself at odds with almost all creation. At the top of the food chain are the landscaping contractors, always behind schedule, frequently derelict, occasionally menacing. Then there are the herds of deer that batter the electrified fence to get at Alexander's crop, and the groundhog who simply squeezes between the wires, apparently savoring the 10,000-volt shocks. Most insidious are the armies of beetles, worms, maggots and grubs that provoke Alexander, initially an organic-produce zealot, into drenching his entire property with pesticides. He braves these trials, along with hours of backbreaking labor and the eye-rolling of his wife and children, for the succulence of homegrown food. He also manages to maintain a sense of humor, riffing on everything from the ugliness of garden ornaments to the politics of giving away vegetables to friends. Alexander's slightly poisoned paradise manages to impart an existential lesson on the interconnectedness of nature and the fine line between nurturing and killing. (Apr. 14)

04/01/2006 REVIEW: School Library Journal

Adult/High School -Alexander had always dreamed of having his own garden, where he could grow healthy, organic fruits and vegetables. When his family moved to the Hudson Valley, he got his wish-there was more than enough land for his vegetable garden, his apple orchard, his wife's flower garden, and a swimming pool. He had done his research and knew which crops to plant and when, what type of fencing he'd need, and how to defend his garden against predators. What he hadn't counted on were the facts that planting sod around the swimming pool killed the corn, and that planting rosebushes killed the sod. There were also landscaping contractors always behind schedule, a groundhog that figured out how to get through a 10,000-electric-volt fence, and feasting deer. After years of fighting pests, Alexander realized that there was no such thing as an organic garden in the Northeast, and that for each tomato he'd taken from his garden he'd spent $64; ultimately, what was once a hobby became a second full-time job. Throughout the telling, the author manages to maintain a sense of humor, riffing on everything from the ugliness of garden ornaments to the politics of giving away vegetables to friends. This hilarious horticultural memoir manages to impart an existential lesson on the interconnectedness of nature and the fine line between nurturing and killing. Teens looking for a biography, a book on biology, or a humorous read can't go wrong with this title.-Erin Dennington, Chantilly Regional Library, Fairfax County, VA

Stay Tuned: Televisions Unforgettable Moments with CD (Audio) and DVD
by Joe Garner
Published 2002 by Andrews McMeel Publishing

Hardcover, English. ISBN: 0740726935

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Jacket Notes:

Over 50 years of memories--the stars, the programs, and the events stored in hearts and imaginations like treasured heirlooms--are found in this new multimedia book from veteran "New York Times" bestselling author Garner. In "Stay Tuned, " he has gathered 36 landmark moments from news, sports, and entertainment in a riveting anthology. Includes 1 DVD and 2 audio CDs.

REVIEW: Publisher's Weekly 09/23/2002

Garner, a 20-year broadcasting veteran, has penned numerous multimedia books (We Interrupt This Broadcast; And the Crowd Goes Wild; Echoes of Notre Dame Football; etc.). Here, he channel-surfs through decades of television productions, focusing on 36 landmark moments in news, sports and show business. Each event or show gets four to six pages, and the book is illustrated throughout with hundreds of photos and stills. Opening with Lucille Ball's 1952 comedic commercial for Vitameatavegamin, the fun continues in the entertainment section with Elvis's debut and famous final episodes of shows, from M*A*S*H to Survivor. Among the television news coverage is Nixon's "Checkers" speech and resignation, the JFK/Nixon debates, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the O.J. Simpson case, the 1997 Baby Jessica rescue and, of course, September 11. In the sports arena, Garner covers the Bobby Riggs/Billie Jean King tennis match, Muhammad Ali with the 1996 Olympic torch and Tiger Woods shattering golf records. The accompanying DVD and two audio CDs contain slickly edited clips and interviews, plus informative narrations by Walter Cronkite (news), Bob Costas (sports) and Dick Van Dyke (entertainment). The package is neatly stitched together by a clever contents page that cross-references the book's page numbers with specific DVD and CD tracks. Few will be disappointed by this anecdote-laden compilation, although readers with good memories are certain to have their own key missing moments from television history. (Oct.) Forecast: Andrews McMeel is trying its hand at a concept Sourcebooks has perfected with its "media fusion" titles (many of which Garner has written). AMP will promote this effort with print and radio ads and an author tour. They may (or may not) sell out the 500,000 first printing, but holiday sales should be strong, as this has a wide appeal and some big names (Van Dyke, Cronkite and Costas) on the cover.

07/01/2003 REVIEW: School Library Journal

Adult/High School-A compilation of 35 landmark moments from more than 50 years of television, this book is divided into three sections: entertainment, news, and sports. Entertainment highlights 12 shows, from the I Love Lucy "Vitameatavegamin" episode to the first season of Survivor. The news coverage includes the Kennedy Assassination, the marriage and funeral of Princess Diana, and the events of September 11. Sports ranges from the first "thrill of victory and the agony of defeat" of Wide World of Sports to Tiger Woods's triumph at the Masters in 1997. While most students will consider three-quarters of these events ancient history, Garner includes a clear, concise historical context for each piece. For most of the segments, he provides information and anecdotes through original interviews with the writers, producers, or stars. Each section is filled with stills and photographs, many in color. The accompanying DVD and CDs provide clips from the actual programs, hosted by Dick Van Dyke, Walter Cronkite, and Bob Costas. An entertaining overview of television and its effect on the second half of the 20th century.-Jane S. Drabkin, Chinn Park Regional Library, Woodbridge, VA