Fall Reading 2018 Hero Dogs: How a Pack of Rescues, Rejects, and Strays Became America's Greatest Disaster-Search Partners

If you enjoy stories about dogs or about search and rescue, this is a book you must read. I warn you though - you may cry through large sections of it - but it will be worth it. The book traces the beginnings of the Search Dog Foundation from Wilma Melville's time helping after the Oklahoma City Bombing and her realization that many more SAR dogs were necessary. The author describes how the program came to use dogs from animal shelters, the training program, and matching the dogs with their human partners. 

The text also describes how the teams worked in various disasters, including 9-11, Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Rita, and the devastating 2010 earthquake in Haiti. Readers will find details about what conditions were like, the lengths that dogs and handlers went through to find victims, and how the dogs also served as unofficial therapy dogs for rescue workers.

Between the tales of the difficulties some of the dogs had before they were chosen by the SDF, and then reading about the horrors rescuers had to endure to search the disaster sites, some of the passages were very grim. Not that this book is a downer, but it is accurate and some sad facts are inescapable. The overall benefits of the foundation and the work of the canine SAR teams are the silver lining and make persevering through the more heart-wrenching parts well worth the effort.

I read an e-book provided by the publisher through NetGalley.

Fall Reading 2018 Past Due for Murder (Blue Ridge Library Mysteries #3)

One would think that hosting a bonfire and storytelling session would be fun, even if you were in charge of refreshments. And it seems that having a professor of folklore in town as part of a grant could only be a positive thing for the library. But as readers learn, nothing is ever that simple. For Amy Webber, the director of the public library, there is plenty of trouble involved when one of the professor's students goes missing.

Then, while everyone in town is looking for the missing young woman, a dead body is discovered. Are there connections between the two incidents? Has the young woman also suffered foul play? Who could have killed the victim and why? As usual Amy and her research skills come in handy for the investigators, but that will also put her at risk if the murderer decides that she knows too much.

The plot keeps revealing new details and possible connections between the characters, making it hard to decide which of them could be the guilty party. In Amy's case, she is distracted by odd behavior from her boyfriend, the presence of a former boyfriend in town, and dealing with a research team that is looking into local history.

The description of small town life with all its complicated relationships and traditions is very believable. The characters are distinct and entertaining,  and readers will return for further visits in Taylorsford feeling as though they are reuniting with old friends.

I read an e-book provided by the publisher through NetGalley.