The following items are available at the Hancock County Public Library, 900 W. McKenzie Road. For more information on the library’s collection or to reserve a title, visit hcplibrary.org.
Adult Fiction
“Simon the Fiddler,” by Paulette Jiles
In March 1865, the long and bitter War between the States is winding down. Till now, 23-year-old Simon Boudlin has evaded military duty thanks to his slight stature, youthful appearance and utter lack of compunction about bending the truth. But following a barroom brawl in Texas, Simon finds himself conscripted, however belatedly, into the Confederate Army. Luckily his talent with a fiddle gets him a comparatively easy position in a regimental band. Weeks later, on the eve of the Confederate surrender, Simon and his bandmates are called to play for officers and their families from both sides of the conflict. There the quick-thinking, audacious fiddler can’t help but notice Doris Mary Dillon, an indentured girl from Ireland, who is governess to a Union colonel’s daughter. After the surrender, Simon and Doris go their separate ways. He will travel around Texas seeking fame and fortune as a musician; she must accompany the colonel’s family to finish her three years of service. But Simon cannot forget the fair Irish maiden and vows that someday he will find her again.
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Adult Nonfiction
“Gone at Midnight: The Tragic True Story Behind the Unsolved Internet Sensation,” by Jake Anderson
Vancouver student Elisa Lam, 21, was last heard from on January 31, 2013, after she checked into downtown L.A.’s Cecil Hotel — a 600-room building with a nine-decade history of scandal and tragedy. The next day, Elisa vanished. A search of the hotel yielded nothing. More than a week later, complaints by guests of foul-smelling tap water led to the discovery of Elisa’s nude body floating in a rooftop water tank — an area difficult to access without setting off alarms. The only clue was surveillance video of Elisa, uploaded to YouTube in hopes of public assistance. As the elevator video went viral, so did the questions from its tens of millions of viewers. Was Elisa’s death caused by murder, suicide, or paranormal activity? Was it connected to the hotel’s reputation? And what accounted for Elisa’s strange behavior in the video? With the help of web sleuths and investigators from around the world, journalist Jake Anderson set out to uncover the facts behind a death that had become an internet meme, as well as a magnet for conspiracy theorists. In poring through Elisa’s online journals and social-media posts, Anderson’s search for justice and truth became a personal journey and a descent into one of America’s quiet epidemics. Along the way, he exposed a botched investigation and previously unreported disclosures from inside sources who suggest there may have been a corporate conspiracy and a police cover-up. In “Gone at Midnight,” Anderson chronicles discoveries about who Elisa Lam was, what she was running from and new evidence that may re-open one of the most obsessively followed true crime cases of the century.
