Name: It’s a Mystery Book Group
Start: 2023-10-11T10:00:00-05:00
End: 2023-10-11T11:00:00-05:00
Location: Meeting Room A

The Coralville Public Library holds two monthly book groups. Come when the a title sounds good or to every meeting. All are welcome to join the discussions!

Meetings

It's a Mystery! Book Group

It’s a Mystery! is a mystery book discussion group that has met at the Coralville Public Library since 1994.

It’s a Mystery! meets on the second Wednesday of each month at 10:00 am, in Meeting Room A or on Zoom. Email mjorgensen@coralville.org for the Zoom link.

Next Meeting

October 2023

October 11 @ 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM CDT

It’s a Mystery Book Group

Meeting Room A 1401 5th Street, Coralville, IA, United States

Free

Novel Conversations

Novel Conversations alternates between discussions of classic novels and recent works of fiction and nonfiction.

Novel Conversations meets on the third Thursday of each month at 6:00 pm, in the Board Room or on Zoom. Email mjorgensen@coralville.org for the Zoom link.

Next Meeting

October 2023

October 26 @ 6:00 PM CDT

Novel Conversations

Online 1401 5th Street, Coralville, IA, United States

Free

2023 Book Selections

Multiple copies of each book are available to check out in the library months in advance of the scheduled discussion. When possible, books are made available in large print, audio, and ebook versions.

The Cold Dish

by Craig Johnson

After a quarter century as Sheriff of Absaroka County, Wyoming, Walt Longmire longs to finish his tenure peacefully. That hope is dashed when a body is found near the Northern Cheyenne Reservation, and Walt becomes the only person standing between three young men and their untimely and revenge-fueled murders.

January 11

Arsenic & Adobo

by Mia Manansala

When Lila Macapagal moves home after a bad breakup, she begins working at her Tita Rosie’s failing restaurant and has to deal with a group of matchmaking aunties. But when a notorious food critic (her former boyfriend) drops dead moments after a confrontation with Lila, her life takes a turn. A light-hearted cozy culinary mystery with recipes!

February 8

Billy Boyle

by James R. Benn

Billy Boyle is a rookie detective in Boston during World War II when his Uncle Ike sends him to Europe to help investigate a possible German spy during the lead-up to the Allies’ impending attack to free Norway from the Nazis.

March 8

The Violin Conspiracy

by Brendan Slocumb

In this thriller, Ray McMillan is a rising Black classical musician. The theft of his family heirloom violin on the eve of a prestigious world musical competition sends him on a desperate search. The Violin Conspiracy is a “galvanizing blend of thriller, coming-of-age drama, and probing portrait of racism” (Booklist).

April 12

The Cuckoo’s Calling

by Robert Galbraith

After losing his leg in Afghanistan, Cormoran Strike is scraping by as a PI with one client, pestering creditors, and a bed in his office. His life takes a turn after the supposed suicide of a supermodel.

May 10

The Dante Club

by Matthew Pearl

It’s 1865 in Boston, and the literary geniuses of the day (James Russell Lowell, Henry Wordsworth Longfellow, and Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes) along with publisher J. T. Fields are finishing a translation of Dante’s Divine Comedy. But when a series of murders suddenly occurs around Boston, this group realizes that the deaths are modeled on descriptions from Dante’s Inferno.

June 14

We Keep the Dead Close

by Becky Cooper

“As an undergraduate at Harvard, Cooper became obsessed with the unsolved murder of Jane Britton, an anthropology student there, in 1969. As Cooper was digging, new D.N.A. analysis eventually identified a suspect, but the real thrills of the story are the twists and turns that kept the killing a mystery for decades” (New York Times).

July 12

The Sign of Four

by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

In the second full-length novel by Doyle, The Sign of the Four, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson must solve a case featuring a stolen treasure, service in India, and a secret pact among four convicts.

August 9

The Devil’s Blaze

by Robert J. Harris

Set in London during WWII, The Devil’s Blaze is a murder mystery where the world’s best detective (Sherlock Holmes) must find out the truth behind a series of high profile assassinations.

September 13

Storm Front

by Jim Butcher

Harry Dresden is a struggling Chicago private detective who also happens to be a wizard. This is hardboiled fiction that “spins an excellent noirish detective yarn in a well-crafted, supernaturally-charged setting” (Booklist).

October 11

Slow Horses

by Mick Herron

Slough House is the forgotten part of British Intelligence where washed up agents (slow horses) go when they’ve made a mess of things. When a young man is kidnapped, the slow horses stop pushing paper and attempt a shot at redemption. “A funny, stylish, satirical, gripping story…memorably seedy characters, sharp dialogue, complex plot. I’m hooked” (The Guardian).

November 8

The Maid

by Nita Prose

Molly Gray is not like everybody else, as she struggles with social skills and often misunderstands the intentions of others. “Captivating, charming, and heart-warming, with deft writing and a clever, original plot, this unusual crime novel will leave readers with a warm glow” (Booklist).

December 13

Harlem Shuffle

by Colson Whitehead

It is 1959, and Ray Carney lives in Harlem with his wife who are expecting their second baby. Ray comes from a criminal family, but makes a living as a furniture salesman who only occasionally fences stolen goods. Times are hard, though, and his cousin Freddie convinces Ray to help in a heist that goes wrong.

January 19

Oliver Twist

by Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens’s second novel follows young orphan Oliver Twist who escapes to London and becomes a part of a young gang led by the criminal Fagin. This satirical novel has been adapted into films, plays, as well as the Academy Award-winning musical Oliver!.

February 16

Sea of Tranquility

by Emily St. John Mandel

Author of the acclaimed novel Station Eleven, Sea of Tranqulity consists of several overlapping storylines during two different time periods. It is a story of art, love, and plague that takes the reader from Vancouver in 1912 to a dark colony on the moon 500 years later.

March 16

Beowulf

by Seamus Heaney

Beowulf is an epic poem originally written in Old English sometime around 700 to 750 CE. Set in pagan Scandinavia, Beowulf assists King Hrothgar in the slaying of the monster Grendel. This readable translation, by the Irish poet Seamus Heaney, was written in 2000.

April 20

Our Missing Hearts

by Celeste Ng

“Known for focusing on families, race, and relationships, Ng raises the bar another notch in a story intensified by reference to such police violence, political protest, book banning, and discrimination against people of color. As with her previous novels, her storytelling will not disappoint” (Library Journal).

May 18

Ethan Frome

by Edith Wharton

Ethan Frome is an isolated farmer scraping out a basic living while tending to his demanding and ungrateful wife. He begins to find a bit of hope when his wife’s cousin arrives at the farm to help.

June 15

The Last Picture Show

by Larry McMurtry

This coming-of-age story about teens in a forlorn Texas town in 1951 spawned the Oscar-winning film starring Cybill Shepherd and Jeff Bridges. Written by the author of Terms of Endearment and Lonesome Dove.

July 20

Fahrenheit 451

by Ray Bradbury

This classic dystopian novel shows us a future American society where books are outlawed and “firemen” burn those books which are found. Guy Montag is a fireman who becomes disillusioned by his work and eventually commits himself to the preservation of literature.

August 17

The Farm

by Joanne Ramos

Told from the perspective of four women, The Farm explores gender, race, and class, and of who has access to power, freedom, and choice. “The Farm” is the U of I Center for the Humanities 2023 One Community, One Book selection.

September 21

Dracula

by Bram Stoker

Published in 1897, Dracula is the classic story about Count Dracula, a Transylvanian nobleman who is found to be a vampire. After numerous deaths, a group of people led by Abraham Van Helsing, set off to take care of Dracula once and for all.

October 26

Kindred

by Octavia Butler

A young writer, Dana, finds herself being taken back and forth between 1976 Los Angeles and pre-Civil War Maryland, where she becomes entangled in the plantation community. She must make difficult decisions in order to survive slavery and to make it back to her present day.

November 16

Tomorrow , and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

by Gabrielle Zevin

Sam and Sadie are childhood friends who bond over their love of video games. After a rift of several years, the two reconnect in college and develop their own video game together. An endearing story of the trials of friendship, and of two characters caught between the real and gaming worlds.

December 21

Contact

We always welcome your questions, comments, and suggestions!

Book Groups

Meetings

It's a Mystery! Book Group

Next Meeting

October 2023

Novel Conversations

Next Meeting

October 2023

2023 Book Selections

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