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Tag Archives: Nebraska author
Join the discussion of Mignon G. Eberhart’s “The Mystery of Hunting’s End”
The Just Desserts mystery fiction discussion group held its April 2023 meeting on Thursday the 27th. Eighteen attendees discussed the classic 1930 novel The Mystery of Hunting’s End by Nebraska author Mignon Good Eberhart, which was the selected title for the One Book One Nebraska statewide reading project in 2023. If you have read this novel, and would like to contribute your comments about it, please do so as a reply comment to this blog post, below.
Of those in attendance, all but one had managed to get a hold of a copy of The Mystery of Hunting’s End and read it — and of those readers, all but one enjoyed the book!
For reminders about upcoming Just Desserts meetings and/or other announcements of interest to mystery fans, don’t forget to sign up for the Just Desserts e-mail list. Or, if you’re logged into your account on Facebook, you can visit the Events page for the Lincoln City Libraries, and mark whether or not you plan to attend upcoming sessions of Just Desserts – this is a great way for you to help us promote this engaging discussion group!
So…What did you think of The Mystery of Hunting’s End? Will you read additional works by Mignon Eberhart?
On May 25th, the members of Just Desserts will be having our annual “Series Share” discussion at the downtown library — participants are encouraged to read the first or second volume of any new mystery/thriller/suspense series that has started in the past two years, and share their impressions of it with the entire group. We hope to see you there!
Check out the Nebraska Author Mignon Eberhart booklist page on BookGuide for a full list of Eberhart’s 59 novels!
Bethany Books Talk – October 2, 2015
Willa Cather
Erin, from the Heritage Room of Nebraska Authors, discusses The Song of the Lark and Not Under Forty by Willa Cather, and the eBook companion to the NET production, Yours, Willa Cather.
Sean Doolittle’s “The Cleanup”
During our February 2010 meeting, we discussed Nebraska author Sean Doolittle’s 2006 Omaha-set mystery/thriller The Cleanup; a stand-alone novel, featuring down-on-his-luck Omaha cop Matthew Worth, sentenced to providing security at a local grocery store. When Matt steps up to be the knight in shining armor to a young sales clerk who’s been badly beaten by her boyfriend, he doesn’t realize what a mess he’s gotten himself into. Combine the Polish mafia, corrupt cops, a dead money runner and one of the worst snowstorms to hit the Omaha area in years, and you’ve got a contemporary noirish/hard-boiled thriller.
This book was discussed at the Just Desserts meeting on February 25, 2010. Whether or not you attended the actual meeting, you are welcome to share your own thoughts and opinions about this book in a reply comment to this blog post, below.
Join us next on March 25th at South Branch Library (6:45 p.m.), as we discuss Jacqueline Winspear’s, Maisie Dobbs. Additional titles for upcoming months’ discussions can be found on the Just Desserts section of the Book Groups page of BookGuide.
And, for reminders about upcoming Just Desserts meetings, don’t forget to sign up for the Just Desserts e-mail list.
Mignon Eberhart’s “The Mystery of Hunting’s End”
To finish off the 2007 season, we read a classic mystery by Nebraska’s own Mignon Eberhart — often called America’s Agatha Christie. The title we’ve selected is The Mystery of Hunting’s End, a traditional “locked room mystery.”
The Sand Hills of Nebraska, where Mignon G. Eberhart lived as a newlywed, inspired the setting of this 1930 chiller. Smack in the middle of the rolling desolation is Hunting’s End, a weekend lodge owned by the rich Kingery family. To that place socialite Matil Kingery invites a strange collection of guests — the same people who were at the lodge when her father died of “heart failure” exactly five years ago. She intends to find out which one of them murdered him. Posing as another guest is the dapper young detective, Lance O’Leary. At his recommendation, Matil has engaged Nurse Sarah Keate to care for Aunt Lucy Kingery at Hunting’s End — not a pleasant assignment as it turns out. Gathered at the lodge, Matil’s guests are shut off from the outside by a November snowstorm. Nurse Keate is the same sharp-eyed, stiletto-tongued, strong-stomached Nightingale and sleuth who established Mignon Eberhart as a mainstay of the golden age of detective fiction.
This title was discussed at the Just Desserts meeting on October 25, 2007. We encourage you to share your own thoughts and opinions about this book in a reply comment to this blog post, below!
David Wiltse’s Heartland
For February 2007, we returned stateside, with a murder mystery set right here at home!
Nebraska author David Wiltse’s mystery, Heartland, is set in Falls City, NE. Here’s the book blurb: Falls City, Nebraska. Just a scratch on the Great Plains. To Billy Tree, it’s home-the last refuge for the ex-Secret Service agent scarred in body and soul by an unforgettable tragedy. But he’s trading one for another. For the quiet burg of his youth has changed over the years. Darkness has taken hold. And now, the killing secrets and terrible lies buried beneath the tranquil surface of Falls City are ready to erupt…. Where it begins is with a shocking sniper attack at the local high school. No motive. No clues. Just two innocent teachers left dead, and a third injured. A woman with secrets of her own, she shares a place in Billy’s heart, his past, and his fears, when a second murder paralyzes the town. Urged by the sheriff to help in the investigation, Billy can’t refuse. Even if it means seeing old friends in a terrifying new light, and exposing himself to the insidious rage of a mysterious killer…. It all ends in the shattering silence of an isolated silo. Here blood will tell. The secrets of Falls City will unfold. And the truth could cost Billy more than he’d ever imagined….
This title was discussed at the Just Desserts meeting on February 22, 2007. We encourage you to share your own thoughts and opinions about this book in a reply comment to this blog post, below!