PCL's Annual Summer Celebrity

Save the Date!
PCL’s Annual Summer Celebrity: Elaine Viets
Wed., August 17, 2011 at 7:00 pm
Parkland High School Auditorium
Reservations Requested 610-398-1361 x13

Elaine Viets is the author of two national bestselling mystery series. Her Dead-End Job series is a satiric look at a serious subject – the minimum wage world. Her character, Helen Hawthorne, works a different low-paying job each book. She’s been everything from a telemarketer to a hotel maid. The South Florida series has been called “Janet Evanovich meets The Fugitive.”

Publishers Weekly called “Murder Unleashed,” Elaine’s hardcover debut “wry social commentary.” The magazine gave her ninth Dead-End Job mystery, “Half-Price Homicide,” a starred review.

Her Dead-End Job series is taught in universities in the United States and Japan.

Elaine’s second series, featuring Josie Marcus, is a look at the pink collar world of secret shopping. This critically acclaimed series debuted in October 2005 with “Dying in Style” and tied with Stephen King on the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association bestseller list.

Elaine’s short stories have appeared in two New York Times bestselling anthologies. “Vampire Hours” was in “Many Bloody Returns,” edited by Charlaine Harris and Toni L. P. Kelner and reprinted in “Vampires in Love,” published by Barnes & Noble. Her short story, “The Bedroom Door,” was in Mystery Writers of America’s “Crimes by Moonlight,” edited by Charlaine Harris.

She has had short stories published in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine and anthologies such as “Drop-Dead Blonde,” “High Stakes,” the award-winning “Chesapeake Crimes I,” Mystery Writers of America’s “Blood on Their Hands,” edited by Lawrence Block; Mystery Writers of America’s “Show Business Is Murder,” edited by Stuart Kaminsky; and “The World’s Greatest Mystery and Crime Stories,” edited by Ed Gorman and Martin H. Greenberg.

Her short stories have been published worldwide, including Britain, Australia, Turkey and France.

Elaine has appeared on national television including the Discovery Channel and the Sally Jesse Show. She was featured on National Public Radio station WLRN with Jeff "Dexter" Lindsay on "Literary Florida."

Elaine has served on the national boards of the Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime.

She won the Agatha, Anthony and Lefty Awards.

From http://www.elaineviets.com/default.asp

It's an exciting time for the Parkland Community Library!

We are now a free Wi-Fi spot. No laptop? Borrow one to use in the library with your driver's license or other official photo ID.

Also, we have e-books that you can download for free (just need a library card) to your Sony Reader, Nook Color, and other e-reading devices that support the Adobe Content Server. Visit our website at www.parklandlibrary.org or call a reference librarian for more information. And congratulations to the winner of our Nook Color drawing, Jen Stempel!

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Need ideas for what to read next? Try Book Browse, a new database available through our website or contact the Adult or Youth Services Librarians for a personal touch.

Looking for new items to check out or place on hold? Do a search of your favorite author or genre in our catalog and click on the RSS feed to get notifications of new items automatically.

Celebrate Get Caught Reading Month every Tuesday in May at noon-1pm. “Like” us on Facebook and then answer a question about the library every Tuesday within one hour timeframe to get a chance to win an autographed copy of a book!

Check the sidebar for our events. All events are free and open to the public unless indicated otherwise.

We hope to see you soon!