The Unofficial Big Summer Beach Read?

Kudos to superstar writer J. K. Rowling for appearing to knock it out the park with her newest title The Cuckoo's Calling.  The "Harry Potter" author has managed a nice steal by writing under the pen name  Robert Galbraith  and garnering good buzz for the private investigator mystery novel.

When I first heard about the book this weekend on TV news (and the genuine news story now surrounding it) I missed the full title as I had hoped to place a hold on the book before the request list for copies by library users spiked up.  That didn't happen.  As of this moment, more than 40 copies of the book will be added to the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library system--to help fill 289 holds.

If I can take any solace, a co-worker placed a nice pristine copy of the book in my hands earlier today--before it went on its way to fill a library user's book request.  And Rowling got around to writing that rumored adult mystery.

Local author has success--

Reading this week's copy of my community weekly newspaper, "The Matthews-Mint Hill Weekly," I happened up0n a refreshing article about a new author. The headline read "Matthews book lover becomes published author" featuring a story about new writer David Clarke. His mystery novel is entitled The Parole Officer set in Birmingham, Alabama where Clarke was a native. It is available in paperback and a Kindle version.

His picture is taken from his Amazon.com page (which is a surprise to me, I believe I use Amazon a lot and I didn't know authors may have their own page).

Working part-time on the novel, Clarke cranked it out in a period of months and used the book genre he enjoys reading which are mysteries. His story follows parole officer and family man Pete Watson as he investigates the death of his newest parolee--which troubles him. That man happens to be the brother of another parolee, Earl Stallings, whom Watson has worked with for a successful rehabilitation in the past. So, as the police quickly close the case, Watson and Stallings begin to work together with their own investigation.

For more information about the book, check the book's Amazon page. Clarke is currently writing a sequel to The Parole Officer.