This column was submitted by Evangeline Cessna, local history librarian at the Warren County-Vicksburg Public Library.

This week we present serial novels from our new large print edition.

Former FBI Director James Comey delivers Westport, the second installment in his Nora Carleton series. Nora Carleton left her job at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New York City two years ago and moved to Westport, Connecticut, to take a job as general counsel for a hedge fund. She took the job to get her daughter Sophie out of town. Nora enjoys her work and likes the people she works with, especially Helen, who she recruited for her detective skills. Then things spiral out of control when the body of Nora’s colleague is found, elegantly dressed and in a red canoe, on Seymour Rock near Long Island Sound. Nora becomes the prime suspect and calls in her old colleagues from the U.S. Attorney’s Office – mob investigator Benny Dugan and attorney Carmen Garcia. As they begin their investigation, they discover that everyone in Saugatuck has secrets worth killing for.

Murder in a Cup is the second entry in Lauren Elliot’s Crystals and CuriosiTEAS series. Shay Myers is a gemologist and New Age tea shop owner descended from an Irish witch. As fall arrives in the quaint coastal town of Bray Harbor, California, Shay is busy learning how to blend herbs for home remedies from the plants she grows in the second-story greenhouse. She’s still learning to distinguish the medicinal plants from the poisonous ones. When she meets the grandmother of pub owner and former detective Liam Madigan (called Gran), Shay is encouraged to build on her natural talents and conduct a group psychic reading. Gran is a psychic herself and is known in Ireland for interpreting tea leaves and people. At first, the reading goes quite well until a guest dies after drinking a poisonous tea made from plants grown in the greenhouse. Shay’s assistant is accused of intentionally serving the deadly mixture. Shay teams up with Liam and her dog Spirit to exonerate her employee and save her tea shop’s reputation.

Love On a Whim is the third entry in Suzanne Woods Fisher’s Cape Cod Creamery romance series. Brynn Haywood spontaneously marries a man she’s known for less than 24 hours and now deeply regrets that decision. She flees to Cape Cod to seek refuge with her old friend Dawn Dixon and deal with all her feelings. Dawn quickly acts on her behalf and concerned about Lincoln Hayes – a good friend of Dawn’s mother Marnie – a lawyer. However, Lincoln is a little preoccupied with his daughter’s extravagant wedding and the subsequent return of his estranged son Bear. When Bear is disturbed by his father’s generosity toward the Dixon family, he decides to sow seeds between Marnie and Lincoln. When the wedding day arrives, Lincoln is nowhere to be found and an uninvited guest makes a surprise appearance.

The latest series from William W. Johnstone and JA Johnstone begins with the book The Man from Waco. John Bannack was imprisoned for a crime he did not commit. He escaped from the Texas State Penitentiary and is on the run, fighting for justice. John worked hard on his brother’s farm as a young man, but times got tough and John’s brother became desperate and robbed a bank. The posse followed his brother’s trail and led straight back to the farm. John decided to confess to his brother’s crime and sacrificed his own freedom to save his brother’s family. This doomed John to a hard, hellish life in state prison. As John is on his way back from a work assignment outside of prison, he notices the judge who sentenced him following the prison van. When a gang ambushes the van and frees the prisoners, they kill the guards and the judge is also shot. John finds the judge alive and brings him to safety. In return, the judge pardons John from prison and hires him as his bodyguard and defense attorney.

The Guncle Abroad is the second installment in Steven Rowley’s Guncle series. Five years have passed since Patrick O’Hara took in his niece Maisie and nephew Grant after their mother died. Now the children are back in Connecticut with their father and Patrick’s brother Greg. Patrick has moved to New York to be close and revive his acting career. After the end of his second successful sitcom, Patrick is at the peak of his career professionally, but his love life is in shambles. At least he has his family to lean on. That changes when his brother announces that he is getting remarried in Italy and Maisie and Grant are not happy. As they all travel through Europe on the way to their wedding, Patrick feels drawn to take the two now moody teenagers back under his wing. When they arrive in Italy, however, Patrick is overwhelmed with the groom, who gets cold feet, and his sister, who flirts with guests everywhere. the rivalry grows between the boy’s future aunt and two moody teenagers trying to adjust to their new normal. It all culminates in a disastrous rehearsal dinner. Will Patrick be able to save the day?