Check out these new adult and children’s titles fresh from the TBP Recording Studio. They are available for loan on digital cartridge or for download via BARD.
Adult Titles:
Pleating for Mercy: A Magical Dressmaking Mystery by Melissa Bourbon Ramirez (DT07324)
Opening a custom dressmaking boutique in the old farmhouse she
inherited from her late great-grandmother, Harlow Jane Cassidy gets
more than she bargained for when her first client is accused of
murder and she must help find the real killer – with a little help
from beyond. Some strong language. 2011. Subjects: Mystery and Detective Stories; Supernatural and Horror Fiction. Available for download as DBC07232.
The Texas Navy (DT00282)
A history of the Texas Navy from its founding in 1835 to 1845 when
Texas became a state and the Navy was no longer formally recognized.
For high school and adult readers. 1968. Subjects: U.S. History.
Available for download as DBC07246.
The Angry Ocean by Ronald Johnston (DT03444)
The Inoco Emperor was the world’s biggest ship. On her maiden
voyage, a volcanic island explodes and sends a 300-foot wave
toward the ship, where two men battle for command and a faulty
midship joint may mean the difference between life and death for
the supertanker and her crew. 1968. Subjects: Adventure.
Available to download as DBC07252.
One Man’s Christmas by Leon Hale (DT03915)
In the six pieces in this book the author recalls episodes from
his own Christmases past. He recounts a story by a fortune teller
from the Brazos river bottom. He remembers how painful a meager
Christmas during the Depression could be, how he indulged his own
children. He also shares the magic of Santa Claus and the challenge
of assembling toys. All the stories are told with a sympathy and
understanding that are “pure Hale.” 1984. Subjects: Biography of Writers; Holidays.
Available to download as DBC07253.
Shakespeare’s Planet by Clifford D. Simak (DT07333)
Carter Horton was the last of his kind. His three companions died in
hibernation during the thousand-year journey from Earth. But Horton’s
beautiful new home held all sorts of wonderful surprises. There was
an alien named Carnivore who claimed to have learned English from
Shakespeare, a defective tunnel from the stars that allowed people,
well, creatures – a one-way access to the planet, a dragon in aspic…
and a very odd, curved hill. And, of course, there was the terror
that froze all minds at regular intervals. Strong language. 1976.
Subjects: Science Fiction. Available to download as DBC07249.
Texas Love Song by Jodi Thomas (DT06367)
The Civil War has been over for three years but the bitterness toward
Confederate soldiers who changed sides to escape slow death in prison
camps still runs strong in Texas. Sloan Alexander is one of the hated
turncoats. McCall Harrison, the beautiful widow of a Confederate
officer, is searching for a man to help her return a group of
Cheyenne children to their home on the Great Plains in the midst of
warfare between soldiers and Indians. In Sloan, she has found someone
willing to face death for the chance to restore his honor. A poignant
story of two people who risk everything to help a band of children and
in the end find a future together. Explicit descriptions of sex and
violence. 1996. Subjects: Romance. Available to download as DBC07254.
Chile Death by Susan Wittig Albert (DT06719)
China Bayles is looking forward to the annual chili cook-off in Pecan
Springs, Texas. And when the event arrives, she takes along her
fiancee, giving both of them a nice break from China’s visiting (i.e.
meddling) mother. But then cook-off judge Jerry Jeff Cody dies of an
allergic reaction to a peanut. Everyone knows peanuts don’t belong in
a bowl of Texas chili and China knows something suspicious is afoot.
Now, with rumors flying about foul play, and whispered stories about
Jerry Jeff’s womanizing ways, things are heating up all over. 1998.
Subjects: Mystery and Detective Stories. Available to download as DBC07257.
Lavender Lies by Susan Wittig Albert (DT06751)
Ex-lawyer and herbalist China Bayles must put her upcoming nuptials
on the back burner when a murder investigation entangles her friends
and neighbors. It doesn’t take long for China to learn that the
murder victim, Edgar Coleman, was having numerous affairs and black-
mailing City Council members for their votes on a bad land development
deal. With her fiance immersed in the murder investigation, China can
forget about a honeymoon, unless she can find the killer. 1999.
Subjects: Mystery and Detective Stories. Available to download as DBC07259.
Dance On His Grave by Sylvia Dickey Smith (DT07321)
Sidra Smart, disillusioned ex-wife of a fundamentalist preacher,
never imagined herself running The Third Eye, a private investigator
business, until she inherits her late brother’s detective agency.
Soon, a woman stumbles in with vague flashbacks of a 30-year-old
murder. Intrigued by the story, Sid takes the case and soon
plunges into a surreal world where the flames of Creole
superstition and passion burn as hot as the memories of child
abuse, arson, and murder. Violence, strong language, and explicit
descriptions of sex. 2012. Subjects: Suspense Fiction; Mystery and Detective Stories. Available to download as DBC07260.
The Cowgirls by Joyce Gibson Roach (DT05088)
While Susan B. Anthony was declaring that females too were created
equal, Sally Skull was already riding and roping and marking cattle
with her Circle S brand on the Texas frontier, while pursuing her
career as a horse trader. Cowgirls like Sally are chronicled here,
in this important addition to the history of the West. 1990.
Subjects: The West; Social Sciences. Available to download as DBC07261.
Big, Hot, Cheap, and Right by Erica Grieder (DT07330)
Discusses how the laws of Texas can be used as an example for national
policy in such arenas as immigration, taxes and energy. Texas may well
be America’s most controversial state. Skeptical outsiders have found
much to be offended by in the state’s politics and attitude. And yet,
according to journalist (and Texan) Grieder, the United States has a
great deal to learn from Texas. Some violence. 2013.
Subjects: Government and Politics; U.S. History. Available to download as DBC07262.
Gunsights by Elmore Leonard (DT04360)
A western set in the decade between 1880 and 1890, when reporters
from the big eastern newspapers went west to witness the last frontier
wars–the great rail and mining companies versus the Indians,
Mexicans and others who lived on the land but had little power.
Strong language and racial epithets. 1979. Subjects: Western Stories.
Available to download as DBC07263.
Just One Riot by Ben H. Proctor (DT05259)
During the twentieth century the Texas Rangers have changed dramatically.
Before 1935 they were basically frontier marshalls, and now they
serve as walking police laboratories, mainly in rural Texas counties
which would otherwise lack law-enforcement manpower and criminal
investigative know-how. The author offers dramatic episodes of these
twentieth century Rangers. Violence. 1991. Subjects: The West.
Available to download as DBC07264.
Children’s Titles:
Hank the Cowdog 9: The Case of the Halloween Ghost by John R. Erickson (DT04878)
It’s Hank again, the cowdog with a nose for trouble. This time it
leads him to the scariest adventure of his life with his faithful
but cowardly companion, Drover, on the spookiest of nights, Halloween. The ninth adventure in the Hank the Cowdog series. For grades 3-7. 1989. Subjects: Humor; Adventure; Animals and Wildlife; Holidays. Available for download as DBC07248.
Hank the Cowdog 13: The Wounded Buzzard on Christmas Eve by John R. Erickson (DT04882)
Driving into town for some last-minute Christmas shopping, Hank and
his sidekicks are struck not necessarily by the meaning of Christmas
but by a twenty-five pound buzzard who crashes through the
windshield. For grades 3-7.1989. Subjects: Humor; Animals and Wildlife; Holidays.
Available to download as DBC07245.
Hank the Cowdog 19: The Case of the Midnight Rustler by John R. Erickson (DT05348)
When a cattle rustler starts taking calves from Uncle Johnny’s canyon
pasture, it’s up to Cowboy Slim and Hank the Cowdog, head of ranch
security, to catch the “criminal” in the act. Will Hank survive the
terrible poisoned weenies and the fierce coyote brothers, Rip and
Snort, to see good triumph over evil once again? For grades 3-7. 1992. Subjects: Humor; Adventure; Animals and Wildlife. Available to download as DBC07247.
Hank the Cowdog 24: The Case of the Black-Hooded Hangmans by John R. Erickson (DT06118)
Hank assists the ranch’s pet raccoon, Eddy the Rac, in performing
magic tricks, but the tricks backfire when Hank becomes prime
suspect in a felony and Eddy pulls a disappearing act! For grades 3-7. 1995. Subjects: Humor; Adventure; Animals and Wildlife. Available for download as DBC07251.
Hakon of Rogen’s Saga by Erik Christian Haugaard (DT00479)
Set in Norway during the post-Viking period, a 13-year-old boy tells
of his struggle to regain possession of his dead father’s property,
now usurped by a treacherous uncle. For grades 6-9. 1963. Subjects: Historical Fiction. Available to download as DBC07255.
Bluebonnet at Johnson Space Center by Mary Brooke Casad (DT07314)
Bluebonnet the armadillo visits the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in
Houston and takes a ride on the space shuttle. For grades K-4. 1993.
Subjects: Animals and Wildlife. Available to download as DBC07265.
Angelina and Alice by Katharine Holabird (DT07337)
Angelina and her best friend Alice discover the importance of teamwork
when their acrobatics are the hit of the gymnastics show at the
village fair. For grades K-3. 2001. Subjects: Friendship Fiction; Animals and Wildlife. Available to download as DBC07250.
The Boy in the Alamo by Margaret Cousins (DT03922)
Undoubtedly the best children’s book about the Alamo ever written.
With sure strokes, the author sketches both the physical and
emotional realities of Texas in 1836. The reader is swept along the
trail from the pain of defeat to victory and hope. For grade 4-7 and older
readers. Subjects: Historical Fiction.
Available for download as DBC07244.
To request a title please call us at 1-800-252-9605 (toll-free in Texas)/512-463-5458 (Austin area) or send an email to: tbp.services@tsl.texas.gov.
