KPL Podcast

This week on the podcast, we have Bram Stoker award winning author, Gwendolyn Kiste.  We discuss her latest novel, The Haunting of Velkwood.  It is a story of an entire neighborhood turns into ghosts except for the three young women who left the night before.  Listen to learn more,
Other books by the author and recommendations
The Rust Maidens by Gwendolyn Kiste
Reluctant Immortals by Gwendolyn Kiste
Daughters of Block Island by Christa Carmen
Grackle by AC Wise

The Kirkwood Library's One Author One Kirkwood event featured bestselling author Brendan Slocumb.  This week's podcast contains clips from the evening. Alvin Reid was the moderator.  He and Brendan discussed the two titles, The Violin Conspiracy and The Symphony of Secrets.  It was a wonderful, fun-filled night.  Listen to learn more about Brendan and his two novels.

Welcome back to another episode of the KPL podcast.  Ellen Baker author of The Hidden Life of Cecily Larson is on the podcast.  We spoke about the circus, DNA and ancestry, family and so much more.  Listen to learn more.
Author Recommendations
Signal Fires by Dani Shapiro
Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity and Love  by Dani Shapiro
The Night Parade: A Speculative Memoir by Jami Nakamura Lin

This week on the KPL Podcast we have author Tiana Smith.  Her novel, The Spy and I is her  first adult book.  She's written YA novels and now brings her amazing skills to a fun, fast paced rom-com.  Her main character Dove is an introverted hacker, who prefers her computer to people.  She is mistaken for a spy and nearly killed.  Dove joins forces with an actual spy to bring down the bad guys.  Listen to learn more. 
Finlay Donovan Jumps the Gun by Elle Cosimano
Nancy Drew Mysteries

The week on the KPL Podcast we have bestselling and award winning author Heather Webb.  She tells us about an all-female crime syndicate called the Forty Elephants during 1925 in London.  The Queens of London is a page turning historical novel about strong women pushing boundaries in the 1920's.

Author Recommendations
1. The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd
2. Tomorrow, Tomorrow, Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
3. Tobacco Wives by Adele Myers

This week on the KPL Podcast I have author and evolutionary biologist Noah Whiteman.  His book, Most Delicious Poisons: The Story of Nature's Toxins From Spices to Vices, tells the story of chemicals derived from nature and why we are attracted and addicted to them.  Listen to learn more. 

The KPL Podcast is back with another great book discussion.  This week we spoke with Shubnum Khan about her new novel, The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years. A wonderful gothic love story that will take you on an emotional rollercoaster ride.

Author Recommendations
The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
Babel by RF Kuang

Imagine a category 5 hurricane, a single mom and her son having to evacuate from their home.  Then imagine taking shelter in a large home with several other family members but one is murdered and one of them is the murderer.  That is framework of Nishita Parekh's debut novel, The Night of the Storm.  Listen to learn more

Author Recommendations
Rabbit Hole by Kate Brody

Welcome back to the KPL podcast 2024.  We begin the new year with author and fellow librarian Julie Chavez and talk about her memoir, Everyone But Myself.  An elementary school librarian and mother of two boys, shines a light on motherhood and mental health by sharing an unflinchingly honest account of her experiences with panic and anxiety—and her path to finding her way back from the edge.

Author Recommendations
1. Shark Heart by Emily Habeck
2. If You Want to Make God Laugh by Bianca Marais
3. Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll
4. These Silent Woods by Kimi Cunningham Grant
5. Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth
6. The Seven Husbands for Evelyn Reid by Taylor Jenkins Reid
7. The Price You Pay for College by Ron Lieber
8. The Mostly True Story of Tanner and Louise by Colleen Oakley
9. The War that Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
10. The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise by Dan Gemeinhart
11.  After the Fall by Dan Santat

This week on the KPL podcast we have author and librarian Laura Sims telling us about her wonderful new book, How Can I Help You.  If you ever wondered about librarian life than this is the perfect book for you.  Laura has done an incredible job capturing the nuances of librarian life. 
Author Book Recommendations
Killingly by Katherine Beutner
Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez
Terrace Story by Hilary Liechter
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
All's Well by Mona Awad
The Blunderer by Patricia Highsmith
Kill for Love by Laura Picklesimer
Belle Greene by Alexandra Lapierre
The Lions of Fifth Avenue by Fiona Davis
Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray

We have a fun episode for you this week with special guest Esme Symes-Smith.  She is her to tell us about her Sir Callie series.  There are two books in the series: Sir Callie and the Champions of Helston and Sir Callie and the Dragon's Roost.  Both are wonderful middle-grade stories that adults will enjoy as well.

Author Recommendations
The Beautiful Something Else by Ash Van Otterloo
Shad Hadid and the Alchemists of Alexandria by George Jreije
Flowerheart by Catherine Bakewell

Welcome back to another episode of the KPL podcast.  This week we have author Maria Smilios to discuss Black Angels: the untold story of the nurses who helped cure tuberculosis. This book brings to light a part of history that is long overdue.

Books About Tuberculosis
1 Phantom Plague by Vidya Krishnan
2 White Plague: Tuberculosis, Man and Society by Rene and Jean Dubos
3 The Remedy: Robert Koch, Arthur Conan Doyle and the Quest to Cure Tuberculosis by Thomas Goetz
Book Recommendations
1 Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward
2 Yellowface by RF Kuang
3  King of the Armadillos by Wendy Chin-Tanner

This week on the KPL Podcast we have bestselling author Katee Robert to tell us about Hunt on Dark Waters.  This is book 1 in a new series called the Crimson Sails. Katee is known for her fun and spicy romance novels.  You will get plenty of both in this book.
Author Recommendations
Dark City Omega by Elizabeth Stevens
I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast is Me by Jamison Shay
Deadly Education by Naomi Novik

This week on the KPL Podcast, we have bestselling author Nalini Singh.  We spoke to her about her latest thriller, There Should Have Been Eight.  The novel is set in a remote location in the New Zealand Andes.  Old friends gather for a reunion but things go begin to go wrong from the beginning.  Listen to learn more.
Author Recommendations
Salvage Right by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
Payback in Death by JD Robb
Midnight by Amy Mcculloch

This week on the KPL Podcast, we have returning author Alexa Martin to tell us about her newest romance novel, Next Door Nemesis.  This is a funny, laugh out loud romantic comedy about two people competing for a new position on an HOA Board.
Author Recommendation
Identity by Nora Roberts
Things We Left Behind by Lucy Score
Unrealistic Expectations by Andie J Christopher

This week on the KPL podcast, we have debut author Clementine Taylor speaking to us about the her amazing first novel, Something About Her.  This is a wonderful, emotional first novel.  Taylor hits it out of the park.
Author Recommendations
1. Yerba Buena by Nina LaCour
2. Sunburn by Chloe Michelle Howarth
3. Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield

This week on the KPL podcast we speak with bestselling author Vanessa Lillie about her new novel, Blood Sisters. The story is a compelling mystery about a Cherokee archeologist for the Bureau of Indian Affairs who is summoned to rural Oklahoma to investigate the disappearance of two women…one of them her sister.

Author Recommendations
1. Never Whistle at Night edited by Shane Hawk and Theodore C. Van Alst Jr.
2. And Then She Fell by Alicia Elliot
3. Bad Cree by Jessica Johns
4. A Calm and Normal Heart by Chelsea T. Hicks
5. Man Made Monster by Andrea L. Rogers

Welcome back.  This week on the KPL podcast we have bestselling author Edward Carey and we will be discussing his latest novel Edith Holler. A witty and entrancing story of a young woman trapped in a ramshackle English playhouse—and the mysterious figure who threatens the theater's very survival.
Author Recommendations
The Swallowed Man by Edward Carey
Kappa by  Ryūnosuke Akutagawa,
Seeking Fortune Elsewhere by Sindya Bhanoo
Golem Girl by Riva Lehrer

This week on the podcast we have USA bestselling author, Ashley Herring Blake to discuss her latest novel, Iris Kelly Doesn't Date. A book about a group of ride-or-die friends who have become family. “Found family” is available to everyone, but it’s a source of salvation for those within a marginalized community, particularly if you identify as queer.  This the third book in a heartwarming and inclusive series that proves there is a love out there for everyone.

Author Recommendations:
1. Witch of Wild Things by Raquel Vasquaz Gilliland
2. Cleat Cute by Meryl Wilsner

We are back with a new episode of the KPL Podcast.  Do you enjoy a good heist book or movie?  Then I highly recommend, The Housekeepers by Alex Hay.  It's Ocean's 8 meets Downton Abbey. 
1. The Last Bookaneer by Matthew Pearl
2.  A Lady's Guide to Fortune-hunting by Sophie Irwin
3. Ocean's 8
4. Death Below Stairs by Jennifer Ashley