Village of the Ghost Bears by Stan Jones — Native Alaska Trooper Nathan Active and his girlfriend come across a body in a creek. Meanwhile, in a small northern village, a fire at the recreation center kills eight people? Could the two be related?

Desert Lost: A Lena Jones Mystery by Betty Webb — Lena Jones stumbles on the body of a woman who turns out to have been a member of a polygamous cult five hours away.

Murder by Artifact: The Murder Quilt by Barbara Graham — Graham is a Cody resident, and this is her second murder mystery involving quilts.

The Disappeared by M.R. Hall — Jenny Cooper is a coroner dealing with a difficult teenage son and her own anxieties when she’s asked by a distraught mother to look into the disappearance of her then college-aged son seven years ago. The problem isn’t just that he disappeared, though — Britain’s intelligence services are convinced that he joined a militant Islamist cell.

Not My Daughter by Barbara Delinskey — Popular, talented teenagers Lily, Mary Kate, and Jess make a pregnancy pact ovoer the summer. When it is discovered, their small town holds their mothers — particularly Lily’s mother, the high school principal and a former teen mom herself — to blame.

The Bone Chamber: A Sydney Fitzpatrick Mystery by Robin Burcell — Forensic artist Sydney Fitzpatrick is back, this time chasing a mystery through an international intrigue that takes her to the streets of Rome, and the tunnels that lie underneath.

Altar of Eden by James Rollins — A suitcase of genetically altered animal embryos is taken out of a Bagdhad zoo and brought to a remote Gulf Coast island. Now Dr. Lorna Polk and border patrol agent Jack Menard are on the case of just who brought these creatures to the island, and to life.

The First Rule by Robert Crais — Joe Pike and Elvis Cole are on the trail of the person — or the mob — who murdered Joe’s friend Frank, his wife, their children, and their Serbian nanny.

The 13th Hour: A Thriller by Richard Doetsch — Nick Quinn is being interrogated as a suspect in the murder of his wife when a stranger hands him a watch that will allow him to travel back twelve hours in time to save her. But what other history will his actions change? Read Doetsch’s latest to find out!

Snapped by Pamela Klaffke — Sarah founded snarky glamour magazine Snap sixteen years ago. Since then it’s become a huge success, and Sarah’s younger, hipper assistant is turning into a threat just as Sarah is beginning to wonder if making fun of people is an okay way to earn a living.

Gutshot Straight by Lou Berney — Shake Bouchon is just out of prison and determined to stay straight this time. . . well, just as soon as he makes a little delivery and pickup trip to Vegas for an old flame. Fans of Elmore Leonard and Carl Hiassen will want to pick this one up to learn just how hilariously badly that goes.

A Whisper to the Living by Stuart M. Kaminsky — The sadly final Inspector Rostnikov mystery — Kaminsky died in October 2009 — finds our hero out to get a killer who has murdered over forty people in Moscow.

Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin — Benjamin imagines the life of Alice Hargreaves, the real-life model for Lewis Carroll’s classic Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

Death of a Valentine by M.C. Beaton — Hamish Macbeth must work with new — and seemingly ditzy — constable Josie McSween to investigate the death of a local woman whose life turns out to have been much less savory than everyone thought.

No Mercy by Lori Armstrong — Army sniper Mercy Gunderson is back home on the ranch in South Dakota when a young Sioux from the nearby reservation is found dead on the property, and the sheriff arrests her nephew for burglary, and the respite that she hoped to find is quickly gone.

Heat Wave by Richard Castle — There’s a heat wave, all right, but this time it’s coming not from the weather or the cops — rather, it’s journalist Jameson Rook, who is putting the heat on as he follows NYPD Detective Nikki Heat’s every move as she tries to track down a killer.

Ice by Linda Howard — Gabriel McQueen is home for the holidays and expecting a quiet time. His father, the county sheriff, sends him out to check on a local woman, who lives alone out in the country, just as an ice storm is about to hit. He gets there to find she’s not alone, though — she’s being held hostage.

The Wrecker by Clive Cussler and Justin Scott — It’s 1907, and a man known only as The Wrecker is out destroying trains — and lives — right and left. Railroad Detective Isaac Bell must find out why — and stop him.

The Disciple by Stephen Coonts — You may forget you are reading fiction as CIA agents Tommy Carmellini and Jake Grafton try to prevent Iran from starting — and then winning — World War III.

Breathless by Dean R. Koontz — Grady Adams and his wolfhound are out for a walk in the Colorado Rockies when they come across several large creatures of a sort they’ve never seen before. That’s just the first strange encounter in Koontz’s latest — and perhaps oddest — book.

La’s Orchestra Saves the World by Alexander McCall Smith — Lavender “La” Stone is newly divorced and living in the English countryside near the start of World War II. Looking for some way to help the war effort, or at least boost morale, she starts an amateur orchestra that succeeds beyond anyone’s wildest dreams.

Hollywood Moon by Joseph Wambaugh — Wambaugh’s latest ostensibly deals with the case of a husband and wife identity thief team and a reckless teen, but really it’s the story of the cops who work in Hollywood, including an ex-actor and a couple of surfers who go by the names of Flotsam and Jetsam.

Rainwater by Sandra Brown — Ella Barron runs a boarding house in a small Texas town in 1934, caring for tenants set adrift in the Dust Bowl by the Great Depression and for her autistic son, whom she refuses to put in an institution. Though it’s not a typical Brown romantic suspense tale, it is a short, quiet, heartwarming story that’s perfect for the season.

Nonfiction
The Book of Basketball: The NBA According to the Sports Guy by Bill Simmons — 736 pages of hilarity, insight, and passion from ESPN.com’s Sports Guy.

Stones into Schools: Promoting Peace with Books, Not Bombs, in Afghanistan and Pakistan by Greg Mortenson with Mike Bryan — A continuation of the story Mortenson made famous in Three Cups of Tea.

Drink This: Wine Made Simple by Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl — An everything you’ve always wanted to know but have been afraid to ask book about wine.

Literary Life: A Second Memoir by Larry McMurtry — In this sequel to his first memoir, Books, McMurtry discusses his life as a writer.

Middling Folk: Three Seas, Three Centuries, One Scots-Irish Family by Linda H. Matthews — From Ireland and Scotland to the Chesapeake Bay to the Pacific Northwest, the story of one family and the discovery of America.

Fear not! The staff have set up a blog with some examples and some great links to give you more instructions and ideas for how to make new things out of old ones.

Do you have fines? Don’t forget that through December 31, you can bring a non-perishable food item (please, no home-canned goods or expired items) to the library, and we will forgive your fines! All donations will go to local food cupboards. Food for Fines is just for fines — you will still need to pay for interlibrary loans and damaged or lost materials.

photo source

At 2 p.m. on Friday, December 11, the Meeteetse Branch Library will be showing the movie Coraline, based on the book of the same name by Neil Gaiman.

Coraline is a curious young girl who unlocks a mysterious door in her family’s new home and enters into an adventure in a parallel reality. On the surface, this “Other World” eerily mimics her own life — though it is much more fantastical. While encountering different versions of her own life ultimately, Coraline must rely on her resourcefulness, determination and bravery to get back home.

All are welcome, and refreshments will be served!

All the Lonely People: A Rafferty & Llewellyn Crime Novel by Geraldine Evans — DI Rafferty is trying to solve the murder of a local businessman (apparently this is almost as dull as it sounds) while simultaneously dealing with his mother, his ex-fiance, and all the other lonely and not-so-lonely people in his world.

The Fingers of One Foot by Gerald Hammond — Jane Highsmith is a vet in Scotland, and all seems well until her great-grandfather dies under questionable circumstances. Then a man with a very sick dog moves to town and wants to help her investigate. . . .

Typhoon by Charles Cumming — Ten years ago, CIA agent Miles Coolidge nearly destroyed MI6 agent Joe Lennox’s life, what with stealing his girlfriend and trying to ruin his career. Now Lennox is sent to see if he can uncover a CIA plot in China — one that Coolidge might well be at the bottom of.

Shadow Season by Tom Piccirilli — It’s your basic “we’re stuck at a nearly-empty girl’s boarding school in a blizzard story” — with the added bonus that a couple of bad guys are stalking retired NYC cop turned teacher Finn, who must figure out a way to keep everyone safe.

The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver — Kingsolver’s first novel in nine years follows the life of Harrison Shepherd as he gets kicked out of military school in the U.S., lives with Frieda Kahlo, Diego Rivera, and Leon Trotsky in Mexico City, moves back to the states to become a writer, and gets investigated by HUAC.

The Widow’s Revenge by James D. Doss — The lastest adventures of Ute tribal investigator Charlie Moon.

Eagle Rising by David Devereux — Did you know that Britain had an occult secret service? No? Well, be glad they do, because there’s a group that is trying to resurrect Hitler, and only the OSS can stop them.

Pursuit of Honor by Vince Flynn — Your basic CIA superagent good vs. evil adventure.

The Creed of Violence by Boston Teran — An FBI agent works with an aging assassin during the Mexican Revolution. Unbeknownst to anyone but the agent, the killer is also his father.

Abandoned by Cody McFadyen — Smoky Barrett is on the trail of a criminal who kidnaps the wives of men who want to be rid of them and then charges the men half the life insurance payouts they get when their wives are presumed dead.

Death Message by Mark Billingham — Someone is sending DI Tom Thorne anonymous messages depicting the dead bodies of members of the Black Dogs gang, and it’s up to the London cop to figure out how to stop it.

The Professional by Robert B. Parker — Gary Eisenhower likes sleeping with rich married women, but he likes blackmailing them afterward even more. Four of his victims turn to Spenser for help, but when they start turning up dead, it’s almost more than he can handle.

Last Night in Twisted River by John Irving — Irving’s latest actually concerns far many more nights — and days — than just last night as it traces the fortunes of a father and son whose lives are changed overnight by an accident over the course of fifty years.

Ravens by George Dawes Green — A couple of down-and-out tech workers decide to get rich quick when they hear about a local couple who just won the lottery. The idea is for one of them to take the couple hostage and threaten that the other is going to kill their family members. Things do not work out quite as planned in this excellently-reviewed new thriller.

The Wrong Mother by Sophie Hannah — A year ago, Sally had an affair with a many she never planned to see again. Now that man — or someone with his name — turns up in the paper as the murderer of his wife and daughter — a daughter who bears an eerie resemblance to Sally’s own girl.

But Not For Long by Michelle Wildgen — The residents of a Madison, Wisconsin housing coop weather a mysterious blackout.

Wishin’ and Hopin’: A Christmas Story by Wally Lamb — A stocking stuffer of a book about the misadventures of fifth grader Felix Funicello and his family in 1964.

Under the Dome by Stephen King — At 1088 pages, King’s latest might be better titled Under the Tome, but King fans will relish what Kirkus deems its “wonderfully written, good, creepy, old-school fun.”

The Silent Hour by Michael Koryta — A recently paroled killer wants help from PI Lincoln Perry. Specifically, he wants to find out what happened to Alexandra and Joshua Cantrell, who ran a halfway house he lived in many years before. Perry turns down his pleas for help until Joshua turns up dead.

Kindred in Death by J.D. Robb — The 30th Eve Dallas mystery.

Midnight Fugue by Reginald Hill — Andy Dalziel agrees to help Gina Wolfe try to find her long-missing husband, whose photo has just turned up in a magazine, but he’s soon in over his head and putting his colleagues in danger.

Rough Country by John Sandford — Virgil Flowers is back, this time looking into the death of an ad agency CEO from the Twin Cities who was vacationing up north.

Nonfiction
The Nature Way by Corbin Harney, as told to Alex Purbrick with a forward by Tom Goldtooth — The life and times of Corbin Harney, a Western Shoshone who was a spiritual leader, a healer, a teacher, and an activist on the Nevada-Idaho border.

Letters from Eden: A Year at Home, In the Woods by Julie Zickefoose — You may have heard Zickefoose’s commentaries on NPR. Here you can read more of her thoughts on life at her home in southern Ohio and see her paintings of birds and the other creatures she encounters on her walks.

The AARP Retirement Survival Guide by Julie Jason

Lit by Mary Karr — The author of The Liars Club grows up, get sober, and finds God — and manages to write about all of it both elegantly and entertainingly.

Arguing With Idiots by Glenn Beck — The latest from the Fox News host.

Googled by Ken Auletta — A fascinating history of the world’s most popular search engine

Bed of Roses by Nora Roberts — Emma Grant has designed perfect bouquets for many a bride, but she dreams that someday, she’ll have one of her own.

The Christmas List by Richard Paul Evans — The latest from Evans, just in time for the holidays.

The Double Jack Murders: A Sheriff Bo Tully Mystery by Patrick F. McManus — Yes, McManus now writes mysteries, and word has it they’re pretty funny.

Eagle Rising by David Devereaux — In Devereaux’s universe, Britain has an occult secret service — and a good thing, too, as there’s a group intent on resurrecting Adolf Hitler from the land of the dead.

Hothouse Orchid by Stuart Woods — There’s nothing like a rejuvenating trip to your hometown — especially when you used to be the police chief there. Find out how Holly Barker copes with troubles old and new in this latest thriller from Woods.

The Pawn, The Knight by Steven James — The first two installments in a trilogy (the third is coming) about FBI agent Patrick Bowers, a widower raising a teenage daughter and trying to solve the case of a killer who murders young women and leaves a chess piece at the scene of each crime.

The Lost Art of Gratitude by Alexander McCall Smith — The latest Isabel Dalhousie mystery.

Necessary As Blood by Deborah Crombie — Toddler Charlotte’s mother leaves her with a friend one day and never returns, and shortly after that, her father is murdered. Scotland Yard investigators Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James must find out why — and navigate their own relationship at the same time.

Neuropath by R. Scott Bakker — What do you do when your oldest friend is accused of kidnapping people and performing neurosurgery on them — and then your own son disappears? Read Bakker’s debut to find out how psychology professor Thomas Bible handles the situation.

Pilgrims: A Wobegon Romance by Garrison Keillor — Margie Krebsbach’s marriage is but a ghost of itself, and she’s feeling listless until she hears from a woman claiming to be the daughter of Lake Wobegon’s great war hero, and she decides to go to Italy to learn more.

Resurrecting Midnight by Eric Jerome Dickey — Assassin Gideon gets roped into a plot by an old girlfriend and finds himself in Argentina with a man he thought he killed many years ago.

Risk by Colin Harrison — New York City insurance lawyer George Young is asked by the widow of his mentor to find out why her son was hit by a garbage truck. The death was ruled accidental, but the widow guesses — and George learns — that there is much more to it.

The Scarpetta Factor by Patricia Daniels Cornwell — It’s been a long time since a Scarpetta book has gotten a really good review, and this one is no different, but fans of the series will enjoy reminiscing about how much better the earlier books are while they read this one.

Smasher by Keith Raffel — When you’re a Silicon Valley software company CEO and your wife is a high powered attorney, there are a lot of people who might have reason to try to kill you both while you’re out on a morning jog. The run-in with an unmarked car leaves Ian with a broken leg and his wife in a coma, and he is determined to find out who is out to get them.

The Accidental Family by Rowan Coleman — Sophie, from The Accidental Mother is back, having moved from London to a small town to care for her deceased best friend’s two children and to pursue her suddenly blossoming relationship with their father — a man who turns out to have more of a past than anyone guessed.

The Art of Disappearing by Ivy Pachoda — Mel marries magician Toby after a whirlwind Vegas romance. Only later does she learn that he literally made his former assistant disappear.

Await Your Reply by Dan Choan — Three sets of lost characters have their lives and stories converge in what Library Journal terms a “pulse pounding drama.”

Dark Tiger by William G. Tapply — Stoney Calhoun lost his memory when he was struck by lightning, and these days he lives a mostly quiet life as the owner of a bait and tackle shop. But he was clearly once highly trained, and local police often call on him for help. This time, though, his services are needed by an unspecified government agency.

The Gray Man by Mark Greaney — When you stop working for the CIA, you can become a killer for hire. That’s what The Gray Man does, these days in Iraq and Syria. Then, of course, he learns that someone is out to get him, preferably in the form of his head in a cooler.

Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls — Walls calls this a “true life novel,” because it is based on the story of her grandmother’s life, which was apparently quite a ride. She lived in a dugout till age ten, married a bigamist, eventually got out of that and married a rancher and had children and broke horses.

Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger — Niffenegger’s second novel deals with two young women, twins, who inherit their aunt’s flat in London. When they move in, they discover a number of things — including their aunt, who still seems to haunt the place.

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown — I don’t really have to tell you about this one, do I? The latest from the author of The Da Vinci Code.

The Price of Malice by Archer Mayor — The latest adventures of Vermont Bureau of Investigation detective Joe Gunther.

Reconsidering Happiness by Sherrie Flick — Vivette decides to solve her problems by moving west, but she stops in Nebraska to visit an old friend and former coworker, intent on trying to get advice from the older woman on how to get her life in order.

This Is Where I Leave You by Johnathan Tropper — The Jewish tradition of sitting shiva for a week after the death of a loved one is supposed to create a time for families to be together. That’s all very well, but when your wife has just left you and your family is completely dysfunctional (despite a childcare expert for a matriarch), well, hilarity ensues.

Vanished by Joseph Finder — Nick Heller is a corporate intelligence specialist who hasn’t spoken to his brother since their father was convicted of securities fraud. Now, however, he gets a call from his fourteen-year-old nephew, telling him his brother has disappeared and that his sister-in-law is in critical condition in the hospital. Blood runs thick, and Nick vows to find out what happened.

Windfall by Penny Vincenzi — In London in the 1930s, a woman like Cassia can’t pursue her medical work after she gets married — at least not until she inherits a fortune. The money frees her to do things she never could before, but it turns out (of course) that there is more to the story of where it came from than meets the eye.

Nonfiction
Black & Decker Complete Guide to Finishing Basements

The Burn Farm by Michael Benson — For true crime fans, an account of serial killer Sheila LaBarre.

Confections of a Closet Master Baker: One Woman’s Sweet Journey from Unhappy Hollywood Executive to Contented Country Baker by Gesine Bullock-Prado — The subtitle tells you what you need to know about this one, but check out the book itself for the recipes!

K2: Life and Death on the World’s Most Dangerous Mountain by Ed Viesturs with David Roberts — K2 is only the world’s second tallest mountain, but it is the most deadly. Mountaineer Viesturs relates some of the greatest adventures and tragedies that have taken place there.

Long Past Stopping by Oran Canfield — Oran’s father (Jack Canfield, founder of the Chicken Soup for the Soul books) left before he was born, and his mother left him when he was eight. He survived Buddhists, clowns, bands, and heroin addiction and wrote all about it in this memoir.

The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire That Saved America by Timothy Egan — Egan, author of The Worst Hard Time, traces the history of the National Forests through the story of a massive forest fire in Idaho and Montana in 1910.

Born Round: The Secret History of a Full-Time Eater by Frank Bruni — Bruni is now the restaurant critic for the New York Times, but in this gripping yet funny memoir, he relates his lifelong struggles with food and weight.

Have a Little Faith: A True Story by Mitch Albom — The author of Tuesdays With Morrie relates his journey in two faiths — one in Judaism, brought about by a rabbi who requests that Albom give his eulogy, and one in Christianity, sparked by his friendship with a pastor in Detroit.

No Place Like Home: Notes From a Western Life by Linda M. Hasselstrom — Hasselstrom still ranches the South Dakota land her grandfather homesteaded in 1899, and in this volume of essays she contemplates the past and the future of Western life.

Nothing Was the Same by Kay Redfield Jamison — Dr. Jamison, whose memoir An Unquiet Mind documented her struggles with manic-depressive illness, writes here about life with her husband, the time of his dying, and life without him.

Packaging Girlhood: Rescuing Our Daughters from Marketers’ Schemes by Sharon Lamb and Lyn Mikel Brown and Packaging Boyhood: Saving Our Sons From Superheroes, Slackers, and Other Media Stereotypes by Sharon Lamb, Lyn Mikel Brown, and Mark Tappan — The book on girls came out a few years ago, while the book about boys is more recent, but both will be of interest to parents concerned about media portrayals of childhood.