COMING EVENTS
May 1:
Cathy Pickens, 7:00 p.m.
May 31:
Family Literacy Fair, 11-2, Library Front Lawn
September 27: Fall into Fun Festival, Sun City Carolina
Lakes
Cathy Pickens, author of the popular
Southern Fried Mystery series, will be guest speaker at the Spring meeting
of the Friends of the Library, Thursday, May 1 at 7:00 p.m.
Cathy Pickens grew up in Walhalla, and the southern flavor of her
writing is unmistakable. She also lived for a time in Lancaster. She has
been, under different names, a lawyer, a business professor, a university
provost, a clog-dancing coach, a church organist / choir director, and a
typist.
The
first Avery Andrews novel Southern
Fried won the 2003 St. Martin’s Press/Malice Domestic Award for
Best New Traditional Mystery. Romantic
Times BookClub magazine reviewers named it one of the five “Best
First Mysteries” for 2004. Her stories are set in South Carolina,
the first in a town similar to her hometown and the second, Done
Gone Wrong, in Charleston. In Hog
Wild, Avery attracts the attention of a poison-pen letter writer
and a widow whose husband has used his tombstone to accuse her of murder.
In the latest, Hush
My Mouth,
Avery wrestles with a cold-case murder and an itinerant group of ghost
hunters.
Cathy
has also written a mystery walking tour of Charleston, South Carolina: Charleston
Mysteries (History Press 2007).
Cathy
is a frequent mystery convention panelist, speaking on topics ranging from
Southern mysteries to classic true crime stories to the criminal use of
poisons. The most profound influences on her life have been her family,
her faith, Nancy Drew, and Perry Mason. Forced to move to “big cities”
to support herself , first as a lawyer and then as a professor, she found
the only way to return to the comfortable familiarity of her childhood was
by moving Avery Andrews back home and chronicling her exploits.
Cathy
has a B.S. degree in financial management from Clemson University, and a
J.D.
degree from the University of South Carolina School of Law. Her
family has lived in South
Carolina for almost 300 years, but she currently lives in “exile” over
the border in Charlotte, North Carolina. She is the Wireman
Professor of Business at Queens University of Charlotte and is a
member of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, and the South
Carolina Bar.
The program is free and open to the public. Cathy will lead an
informal discussion of her work and autograph copies of her books, which
will be available for purchase. For more information,
contact Richard Band at 803-285-1502 or
richardband@comporium.net.
Donations
Continue for Del Webb Library
Lancaster
County Partners for Youth has donated $20,000 to the Del Webb Library to
help
students who need a quiet place to study. The donation will provide two
study rooms.
Each room will have a computer and workspace for private use or
with a tutor.
According
to Executive Director Sharon Novinger, the study rooms will give the
Foundation a chance to extend its mission in the Indian Land community.
“We
are delighted to help the new library in this way,” Novinger said.
“Our board is committed to
projects
that will help children improve their educational opportunities.”
Partners
for Youth is an independent, non-profit partnership dedicated to elevating
and
enriching the children and youth of Lancaster County .
The
Del Webb Library has received $381,000 in donations from foundations,
businesses and
individuals. The Library Board seeks to raise $400,000 more to completely
furnish the library, scheduled for completion by the end of the year.
For more information go to the library’s website (www.lanclib.org) and
follow the Del Webb Library at Indian Land link.