Library Loot ~ September 4-10

The Witch of Cologne ~ by Tobsha Learner, 2003, fiction

The Inquisitor, Carlos Vicente Solitario, charges a young Jewish midwife, Ruth bas Elazar Saul, with heresy.  Ruth may be the daughter of the city's chief rabbi, but this is no protection against the Inquisition's accusations.    Detlef von Tennen, nobleman and canon, cousin to the Archbishop, suspects that something other than religion drives Solitario to persecute Ruth.  Determined to ensure that justice is done, Detlef joins the investigation -- and finds his passions fully aroused by Ruth's impressive intelligence and darkly exotic beauty.  All her life, Ruth bas Elazar Saul has thirsted for knowledge, despite the price she paid by concealing her gender and being cast out of her father's house.  Her faith sustains her through all, even the attentions of the Inquisition.  Then, in the very heart of danger, God blesses her with the greatest love she has ever known.

After Visiting Friends: A Son's Story ~ by Michael Hainey, 2013, memoir

Michael Hainey had just turned six when his uncle knocked on his family's back door one morning with the tragic news:  Bob Hainey, Michael's father, was found alone near his car on Chicago's North Side, dead, of an apparent heart attack.  Thirty-five years old, a young assistant copy desk chief at the Chicago Sun-Times, Bob was a bright and shining star in the competitive, hard-living world of newspapers, one that involved booze-soaked nights that bled into dawn.  And then suddenly he was gone, leaving behind a young widow, two sons, a fractured family-and questions surrounding the mysterious nature of his death that would obsess Michael throughout adolescence and long into adulthood.  Finally, roughly his father's age when he died, and a seasoned reporter himself, Michael set out to learn what happened that night.  Died "after visiting friends," the obituaries said.  But the details beyond that were inconsistent.  What friends?  Where?  At the heart of his quest is Michael's all-too-silent, opaque mother, a woman of great courage and tenacity — and a steely determination not to look back.  Prodding and cajoling his relatives, and working through a network of his father's buddies who abide by an honor code of silence and secrecy, Michael sees beyond the long-held myths and ultimately reconciles the father he'd imagined with the one he comes to know — and in the journey discovers new truths about his mother.  A stirring portrait of a family and its legacy of secrets, this is the story of a son who goes in search of the truth and finds not only his father, but a rare window into a world of men and newspapers and fierce loyalties that no longer exists.

Kingdom of Strangers ~ by Zoë Ferraris, 2012, fiction (Saudi Arabia)

A secret grave is unearthed in the desert revealing the bodies of 19 women and the shocking truth that a serial killer has been operating undetected in Jeddah for more than a decade.  However, lead inspector Ibrahim Zahrani is distracted by a mystery closer to home.  His mistress has suddenly disappeared, but he cannot report her missing since adultery is punishable by death.  With nowhere to turn, Ibrahim brings the case to Katya, one of the few women in the police department.  Drawn into both investigations, she must be increasingly careful to hide a secret of her own.  Portraying the lives of women in one of the most closed cultures in the world, award-winning author Zoë Ferraris weaves a tale of psychological suspense around an elusive serial killer and the sinister forces trafficking in human lives in Saudi Arabia.  (A Katya Hijazi and Nayir Sharqi Novel)

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire @ The Captive Reader and Marg @ The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader that encourages us to share titles of books we’ve checked out of the library.  Add your link any time during the week, and see what others got this week.