Midland and Odessa are about 20 miles apart in West Texas. They have a lot in common and a lot of differences, but they are both great cities, and they both have good libraries.
Tuesday when I drove to the downtown branch of the Midland County Library to turn in a book I was surprised to see a sign telling visitors they were closed indefinitely due to the Coronavirus scare. Even the drop box for returned books was locked. The death the other day of a local Coronavirus victim must have inflamed a fear of the customer in them.
But fortunately, the Ector County Library in Odessa is still open. So I checked out a couple of books by J. Todd Scott to wile away the social distancing time. Mr. Scott has written a handful of novels, three of which involve a law enforcement officer in a sparsely populated Texas county near the Big Bend. The only one I've read so far was "The Far Empty" which was a engaging and entertaining book.
The other two, which I picked up Wednesday at the Odessa library, are "High White Sun," and "This Side of Night." I can't wait to get into them.
A love of West Texas probably helps a reader enjoy Mr. Scott's books. But there is at least one other author who writes similar crime novels set in other locales. One is Tom Bouman who writes novels about a law enforcement officer in rural Pennsylvania. The only one I've read so far is "Dry Bones in the Valley," which is quite good.
In any event, if you find yourself stuck in isolation waiting for the "all clear" those two authors can keep you entertained.
P.S. The Ector County Library takes a novel approach to the situation. They ask the customer to call their request into the library, and they will have the book(s) ready for the customer to minimize his/her time at the library. Smart idea.
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3:57 PM 3/25/2020
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