Linda Lovely heads to Beaufort to promote“Dear Killer,”a thrilling new mystery set in the SC Lowcountry.

For my money, few things in life are more deliciously satisfying than curling up with a good mystery. From my early days as a Nancy Drew fanatic, through my Agatha Christie-inspired youth, right on up to my P.D. Jamesian, Elizabeth Georgian adulthood, when the simple urge to “read for pleasure” hits, I know of no better literary genre. But please note: I did say a “good” mystery – emphasis on “good” – and I’m a fairly demanding critic. I require a distinctive setting, a large, colorful cast of suspects, a memorable hero/heroine I can root for, and a plot that keeps me breathlessly turning pages and guessing ‘til the end. Oh, and the writing must be impeccable.

Halftide Publishing, Okatie, South Carolina, announces the publication of a new book, The Gullahs of South Carolina. The book is a work of art as well as a work of history, which tells an urgent and important story about the Gullah people and their vanishing way of life and culture. Many Americans are unaware that here, along the South Carolina coast, was a culture more strongly rooted in African ways than any other in America. It was a time when most sea islanders were black and understood the importance of tucking Spanish moss into a shoe, painting window trim blue, and running like mad from a coachwhip snake. The rivers and ocean was theirs for fishing; the salt marshes theirs for shrimping, crabbing and oystering; and the woods theirs for hunting.

It’s not just twice a year anymore!

A long-time dream of the Friends of the Beaufort County Library (FOL) has become a reality.  Through the efforts of Library Director, Wlodek Zaryczny and the downtown Beaufort Library branch staff, the Friends have established a fabulous new gently-used book store in the former Beaufort District Collection Room, located on the main floor to the right as you walk into the Beaufort library.