There’s never a bad time to read a good book. Here are a bevy of novels by local writers to check out in these last few, fleeting weeks of summer. And remember, before you check an online retailer to get your copies, try your local bookstore first. (Highly recommended: Burton’s Books in Greenport or A Book Place or Barnes & Noble in Riverhead.)
Ram’s Head: A Novel by Kathleen Boys
The Rams Head Inn on Shelter Island is the setting for this story, which takes place in 1919 and references WWI, prohibition, suffragettes and the Spanish Flu. The book is chock full of vivid characters whose paths collide at the inn.
Boyes is a New York beauty and lifestyle writer and a former fashion editor at W; she has co-authored several books with the likes of Donna Karan, Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger and Cindy Crawford.
420 pages, $20 paperback; $7.99 Kindle
The Color of Mourning by Kim Dempster
A Syrian mother and daughter struggle to survive as Bashar al-Assad’s extremist regime takes over their city. Set in the early 2010s, this moving story shows the aggressions directed at women under the Islamic State and their effects.
Dempster, a part-time Shelter Island resident, is a writer and director who lived in Iran as a teenager and has traveled widely throughout the Middle East.
292 pages, $25 hardcover; $12 paperback; $7 Kindle
Bailie Beach by Joseph Peter Krupski
First in a trilogy, this novel takes place on Eastern Long Island in the summer of 1962 as main character Tommy balances life and love as a young man just returned home from college for the summer.
Born in Greenport and a graduate of Mattituck High School, Krupski worked as an electronics technician and manager at Eastman Kodak Company and a financial advisor at Morgan Stanley (among other jobs) before retiring to Tennessee in 2017, where he began his career as a writer.
433 pages, $42.05 hardcover, $27.95 paperback, $9.99 Kindle/e-book
The Clerk and the Ink Drinker in the Outer Lands Mission by N.G. Swett
In this illustrated, interactive novel, the reader gets an assignment: a bridge project in the Outer Lands Archipelago, East Coast, USA. You’re paired with the Clerk, a new recruit. A simple reconnaissance and training mission becomes quite tricky, indeed!
Jamesport resident and local multimedia public relations pro Swett has served many businesses and nonprofits — she led the downtown Riverhead revitalization effort “iloveriverhead” and published the first local website for parents, NorthForkParents.com.
292 pages, $25 illustrated paperback
The Ruins by Steve Wick
A murder mystery set in Lindenhurst in 1954, this novel mines the history of the era with a nod to the aftermath of WWII, suburban development and the shadow of fascism.
This is well-known journalist, and former Times Review executive editor, Wick’s first novel, based on a true story of a crime he reported on while at Newsday.
320 pages, $28.95 hardcover, $11.99 e-book, $34.99 audiobook
