Dear Great Book Guru,   I have really enjoyed the Civic Association's Sunset Serenades every Thursday night this summer at Memorial Park. The music has been great and the setting amazingly beautiful. I know Chris Schatz is responsible for the lovely lights we have this year, Petrice and Walter Kaider see that everything is in place, and each week someone from the Civic Association provides delicious refreshments. So what is missing from this idyllic picture? Yes, a good book to read while waiting  for the music to begin….any ideas?  Sunset Serenade Swooner

Dear Swooner,  I do admire your desire to always have a good book at hand and I certainly have one to recommend: DARK PLACES  by Gillian Flynn, author of the current bestseller GONE GIRL.   This  earlier  novel is indeed a dark tale- told from the perspectives of three characters-Libby, Patty, and Ben Day and told in alternating  time periods- the present and  January 2, 1985, the day on which Patty and her two daughters were murdered. Libby survived and Ben has spent the last 22  years in prison for the murders. The crushing poverty the family endures while trying to eek out a living on their failing Kansas  farm permeates the whole novel. Domestic abuse and community disdain for this family  add to the pain the children and mother endure until the brutal finality of the murders . Libby is a memorable character who although damaged by her past is willing to rethink her history for the right price and what she discovers brings this novel to a shocking conclusion.  A good read!