Cressy Lakeside Books and the Prince Edward County Library system have joined forces to install a ‘little library’ at the Milford branch of the PEC library. Our shared goal is to promote reading and to make the enjoyment of books easy and convenient for visitors and County residents alike.

The little library is open 24-7, and everybody is welcome to avail themselves of its contents. The books are free, and don’t need to be returned. You don’t need a library card – but we do encourage people to show their support and get a library card with the Prince Edward County Library system. There’s no charge, and it allows you to take advantage of all the books, periodicals, and DVD’s the library offers.

We’ll be adding a second library at the Ameliasburgh branch later this summer. These two are a pilot project: we hope to expand it next year, based on comments we get about how to improve the idea.

If you have books that you’d like to donate books to this project, please give them to PEC Library staff. They’ll store them and restock the libraries as needed.

Stay tuned and watch for copies of Laurie Scott’s Murder of Crowes this October. This novel is the sequel In Like a Lion, following writer Lily Mullaly to the Adirondacks where she uncovers a series of mysterious deaths and family secrets in the Crowe family.

This is the second sequel released from Cressy Lakeside Books. Also released this year is J.D. Carpenter’s Lake Pirates in which Joe Horn’s seemingly bucolic house sitting gig on Little Hat Island takes an unexpected turn and the reporter must delve into an unsolved murder, risking his own life.

This week, Peter Blendell answered Liz Zylstra at the Prince Edward County Library & Archives in an interview with local authors about what they’re writing, reading and their recommendations.

PECLibrary: What are you reading?

PB: I’m reading ‘Polar Vortex’, by Shani Mootoo, as well as the manuscripts for some upcoming books by Cressy Lakeside Books authors. ‘The Sevens’ is the working title of a project by Shelagh Mathers. Crown Attorney Augie de Graaf is back in action, and there is lots of action as she investigates a murder at a lab, here in the county. ‘A Murder of Crowes’, bu Laurie Scott, also features the return of a popular character. Lily Mullaly ( the wrongly convicted writer from ‘In Like A Lion’) becomes involved in the job of exposing a tangled family history. Both great characters and Cressy looks forward to releasing these titles, hopefully later this year.

PEC Library: What are your working on?

PB: I’ve just finished my latest project, ’Three Novellas’, and am slowly getting the next novel off the ground. Stay tuned.

PECLibrary: What are you recommending?

PB: I recommend ’The Lake Pirates’, by J.D. Carpenter. It also involves the return of a popular character — newspaperman Joe Horn — and tells the story of Joe’s working visit to an island (in the County) and his suspicions that a murder took place there in the past. Great read — it will be released by Cressy sometime in May.

County Writers: Peter Blendell