It seems that the library acquires newly published material first in book form, then later in e-book and audio-book format. These two books were brand, spanking new when I flipped their pages:
Playing Dead: A Journey Through the World of Death Fraud by Elizabeth Greenwood - Ms. Greenwood had a mountain of debt in the form of student loans. Unfortunately, her major course of study did not prepare her for a high paying career. It would take decades to repay the loans. She wondered if she should her fake death, run out on the loans, and go on with her life under a new name. This book came out of Greenwood's contemplation of larceny. She recounts a few of the more famous stories of people who tried faking their deaths. She delves into "disappearing," explaining that it is perfectly legal to disappear. In the end, Ms. Greenwood travels to the Philipines to stage her death. She comes home with a death certificate which she uses, not to wiggle out of repaying her loans, but to decorate the pastedown and free endpaper of her book.
Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann - In the 1920s, oil was discovered in Oklahoma under the Osage Indian Reservation. Indians became fabulously wealthy, and white people started killing them for their head rights - a share in the tribal wealth. Corrupt locals were all in cahoots, so the FBI attempted to investigate. That went nowhere, so J. Edgar Hoover organized a team of outsiders that eventually cracked the case. Hoover's team didn't solve every murder, but they managed to convict the biggest player. The case provided the training ground Hoover needed to turn his organization into what it is today.
I also read the following because a long line of people wanted the audio-book, but the e-book was available:
Amy Snow by Tracy Rees - Foundling Amy Snow, so named because she was abandoned in newly fallen snow, gets booted out of the manor house when her protector, Aurelia Vennaway, dies too soon. Amy thinks she is on her own with only ten pounds to her name; however, she has really received a rich inheritance. Besides the money, Amy receives instructions that send her all over England on a sort of scavenger hunt. At each stop along the way, Amy discovers more about her origins, and she learns Aurelia's secrets.
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