Central Kansas Library System

On April Fool's Day in 1856, a shape-shifting grifter boards a Mississippi riverboat to expose the pretenses, hypocrisies, and self-delusions of his fellow passengers. The con artist assumes numerous identities - a disabled beggar, a charity fundraiser, a successful businessman, an urbane gentleman - to win over his not-entirely-innocent dupes. The central character's shifting identities, as fluid as the river itself, reflect broader aspects of human...

"Conflating her own childhood experiences with those of a celebrated Wagnerian soprano of her day, Willa Cather here introduces Thea Kronborg, a Scandinavian-American singer who rises from a one-story town in Colorado to the Metropolitan Opera House. Along the way she learns her own capacity for the rigorous demands of artistic excellence, and how few of her colleagues are willing to sacrifice ordinary vanities for exacting professional standards....

A Scandal in Bohemia -- The Red-headed league -- A case of identify -- The Boscombe Valley mystery -- The Five orange pips -- The Man with the twisted lip -- The Adventure of the blue carbuncle -- The Adventure of the speckled bnad -- The Adventure of the engineer's thumb -- The Adventure of the noble bachelor -- The Adventure of the beryl coronet -- The Adventure of the copper beeches.