A weekly roundup as prepared by the Anacortes Police Department.

Are you staying home and looking for some light summertime reading this holiday weekend? Well, Jo Dereske’s Index to Murder may be what you’re looking for.

No one could be more orderly or organized than dedicated librarian Helma Zukas. No one could be more rash and raucous than avant-garde artist Ruth Winthrop. Yet the two women are best friends and a resourceful, ingenious, crime-solving team. So when two of Ruth's latest paintings—each depicting an ex-lover who met a very untimely and mysterious end—are stolen, the amazing amateur detectives get to work.

But digging through Ruth's romantic rendezvous turns up more than broken hearts. There's an angry ex-wife, a jealous fellow artist, and a rampaging group of local tree-huggers. There's trouble brewing in Bellehaven . . . and only Helma and Ruth can make certain that mayhem doesn't lead to murder.

Index to Murder is a mass market paperback and priced at just $6.99. Look for it at Watermark Books in downtown Anacortes or order it from Anacortes-based northwest-books.com.

Jo lives in Everson, north of Bellingham. 

Four Northwest authors are on this week's bestsellers list. Seattle author Garth Stein's The Art of Racing in the Rain and Everson writer Jo Dereske's Index to Murder are both new releases. Also on the list are: The Hearts of Horses by Oregon author Molly Gloss; and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, a Seattle writer. Week ending May 18, 2008.

The Course of Love Never Did Run Smooth (a line from Midsummer Night's Dream)
Class ACT: young performers look at Shakespeare's scenes of love. This weekend at ACT.

Seattle author Garth Stein hit it big with his How Evan Broke his Head and Other Secrets. Now he's back with The Art of Racing in the Rain, a nice little novel where a dog, on the eve of his death, tells his life's story. 

"Not all dogs return as men, they say; only those who are ready. I am ready."

A weekly roundup as prepared by the Anacortes Police Department.

A weekly roundup as prepared by the Anacortes Police Department.

Anacortes Police continue to hunt for the two burglars who broke into the Star Bar restaurant in downtown Anacortes last week.