This week at the Quincy Public Library the staff pick is "Black Friday" by Alex Kava. It's the day after Thanksgiving. You have friends over to watch the game; the kitchen table is filled with snacks and leftovers. Then the phone rings. It's your boss. Your long-awaited holiday weekend descends into chaos because bombs just went off in the Mall of America. Maggie O'Dell must use her profiling expertise in a case that spreads fear throughout the hearts of millions of shoppers in the middle of the busiest retail season. Who is responsible, and why? Readers won't look at "Black Friday" quite the same way after reading this thrilling and chilling book.

Myles Connor Jr. is a con man and an art thief. He is considered to be the foremost art thief in the criminal world. His reputation for pulling off the impossible is such that when the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum was robbed of more than $300 million worth of priceless masterpieces, the police immediately suspected Connor even though he was in federal custody at the time of the heist. While the image of a genius art thief is one of chivalrous sophistication, Connor admits to a violent past and less than gentlemanly behavior. He shares his adventures in his new book "The Art of the Heist."

Nearly five months after he left office having served as the president for eight long years, Harry Truman and his wife, Bess, set out on a road trip from Independence, Mo., to the East Coast and back again. Taking nearly three weeks, they visited old friends, made new ones, ate at roadside diners, and even got pulled over by a Pennsylvania state trooper -- all without one Secret Service agent or presidential aide. Never before or since has a former president been able to return to some semblance of a normal life so quickly after leaving office. Matthew Algeo was fascinated by the Truman's adventure and decided to make the same trip. He chronicles his adventures and theirs in the new book "Harry Truman's Excellent Adventure."

America's founding fathers have always been held in the highest esteem. They were men of honor, bravery, courage, integrity and intellect. But were they really? In truth, they were imperfect men, filled with the same bouts of uncertainty, fear and moral lapses from which we all suffer. "The Founding Fathers Reconsidered" by R.B. Bernstein shows the real faces of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin and the other men who gave us liberty at quite a high cost.

In a delightful new book titled "Planthropology," passionate gardener Ken Druse shares little known facts, history, stories and gardening advice about both common and uncommon plants and flowers. Did you know that the majority of plants cultivated for medicine are also poisonous? Did you know that the essential oils made from tuberoses are among the world's most expensive fragrances? Druse shares these and other interesting tidbits about our favorite flowers and plants.

All of these books are available for checkout at the Quincy Public Library and the York Street Branch located in the Quincy Senior and Family Resource Center if you have a current Quincy or Tri-Quincy Area Public Library District card. Reciprocal borrowing cards from other area libraries will be honored as well. You may also place reserves on library materials and check your patron record online at www.quincylibrary.org.