Literary Hill by Karen Lyon

the LITERARY HILL

A Compendium of Readers, Writers, Books, & Events

by Karen Lyon

Dad Jokes, Illustrated

It only takes a few pages into “Good Jokes Bad Drawings” before you realize that something’s screwy. These jokes are anything but good—in fact, they’re really awful—but the drawings… well, they’re downright inspired. Welcome to the world of Christine Vineyard, “where everything is a joke, right down to the title.”

Vineyard says she loves cheese—“the cheesier and cornier, the better!”—and her new book provides abundant proof of her passion. Know what you call cheese that’s not yours? Nacho cheese. Did you hear about the kidnapping at school? It’s okay, he woke up. What did the fish say when it ran into the wall? Dam.

These and more than 125 other groaners are accompanied by Vineyard’s delightfully whimsical watercolors. Her rendering of the overweight psychic (i.e., the “four chin teller”) is alone worth the price of the book, but every illustration is a little gem, reflecting not only Vineyard’s goofy sense of humor but also her consummate skill with a paintbrush. Perfectly timed to coincide with removing our masks, “Good Jokes Bad Drawings” provides a great excuse to let loose with those big grins we’ve been hiding all these months. Head slapping is optional.

Christine Vineyard is a visual artist and art teacher who adopted DC as her second home when she moved here in 2011. She provided the endearing Hill Rag cover that featured a colorfully attired child at one of the iconic aqua distribution boxes. Other samples of her work, including sprightly illustrations of local landmarks like the Tune Inn, Radici, and East City Book Shop, can be found at www.lidflutters.com.

Capitol Hill Quagmire

“Welcome again to the Library of Congress,” says the head librarian to Hill staffer Kit Marshall. “It’s the largest library in the world. And now…” she said, swallowing hard, “the scene of a ghastly murder.” In “Larceny at the Library,” Colleen Shogan’s latest mystery, Kit and her friends are faced with their biggest challenge yet: finding out who beaned the Assistant Librarian of Congress with a bust of Thomas Jefferson and made off with some priceless items from Abraham Lincoln’s pockets on the night he was assassinated.

Adding to the pressure is the fact that Kit’s husband, Doug, is suspected of the crime. “It was bad enough trying to solve a homicide, but now I had to clear my husband,” she laments. Happily, the amateur sleuth of

Capitol Hill and her trusty entourage never pass up a snooping opportunity (or a happy hour). “We’ve found ourselves in several quagmires in the past,” she modestly admits, before retiring to Bullfeathers for a round of libations. In “Larceny at the Library,” there’s no dearth of suspects—including a member of Congress—and Kit and her cohorts have their hands full, checking out alibis that “have more holes than Swiss cheese” and exploring the “eccentricities and foibles” of a host of characters. Could the guilty party Christine Vineyard provides visual ac- be an insider with a grudge? companiments to more than 125 “dad jokes” in “Good Jokes Bad Drawings.” A demented history buff? A terrorist? Even the magnificent architecture of the Jefferson Building can’t disguise the fact that there’s some ugliness afoot. “This is the Library of Congress,” says one suspect. “People don’t die here. This is where they come to learn.” But will Kit learn the truth in time to save her husband’s reputation, let alone herself? In Colleen Shogan’s “Larceny at the In the end, it becomes a race Library,” the stakes are high but amateur sleuth Kit Marshall and to find the killer before the her team are up to the challenge. killer finds her. Colleen Shogan previously worked as a staffer in the US Senate and as a senior executive at the Library of Congress. She is currently the Senior Vice President at the White House Historical Association and Director of the David Rubenstein Center for White House History. This is her sixth Washington Whodunit mystery, with