We are saddened by the news of Eric Jerome Dickey’s passing on January 3, 2021 at age 59. The bestselling author has written many beloved classics including Milk in My Coffee, Sleeping with Strangers, and Friends and Lovers. He leaves behind a catalogue of amazing work, including over 25 novels depicting romance, erotica, and suspense from the Black perspective.
All is fair in love and lust in this tale of two brothers, four women, and the business of desire. Through this novel, Eric Jerome Dickey paints a powerful portrait of the family we have, the families we create, and every sexy moment in between.
Valerie, Inda, and Chiquita are three women looking for love in Los Angeles. Sexy and in-your-face, Sister, Sister depicts a modern world where women may have to alter their dreams, yet never stop embracing tomorrow.
With Cheaters, the bestselling author rips the covers off the L.A. singles scene–exposing the lovelorn lives, and lowdown lies, of six young professionals.
The New York Times bestselling book that stirred up controversy and got readers talking—and passionately debating—Eric Jerome Dickey’s bold portrait of racial identity and subtle understanding of sexual intimacy.
Start 2021 off right with a new book from the Lucky Day Collection on Overdrive. It’s a great way to access eBooks and eAudiobooks with no wait! Take a look, you might find your new favorite book.
You don’t have to wait until January 1st to start working on your resolutions. If your goals focus on elevating your body, mind, and spirit these eBooks. You can download them instantly with Hoopla. Happy New Year!
2020 was a crazy year full of many ups and downs for many. One of the ups is definitely all of the amazing books that hit Pratt’s shelves this year! Here’s a look at some of the top books for the year. There’s still time to pick up a copy using Sidewalk Service or download to read before the ball drops on the 31st!
If buildings were listed on the Internet Movie Database (imdb.com), the Central Library would have quite an impressive filmography. Several television shows, including NBC’s Homicide: Life On the Street (1993-1999) and Fox’s short-lived Past Life (2010) have filmed episodes at the library, and the CEO’s boardroom even made a cameo appearance in the 2005 George Clooney movie Syriana. But for high-profile “Central casting,” nothing tops the featured role the Central Library played in “The Mud Nest,” a 1961 episode of the popular CBS TV series Route 66 (1960-1964.) Fortunately, you can now watch this Season 2 episode and the complete series for free on Hoopla using your library card!
Marty Milner and George Maharis get their kicks on Route 66
For those of you too young to remember, Route 66 starred Martin Milner (future star of Adam-12) and George Maharis (Exodus) as young drifters Tod Stiles and Buz Murdock. From 1960-1964, these two restless road warriors traveled across America (though rarely on Route 66) in their sporty Chevrolet Corvette on CBS’ popular Friday night drama series. One of the most appealing aspects of the show – besides its outstanding writing, groovy Nelson Riddle theme song, and a stellar cast of guest stars (many of whom – like William Shatner, Ed Asner, Julie Newmar, Lee Marvin, and Milner’s future Adam-12 co-star Kent McCord – would go on to later fame and acclaim) – was that it was filmed entirely on location, serving as a sort of dramatic travelogue throughout the U.S. at a time when the nation was much more provincial than today’s homogenized landscape with a Starbucks or 7-11 on every corner.
Hess, MD served as the fictional town of Hester in “Route 66”
“The Mud Nest” episode of Route 66 opens in the fictional “nowhere bend in the road” town “Hester” (the very real town of Hess, MD near Sunnybrook Farms). There, a chance encounter with a rural Maryland family bearing a striking resemblance to him leads Buz to Baltimore where, with the help of Pratt Library and a police detective, he searches for the woman who might be his birth mother.
Lon Chaney, Jr. as Grandpa Colby with Marty Milner
Buz learns that he’s related to the Colby clan (with George Maharais’s real-life siblings – brothers Mark and Hank and sister Cleopatra – making cameo appearances), and meets a cantankerous relation, Grandpa Colby, who’s played by Lon Chaney, Jr. Colby gives Buz a picture of his alleged birth mother, Dorothea, whom the adopted Buz never knew.
Buz and Tod drive up Charles Street past the Washington Monument
In Baltimore, the boys drive past the Washington Monument, The Block, and the old Victorian Gothic-style Pine Street police station, where Buz meets Lt. Tagelar, a Missing Persons detective played by a young Ed Asner.
A young Ed Asner played a Baltimore detective who tracks down missing persons.
And then they arrive at the Central Library, for even though they are out-of-towners, Tod and Buz already know the best place in town to go for information!
Central casting: Enoch Pratt Central Library, 400 Cathedral Street, Mount Vernon.
Buz and Todd ascend the steps to the Best & Next Dept.’s mezzanine
Polk’s Baltimore City Directories
Buz and Tod flip through Baltimore City Directories
After concluding their library research, Buz and Tod head across town to Johns Hopkins Hospital, where Buz has an emotional encounter with nurse Dorothea Colby (played by Betty Field), who has changed her name to Thompson. It turns out (spoiler alert!) she isn’t Buz’s mother and became a nurse only after she lost a child and resolved to help future newborns. “Please, don’t hate your mother,” she pleads. “She gave you life, which is more than I could give my child.” In a touching final scene, the two strangers end up bonding as a surrogate mother and child. For a guide to all the Baltimore locations in this episode, check out Doug Dawson’s excellent photos and commentary at ohio66, as well as Frederick N. Rasmussen’s “Heading back down Route 66” Baltimore Sun article (June 3, 2012).
