When the steel door opens, a 72- year-old man with dyed black hair steps out into the new world. He has spent 28 years behind these walls, for taking all the heat that resulted from a botched holdup in which the big boss’ only son was killed, and for which he was responsible. We know he’s a man who lives in a world where each has a debt to be paid.

It once was lost, but now it’s found. Chef Erin French has created quite a find at her Lost Kitchen restaurant in a beautiful old Belfast bank building.

AUGUSTA — Author Amy Waldman will be the highlight of a month-long series of events celebrating Lithgow Public Library’s annual community-wide reading project, A Capital Read.

Ever since Dashiell Hammett introduced us to Sam Spade in “The Maltese Falcon” 83 years ago, hundreds of writers have adopted his formula, flooding the bookshelves with wisecracking private eyes who work both sides of the law, disrespect authority, icily stare down gun barrels and conceal an immutable code of honor beneath a cynical outer shell.

The nominations are in. The excitement is palpable of course, because those scary cliff-hanging elections are over and all the truly important life changing things in the world are all too big to get our heads around. Of course there is nothing any of us can do to affect the outcome of the Oscars or the Golden Globes, SAG Awards, People’s Choice or the American Legion pic for best war movie, but somehow we all feel that if we close our eyes on Oscar night, clap our hands and click our sparkly red heels together, our favorite people will win.

Humorist Dave Barry has produced his first solo adult novel in over 10 years, and it’s hysterical. In a story reminiscent of “The Hangover” films, Seth is marrying a woman who is drop-dead gorgeous, and his buddies have the ultimate bachelor party planned.

BY OLINE H. COGDILL Sun Sentinel COVER OF SNOW By Jenny Milchman Ballantine Books, 336 pages, $26 A young widow’s grief and naivete evolve into paranoia and a sense that she has no idea what is really going on in the quiet town where she lives in Jenny Milchman’s stunning debut. Milchman tackles small-town angst […]