ST. LOUIS AUTHOR TO SHARE SLEUTHING KNOW-HOW

Michael A. Kahn knows how to solve a mystery, and he's willing to share his sleuthing expertise with the Friends of the Cape Girardeau Public Library Foundation.

Kahn, author of five legal mysteries, will be the featured guest during a dinner and mystery train ride on the St. Louis Iron Mountain & Southern Railroad Oct. 10. He will help other passengers solve the murder mystery while aboard the passenger train.

Kahn also will speak about his writing career during a presentation that day from 4 to 5 p.m. at the library. He is a practicing attorney in St. Louis who began his writing career after a challenge from his wife.

Kahn's wife challenged him to write a book after he continually complained he could write something better than the latest best seller he read.

The two events are part of a fund-raising activity planned by the foundation. Another fund-raising campaign is planned in the spring.

Tickets for the dinner and train ride, which cost $50, will be on sale at the library beginning Friday and running through Oct. 1.

The Cape Girardeau Public Library depends on fund-raising events to help defray the costs of expenses and programs offered throughout the year. The funds help pay for "services that we need and cannot afford," library director Betty Martin said.

Last year, funds raised from an appearance by Baseball Hall-of-Famer Johnny Bench helped the library buy books for its summer reading program. The books were used as incentive prizes for children who enrolled.

In 1996, Apollo 13 astronaut James Lovell helped kick off the library's fall fund-raising event. Lovell was a well-known speaker who helped gather interest for the campaign. The Friends of the Library and Cape Girardeau Public Library Foundation combined that year.

Other past fund-raising events have helped the library purchase new computers to keep pace with changing technology and an outdoors book drop for patrons, Martin said.

But this year, the foundation wanted to "back away from splashy" events, Martin said, and because mysteries are the most popular genre at the library, selecting a mystery writer to speak seemed a logical choice.

Kahn is the author of five books, including "Due Diligence," "Grave Designs" and "Sheer Gall." Many of his titles are in demand because the mystery genre is so popular with readers, Martin said.

"We have a hard time keeping them on the shelves," she explained.

For more information about the library's fund-raising event, call 334-5279.