Check out these new arrivals at the Astoria Public Library, and visit the Web site www.astorialibrary.org

Thought by those who knew him to be the kindest man alive, Hawley Crippen was accused of killing his wife and chopping her body into little pieces. Her head has gone missing. The stories of Dr. Crippen and Guglielmo Marconi are interwoven in Erik Larson’s “Thunderstruck,” a nonfiction treatment of a famous murder and the man who invented transatlantic communication. In large print.

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Bill Bryson’s memoir is laugh-out-loud funny from the first paragraph of the preface to the final pages. Bryson was born in the midwest in 1951. The smallest, simplest events become major laughs in any Bryson book. Baseball, superheroes, the nation’s wealth, hometown life – any topic provides occasion for laughter in “The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid.” In large print.

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Following the 2004 elections, Michelle Goldberg toured the nation, interviewing a large number of people for her book, “Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism.” Goldberg was initially interested in the split between liberals and conservatives. She found a widening chasm fueled by ideology and politics.

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Charles Frazier sets his new novel, “Thirteen Moons,” in the developing West of the 19th century. Although only 12 years old, Will Cooper set out with a map, a horse and a key to find the remote trading post he was then to operate. Over the next 80 years, Will would witness love and loss and the many technological changes of the century.

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“Cottage for Sale, Must be Moved,” by Kate Whouley, is one woman’s tale of a romantic notion that was more difficult to implement than she thought. All she had to do was move a small cottage through four Cape Cod towns, get a variance for attaching the cottage to her existing home and settle in. Should be easy.

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“The World Almanac and Book of Facts 2007” has arrived. Since 1868, this almanac has recorded wind, weather, top stories, things that are number one in the U.S., election results, sports and so much more. The most popular car color in the U.S. is silver, the most popular dog breed is the Labrador retriever, and the windiest place in the world – well, you’ll have to look that up for yourself. (Hint: see page 298.)

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Columnist and editor Marjorie Williams died in 2005. “The Woman at the Washington Zoo,” edited by Timothy Noah, includes columns on family, politics and life. Chapters are divided into profiles of the famous, including Barbara Bush and Jeb Bush, essays and a section called “time and chance.”

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Two books discuss exercise and fitness.

“The Slow Burn Fitness Revolution,” by Frederick Hahn, Michael Eades and Mary Ann Eades, demonstrates the effects of slow motion exercise and promises significant changes in one’s body in only 30 minutes per week. According to the authors, the benefits of slow motion exercise include greater strength and metabolic changes.

“The Power of 10,” by Adam Zickerman and Bill Schley, cuts the time investment down even further, claiming that a once-a-week slow motion workout of 20 minutes is all that is needed for maximum fitness. Advice on how to execute perfect repetitions with weights is combined with nutritional suggestions.

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Sunny Randall, Boston’s own private investigator, has been hired by C-list movie mogul Buddy Bollen in “Blue Screen,” by Robert B. Parker. Buddy wants Sunny to protect his new star, Erin Flint, but it is Erin’s sister Misty who turns up dead. Sunny is without a single lead until Jesse Stone, the presiding chief of police, enters the scene. As it will turn out, Sunny and Jesse have much to learn about each other and about the Flint sisters.