Brown Bag Concerts continue today

The Thursday Brown Bag Concert Series, co-sponsored by Lawrence Parks and Recreation and Downtown Lawrence, continues today with a performance by Lawrence country-and-western band Borderline Country.

The free show will be from noon to 1 p.m. in front of U.S. Bank, 900 Mass.

Lonnie Ray Blues Band is scheduled to perform next week.

For more information, contact Duane Peterson, special events supervisor for Parks and Recreation, at 832-7940.

Books

Lawrence native to sign new mystery

Lawrence native Sara Paretsky will read from and sign her newest V.I. Warshawski mystery, “Fire Sale,” at 7:30 p.m. today at the Raven Bookstore, 6 E. Seventh St.

In the 12th V.I. Warshawski novel, the private eye leaves aristocratic Lakeview to sub for her old high school basketball coach on Chicago’s South Side. Packed with social themes and moral energy, “Fire Sale” explores the struggles of the working poor and the schemes of the rich and infamous, according to Publisher’s Weekly.

Paretsky, a 1967 Kansas University graduate, is the best-selling author of a dozen novels. She has won numerous awards, including the Silver Dagger Award from the British Crime Writers Assn. and the Marlowe Award from the German Crime Writers Assn. She also helped found Sisters in Crime, an organization for female mystery writers.