The University of South Carolina Trivia Book
By Elizabeth Cassidy West
Published by Lyons Press, $22.95
Release Date: 2024

OK, Gamecocks fans, current students, and University of South Carolina (USC) alumni, it’s time to put the knowledge of your sacred school to the test by putting The University of South Carolina Trivia Book in your hands. Written by USC alumna and school archivist Elizabeth Cassidy West, this book is divided into trivia that is split into seven categories, including “Student Life and Traditions,” “Faculty,” “Campus,” “Athletics,” and more. 

More than 500 questions and answers span over 200 years of USC historic and recent facts that range from fun and bizarre to educational and impactful. For example, do you know which Carolina alumnus was portrayed by Samuel L. Jackson? What student act became known as the Great Biscuit Rebellion? What two traditions came out of the 1902 Carolina-Clemson game? And which campus building once served as a morgue?

The book would make a great gift, a must for game night or traveling, or just an ice breaker on the coffee table.

Death on the Back Nine: A Myrtle Beach Mystery
By Caleb Wygal
Published by Franklin/Kerr Press, $17
Release Date: 2024

This sixth book in the series by mystery maven Caleb Wygal, Death on the Back Nine, as the name implies, focuses on Myrtle Beach’s staple sport of golf. But the round of golf played at Swaying Palms Golf Course in this mystery turns deadly. On the day that Clark Thomas and his brother, Bo, hit the course for some friendly rivalry on the greens, a player ahead of them is murdered on the 11th hole, which reunites Clark and Detective Moody to solve another investigation. The duo digs deeper to uncover secrets, grudges, and suspicions of the victim’s friends. Clark also discovers, as he delves into this mystery, that the puzzle pieces in the mystery that still surrounds the death of his wife, Autumn, is connected in some layers. Sit back and enjoy reading how the clues of this Myrtle Beach Mystery unravels. In the book’s dedication, I love that Wygal admits that most of it was written while waiting to pick up his at Lakewood Elementary School in the afternoon pickup line.