The Country Bookshop, the 58-year-old independent bookshop located on Broad Street in downtown Southern Pines, announces its Summer Meet the Author Series which begins on Thursday, June 4.

"What better way to spend time this summer than visiting with some of your favorite authors, meeting new ones, and hearing about their latest books?" asks Bonnie Johnson, bookshop manager.

Thursday, June 4 at 4 p.m. -- Aaron Gwyn, the Charlotte award-winning short-story writer, presents his debut mystery, "The World Beneath" ($23.95), about the search for a 15-year-old boy by the sheriff of a small Oklahoma town, and the parallel story of a veteran of the first Iraq war who discovers a mysterious hole in his backyard that becomes an ominous clue in the sheriff's investigation.

Friday, June 12, at 3 p.m. -- Cathy Holton, author of popular novels, "The Secret Lives of the Kudzu Debutantes" and "Revenge of the Kudzu Debutantes," shares her new novel, "Beach Trip" ($25), about four college friends in their 40s who reunite at a North Carolina beach house where they confront their shared past.

Wednesday, June 17, at 4 p.m. -- Patti Callahan Henry, "one of the South's unforgettable voices," presents her new novel, "Driftwood Summer" ($15), about three sisters who join together to save the family's beach-community bookstore.

Thursday, June 25, at 4 p.m. -- Mothers and their teen daughters will enjoy hearing Nina de Gramont discuss her compelling coming-of-age novel, "Gossip of the Starlings" ($13.95), given four stars by "People" magazine. Set in an exclusive school for girls, the novel is a chilling portrait of an adolescent girl seduced into ruin by an unrelenting peer.

Thursday, July 9, at 4 p.m. -- Local resident Nancy Howe shares "Dear Owie" ($28.95), an engaging collection of letters to her family chronicling her life on a rural North Carolina dairy farm and as co-owner of Aurora Hills, her family's nursery and landscaping business in Pinebluff.

Monday, July 20, at 4 p.m. -- Maryann McFadden, author of "The Richest Season," now in paperback ($14.99), presents "So Happy Together" ($23.99), her new novel, set on the windswept dunes of Cape Cod, about a woman who struggles with her duty to her family while trying to cling to her dreams.

Thursday, July 23, at 2 p.m. at Penick Village -- Jennifer Thompson-Cannino, recently seen on CBS "60 Minutes," shares her unforgettable story of misidentifying Ronald Cotton, found guilty of raping her when she was 22, and the "suffocating, debilitating shame" she felt when DNA tests exonerated him more than a decade later. Cotton, who had been sentenced to life in prison, forgave her, and together they wrote, "Picking Cotton: A Memoir of Injustice and Redemption" ($25.95). A portion of the proceeds from the sale of the book will be donated by The Country Bookshop to the Innocence Project, a nonprofit legal clinic dedicated to exonerating wrongfully convicted people through DNA testing and reforming the criminal justice system to prevent future injustice.

Friday, Aug. 7, 3 p.m. -- In her novel, "Casting Off" ($15), Nicole R. Dickson tells the story of a woman who travels to Ireland with her daughter to research a book on Irish knitting. There they collide with a cantankerous old fisherman who helps them find the faith to forgive without forgetting.

Saturday, Aug. 8, 3 p.m. -- Prize-winning author Denise Giardina, from Charleston, W.Va., presents her novel, "Emily's Ghost" ($24.95), the story of the Bronte sisters told from Emily's viewpoint, including her mythic love affair with an idealistic young clergyman.

Thursday, Aug. 13, 4 p.m. -- Erica Eisdorfer, Duke graduate and manager of the Bull's Head Bookshop at UNC-Chapel Hill, presents her novel, "The Wet Nurse's Tale" ($24.95), about a professional wet nurse in Victorian England who embarks on a terrifying journey to rescue her son, the foster child of a wealthy London family whose own child died under mysterious circumstances.

For information, call The Country Bookshop at (910) 692-3211.