Buried in a Book: A Novel Idea Mystery by Lucy Miller
My library has corrals of books
near the circulation desk that you can grab like impulse items at a grocery
store. The library may not appreciate me
comparing them to a grocery store, but I think it’s a great system. The books change depending on what topics
they want to feature, making it a place where you never know what you may
find. When the subject was mysteries, I
found Buried in a Book. It is a
mystery series about a literary agency, so I had to see how it was.
Lila
Wilkins has been fired. “Let go” is
probably the more accurate term since many others are losing their jobs along
with her, but that fact does not make it feel any better. Lila has worked at the newspaper for
years. Now, without her job and her
son’s college tuition coming up, Lila doesn’t know what to do. In desperation, she applies to be an intern
at a literary agency. It isn’t what Lila
expected to be doing with her life, but at least it’s something.
That
something brings a dead body on Lila’s first day of work. A homeless man who had come in inquiring
about his query letter is killed in the exact spot where Lila was working. While no one is exactly thrilled about having
a body in their office, they aren’t particularly upset either. The homeless man was Marlette Robbins, and he
would stop by twice a day, bringing flowers at least once, and drive everyone
crazy. They were always so affronted by
his appearance, that no one ever took the time to listen to what Mr. Robbins
had to say.
With
Marlette Robbins’s death hanging over her, Lila really does not need to also
deal with what her son puts her through.
Bored, Trey accidentally destroys school property with his friends, and
totals her car in the process. With no
way to get to work, Lila and Trey are forced to move in with her mother, a
psychic. It is not an idea situation,
but it does put Lila closer to work, and gives both Lila and Trey the fresh
starts they need.
Of
course, Lila does not expect the fresh start to include a murder
investigation. With the police wrapped
up in an arson case, Lila feels the case for Mr. Robbins will be put on the back
burner, if not ignored altogether.
Despite warnings from the police, Lila takes the case on herself, and
puts herself in more danger than she ever expected.
I
really zipped through this book. Part of
the reason for that is because right away the story got going. Also, what helped, is there are a lot of fun
characters in this book. Lila and Trey
drove me a little crazy, though. Trey’s
lack of consideration for his mother, and Lila’s acceptance of that, really
bothered me. I’m not talking lack of
consideration over little things (although, that shouldn’t happen either), but
that fact that when Trey destroyed his mother’s car, leaving her without a way
to get to work, all he pretty much did was shrug. Then, on top of that, Trey would not get a
job to cover the cost of what he destroyed at the school. Even though it bothered Lila, she pretty much
accepted this, which drove me even further crazy. Fortunately, this behavior did not fully last
through the book, and Lila’s and Trey’s relationship did change, somewhat. For awhile I did not think that was going to
happen, which is why it was so great that Lila’s mother came into the
picture. She was a lot of fun, and I
hope she becomes a more prominent character in future books.
Comments