Buried in a Book

Buried in a Book
by Lucy Arlington

Lila Wilkins is a middle-aged journalist who loses her job at the Dunstan Herald because of budget cuts. She is the single mother of a teen-age boy who will soon head to college and there are bills to pay. She scrambles around looking for work and happens upon what seems to be the perfect job -- being paid to read. She is hired by the A Novel Idea literary agency to read book queries and to pass the promising ones on to agents. The agency is in Inspiration Valley, North Carolina, a quaint town with a literary bent. The local nursery is called The Secret Garden. A nearby café is named Catcher in the Rye. After customers pay for their meals they are given a fictional name (Miss Marple, Eliza Doolittle) instead of a number and this name is called when the sandwiches are ready. The eccentric characters in this book range from Lila's fortune-telling mother to some of her co-workers to Marlette, the homeless author, who drops dead in the waiting room of A Novel Idea. Everyone, except Lila, believes that he died of natural causes. (After all, he was just a smelly vagrant.) Some things do not make sense to Lila and she looks into Marlette's life. Lila's poking around makes someone nervous and that person makes Lila's life unpleasant. A team of established authors, Ellery Adams and Sylvia May, wrote this enjoyable cozy. Hopefully, there will be more books with these engaging characters. [If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try the works of Avery Aames, Maddy Hunter and Joan Hess.] -- recommended by Donna G. - Virtual Services Department

[ official Lucy Arlington/Buried in a Book web site ]
 
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