Now and then, when I am in Niche Comics Bookshop, I take advantage of their blind date with a book offer. The book in question is gift-wrapped with a small note attached giving a brief, tantalising description of the book written on it.
I misread the note, thinking it was a writing group the note referred to, not a book group. I paid my fiver and took the book home with me to read. I must say at this point that I am a member of The Write Stuff, a writing group that meets monthly on the first floor of Huntingdon’s Niche Comics Bookshop. Apart from myself, I wouldn’t describe any of The Write Stuff members as eccentric, a quality of the book club’s members mentioned on the book’s descriptive label.
The story is set in a Sugar Springs, Mississippi, bookshop, which has its own café attached. This joint enterprise, Books and More, is owned and managed by Arlo Stanley and Chloe Carter (Arlo Books, Chloe café). A former local boy, Wally Harrison, now a best-selling author, is due to launch his new book at Books and More. However, the discovery of his corpse lying face down on the pavement outside Books and More has dealt the planned book launch a lethal blow.
Worse is yet to come: Chloe is investigated for Wally’s murder. Arlo and the book group ladies set about uncovering the truth about Wally’s untimely death.
It was an interesting read but not quite up to Raymond Chandler’s or Dashiell Hammett’s standard.
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