Lila Watkins is settling in to her new promotion as a
literary agent at the Novel
Idea Literary Agency, she's moving into a new house, and
things are going
well with her new boyfriend. What more could she want? But
as she's
moving, she breaks a gorgeous art-deco mirror, and her
mother, who tends
to be somewhat of psychic tells Lila that trouble is headed
her way. Lila tries
to ignore her mother's premonition, knowing that everything
in her life seems
to be going well so why should things change?
At work, one of Lila's duties is to help plan the upcoming
Book and Author
Festival, including hiring someone to take her former
position as an intern at
Novel Idea. Fortunately, Lila hires Vicky almost
immediately, and Vicky's
presence allows the team to pull together a largely
successful Book and
Author Festival -- with the notable exception of an editor's
murder.
Lila meets Melissa, a New York editor, who seems to be her
doppleganger,
and they hit it off immediately. However, the pall is cast
over the festival
when Melissa is killed. As Lila had a bizarre and
intimidating interaction with
an aspiring author, she worries that she was the intended
target, and that
Melissa was merely an innocent bystander.
Lila can't help but begin an ad hoc investigation, driven by
her guilt. Her
boyfriend warns her away from the investigation, but when a
fledgling author
is killed, Lila wonders if the two murders are connected and
if the Festival
somehow was a factor. Lila's investigation sees her
collecting a host of
suspects (including authors) with various motives and
recruiting help from her
barista friend, Makayla.
A nice subplot deals with Lila's son, who deferred going to
college in lieu of
joining a nearby co-op community. However, Trey is suddenly
becoming
disillusioned with the leader of the co-op, believing that
Jasper has turned his
back on the co-ops ideals and beliefs. Lila launches a mini
investigation is
quietly find out what is really going on at the mountain,
while still letting her
son make his own decisions regarding his future.
This mystery unravelled quite nicely, although it was a
shame that Melissa was
killed as soon as she and Lila formed such a nice bond. The
culprit's motive
was a shade darker than I typically expect from a cosy, but
not enough so to
be shocking or to be a turn-off. I also enjoyed that I
typically suspected the
same people Lila did (with the exception of the obvious red
herring character).
Lucy Arlington excels at character development, and she
writes relationship's
that many single parents would be jealous of. Lila's
relationship with both
her mother and her son are believable and realistic -- they
don't always
agree, but they disagree respectfully and with talk through
their issues.
Overall, the Novel Idea Mystery series is a
bibliophile's dream come true as far
as cosies go, and I can't wait for the next book in the
series!
The national bestselling Novel Idea Mysteries return with
Lila Wilkins, who has just been promoted to full-time
literary agent. But great new writers aren’t the only people
she’s trying to catch…
Lila Wilkins has it all: the home of her dreams in the
charming town of Inspiration Valley, North Carolina; a
perfect police officer boyfriend; and a new job she
absolutely loves. At the Book and Author Festival, which is
sponsored by the Novel Idea Literary Agency, Lila expects to
discover some talented new authors, but what she finds
instead is the body of an editor to whom she bears an eerie
resemblance.
Trouble is, the editor’s death isn’t the only literary
murder taking place. Soon a blossoming author is also
killed, and Lila has a gut feeling that the two murders are
linked. Now she must hunt down the dark figure who killed
these women—and to her surprise, she just might find the
clues hidden in a manuscript…
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