EVERY TRICK IN THE BOOK by Lucy Arlington

Publisher:   Berkley

Date published:   February 5, 2013

ISBN:  978-0425251676

Genre:   cozy mystery

Book format: Paperback

Obtained via:  Publisher

Reviewed by name and email address:  Gina Ginalrmreviews@gmail.com

Four months after being offered a full time position as an literary agent for the Novel Idea Agency Lila Wilkins’s life is pretty darn good.  She has a job she loves, a cozy cottage, a great guy and her son, Trey, is coming into his own. Well, maybe things with Trey aren’t quite what she would like, but he seems to be thriving at the nature based co-op. Things are busy at the agency with reading queries, requesting manuscripts and now planning Inspiration Valley’s first Book and Author Festival. Oh…and Lila is tasked with hiring the agency’s new intern. Her job becomes decidedly easier when Vicky comes on the scene and takes things well in hand.

The festival kicks off with a bang. Authors and readers converge on the town and Lila finds a few gems during pitch sessions. She also meets a woman, Melissa Plume, who bears a very strong resemblance to her. You’d almost think they were related.

Things don’t turn out quite the way she expects. In fact, they take a decided downturn when Melissa turns up dead. Despite her police officer gentleman friend, Sean’s, admonitions, Lila can’t help but start her own query into the murder. When another woman turns up dead she has to wonder if maybe she’s the next victim.

Things become a tad more complicated when Trey confesses things at the Co-op aren’t quite what he expected.  Things are changing up on the mountain and he’s not all that happy to be excluded. More than unhappy he believes something nefarious may be doing on.  Concerned for her son but wanting to support him in making his own decisions Lila does what she can to help. When Trey has to flee the Co-op Lila finds herself caught in the middle.

Can Lila find the killer before he…or she…finds her?

I warmed up a bit more to Lila in Lucy Arlington’s second book in their Novel Idea Mystery series, EVERY TRICK IN THE BOOK.  There were still times when at one point she would seem like a giddy teen and then abruptly change into a mature woman. The dating scenes with her and Sean, or the dates they tried to have, seemed a tad forced at times. As a cozy mystery I don’t expect romance so what there is can add some wonderful flavour to a story.

I liked the idea of the book and author festival.  What a great setting for a mystery!  The characters attending were entertaining and the “submissions” were fun to read. I wasn’t keen on the scenes that took place around the Co-op. For me that thread was kind of boring.

My personal jury is out on Vicky, the new intern. She’s just too wonderful. You have to wonder if she is as terrific as she sounds or if she’s hiding some deep dark secret that will come out somewhere along the way. She may look like a sweet retired librarian but I suspect there’s a whole lot more going on below that kind exterior.

I’m looking forward to the next book in this series and where the authors take Lila and her family.

This is an objective review and not an endorsement of this book.

 

BURIED IN A BOOK by Lucy Arlington

Publisher:   Berkley

Date published:   February 7, 2012

ISBN:  978-0425246191

Genre:   cozy mystery

Book format: Paperback

Obtained via:  Publisher

Reviewed by name and email address:  Gina Ginalrmreviews@gmail.com

After twenty years of dedicated service as a features writer for the Dunstan Herald, a job she thought would be hers for basically forever, Lila Wilkins suddenly finds herself out on the street.  Well not exactly on the street.  She does have a home and she’d got smarts and gumption. Disappointed but not down for the count she returns home and sets about finding a new job. She is thrilled to see that a Novel Idea Literary agency is looking for an intern!  Granted, it will be a pay cut. But it could also be the gateway to a fantastic job—a career changing one at that. Following a telephone interview she’s told the job is hers. The next morning, excited about her prospects, Lila boards a train to Inspiration Valley and her new career. The coffee shop and it’s friendly counterperson set the stage for a super situation. She quickly envisions mornings of caramel lattes, days of discovering new and exciting authors and evenings of great reads.

Things don’t turn out quite the way she expects. In fact, they take a decided downturn.

First a wanna be author turns up dead not just in the agency but on the same couch she has been using as her work space. She returns home that evening sure that a murder has been committed. Things take another curve when Trey, her son, is taken into custody for trashing the school yard—with Lila’s car. With the cut in pay, money owed to the school and now having to buy a new car Lila isn’t quite sure how she’s going to make ends meet. But before she can engage in her own personal pity party—not that she is the type to engage in one—her mother calls and tells Lila she’s got a place with her for as long as she needs.

Trey isn’t so pleased to be moving in with his grandmother but things being what they are, Lila and Trey move in. Trey is still having issues but more than that, things at the agency are taking some decidedly scary turns. When it appears the wanna be writer may have been murdered, Lila cannot help but want to figure out who done it. Will the killer now set his…or her…sights on Lila?

BURNED IN A BOOK is the first of Lucy Arlington, the nom de plume for the writing team of Ellery Adams and Sylvia May’s Novel Idea Mystery series. To their credit, for the most part, their writing is seamless. Generally you really can’t tell where one ends off and the other begins but at other times it is a bit choppy and I wondered why certain scenes were there. Over all they are really in synch with each other’s writing and given that Ellery Adams writes cozies and Sylvia May writes women’s fiction that’s saying a lot. You can see each author’s particular brand in the story—Lila is a middle aged woman and there is a mystery that draws you into wondering just who killed Marlette. The idea of a mystery series in a publishing agency is intriguing and lends itself to some great story lines.

The heroine is different from many cozy sleuths because she is middle aged.  She’s not quite Miss Marple but neither is she the late-20’s-early 30’s detective we see in many cozies. I didn’t exactly warm up to her as a character. At times she was the mature mother struggling to keep her career on track. At other times she acted a bit like a 20-something ingénue, especially around Zack and Officer Griffiths. I suspect in later books she will come into her own personality.  There were points where I felt the authors had a check list of elements needed for a good book and did their best to include them. Like many cozies lately there is the requisite gay couple and at least one ethnic character. Whether they are included to flesh out the story or to appear more diverse isn’t clear and doesn’t really matter. There just seem to be elements that are either mandated to be included or authors feel should be.

I did like the characters Franklin and Addison and Makayla. I suspect Lila will grow on me as the series progresses. Like I said, I have a feeling she is going to come into her own. I love the idea of Inspiration Valley and the way the agency is set up. It sounds like the perfect kind of place to work.

This is an objective review and not an endorsement of this book.