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Jenny Weston is living with her mother Dora temporarily, post-divorce. There is already one slightly odd writer in the neighborhood, Zoe Zola, an almost famous author working on a new book about the life of Emily Dickinson. Jenny is trying to decide if the budding romance with a local carpenter, a man who designs Little Libraries, is real or just another man leading her down some garden path. Life gets a little more interesting when a mysterious woman begins to leave fragments of poems in Dora's own Little Library. Emily Sutton has been a recluse since she returned to town decades ago; why is she choosing now to come out of the swamp in which she lives? Does it have anything to do with the young woman searching for her uncle, another writer, last seen on his way to visit Ms. Sutton? And where is he?
The news leaks out about Ms Sutton's late night sorties and the possibility of new poems; this brings the powers-that-be in town out of the woodwork and into the lives of Jenny and her friends. None of them see this as a particularly pleasant series of events. Ms. Sutton becomes more demanding even as she remains reclusive and cryptic. Jenny's "friend" is seen with another, very lovely, woman. What else can go wrong? One should never ask this question because there is always an answer, and rarely one that is pleasant.
Buzzelli's setting is delightful, particularly if one has spent time living in a small town. It doesn't have to be in northern Michigan; the dynamics of small-town life tend to by similar no matter where that town is. The characters are interesting, and believable, which is a delight. Jenny does tend to dither a lot, particularly about the course of her life, which is rather to be expected. The story, or at least the ending, will not come as a surprise to long-time readers of mystery fiction; Buzzelli sets the groundwork well, and ups the tension in the final chapters. This is the second book in the Little Library series, and good enough to make one think about finding the first.
§ I have been reading and reviewing mystery fiction for over a quarter of a century and read broadly within just about all genres and sub-genres. I have been a preliminary judge for the Malice Domestic/St. Martin’s Press Best First Traditional Mystery Novel Contest for at least 25 years. I live in Northern lower Michigan with my spousal unit, one large cat, and 2 fairly small dogs.
Reviewed by PJ Coldren, November 2016
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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