Book 1 of 5 in the Writer’s Apprentice series
Lena London has found her dream job: assistant to her all-time favorite romantic suspense writer Camilla Graham. Offered an interview upon graduation, Lena is immediately hired by Camilla and she and her cat Lestrade move into Graham House in Blue Lake, IN. Lena can’t believe her luck. She and Camilla bond almost instantly and Lena begins helping her edit/coauthor her newest book. The beautiful house is a dream home located on a hill overlooking eponymous lake in Blue Lake, filled with German Shepherds (Heathcliff and Rochester, of course), a cook, and a secret room. The town itself is quaint and friendly and Lena starts to make friends and settle into her dream career.
Things take a dark turn when Lena discovers a body on the beach near Camilla’s house. Of course the two writers can’t resist helping to solve a real-life mystery that I can’t explain without giving away the plot. Suffice to say that attractive and mysterious neighbor Sam West is the main suspect at first. A newcomer to Blue Lake from New York City, West seeks anonymity in the Midwest town because his soon-to-be-ex wife went missing in New York. The press and public assume had been murdered by Hill. Unlike everyone else, Camilla and Lena believe Hill is innocent. This turns into an on-going plot that will stretch into the next book.
There’s a romantic element with both Detective Doug Heller and Sam West attracted to spunky Lena. Heller is clean cut, decent, and befriends Lena when he finds her on the road dealing with her cat who is loose in the car, having escaped his cat carrier.
I was drawn into this story right away. I can admit to you, my fellow mystery lovers, that in grad school I daydreamed of working with my mystery idol Frederick Dannay (Ellery Queen) so Lena’s scenario really hit home. In my case, Dannay was already dead but I can vicariously live out my daydream through Lena who comes to see Camilla as a big-sister/mother figure. I like the cozy small-town setting, the characters and their pets, and the fact that Lena becomes West’s champion. She’s smart enough to find clues about his missing wife that never occur to his private investigator.
Another thing I really like is the epigraphs at the beginning of each chapter. Instead of being famous sayings, they are quotes from the novel Camilla and Lena working on, The Salzburg Train. They sound like excerpts straight from a Mary Stewart novel. It’s telling that the book is dedicated her, “For Mary Stewart, who was the best.”
I’ve already started reading the second book and I’m sad to find that there are only five books in this series I’m already in love with. — Cathy Akers-Jordan