BURIED IN A BOOK: A Novel Idea Mystery - Lucy Arlington

"My first day as an intern at the Novel Idea Literary Agency began with a caramel latte, a stack of five hundred query letters, and a dead man. I don't know which was worse: the queries or the corpse."

After receiving her first pink slip at the age of forty-five, former newspaper journalist Lila Wilkins is desperate for work, even if it means taking a pay cut. After combing through the classifieds, Lila accepts an internship at A Novel Idea, a thriving literary agency in the utopian town of Inspiration Valley, North Carolina.

Lila can't imagine anything better than being paid to read, but with a crew of quirky coworkers and a sky-high stack of of query letters, she doesn't exactly have time to discover the next great bestseller---especially when a penniless aspiring author drops dead in the agency's waiting room.

No one else seems too concerned about the man's demise, but when Lila uncovers a series of threatening letters, she's determined to uncover who killed the man's dreams of literary stardom.....

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I have found another favorite mystery series! I loved Lila, her mother and wanted to hug Lila's son. As much as I loved the well-written mystery, I really liked how Lila pulled herself up by the proverbial bootstraps and didn't mope overly much over losing her job, having to move in with her mother and losing communication skills with her teenage son. Lila looked for, and got, a new job that she knew would be hard, but doing something she'd enjoy.

I now have another village I want to live in. Inspiration Valley, North Carolina could easily be too precious for words (sorry), but it works here. It's a town full of creative people making a living doing what they love. I wish there was a sandwich shop nearby like Catcher in the Rye that's in the book. They have fab sounding sammies and customers are assigned book characters upon ordering their fare.

One of my favorite characters, Amazing Althea, is Lila's psychic kind of kooky mom. She helps people solve their problems with psychic advice and chocolate banana bread. She's always there for her daughter and grandson, helping however she can.

Five sparkly I wanna get paid to read too diamonds.....