Friday, October 28, 2011

Forgotten Books: The Gathering Place -- Jon L. Breen

Why hasn't someone reprinted this book? It has some of the elements that are really popular now, and it's a fine story.

The setting is Vermillion's, a place where used books are sold. The owner has died, and his niece, Rachel Hennings, inherits it. She plans to keep it open, but of course complications develop. Some of them are supernatural. For one thing, Rachel discovers that she can reproduce exactly the signatures of dead authors.

And of course there's a murder. The victim is the ghostwriter of a novel supposedly by a famous Hollywood author.

Some (not me, but you know who you are) might object to the supernatural stuff, but this is a fair-play detective novel with book lore and characters that even skeptics can enjoy. Inexpensive copies abound on the Internet. Check it out.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I generally am one who objects (J'accuse!) to the supernatural stuff. In this case probably not so much. Because it's by Breen, I'll probably get a copy.