Hi, all, I’m Jenna Quinn, and I now own Baxter’s Book Emporium, although I’ll be changing the name soon. . .if I stay in Hokes Folly, North Carolina. I recently inherited the store, and the apartment overhead, when my uncle was murdered, and I’m still trying to figure out what I want to do.
These days, my mornings start with coffee, blessed coffee. I sometimes look at the newspaper, and I enjoy staring out my apartment’s huge windows overlooking the historic district where my store is located. After a quick breakfast, I go down the spiral staircase to my bookstore below.
My background is in accounting, although I left that profession rather abruptly and under not-so-nice circumstances. But the past is the past. . .I hope. Now I’m learning the book industry little by little, with the help of new friends and acquaintances.
Hokes Bluff Inn, converted from the town founder’s three-hundred-plus-room mansion built in the late eighteen hundreds, has turned the town into a historical hot spot, and the Town Council strives to keep the historic feel to the small town. As a result, the shops in the historic district must be the type that might have been here around the turn of the twentieth century. Along with my bookstore, where I sell used and antique books, the cobbled walking-street is lined with stores such as candle shops, vintage clothing shops, a couple of small pubs, a men’s clothing store—well, you get the picture.
I’ve learned my way around my new town, and I’ve gotten to know my neighbors. I hope soon to explore the nearby national forests, here in the North Carolina mountains.
For now, rainy days are pretty slow, since no cars are allowed on the street and folks have to park at the end of the district and walk in, so I usually spend time trying to learn more about antique books and how to price them. Sunny days mean lots of customers, including some who bus in from other areas for day trips to see the sights and shop. In the evenings, I spend time with my next-door neighbor, Rita, who works at the Inn, or with Keith, the sexy police detective.
This is definitely not where I thought my life would be at twenty-six. However, once I can solve my uncle’s murder, I think I might just stay and make a new start here. Time will tell.
For Whom the Book Tolls is the first book in the NEW “Antique Bookshop” cozy mystery series, released September 8, 2020.
In this cozy series debut from Laura Gail Black, Jenna Quinn finds her uncle murdered in his antique bookstore, and Jenna–his primary beneficiary–becomes the prime suspect.
Trouble follows Jenna Quinn wherever she goes. Fleeing some unsavory doings in her hometown of Charlotte, Jenna accepts her uncle’s gracious invitation to stay with him in small-town Hokes Folly, NC. In exchange, she’ll help him out in his antiquarian bookstore. But soon after she arrives, Jenna finds her uncle’s body crumpled at the base of the staircase between his apartment and the bookstore.
Before the tragedy even sinks in, Jenna learns that she’s inherited almost everything her uncle owned: the store and apartment, as well as his not-so-meager savings and the payout from a life insurance policy…which adds up to more than a million dollars. This is all news to Jenna–bad news, once the police get wind of her windfall. An ill wind, indeed, as a second murder cements Jenna’s status as the prime suspect in both deaths.
Jenna can hit the road again, taking her chances that she can elude trouble along the way. Or she can stick it out in Hokes Folly, take over the bookstore, and try to sleuth out her uncle’s killer. On the one hand, she’s made some wonderful new friends, and she feels she can thrive in the genial small-town environment. On the other hand, trouble knows her address–and so does the killer, who is determined to write the final page of Jenna’s story.
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Meet the author
Laura Gail Black writes cozy mysteries on the beautiful shores of Lake Marion in South Carolina, where she lives with her husband and four rescue dogs. She began collecting antique books when she worked in a used an antique bookstore in college. Today, Laura’s bookshelves contain many antique books, some of which are close to 200 years old. When not writing or playing with her dogs, Laura creates her own jewelry, crochets, cross-stitches, spends time on the water with her husband, and enjoys all things tea.
Visit Laura online at lauragailblack.com.
All comments are welcomed.