My plan this year for my contributions to Friday's Forgotten Books hosted by Pattinase
is to feature books I read 20 years ago - in 1993- from the records I
have in my "little green book", which I started in 1975.In 1993 I read 111 books and was pretty well addicted to crime fiction by then.
I read MURDER BY THE BOOK in August 1993.
It was published in 1991, #2 in the Verity Birdwood series.
Synopsis (Amazon)
Publishing company, Berry & Michaels, is celebrating its recent takeover by a UK-based conglomerate, and the arrival of its new English managing director. But, strangely, some of the staff don't seem to be in a party mood.
From FictionDB
IT WAS THE PUBLISHING EVENT OF THE SEASON...UNTIL SOMEONE ADDED MURDER TO THE MENU.
When Quentin Hale, the ruthless new takeover boss of one of Australia's oldest publishing houses, launched a glittering round of parties, interviews, and book signings to promote his top four authors, he unwittingly whipped up a recipe for disaster.
His jolly author of popular gardening books was actually a notorious lush. His successful authoress of muckraking biographies was a malicious troublemaker. And his queen of children's books had once shared a disastrous love affair with his number-one novelist, a man teetering on the brink of yet another nervous breakdown.
The disgruntled staff could have warned Hale that the promotion was a deadly mistake, if he'd asked. But even they couldn't have known just how deadly...until one famed author downed a fatal drink and a second soon went missing. Now it looks as if someone in this literary crew has been plotting murder all along. Can editor Kate Delaney and her friend Birdie catch the killer before he writes off his next victim?
Verity Birdwood
Grim Pickings (1988)
Murder by the Book (1989)
Death in Store (1991)
The Makeover Murders (1992)
Stranglehold (1993)
Lamb to the Slaughter (1995)
About the author
Jennifer June Rowe is an Australian author. Her crime fiction for adults is published under her own name, while her children's fiction is published under the pseudonyms Emily Rodda and Mary-Anne Dickinson. She is well known for the children's fantasy series Deltora Quest, Rowan of Rin, Fairy Realm and Teen Power Inc., and recently the Rondo trilogy.
"Murder on the menu" and "recipe for disaster" suggest that this might not be my cup of tea -- though cups of tea may well figure in.
ReplyDeleteIt has been many years, but I remember enjoying Rowe's series :)
ReplyDelete