The Book Thing

By Laura Lippman

Tess Monaghan wants to like the Children's Bookstore. It's new, bright, friendly and packed with the kinds of books that she is dying for her daughter to fall in love with. But the owner's attitude stops her in her tracks. What kind of children's bookseller hates children?

But Octavia, the owner, has a lot on her mind. Each Saturday, someone steals a stack of her most beautiful, most expensive children's books, and the expense threatens to force her fledgling store out of business. Luckily, Tess is not only a book lover – she's also a private investigator who doesn't mind working pro bono to help an independent bookshop. Her investigation will make Octavia smile for the first time in months – and uncover a crime more suitable for the mystery aisle than the children's section.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
• Release date: Apr 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781781858332

Laura Lippman

Since Laura Lippman’s debut, she has been recognized as a distinctive voice in mystery fiction and named one of the “essential” crime writers of the last 100 years. Stephen King called her “special, even extraordinary,” and Gillian Flynn wrote, “She is simply a brilliant novelist.” Her books have won most of the major awards in her field and been translated into more than twenty-five languages. She lives in Baltimore and New Orleans with her teenager.