Remaindered

Peter Lovesey is an award-winning, contemporary mystery author who specializes in British police procedurals, both contemporary and historical. This short story was written for The Mysterious Bookshop's Bibliomystery series.

Agatha Christie murdered Robert Ripple. Well...more specifically, Robert Ripple, a bookstore owner, had a heart attack while moving a box of first edition Christie novels. Robert had no heirs and no mourners, except for his recently hired assistant, Tanya Tripp, and the three members of the Friends of England, who met in his bookstore on Friday nights. Tanya continues to run the bookstore while the attorneys are looking for both a will and any heirs, and she discovers that the box of first edition Christies may be show more worth substantially more than the $500 that Robert paid for them. As Robert did not keep any sort of records, Tanya is soon tempted by them. There are more thieves in the story, as it turns out the Friends of England are former members of Butch Rafferty's gang, and they have their own ideas about the disposition of Robert's bookstore.

Peter Lovesey has become one of my favorite authors. His writing flows very well, and I feel so drawn in to the books that it feels as though I am not really reading them. However, I don't think this short story is one of his best efforts. It may be because it is set in the US and his usual setting is the UK. None of the characters felt very sympathetic to me, and come to think of it, there was really no mystery at all, just secrets about the characters that the author reveals throughout the story. It was set in the fictional town of Poketown, Pennsylvania, but at one point, Lovesey refers to "..an open verdict was returned at the inquest." Hmmm...I'm guessing that Lovesey just dashed this one out for The Mysterious Bookshop and didn't really care too much about it. show less