Jenn McKinlay: There is nothing I love better than a mystery about books and libraries, so I am delighted to invite Dorothy St. James to tell us all about what inspires her amateur sleuth Tru Beckett in the Beloved Bookroom Mysteries volume two, which drops on September 28th!
 |
| ORDER NOW |
Dorothy St. James: When I started writing about Tru’s secret basement bookroom—complete with card catalog and book slips—in the Beloved Bookroom Mystery series, I started to pine for a library like the one I was writing about that I could visit in real life. I often do that. I wrote about a bean-to-bar chocolate shop in the Southern Chocolate Shop Mysteries and started to buy and savor high-quality chocolates. When I was writing the White House Gardener Mystery series, I took classes and became a master gardener. I suppose you could say that I tend to throw myself one hundred percent into my work.
Luckily for me, I didn’t have to go far to find a library like the one my intrepid sleuth had created. In fact, I found a wonderful library in the town where I grew up. Stepping through the doors of the Timrod Library in the Town of Summerville, South Carolina is like stepping back in time. Steeped in history, this private membership library has been operating in its current location since 1915.
At the Timrod Library, there are no computers. When you walk through the front doors, you’re greeted by a huge card catalog. The librarians who work there are welcoming and friendly and eager to help you find the book you didn’t know you’d come looking for. The collection has been carefully curated to meet the members’ needs. In the back of the library, a curious reader will be delighted to find the historic book collection containing two rooms filled with wonderful old books. If not for libraries like this one, some of these books might be forever lost.
Tru would certainly approve of the place if she had the time to visit it. But she’s been terribly busy dealing with the troubling rumors running around town about her. She’s also been investigating a mysterious lady who seems to have a connection to the used bookstore owner. There’s a vandal that keeps targeting the secret bookroom, a murder, and the most vicious apple pie contest this side of the Mississippi.
But don’t worry. Tru and her friends will be able to handle it all…maybe…we hope.
Does your town have a special library? What do you love about it?
To read more about Trudell Becket’s special library, be sure to check out A Perfect Bindwhen it comes out September 28.
A Perfect Bind
A Dead Body.
A Library in Shambles.
And a Town Drowning in Rumors.
"A librarian's guilty secret is imperiled when murder stalks the library. ... It’s not easy to guess the killer in this amusing cozy filled with romantic angst and peculiar characters." ~ Kirkus Review
Dorothy St. James is the author of several cozy mystery series. She lives in the Lowcountry of South Carolina with her sculptor husband. Dorothy is a member of Mystery Writers of America (MWA) and the International Thriller Writers (ITW) and Sister’s in Crime (SinC). This is her second Beloved Bookroom Mystery.
Follow Dorothy Online:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/dorothy.stjames
Twitter: www.twitter.com/dorothywrites
Instagram: www.instagram.com/dorothymcfalls
Website: www.dorothystjames.com
