March in northwest lower Michigan can be summed up in one word: dreary. One highlight for Minnie Hamilton is the bookmobile and her ride-along cat, Eddie. Minnie is trying to let others help and even take the bookmobile out without her. It’s not as easy as it sounds since she loves her job and the people she meets along the way.
Minnie Hamilton adores her job as the assistant director for Lower Michigan’s Chilson’s District Library. She loves even more driving the Bookmobile throughout the lakeshore town, and it’s a testament to her success that her boss and patrons are requesting additional stops throughout the week. While bookmobile cat Eddie serves as an added attraction for patrons and reluctant readers, Minnie and her bookmobile clerk Julia Beaton are already running themselves ragged with their current schedule. They are forced to make another unexpected stop when they come across the body of a bicyclist lying in the road as another car speeds away.
The assistant director of lower Michigan’s Chilson District Library, Minnie Hamilton, is more than a little proud of the bookmobile program she has been running for the past year. She’s also grown accustomed to living on a tiny houseboat until the long winter sets in, at which time Minnie moves into her Aunt Frances’s unique matchmaking boarding house.
Martha Rose is part of a close-knit quilting circle in the San Fernando Valley of California. The newest member has an eye for couture. But when his fingerprints are found at the crime scene where the body of a fellow quilter is found, he is the #1 suspect.
Until she ran into her former boss from Kimper Insurance, Katie Bonner had been having the perfect Labor Day in McKinlay Mill. Only Josh Kimper could have ruined what was a perfect day of sailing around Lake Ontario, as he had lost none of the arrogance, misogyny, or obnoxiousness that had made her life as his office manager hell. Taking over Artisans Alley, a former warehouse transformed into a gallery for crafters and artists, was something Katie had never wished for but discovered was what she needed. Not only is Katie finally making a profit from renting out booths, she is dating her landlord and owner of Angelo’s Pizzeria, Andy Rust.
As winter descends on Chilson, Michigan, no one knows the value of the district library's bookmobile more than its assistant director, Minnie Hamilton. Having lost a grant, and with an expected bequest being contested by disgruntled heirs, Minnie has only six months of operating funds to keep her beloved bookmobile running.
We end this month with another fun group of mysteries from Penguin. We have food, cats, bookmobile, crafts, food, and more: Ill-Gotten Panes by Jennifer McAndrews, Silence of the Lambs Wool by Betty Hechtman, Tailing a Tabby by Laurie Cass, Grace Against the Clock By Julie Hyzy, and Some Enchanted Éclair by Bailey Cates. Details on how to win copies of all 5 books at the end of this post, and a link to purchase them where a portion goes to help support KRL.
After passing on her first choices of becoming either the President or a ballerina, Minerva “Minnie” Hamilton's dream since childhood has always been to be a librarian. She achieved her dream in Chilson, Michigan, where she now works as the assistant director for the Chilson District Library. And despite the best efforts by the director Stephen to discourage her with as many bureaucratic barriers as possible, Minnie managed to fund and now drives the first Chilson District Library Bookmobile.
