Reading the traditional way.

This review has highlighted several extra pitfalls for me with reading the traditional way. When I originally intended to start reading Victoria’s fourth book in the Smart series the first of two that I have been kindly provided with in paperback, my reading schedule was put back by not being able to find anywhere quiet enough where I was for someone to read it out to me, and, because of this it has taken over a week to read, which is ironic given that it is a book about books and a festival.



When a crime writer decides to launch his new book at his own personal retreat where he had arranged panels with other crime writers for the public to attend, the isolated location took on a much more similar flavour for me as I am a regular attender at Harrogate Festivals and have attended Newark several times too.



This book will be really intriguing to talk about on the panel because when authors write about fictional writer characters it can sometimes be funny to spot the many in-jokes that Victoria and other authors seem to put in when they write about the industry.



With a variety of suspects taken from the publishing world, with several interesting axes to grind, other book reading fans will find this novel interesting.



With an isolated location, a quick acting popular poison and a legal element to it too there’s lots of new elements in this book which makes it distinct from the previous three. With the Smarts watching on from the public gallery though, their roll in solving the mystery is still important, but will you get there before them?



With several different people reading it to me I have not been able to find the clues in the same way that I normally would and it is still just as complicated to go back and check if I have missed any, but it will be for you too I’m sure.



Read and examine every word and in doing that you may well enjoy this book.