Susan Collins, editor-in-chief of The Glory Examiner, loves her home town. She knows everyone and everyone knows and trusts her. They remember her calm confidence when she was the voice on the line for the local 911. Susan’s dad is a bit of a problem, but now she has a new worry–the accountant who’s been brought in to make the paper profitable. Mark Tremayne is that accountant–a recently divorced man who has sworn off women but who has come back to Glory to help save his sister’s investment in the paper. Mark and Susan do not see eye-to-eye on how to save the paper, but when Mark looks at Susan, or she looks at him, sparks of desire fly.
The interactions between Susan and Mark will remind readers of those great television series Remington Steele and Moonlighting, but neither of those shows had the zany and endearing characters who populate this novel. Susan’s poker buddies (all men) are full of wit and advice, and a trio of octogenarians who have watched too much CSI are determined to solve all the crimes in town, real or imagined. But it’s not all charm and romantic tension; beneath the cheerful surface of the town there are problems. Someone had a hand in the till of a church’s main fundraiser, and Susan’s dad is slipping into a serious drinking problem.
This is the second novel by Karen Hawkins set in the fictitious town of Glory, North Carolina. The first novel, Talk of the Town, was published in 2008.
Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.
