Welcome to Murder by the Book's blog about what we've read recently. You can find our website at www.mbtb.com.

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Sink Trap, by Christy Evans ($6.99)

Local girl makes good! Oregon coast author Christy Evans has a new series, which starts off with Sink Trap. Georgiana Neverall has unwillingly traded a high-flying dot-com life in Silicon Valley for a life as a plumber's apprentice back in her small hometown of Pine Ridge, Oregon. While Evans only hints at Georgiana's dot-com background and the mysterious scandal that drove her back to Oregon in this book, there's still plenty of story left.

Lots of people have Georgiana's back, whether she wants their help or not. Her boss, Barry or "Bear," is a genuine good guy and willing to give a girl a break in a man's business. His wife, Paula, is Pine Ridge's librarian and a good storyteller. Wade, her high school sweetheart, is trying to re-establish a romantic relationship with her. Sue, her best friend, is a dog groomer. (Georgiana's interaction with her dogs is a nice, humorous sidelight.) And Sandra is her mother and oil to Georgiana's water. Sandra has gone from a homebody doctor's wife to a glamorous real estate agent.

Besides being about the mystery Georgiana must solve – that of a missing retired librarian – Sink Trap is a story of Georgiana's personal quest to redefine herself, and that is the real charm of this book. As attractive as it is to read about a young woman enthusiastically eating pizza, hamburgers, fondue, and other heart-stopping fare, so I can live vicariously through her, the addition of plumbing details is the unexpectedly compelling touch. (To those of us who are fans of Mike Holmes on HGTV, this is bread and butter talk.)

No sex. No swearing. Just good old-fashioned plumbing common sense.

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