I'm not sure if I actually like this book or not... I might try to read the 2nd one just in case. ( )

I was immersed in The Lost Child, one of my favorite Camilla Graham novels, when an unlikely phone call changed my life.

In my quiet living room, things were placid: I sat on my couch in.blue jeans, a sweatshirt, and fuzzy socks, cuddling my sleeping cat, Lestrade, whose large body practically warmed my entire right side. In the book, things were tense: it was dusk, and the Eiffel Tower gleamed gold in the background. The young Englishwoman, Philippa Earl, waited for the Frenchman, Henri, to get any news he might have about her lost charge, Colin, a sensitive nine-year-old who had somehow been taken from underneath Phillippa's watchful and loving gaze.

Lena London is a recent grad-school graduate with no job, no boyfriend, and nothing to look forward to. That is, until her friend Allison calls her and tells her that Lena's idol, writer Camilla Graham, is in her knitting class and needs an assistant. Lena is over the moon, and after a telephone interview with the author, is hired on the spot.

But Lena's not going to find it all peaches and cream. She meets a reclusive, rude neighbor, and later on finds a dead body on the beach in front of Camilla's home. Now she's stuck in the middle of a murder investigation and wondering what it is that makes the neighbor so attractive to her. But will she find out before the killer finds her?...

I should have known right away about this book when the author (no offense intended) mentioned she loved Mary Stewart books. Mary Stewart, for those who do not know, wrote Gothic mysteries. To wit: a young, innocent woman stumbles into suspense and terror, and there is always a dark, brooding stranger that's hiding secrets but turns out to be 'the one' when All Is Discovered.

So...this is just like that. The 'dark, brooding stranger' turns out to be Sam West, who may or may not be married because his wife just...disappeared, and everyone in town (including the hunky Chief of Police) think he's guilty. So of course, Lena decides that romance with Sam would be so much better than the upstanding, cute, loyal, Doug. Why would you even get involved with someone who might still have a wife somewhere? Lena is stupid.

Not to mention, Sam was extremely rude to her when they met. That's his personality. If a man has it in him to be nasty to a perfect stranger (regardless of his past) then who's to say he's not going to snap at you at some point in the future? No thanks. I also didn't like Sam at all. Doug seemed so much nicer, and more realistic.

Unfortunately, I lost interest in the book right about the time Lena is having breakfast in a crowded cafe and Sam, seeing she's alone, just goes over to her table and sits with her, knowing how the town feels about him. For some reason he doesn't care that she's new in town, and association with him could taint her with the same brush (if these people are that nasty, they would think the worst of her, too).

Also, why were people calling everyone else by their first and last names? Did the author need the word count? It got annoying fast. Since there was only one Sam and one Lena, did she think we’d get them confused with other characters? One can only hope Sam’s wife comes back and they move somewhere else, but I don’t think so. I’m honestly sorry I even started this book. There’s two hours of my life I’ll never get back.

But the worst part was - this is the first in the series and the author ends on a cliffhanger! Or as I call it, holding the reader hostage. It’s as if authors think they won’t sell the second in the series if they don’t do this. This isn’t a TV show where you can see what happens next week - it’s a freaking book, and you might have to wait a year to see what happens. Then, what’s to stop the author from doing it in the next book? Or the next? Nope. I not only won’t read any more in this series, I won’t read any of the author’s other series, either. Once you pull the 'you-have-to-buy-the-next-book-to-find-out-what-happens' at the end of a book, you’ve lost this reader for good.

Luckily, I don’t care enough about the characters to even care. Lena's an immature idiot (throwing nuts at Doug because she's upset?); Sam's boring and too broody, Camilla's only there as a plot point, and the poor cat Lestrade is just there - Lena spends very little time with him, and he has practically no reason to be in the book at all. The only one remotely interesting is Doug, who's halfway intelligent, and Lena’s too dumb to figure it out. ( )

rabck from dvg; a murder in a small town. Lena gets her dream job, to be an assistant to her favorite murder series author, but she doesn’t expect to trip over a dead body on the beach day one. I did want to know how they found Victoria….but I guess that's in a different book. ( )

Lena London's life is about to change....in more ways than one.
When Lena brings her car to a halt in front of the large, ominous-looking mansion and home of her idol, novelist Camilla Graham, she still can't believe her good fortune. Lena has devoured every one of Camilla Graham's books since she was a young girl, and now she will have the privilege of living in her house as her personal assistant and ghost writer, thanks to her friend Allison who got her the interview that landed her the job. This apprenticeship is a dream come true for Lena, but as she gets started in her new role she finds that all is not well in the sleepy, blissful town of Blue Lake, IN. Nothing notable ever really happens in Blue Lake she's been told, but in less than a day since Lena's arrival a dead body is discovered on Camilla's property, and she learns that their neighbor next door, Sam West, is suspected of killing his missing wife. And while walking Camilla's feisty German Shepherds, Heathcliff and Rochester, in an attempt to acquaint herself with her new surroundings and neighbors, she meets several surly male residents and a few pleasant women in town who seem cordial and welcoming enough. But Lena's on high alert. Can any of these townsfolk be responsible for the murder of Martin Jonas, waiter at the Wheat Grass restaurant? Did Sam West kill his wife who vanished a year ago without a trace?

This cozy started out well, and I liked the idea of an aspiring writer living with and working for her favorite novelist. Their interactions throughout the book were endearing, and it was nice to see how their relationship evolved from the time they met to the book's end. Camilla's dogs, Rochester and Heathcliff; and Lena's cat, Lestrade, were a welcome addition to the story. Their antics were amusing and I never tired of reading about what they were up to. While the characters were interesting, I would like to have seen some of them more fully developed. There was so much more potential for fleshing them out. Perhaps we'll learn more about them in book 2. What put me off a little with this book was the insta-love between Lena and one of the other characters, the double murder plot which at times made me wonder which one was taking center stage, the easy way I determined who the killer was, and the To Be Continued ending. All in all, I liked this cozy but I didn't love it. I wanted to love it so much. It began on a high note but gradually started to lose steam for me when I was about 3/4 of the way in. Nevertheless it was a pretty good read. But hey, judging from the 4 and 5 star reviews it's receiving you might think differently so I'd say give it a try. You may very well think it deserves more merit. ( )