Death of a Sunday Writer [Paperback]

Eric Wright (Author)

Book Description

Series: A Lucy Trimble Mystery | Publication Date: September 2000

Lucy Brenner has left her husband, her town, and her previous life behind. She lives in Longborough, a town halfway between Kingston and Toronto, where she runs a bed and breakfast and where, one day while working in the library, a phone call sets into action events that change her up-to-now quite predictable existence.

Lucy's cousin, David Trimble, has died and made her his sole beneficiary. With some trepidation, she makes the impulsive decision to carry on his business - a private detective agency, though these might be grand words for the down-and-out ransacked office she finds upon visiting Toronto to lay claim to her unexpected inheritance.

Previously published in hardcover only, this is the first paperback release of the first Lucy Trimble mystery.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Recently separated from her domineering husband, Lucy Trimble is eager to start a life of her own. When a relative wills her his private detective agency, Lucy--who up to this point has worked as a librarian--thinks she's found her calling. The problem is that most of her clients are unscrupulous gamblers and crooks--members of a sinister underworld of which Lucy has no comprehension. Determined to make a go of it, Lucy employs her own brand of sleuthing, despite the threats and "advice" of her new-found business associates. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

Mustering her courage, Lucy Brenner has left her possessive husband, moved to a new city, and become a librarian. Now a long-forgotten cousin has died and left Lucy an unfinished novel and a moribund detective agency. Intrigued, Lucy decides to give up her library job and become a full-fledged detective. She's also determined to find out the truth behind her cousin's death. Meanwhile, she attracts several new cases involving missing heirs and agoraphobic women. Detective Lucy's most endearing qualities--and her greatest weaknesses--are her naiveteand her fertile imagination, which lead her to get the wrong end of the stick quite often. But she also has occasional flashes of brilliance, and by story's end, she's found a new beau and a new profession (a sad loss for librarianship!). Told with Wright's usual skill and gentle humor, this cleverly plotted mystery is fanciful fun, and Lucy Brenner is a one-of-a-kind delight. Emily Melton --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 260 pages
• Publisher: Dundurn; New edition edition (September 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0888822278
• ISBN-13: 978-0888822277
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 6.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,836,159 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Death of a Mystery Plot, June 12, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Death of a Sunday Writer (Hardcover)

After reading Death of a Sunday Writer, my desire to read a Canadian mystery novel is suffering a severe lack of vital signs.

Maybe I was mislead into believing this was a mystery novel - but believe me, there is not a shred of mystery between its glossy covers. Lack of details, lack of description, lack of suspense.

I was reminded of the stories I used to read in grade school - pleasant enough but not too demanding.

4.0 out of 5 stars Very pleasant, June 15, 2002

By 

Charlotte Vale-Allen (CT USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Death of a Sunday Writer (Hardcover)

I've always enjoyed Eric Wright's books, right from the beginning. And while Death of a Sunday Writer is worlds away from his Charlie Salter series, it is an engaging departure. It does resemble, in its initial premise, P. D. James's An Unsuitable Job For a Woman in that it has a female "inheriting" a detective agency. But that is the only resemblance. Lucy Brenner is middle-aged and in flight from a psychologically abusive, madly controlling husband--a figure that will be alarmingly familiar to female readers--although this husband is a viable creation in his own right and well depicted. Lucy is uncertain, feisty, overimaginative and altogether charming. The Toronto setting is nicely familiar to those of us who know the city well (and inviting to those who don't); the characters are originals--from Peter Tse, Lucy's new Chinese landlord with the cockney accent (a lovely touch) to the sundry racing types, and to Nina, Lucy's new city friend, who is in many ways Lucy's polar opposite and yet displays a believable concern and fondness for Lucy. Setting herself up to take over her late cousin's so-called detective agency, with nothing more than a curious nature and great common sense to assist her, the reader is rooting for her right the way through. This is an effortless, likeable book.
Recommended.