I watched a movie the other night about a female writer moving to a Florida orange grove set in 1928. Marjorie left her husband and soon discovered that the Florida property had been unattended for some time and that this land was in the swamps. Undaunted, she cleaned and worked diligently to improve this place. She hired a young woman to help her around the house so she’d be free to write. Also, hiring a young boy, these three turned the property and the grove into profitable adventure. Surrounded by water and gators, Marjorie eventually met “neighbors” and made friends. Entitled Cross Creek, after the area and the novel, this movie aroused my curiosity about other novels about female writers.
It’s Nantucket wedding season, and the Otis-Winbury wedding promises to be an event to remember: the groom’s wealthy parents have spared no expense to host a lavish ceremony at their oceanfront estate. But it’s going to be memorable for all the wrong reasons after tragedy strikes: a body is discovered in Nantucket Harbor just hours before the ceremony and everyone in the wedding party is suddenly a suspect. As Chief of Police Ed Kapenash interviews the bride, the groom, the groom’s famous mystery-novelist mother, and even a member of his own family, he discovers that every wedding is a minefield-and no couple is perfect. The Perfect Couple by Elin Hilderbrand is a suspenseful tale with a descriptive background.
A cozy mystery by Margaret Loudon, entitled Murder in the Margins, is an entertaining quick read. Hit with a bad case of writer’s block, American gothic author Penelope Parish heads to England where she, while working in a bookstore, gets embroiled in a murder investigation that leads to new friendships and new tricks to help her finish her novel.
For a decade, Rachel Rubenstein-Goldblatt has hidden her career as a Christmas romance novelist from her family. Her talent has made her a bestseller even as her chronic illness has always kept the kind of love she writes about out of reach. When her diversity-conscious publisher insists she write a Hanukkah romance, her well of inspiration runs dry. Rachel is determined to find her muse at the Matzah Ball, a Jewish music celebration on the last night of Hanukkah, even if it means working with her summer camp archenemy, Jacob Greenberg. Their grudge still glows brighter than a menorah, but as they spend time together Rachel finds herself drawn to Hanukkah and Jacob. The Matzah Ball by Jean Meltzer is funny and heartwarming.
When reclusive writer Leonora is invited to the English countryside for a weekend away, she reluctantly agrees to make the trip. As the first night falls, revelations unfold among friends old and new, an unnerving memory shatters Leonora’s reserve, and a haunting realization creeps in: the party is not alone in the woods. In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware is suspenseful, compulsive, and darkly twisted psychological thriller.