The Good Byline
A Riley Ellison Mystery
-
-
4.0 • 1 Rating
-
-
- $9.99
Publisher Description
Meet Riley Ellison, a smart, quirky, young library assistant who’s become known in her hometown of Tuttle Corner, Virginia, as Riley Bless-Her-Heart. Ever since her beloved granddaddy died and her longtime boyfriend broke up with her, Riley has been withdrawing from life. In an effort to rejoin the living, she signs up for an online dating service and tries to reconnect with her childhood best friend, Jordan James, a reporter at the Tuttle Times. But when she learns that Jordan committed suicide, Riley is shaken to the core.
Riley agrees to write Jordan's obituary as a way to learn more about why a young woman with so much to live for would suddenly opt out. Jordan’s co-worker, a paranoid reporter with a penchant for conspiracy theories, convinces Riley that Jordan’s death was no suicide. He leads her down a dangerous path toward organized crime, secret lovers, and suspicious taco trucks.
Riley’s serpentine hunt for the truth eventually intersects with her emerging love life, and she makes a discovery that puts everything Riley holds dear—her job, the people she loves, and even her life—in danger. Will writing this obituary be the death of her?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Not every reader will be charmed by library assistant Riley Ellison, the narrator of Orr's first novel, who at one point imagines her own obit after accepting a ride from a stranger ("Her remains were found chopped up and frozen inside ice cubes that the perpetrator used to chill his iced tea for months after her death"). Riley being dumped by charismatic Ryan Sanford has made her the object of near-universal sympathy from her neighbors in Tuttle Corner, Va., but she views their expressions of concern as just a polite mask for disdain and pity. Riley's infatuation with Ryan led her to neglect her friends, including her best childhood chum, reporter Jordan James. Riley's guilt increases after she learns that Jordan has died, an apparent suicide. A poorly written and misspelled suicide note makes Riley suspicious, and she turns amateur sleuth. Riley's breezy narration is at odds with how a person would feel in real life about a close friend's death. Agents: Emma Sweeney and Margaret Sutherland Brown, Emma Sweeney Agency.
