The Field of Mystery Book Group had a good meeting on Saturday, discussing our May book, The London Seance Society. While we mostly didn’t like the book, we had a great time discussing how the book could have been improved (when we don’t like a book, we often come up with multiple ways in which it could have been improved, to the point where sometimes I think we should get together and write our own group mystery).
We chose our books for June and July (very efficient of us). I’ll write about the July book after our June meeting, but the book for June is Dirt Creek, by Hayley Scrivenor.
The book is set in the small Australian town of Durton, nicknamed by the kids who live there as “Dirt Town.” In the sweltering Australian spring, Esther, a 12 year old girl, is walking home from school with her best friend, Ronnie, one afternoon. Their paths part, and Esther disappears. Two detectives are sent from Sydney to investigate the disappearance along with the one local police officer, all of them knowing how critical time is when a person disappears. Ronnie is convinced Esther is around somewhere, so she’s conducting her own investigation. In this small town, many people have information, which may or may not be accurate, about Esther and about what’s going on in general, and many people have secrets, some of which are dangerous. We’re in classic Jane Harper territory, and Scrivenor creates a vivid sense of place, and a vivid sense of the way people in small towns in the middle of nowhere rely on each other and keep things from each other. The events of the book cover a short time, and several different characters act as narrators (including the collective group of the kids who live there). It’s a riveting, fast read that should yield some interesting discussion.
Copies of the book are available at the Circulation Desk, and we’ll be meeting on June 1 in the Program Room, complete with refreshments. Join us.
Bookskill 