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Looking for a summertime mystery for your book group? Here’s the easiest book-sell I’ve ever done in a booktalk presentation, in the stacks, or to a teen. The Persian Pickle Club by Sandra Dallas,”I defy you to figure out who did it before the last page.”

This homey and warm Depression-era mystery will appeal to fans of cozy mysteries and Agatha Christie whodunits. Young farm wife, Queenie Bean, along with the other members of her quilting circle, is struggling through hard times in Harveyville, Kansas. New to town, Rita is given immediate membership as a “pickle” since she is a legacy. Rita’s city-bred ways and ambitions to be a journalist don’t sit quite right with the older members of the quilting club, but Queenie is entranced with Rita.

After the death of one of the members’ husbands, Rita goes on a mission to find the killer but she’s not getting very much help or encouragement from her sister seamstresses.

This is a very short, breezy read and the primary topic of conversation will be looking for the clues the author drops very carefully that lead to the identification of the killer, or do they? Readers may have a few words to say about the conclusion.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 31st, 2012 at 8:32 am and is filed under Adult Books, Fiction, Good Books for Book Clubs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.