The Midwest Book Review reviews J.F. Riordan’s A Small Earnest Question
Synopsis: It’s spring on Washington Island. Despite her concerns about Roger’s desire to bartend, Elisabeth is eager to plan a grand opening for their newly remodeled hotel, but she quickly realizes that she may also need to make accommodations for Roger’s proposed goat yoga classes. Bored and lonely, Oliver Robert joins bartender Eddie in forming a great books club at Nelsen’s, and Emily Martin, determined to make her mark on the community, forms a new Committee of the Concerned. When Emily decides that the Island needs a literary festival, complete with a famous author, she imprudently seeks out a notorious celebrity, hoping, as always, to enhance her own prestige. Real estate agent Marcie Landmeier confides that an unknown someone is buying up the Island’s shoreline, newly-appointed Fire Chief Jim Freeberg contends with a string of suspicious fires, and Pali and Ben have a spiritual encounter that will change them both. Meanwhile, drawn once more into local controversy, and awash in suspicion herself, Fiona Campbell must determine the answers to questions that will affect her future, and the future of the entire Island.
Critique: Set on a remote island in the Great Lakes, “A Small Earnest Question” is Book Four in the outstanding North of the Tension Line series from novelist J. F. Riordan. A deftly crafted and engagingly entertaining story from beginning to end, “A Small Earnest Question” will be an immediate and enduringly popular addition to community library Contemporary American Literary Fiction collections. It should be noted for the personal reading lists of dedicated Riordan fans that “A Small Earnest Question” is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $12.99).
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Tags: A Small Earnest Question, Beaufort Books, Beaufort in the Press, J.F. Riordan, Literary Fiction, Midwest Book Review