Work in Progress

Secrets of Mary's Bookshop #16

by Cara C. Putman

While cleaning out a desk at the Grace Church furniture drive, Mary discovers a false bottom in one of the drawers. Hidden inside is a manila envelope with a manuscript. Hoping to be able to return the manuscript to its rightful owner, she takes it home and reads through it, looking for a clue to its origin. Instead, she discovers that the manuscript is the first part of a memoir that confesses to burning down the Ivy Bay clock tower fifty years ago.

Mary knows someone was convicted for starting the fire. Did the wrong person go to prison? The clock tower has become a key point in the mayoral race with the candidates engaging in a heated debate centered around the destroyed landmark. But why is it suddenly such a hot issue? The manuscript holds the key to what happened all those years ago—and someone doesn’t want Mary to figure it out.

Genres: Mystery, Christian Fiction, Cozy Mystery

292 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

Cara C. Putman lives in Indiana with her husband and four children. She is a clinical assistant professor in law and ethics at Purdue University's School of Business. She has loved reading and writing from a young age and now realizes it was all training for writing books. She loves bringing history and legal romantic suspense to life.

An honors graduate of the University of Nebraska, George Mason University School of Law, and Krannert School of Management, Cara left small town Nebraska and headed to Washington, D.C., to launch her career in public policy.

Cara is an author chasing hard after God as she lives a crazy life. She invites you to join her on that journey. She's currently writing her 41st book with more on the way. Please check out her website to learn more about her books and read first chapters.

Reviews

[Lindsey (Books for Christian Girls) · Rating 2 out of 5]

About this book:

“While cleaning out a desk at the Grace Church furniture drive, Mary discovers a false bottom in one of the drawers. Hidden inside is a manila envelope with a manuscript. Hoping to be able to return the manuscript to its rightful owner, she takes it home and reads through it, looking for a clue to its origin. Instead, she discovers that the manuscript is the first part of a memoir that confesses to burning down the Ivy Bay clock tower fifty years ago.
Mary knows someone was convicted for starting the fire. Did the wrong person go to prison? The clock tower has become a key point in the mayoral race with the candidates engaging in a heated debate centered around the destroyed landmark. But why is it suddenly such a hot issue? The manuscript holds the key to what happened all those years ago—and someone doesn’t want Mary to figure it out.”


Series: Book #16 in the “Secrets of Mary’s Bookshop” series. Please click on the number to be taken to that review: Book #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #11, #12, #13, and #14. (#15 will be reviewed around Christmas time.)


Spiritual Content- Prayers; Church going; ‘H’s are capitalized when referring to God; Mentions of God & forgiveness; Mentions of prayers, praying, & blessings over food; Mentions of churches, church going, church events, prayer groups, Sunday School, services, worship/hymns, sermons, & pastors; A couple mentions of those in the Bible; A couple mentions of blessings & being blessed; Isaiah 54:10 at the end in the extra pages;
*Note: A few mentions of a man’s demons; A mention of a girl looking like a Greek goddess.


Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘stupid’; A mention of a curse (said, not written); A bit of eye rolling; All about mentions of a fire, the arsonist, & the crime; Many mentions parties, alcohol, drinking, drinking problems, drinks, & drunks; Mentions of a burglar/thief & break-in; Mentions of jail time; A couple mentions of fighting & brawls; A couple mentions of threats; A couple mentions of rumors; A mention of a car accident & death; A mention of an assassin; A mention of embezzlement; A mention of cigarettes; A mention of jealousy;
*Note: Mentions of books and authors (including series by Ally Carter); Mentions of car brands; A couple mentions of TV shows & characters.


Sexual Content- See below
*Note: A couple mentions of girl with a Marilyn Monroe-type figure.

-Mary Fisher
P.O.V. of Mary
292 pages

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Pre Teens- One Star
New Teens- One Star
Early High School Teens- Two Stars
Older High School Teens- Three Stars
My personal Rating- Two Stars
I personally had a harder time getting into this mystery, but I’m not sure why. It wasn’t overly exciting or interesting, but I’m happy to check another book off my TBR.


Link to review:
https://booksforchristiangirls.blogsp...


*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mary finds a manuscript in a false bottom of a desk at the church’s furniture drive. After reading it she finds it is the truth about the fire that burnt the towns clock tower down 50 years ago. There isn’t a name and Mary sets out to find out what really happened the night it burned. The town is also trying to elect a new mayor, one who wants to rebuild the tower.

[Leah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This takes place in August. The story involves a tower, a fire, a short story, an old desk, and a wrongful conviction. There is also a talent show, but I didn't like that part of the story. I enjoyed the mystery. I thought it would end differently. I liked that things weren't what they seemed to be.

[Beverly Duell-Moore · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book by Cara Putman. It was so hard to put down once I started it.

Sisters, Mary and Betty had been helping at the church furniture drive. People were bringing in donations all day in a steady stream.Some of the pieces were even antiques. Mary was dusting an antique desk when she found a false bottom in one of the drawers. Inside was a manuscript! Mary took out the first page to see she could find the owner of it, but there was no name on it. ( Mary owns a bookstore.)

Mary takes the manuscript home to go over it and see if she can find the owner. There were about 100 pages and she read them all. At the end the author confesses to starting a fire in the town clock tower almost fifty years ago. An innocent man went to jail for the crime.

The Mary searches for for answers the more questions she comes with. She has several people on her suspect list without answers.

How did the fire start? Does Mary find out who started it? Who wrote the manuscript? Does she find who wrote it?

You have to read the book to find the andwers to these and many more questions.

[George · Rating 3 out of 5]

#16 in the “Secrets of Mary’s Bookshop” mystery series set in the Cap Cod small town of Ivy Bay featuring bookshop owner 60ish Mary Fisher. This is a Christain themed book.

While cleaning out a desk at her church furniture drive, Mary discovers a hidden manuscript in rgw false bottom in one of the drawers. She hopes to return it to its owner and seeks to discover who it is. It is an effort that takes her back 50 years to the burning down of the Ivy Bay clock tower.

[Val · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mary stumbles across a manuscript confessing to a fire that destroyed a Ivy Bay landmark. With no name on the manuscript Mary is determined to figure out who wrote it. What she uncovers is a innocent man was wronged and the real culprit is right under her nose.

[Kathie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another good mystery in this series.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great read, it also served to breathe new life into the series.

[Catherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great read with caring people.

[Elaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

A delightful book of forgiveness & restoration . A Secrets of Mary's book shop book.