Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore: A Novel
(Libby/OverDrive eAudiobook)

As Denver's Bright Ideas Bookstore is closing for the day, bookseller Lydia Smith finds Joey Molina, a favorite customer, hanging in the third-floor history section with a photo of Lydia as a child in his pocket. The narrative has two avenues to explore: Joey's past and motivation for suicide, and Lydia's childhood trauma caused by a still-unsolved crime. (Twenty years earlier, when she was 10 and on a sleepover at a friend's house, Lydia was the sole survivor when a killer who became known as Hammerman bludgeoned to death Lydia's friend and her friend's parents.) Lydia discovers that Joey left an intricate set of clues for her in books, which have always provided her comfort and solace; her librarian father raised her alone after her mother died in childbirth, moving her away and changing their last name after the crime. Lydia finds that answers go back years and swirl around her best childhood friend, Raj Patel, whose parents run a combination gas station and donut shop. This quirky debut novel will have particular appeal for puzzle solvers and booklovers.--Leber, Michele Copyright 2017 Booklist

Sullivan's solid first novel opens with 30-year-old bookseller Lydia Smith finding the corpse of Joseph Molina hanging from a beam in Denver's Bright Ideas Bookstore. The lonely 20-something ex-con spent countless hours wandering the shop, but Lydia can't fathom why he chose to commit suicide there-or why he died with a photograph of Lydia's 10th birthday party in his pocket. Her confusion grows when she inherits Joey's belongings and discovers coded messages addressed to her hidden inside his books. Lydia's efforts to answer the questions surrounding Joey's death uncover clues to a cold case from her own past-a household massacre that only Lydia survived. Flashbacks to Lydia's childhood told from her father's perspective help build the tension. Quirky characters and a keen sense of place distinguish this multigenerational tale of abandonment, desperation, and betrayal. Sullivan's writing occasionally calls too much attention to itself and a surfeit of coincidence strains credulity, but this inventive and intricately plotted mystery still largely satisfies. Agent: Kirby Kim, Janklow & Nesbit. (June) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

DEBUT Sullivan, a former bookseller, sets his first novel at a fictional independent bookstore in Denver. Lydia loves to recommend titles and is patient with the sometimes difficult regulars who frequent the store. When one of her favorites, a disturbed young man named Joey, commits suicide during her closing shift, she is devastated; she is also confused by the personal library he left her. Lydia, herself a survivor of a violent childhood crime, has spent her life running from her past. As she tracks down the clues Joey left for her in his books, she discovers a connection between her nightmarish attack years before and Joey's troubled youth. Not only must she face the secrets she has buried, but the murderer who almost killed her is still out there. VERDICT Though darker than other beloved novels set in bookstores, this story will appeal to fans of Gabrielle Zevin's The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry and Katarina Bivald's The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend. Mystery readers will also appreciate the clever connections between the characters and the crimes. [See Prepub Alert, 1/3/17.]-Catherine Lantz, Univ. of Illinois at Chicago Lib. © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

A woman must revisit a 20-year-old tragedy after a young man commits suicide in the bookstore where she works.Lydia Smith loves her job at the Bright Ideas bookstore in Denver, puttering among the shelves and hovering over her gentle BookFrogs, the wanderers and dreamers who spend their days among the stacks. When one of her BookFrogs, Joey Molina, hangs himself in the store, she's devastated and then shocked when she learns he's bequeathed his meager possessions to her. When she discovers that he's left messages to her in the pages of his books, she's puzzled and begins trying to piece together his last days with the help of his friend Lyle. The reappearance of her childhood friend Raj Patel soon puts Joey on the back burner, however, as questions about her estranged father come to light. It all points back to the Hammerman, who, while Lydia was on a sleepover as a child, brutally killed her friend and her friend's family with a hammer, leaving Lydia alive, hiding under the sink. The Hammerman was never caught, and Lydia seeks answers from the now-retired detective who handled the case, but she may not want to hear what he has to say. Turns out he always suspected her father was the killer but was stopped from pursuing that path, even in the face of some compelling evidence, and he's never let go of his suspicion. After all, why did the killer let Lydia live after killing a 10-year-old girl and her parents, and could Joey somehow be connected? Debut author Sullivan presents a nicely paced tale about a horrifying incident with a woman at its core who must put aside her ordered life to find out what really happened all those years ago, where the truth, in the end, may be stranger than fiction. An intriguingly dark, twisty story and eccentric characters make this book a standout. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

As Denver's Bright Ideas Bookstore is closing for the day, bookseller Lydia Smith finds Joey Molina, a favorite customer, hanging in the third-floor history section with a photo of Lydia as a child in his pocket. The narrative has two avenues to explore: Joey's past and motivation for suicide, and Lydia's childhood trauma caused by a still-unsolved crime. (Twenty years earlier, when she was 10 and on a sleepover at a friend's house, Lydia was the sole survivor when a killer who became known as Hammerman bludgeoned to death Lydia's friend and her friend's parents.) Lydia discovers that Joey left an intricate set of clues for her in books, which have always provided her comfort and solace; her librarian father raised her alone after her mother died in childbirth, moving her away and changing their last name after the crime. Lydia finds that answers go back years and swirl around her best childhood friend, Raj Patel, whose parents run a combination gas station and donut shop. This quirky debut novel will have particular appeal for puzzle solvers and booklovers. Copyright 2017 Booklist Reviews.

DEBUT Sullivan, a former bookseller, sets his first novel at a fictional independent bookstore in Denver. Lydia loves to recommend titles and is patient with the sometimes difficult regulars who frequent the store. When one of her favorites, a disturbed young man named Joey, commits suicide during her closing shift, she is devastated; she is also confused by the personal library he left her. Lydia, herself a survivor of a violent childhood crime, has spent her life running from her past. As she tracks down the clues Joey left for her in his books, she discovers a connection between her nightmarish attack years before and Joey's troubled youth. Not only must she face the secrets she has buried, but the murderer who almost killed her is still out there. VERDICT Though darker than other beloved novels set in bookstores, this story will appeal to fans of Gabrielle Zevin's The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry and Katarina Bivald's The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend. Mystery readers will also appreciate the clever connections between the characters and the crimes. [See Prepub Alert, 1/3/17.]—Catherine Lantz, Univ. of Illinois at Chicago Lib.

Sullivan's solid first novel opens with 30-year-old bookseller Lydia Smith finding the corpse of Joseph Molina hanging from a beam in Denver's Bright Ideas Bookstore. The lonely 20-something ex-con spent countless hours wandering the shop, but Lydia can't fathom why he chose to commit suicide there—or why he died with a photograph of Lydia's 10th birthday party in his pocket. Her confusion grows when she inherits Joey's belongings and discovers coded messages addressed to her hidden inside his books. Lydia's efforts to answer the questions surrounding Joey's death uncover clues to a cold case from her own past—a household massacre that only Lydia survived. Flashbacks to Lydia's childhood told from her father's perspective help build the tension. Quirky characters and a keen sense of place distinguish this multigenerational tale of abandonment, desperation, and betrayal. Sullivan's writing occasionally calls too much attention to itself and a surfeit of coincidence strains credulity, but this inventive and intricately plotted mystery still largely satisfies. Agent: Kirby Kim, Janklow & Nesbit. (June)