Lydia works at an urban Denver bookstore where she keeps a friendly eye on the BookFrogs - the men who make the store their daily home. When one of their number, Joey, meets a tragic end, he leaves a trail of clues for Lydia to puzzle over. And not surprisingly, Joey's fate turns out to be linked to a fairly hefty, and horrible, mystery from Lydia's past.
This is Sullivan's first novel, and I certainly hope that it's not a one-off. Lydia and her friends at Bright Ideas are fresh, likeable characters, and Sullivan's writing is natural and vivid. He captures perfectly the feel of urban bookselling/librarianship and the relationships the work gives rise to. Consider this passage, in which a co-worker describes having to eject BookFrog Hi Guy from the store:
He wrapped one of our newspapers around a fifth of gin and sat there drinking it...which was, you know, whatever, but then an hour later he pissed his pants and started falling all over the place.
Wholeheartedly recommended!
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