Enjoyable read with pleasant heroine and an inside look at books, writers, agents. ( )

Lila Wilkins is a literary agent working for The Novel Idea Literary Agency located in a small town in North Carolina. Many businesses got into the spirit so there is a Betram's Hotel, Sherlock Holmes Reality, & James Joyce Pub. Lila represents cozy mystery writers while others in the agency represent other types of authors including romance, nonfiction and screenwriters. One author, Pam Fox, writes a popular erotic series call The Reluctant Brides of Babylon. The agency has teamed with a bridal business to put on a week long conference combining the authors which include those who write books on marriages and weddings with bridal businesses such as cake baking, wedding dresses, etc. Lila is divorced with a son just starting college and she is engaged to a police detective. Lila finds a maintenance man dead face down in the frosting of a wedding cake and one of the authors is suspected. Lila and her fellow agents try to clear the client.

I liked the idea of this book and the location with businesses, etc all named after literary figures, but it just seemed too one dimensional and stereotypical romance with Lila spending a lot of time dreaming of wedding cakes and wedding dresses for her upcoming wedding. She often seemed liked a dreamy teenager instead of a grown woman who has already been married once.

About the same as the rest of the books.

https://joannesbooks.blogspot.com/2018/05/off-books-novel-idea-mystery-5.html ( )

I've enjoyed Lucy Arlington's Novel Idea cozy series from the start. Off the Books-- like the other books in the series-- provides a good, solid mystery as well as a pleasant visit with a cast of characters who have become friends.

There's a bit more delving into the personalities of Lila and her boss Bentley here in book four. Lila is getting a severe case of pre-wedding jitters, and she really has to figure out why. Her boss Bentley has always been the high-handed genius who expects everyone to tug their forelocks when she snaps her fingers. With the addition of one little dog named Olive, we are given some insight into this demanding woman's character, and it's a welcome one.

One of the things I have always enjoyed about this series is its idyllic "bookworm heaven" setting of Inspiration Valley. Reading about this special place (that should exist but doesn't) is a welcome bit of fantasy for me. An added bonus is that each book uncovers more of the inner workings of a literary agency and how it deals with new authors, query letters, publicity, and manuscripts. Like me, many readers enjoy learning about what goes on behind the scenes to create the books we all love.

As I was reading Off the Books, I got the feeling that the series may be coming to an end because many loose ends that had been left dangling for a book or two (or three) were neatly tied up. However, that probably isn't the case. The first three books in the series were written by Ellery Adams and Sylvia May. This fourth book was written by Susan Furlong, and Furlong may have wanted to tie off some old plot threads in order to introduce some of her own in future books. I hope that is the case because this is one of my favorite series. ( )

While Lila Watkins always enjoys her work at the Novel Idea Literary Agency, she is especially thrilled with the agency's latest venture - a wedding themed week celebrating not only authors represented by the agency but local vendors featuring products like wedding gowns, cakes, flowers, and photography. Not only is she representing one of the authors featured at the event, she is hoping to get ideas for her wedding to Detective Shawn Griffiths. However, Lila's excitement quickly turns to shock and dismay when a man is found murdered and several of the authors represented by the agency may be suspects. Lila and the rest of the agents decide to find out who the killer but their sleuthing puts them in real danger.

I love Lucy Arlington’s Novel Idea cozy mystery series and “Off the Books” is no exception. I love Lila and especially the way she grows in this book as she begins to realize that she has been so wrapped up in her work that she has neglected seeing what is going on with her mother and son - this is very realistically done and made me like Lila even more. I also love the glimpses into the world of book writing - for example how many words a cozy mystery should have, what makes a good query letter, and why some authors succeed while others don't – this was very informative. I like Lila's relationship with her coworkers which continues to grow with each book and I love what Lucy Arlington did with Bentley’s character in this book. Finally, I love the reason why the whole agency pitches in to try in solve the mystery - I think one of the hardest parts of plotting out a cozy mystery must be to find ways to give the amateur sleuth a reason to have to investigate the mystery and Arlington pulls it off brilliantly in this book. Speaking of the mystery, it is very well plotted with some red herrings and some nifty twists and turns. There are plenty of suspects - this is the type of cozy mystery that I love as the author gives the reader enough clues to try to figure out who the killer is (alas I did not figure it out but the clues were there). The identity of the killer left me with mixed feelings as to the motive - this would be a perfect book to discuss during a book club meeting.

“Off the Books” is another nicely done cozy mystery by Lucy Arlington. ( )