The Book: The Bookman’s Tale by Charlie Lovett
The Gist: An antiquarian bookseller finds a watercolour of a woman, who looks strikingly like his late wife, in a book. He launches into an obsessive search to find the artist and the woman, throwing his life into mayhem with murder and mystery. 
One-line review: A book for lovers of literature, this book written by an antiquarian bookseller presents an interesting take on the age old argument – did Shakespeare write his books or not?
Tailormade for: Lovers of solid British crime novels. Think Agatha Christie, Arthur Conan Doyle and James Ellroy.
Caution: The prose is blunt. Lovett reinforces the same point over and over again.
Best line: ‘I think it’s because I’ve been trying to say good-bye for so long,’ he said, picking his words carefully, ‘that I need this not to be her. I need to find out who it is so it won’t be her anymore. And then maybe she really will be gone’.
From HT Brunch, July 6
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