Stealing Lumby

July 9, 2007
The second installment in a series set in the bucolic Pacific Northwest town of Lumby picks up where The Lumby Lines
left off, with Pam Walker bemused by husband Mark’s horticultural foibles and attempts at animal husbandry as the two struggle to turn a profit at their new inn. But when the painting The Barns of Lumby
by the esteemed Dana Porter is stolen, the quiet town suddenly finds itself in the media spotlight. A slew of journalists descend and shake things up for everyone, especially young widow Katie Banks, the owner of the barns depicted in the painting. Katie is suspicious of journalists, but in spite of her skepticism, Katie is drawn into a romance with Adam Massey, a journalist who is also writing a biography of Dana. Other subplots include a monastery that makes a popular gourmet rum sauce and the sinister maneuverings of Norris Fiddler, the New York–based media conglomerate CEO owner of the stolen painting. There’s a “gee- whiz, gosh-darn-it” quality to the writing that lends an unrushed, meandering feel to the narrative as evildoers are dispatched and equilibrium is restored. Fraser’s story is pleasantly easy reading and as smalltown cozy as they come.

July 1, 2007
This is the second in a series set in Lumby, a small, eccentric town somewhere in the Northwest, where everyone knows one another and crime is practically nonexistent. So when a famous and very valuable 50-year-old painting of two local barns is stolen en route from New York City to the British Museum, the townsfolk are in an uproar as the media descend on Lumby, digging up whatever information they can about the artist and his stay in their humble town years ago. Fraser juggles a multitude of plotsincluding the budding romance between a reporter and the owner of the famous barns, the hostile takeover of the rum-sauce business owned by the beloved local monks, and the sudden and mysterious disappearance of one of the barns, right down to the last barn board. In the tradition of Jan Karons Mitford series, this engaging inside look at small-town life will draw a bevy of fans to its old-fashioned story combining a bit of romance, a bit of mystery, and a multitude of quirky and endearing characters.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)