Georgia Writers Museum (GWM) announced last week that bestselling author Katherine Reay will return Nov. 3 to present her new novel, The Undercover Bookshop.
Reay was a crowd pleaser three years ago at GWM with her previous book, A
Shadow in Moscow.
Opening the winter of 1950 in the small Cotswold village of Great Rollright, The Undercover Bookshop begins with amateur sleuth Gemma Brown beginning to suspect the town’s best baker, Ursula Beurton, might be more than she appears. This sends her tumbling headlong into a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse that ends with a decision that will lead her to The Undercover Bookshop and change her life forever.
Having recently moved to the English Cotswolds, Gemma desperately wants to create the kind of idyllic life she’s read about in her favorite mystery novels – with herself as leading lady.
But fitting in proves difficult as Gemma is more adept at solving mysteries and setting up the village’s first bookstore than she is at baking cakes or grasping social niceties. Nevertheless, she finds a friend in Peggy, a young woman recently moved to town herself, and Ursula Beurton, not only the village’s best baker but an enigmatic figure who sparks controversy in the small-town gossip network.
As Gemma spends more time with Ursula, however, she begins to suspect all those novels are affecting her thinking. The oddities she starts to notice must be her imagination because, if not, they point to something far more dangerous and sinister than winning the local baking contest or being placed on the church committee. Could her neighbor really be a Soviet spy?
Following her instincts and a few skills learned through fiction, Gemma soon becomes embroiled in international intrigue involving the village’s mysterious benefactor, Lady Marchmont, as well as MI5 and the KGB. In an unexpected twist, however, Ursula asks Gemma for a favor that may endanger all their lives as their next chapter unfolds in Gemma’s new venture, The Undercover Bookshop.
Reay is a national bestselling and award-winning author of 12 novels and one non-fiction work. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Northwestern University, her writing has appeared in numerous publications, including People Magazine, Redbook,USA TODAY, The Daily Beast, and Criminal Element, among others. She also holds a master’s degree in marketing from Northwestern University.
Enjoy Reay’s presentation Tuesday, Nov. 3, with doors open at 6:30 p.m. for a 7 p.m. start. Tickets are $45 each or $40 each for two or more, with all tickets including drinks and a themed, gourmet- prepared meal. Visit Georgia Writers Museum (109 S. Jefferson Ave., Eatonton) at geogiawritersmuseum. org to register as soon as possible.
— Contributed