Frankly My Dear, I’m Dead
by Livia J. Washburn
Published by Kensington Books (October 28 release)
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Reviewed by Kathy Perschmann
The first in a charming new literary tour series, Frankly My Dear, I’m Dead is set in Atlanta and of course focuses on… Margaret Mitchell and Gone with the Wind!
In addition to interesting facts about Mitchell and her book, there are fascinating and amusing characters, like Delilah Dickinson, owner of a new travel business, where she is assisted by her daughter Melissa and son-in-law Luke. This story also features her twin 16-year-old nieces, Augusta and Amelia.
This tour of Margaret Mitchell’s Atlanta is the first for her business, and she encounters only one small fight before the disastrous visit to a nearby plantation. With actors in costume portraying various characters from the story, in a period three-story mansion made to look a bit more like Tara than it might have originally, the tour members are charmed and delighted. Delighted until “Rhett” is found stabbed in the garden during the ball, and everyone discovers their valuables have been stolen: wallets, cell phones, cameras, you name it.
The actors cannot leave the mansion, must join the tourists overnight, and so everyone doubles up on rooms. Delilah hopes to solve the murder so everyone can leave after breakfast as planned. However local policeman Lieutentant Farraday is not exactly thrilled with Delilah’s continual contributions. Local professor Will Burke, in charge of the Tara recreation, is pleased to help Delilah out in her late-night, pajama-clad investigations. Might there be an attraction here? A romance for the recently divorced middle-aged business owner?
I am certainly looking forward to future literary tour mysteries with endless possibilities: Capote, Harper Lee, Faulkner, Tennessee Williams, Mark Twain… intriguing!
Armchair Interviews says: Well done, Livia Washburn.
Author’s Web site: http://www.LiviaWashburn.com