{"id":9881,"date":"2017-08-31T19:48:29","date_gmt":"2017-08-31T23:48:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/?p=9881"},"modified":"2017-08-31T19:48:29","modified_gmt":"2017-08-31T23:48:29","slug":"small-talk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/?p=9881","title":{"rendered":"Small talk"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s one of those nights<\/strong> when I don\u2019t have anything worth writing. Whatever follows is guaranteed, certified piffle.<\/p>\n

I did read another book,<\/strong> but it\u2019s one in a series I\u2019ve been following and reviewing for a while. You already know what I have to say about these books. A Skeleton in the Closet<\/a><\/em> is the seventh in P. F. Ford\u2019s Dave Slater series, about a small town detective in England. What can I say? Like the others, it\u2019s lightweight but likeable. I estimate the Dave Slater books at about the intellectual level of a TV series \u2013 an American <\/em>TV series. Which means they\u2019re entertaining, but they won\u2019t change your life. In this one, a colleague dies in an explosion, and Dave must delve into this person\u2019s personal life, which turns out to have been full of secrets. At the same time, he\u2019s under pressure from what in America we\u2019d call Internal Affairs. In all contemporary fiction series, there\u2019s a moment or two \u2013 or several \u2013 when certain cultural boxes must be ticked, in order to satisfy the commissars. This is a story where author Ford ticks off one of them. Upbeat and cheerful, good entertainment even with the social freight.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Classes begin at school<\/strong> next week, and I\u2019m in the final throes of setting up the bookstore for fall textbook sales. Nearly done now. Tomorrow should finish it. My main thought as I survey the shelves of required textbooks is, \u201cI ordered too many. I always do. Will the sales of books previously in stock cover the loss?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

God bless instructors who assign books we already have plenty of.<\/p>\n

On the writing front,<\/strong> I\u2019ve found my way at last after a long stretch wandering without a map. I feel keenly the fact that a few faithful readers have been waiting patiently for this book for years. All I can say is, I\u2019m bringing it as fast as I can.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s one of those nights when I don\u2019t have anything worth writing. Whatever follows is guaranteed, certified piffle. I did read another book, but it\u2019s one in a series I\u2019ve been following and reviewing for a while. You already know what I have to say about these books. A Skeleton in the Closet is the … Continue reading Small talk<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,7,15,17],"tags":[76,2122],"class_list":["post-9881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bookselling","category-fiction","category-reviews","category-writing","tag-a-skeleton-in-the-closet","tag-p-f-ford-dave-slater"],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9881","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9881"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9881\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}