October 2026 Sunriver Scene - Flipbook - Page 27
Travel to England vicariously with the mystery and fiction book clubs at Sunriver Books
By Deon Stonehouse
This October, England
will be the focus of the books
and book club discussions at
Sunriver Books. The website
(sunriverbooks.com), newsletter, and an in-store display will
feature books set in England.
It is fun to travel to far off
places through the pages of a
book. We hope you enjoy our
month of England.
Book Clubs meet on Mondays via Zoom and in-person. Register at sunriver
books@sunriverbooks.com to
attend a discussion.
Mystery Book Club
Get ready to discuss “A Case
of Mice and Murder” by Sally
Smith on Oct. 5 at 6 p.m. via
Zoom, and on Oct. 12 at 4:30
p.m. at the bookstore in The
Village at Sunriver.
Sir Gabriel Ward KC has a
bad start to his day off when
he practically trips over the
body of the Lord Chief Justice
laying across his doorstep,
lacking shoes and socks, quite
dead with a knife sticking out
of him.
Not at all a good start
to the day for Gabriel and
seriously worse for the
Lord Chief Justice.
Gabriel had been thinking about his latest case, a
rather tricky problem in the
publishing of a popular children’s book, “Millie the Temple
Church Mouse.” He is getting
ready for trial and had planned
on spending the day working
on his case. However, Gabriel’s
day is about to become more
complicated. In the Temple,
where Gabriel lives and practices law, the police are not given
jurisdiction. The barristers will
have to investigate their own
crime, and Gabriel is assigned
the task against his will. He is
allowed a bright, young constable to assist.
In 1901, there are new methods of investigation being discovered, the brilliant Gabriel
uses them to his advantage, impressing the young constable.
Gabriel is a fascinating new
series lead!
With a Sherlock Holmesian
intelligence, a natural kindness,
living a solitary life, he is a character I enjoy reading about and
hope he has a long run solving
crimes. Smith knows of what
she writes, she was a successful
barrister and King’s Counsel
and lives in the Inner Temple
of London.
Fiction Book Club
Travel back in time to England by reading “The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and
Flying Club by Helen Simonson. Book club discussions are
Oct. 19 at 6 p.m. via Zoom,
and Oct. 26 at 4:30 p.m.
at the bookstore.
The discussion will center
on how WWI killed a generation of English men, and
those who survived carried the
physical and emotional scars
'A Case of Mice and Murder' and 'The Hazelbourne Ladies
Motorcycle and Flying Club' are October's book club selections.
of that bloody war. The war
also meant that a generation
of women learned to do new
and different things and were
not entirely eager to go back
to whatever roles were expected
of females afterwards. After the
war, influenza hit, wiping out
even more of the population.
Constance Haverhill went
from managing the substantial estate of Lord and Lady
Mercer while he was off at
the War Office to being the
traveling companion to Lady
Mercer’s mother, Mrs. Fog,
who recently recovered from
the influenza while under Contance’s care. The two women
are spending some time at
seaside at Hazelbourne.
After the brief vacation, Constance will be homeless. Her
father and mother have both
died, the Mercers tufted her
out of her little cottage as they
no longer need her to oversee
their estate, and her brother’s
wife has made it clear she is
not a fan thus not a welcoming
home for her with them.
Penniless and with no prospects, she is rather worried
about her future.
A chance encounter in the
hotel brings Constance together with Poppy, daughter of Baron Wirell. Poppy is a revelation
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to Constance; she has never
met anyone remotely like her.
Then again, it is quite possible
there isn’t anyone remotely
like Poppy. She arrived at the
hotel riding a motorcycle and
wearing trousers! Soon, as in
that evening, Constance is dining with Poppy, Mrs. Wirell,
mother to the whirlwind, and
Poppy’s brother, Harris.
Poppy has come up with a
scheme for women to work a
sort of taxi and delivery service
by motorcycle, then add flying
when she gets the business off
the ground.
Constance is welcomed into
Poppy’s group of women and
soon swept up in their machinations. But, of course, there
is opposition to women zipping
around on motorcycle, this is
a vocation better left to the
returning soldiers.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Fog, has
few secrets and plans of her
own that might not be received
enthusiastically. Constance is
going to have a busy time of it
in Hazelbourne, and the reader
will have an entertaining story!
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OCTOBER 2026 SUNRIVER SCENE
Page 27
