Thirteen at dinner - a Book Club meeting, The Secondhand Bookworm novels, books 7

Thirteen at dinner - Chapter Five of Book 7


So I am now on chapter five of 'Book Club at The Secondhand Bookworm' (as of 3rd January 2019) which I have titled 'Thirteen at dinner'. It's the chapter before the third Book Club meeting in the front room of The Secondhand Bookworm and Nora's anxious when another member's down to join that evening.

The chairs used in the meetings are from her brother's theater and were used in the Agatha Christie play 'Lord Edgware Dies' which is alternatively titled 'Thirteen at Dinner'.

This second title, used on American editions of the novel, arises from a superstition that sitting down thirteen to dinner means bad luck to the person who first leaves the table. Although the Book Club members aren't actually sitting down to dinner, they break for sandwiches, tea and cake in the middle of each meeting.

Naturally, in chapter six, when the Book Club meeting commences, Nora is going to be very nervous as she awaits to see which member of the gathering of thirteen will be the first to leave the table that night!


I've been enjoying writing 'Book Club at The Secondhand Bookworm' so far. Is it crazy to double up laughing at your own jokes as you write? I guess an author really writes for themselves first and foremost, and I just love writing all my crazy, eccentric customers and Book Club members.

Poor Nora is having an interesting time battling turnip biscuits, fisticuffs among some of the members, outrageous theories and conclusions, unwanted attention from Humphrey, keeping the Duke's identity a secret and trying not to laugh at the madness each Book Club meeting presents.

'Book Club at The Secondhand Bookworm' follows on from 'Black Friday at The Secondhand Bookworm'. I'm keen to finish this one as I'm eager to write book 8. It's called 'Valentine's Day at The Secondhand Bookworm' and it's a typical week of chaos and amusement in the three story, rambling used and antiquarian bookshop in a town on the south coast of England.

Coming 2019!

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