Book Review: A Bed of Scorpions (Sam Clair #2) by Judith Flanders

A Bed of Scorpions by Judith Flanders
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Publisher:  Allison & Busby
Summary:   What’s an editor to do with so many demands? Do you deal with the morning's pile of manuscript submissions first? Or the swine from sales who steals all the chocolate digestives? Or do you concentrate on your ex-lover, whose business partner has just been found dead in their art gallery, slumped over his desk with a gun in his hand?
It’s another day at Timmins & Ross publishing house, but when sharp-tongued editor Samantha Clair's CID boyfriend is brought in to investigate Frank Compton’s death, her loyalties become stretched. And when one of Aidan Merriam's artists is found dead in identical circumstances, Sam takes on the art world and the CID, armed with nothing more than her reliable weapons: satire, cynicism and a stock of irrelevant information culled from novels.


A good second installment of the Sam Clair series. I quite loved the first book and somehow missed this one when it came out. I liked it enough to read the next but not as much as I liked the first.

I found this one a little sluggish in places but I was able to suss out who the murderer was fairly early on. I couldn't believe I was correct after all the twists, turns & red-herrings. What I most liked about this one were all the bits about the publishing industry & of course, Sam's winsome personality (her inner dialogue is a hoot). I worried along with Sam and her colleagues over being subsumed by a publishing conglomerate. I learnt what colophons are and appreciated how they were pivotal in solving the mystery. The supporting characters were once again a delight. Helena, Sam's high powered attorney, Jake, Sam's DI boyfriend & Pavel, Sam's insightful, kind, one step away from a shut-in, upstairs neighbor all did their level best to help move this story along. We even got a new character in Sam's goth assistant (half-assistant by way of promotion by book's end) Melanie. Round this off with Sam making three trips to casualty after various "accidents" while she tries her best to stay out of the case and this was a pretty good read.

Recommended for sure and I hope the next it a little more brisk.


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