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NATIONAL BESTSELLERA NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE CRIME BOOK OF THE YEARIn the maze of cubicles at Samuelson Company, editorial assistant Billy Webb struggles to focus while helping to prepare the next edition of a dictionary. But there are distractions. He senses that something suspicious is going on beneath this company's academic faade. What's more, his (possibly) flirtatious co-worker Mona Minot has just made a startling discovery: a trove of puzzling citations, all taken from the same book, The Broken Teaglass. Billy and Mona soon learn that no such book exists. And the quotations read like a confession, coyly hinting at a hidden identity, a secret liaison, a crime. As Billy and Mona try to unearth the truth, the puzzle begins to take on bigger meaning for both of them, compelling them to redefine their notions of themselves and each other.
About the Author
I haven't had a terribly interesting life, so I won't share too many details. But the highlights include:* When I was a preschooler and a kindergartner, I had a lazy eye and I was Connecticut's "Miss Prevent Blindness," appearing on pamphlets and television urging parents to get their kids' eyes checked. I wore an eye patch and clutched a blonde doll wearing a similar patch. I imagine it was all rather maudlin, but at the time I wouldn't have known that word. * I wrote my first novel when I was in fifth grade. It was over a hundred pages and took me the whole school year to write. (It was about five girls at a summer camp. I'd never been to a summer camp, but had always wanted to attend one. ) When I was all finished, I turned back to the first page, eager to read it all from the beginning. I was horrified at how bad it was. * At age thirteen, I got to go to a real sleepaway camp. It was nothing like the book I had written. * I studied philosophy in college. So did my husband. We met in a Hegel class, which is awfully romantic. * I worked as an editorial assistant at Merriam-Webster from 1998-2002, and got to help write definitions for their dictionaries. * My husband and I served in the Peace Corps together, working in rural South Africa. I miss Losasaneng, miss many of the people we met there, and dream about it often.* I am now working on my third novel. It is tentatively titled Just Someone I Used to Know, named after and old song Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton used to sing together.
