Dear Fellow Reader,

It seems that is it the season for new books! Elizabeth Strout, Jodi Picoult, Matt Haig, Laine Moriarty and Richard Osman all have new books out. Louise Penny and Patricia Cornwell are not far behind.

Today, I am talking about Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout. This new book takes place in Cosby, Maine, where all of her characters seem to reside. Lucy Barton, Olive Kitteridge, and Bob Burgess are all there along with their friends and partners. I will confess that I have not been an avid Elizabeth Strout reader. Not because I don’t like her books, but I just didn’t make the effort to catch up once I read Lucy by the Sea. I enjoyed Lucy by the Sea and knew that there were other books, but I can (like many others) be caught up by the new and shiny books and I don’t always go back into an author’s older books. (My review can be found at https://cecooney.com/2022/10/28/lucy-by-the-sea-by-elizabeth-strout/)

Tell Me Everything is considered a mystery. To me, that was not the main story in the book but I will agree that there is a mystery that was solved in the book. I did not notice this until I read that it was a mystery. The book, while we encounter other characters, starts out and roughly centers on Bob Burgess. Bob is a mostly retired lawyer who is married to the local Unitarian minister. As started in Lucy by the Sea, Bob and Lucy often meet and walk together. They discuss their lives and the lives around them and Bob uses this time with Lucy to sneak a cigarette. During the book, we meet Bob’s brother and his family, who live in New York City. Bob is caught up in a murder mystery and becomes the lawyer for the accused murderer. Bob’s mind is in turmoil. He does not think that his client is guilty, he isn’t sure about his relationship with his wife, and he thinks he might be in love with Lucy. In the meantime, he introduces Lucy to Olive Kitteridge and they start a rocky friendship.

This book is much more character-driven than plot-driven. There is so much going on with these characters that it would be easy to miss the mystery part. I feel the same way about Where the Crawdads Sing. Yes, it was a mystery but it was so character-driven that you were too wrapped up in what would happen to the characters to think that much about the mystery. To make my point, if you look at the review on Amazon, it never says that the book is a mystery. The review doesn’t refer to the murder at all.

I enjoyed the book. I, for some reason, wasn’t particularly looking forward to reading it and then once I started I had a hard time putting it down. There is something about the tempo of the book and the characters that draws you in. I see now that it is an Oprah’s Book Club book. I think you should read it. Let me know if you think it is a mystery.

Thanks for reading!

I was given a copy of this book in exchange for my unbiased review.