Synopsis: Five F. Scott Fitzgerald original manuscripts are stolen from Princeton University’s Firestone Library: This Side of Paradise, The Beautiful and the Damned, The Great Gatsby, Tender is the Night, and The Last Tycoon.

Mercer Mann, a young writer, is recently let go from her teaching position at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Bogged down by her student debt and her impending fate as a jobless, homeless thirty-one year old, Mercer Mann accepts an offer to investigate the whereabouts of the missing manuscripts, undercover. Mercer’s investigation takes her to Camino Island, Florida, where she used to summer at her grandmother’s cottage.

Camino Island also happens to be the location of Bruce Cable’s independent bookstore, Bay Books, the supposed location of the manuscripts. Grisham delights readers with a convoluted tale that delves into the colorful world of writers, rare books, and crime.

Review: If you’re lucky enough to pay a visit to the beach one more time before cooler temperatures set in, take Camino Island with you! The resort town setting in Camino Island will make you wish you were under an umbrella with your toes in the sand. Fortunately, the world John Grisham invents in this novel is so compelling that it won’t be hard to imagine yourself strolling through the surf alongside Mercer or sipping on a glass of wine at Myra and Leigh’s table (read the book – they’re nice folks and you’ll love meeting them).

Camino Island moves rather slowly for a crime novel, but by no means is it boring. John Grisham unveils the story at a relaxed pace that both matches its small town setting and builds suspense. The novel is broken up into chapters, which are are then divided by numbered scenes. The numbered scenes contribute to the suspense and neatly organize events that happen simultaneously. Grisham invites the reader into the lives of the thieves, the investigators, and those who are indirectly involved in the case in a manner that is as suave as Bruce Cable himself, without revealing too much too soon. At the end of the novel, Grisham pulls off a slight-of-hand that gives the satisfying –aha!- moment every good crime story needs.

There are a couple Fitzgeraldisms hidden in the text that are noteworthy. Bruce Cable’s signature seersucker suits (a different color for every day of the week) recall Gatsby’s iconic wardrobe. Parts of the novel take place in the South of France à la Tender is the Night. There is also Mercer Mann’s family history. Grisham takes the reader to the mental hospital where Mercer’s mother struggles with schizophrenia. The scene is seemingly unrelated to the rest of the novel, except perhaps to provide a richer look into Mercer’s personal life. However, it is possible that this is a nod to Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald’s struggle with schizophrenia, for which she was hospitalized while her husband wrote Tender is the Night. The group of writers and friends who gather for dinner parties throughout the novel are reminiscent of the literary crowd Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald so famously kept for company.

If you’re a John Grisham fan, it’s worth mentioning that Camino Island introduces the theme of student debt, which heavily influences Mercer Mann’s decision to investigate Bruce Cable & company. Grisham will confront the problem of the student debt crisis in his next novel, The Rooster Bar, which is set to release on October 24^th.

Eat: Myra Leigh’s Summer Tomato Gazpacho

Drink: Bruce Cable’s Lemon Daiquiris

As the islands that inspired “Camino Island” buckle down for Hurricane Irma, please consider donating to the American Red Cross. Even the smallest donations can make a world of difference to affected families.