I have been writing about the books I bought when one of my two book clubs had an outing to Quail Ridge Book Store in North Hills Mall, Raleigh, N.C.. At some point you have to stop shopping or be asked to move out when you get home. I knew nothing about author Beatriz Williams, but spotted her new book on the shelf.  I loved the jacket and the blurb intrigued me. I resisted! When I got home, high as a Georgia pine, over my purchases, I  began to feel deep regret over the books I left behind. I slipped away to Amazon World and downloaded Along the Infinite Sea on my Kindle. Saving some money, I congratulated myself. The question was where to start with this plethora of new books? That night I decided to fire up my Kindle and begin William’s new book.

Only when I finished this enjoyable novel did I google information about the author. It turns out she writes a series of books that feature female members of the Schuyler family. In each book, a different member of this family has a prominent role, and other members pop in and out of the background. A whole world awaits me. We are used to reading series whose same characters become our friends. I love Donna Leon’s series set in Vience. Louise Penny’s characters in the Inspector Gamache books. Christopher Fowler’s Bryant and May Peculiar Crimes Unit. These are all mysteries, but I like the idea that  different  members of the same family each have their own story. If they are all as good as the Along the Infinite Sea, I am hooked. One of the things I love about my Kindle is the ability to highlight passages and write a note to myself. Here are three examples of lines I enjoyed.

Gratitude isn’t her natural attitude, but then you didn’t  spend your life dangling elegantly from the pages of the Social Register without learning how to keep your legs crossed and your hostess well bettered.

I inhaled the warm scent of the dying summer, the weeks that would not return.

Because motherhood doesn’t always end so well for the Schuylers. Motherhood usually goes splash headfirst into a vodka tonic with lime.

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