Tuesday, September 6, 2016

Publisher blurbs that don't sell the book (at least not to me

"Calamity (Callie) Barnstable isn't surprised to learn she's the sole  beneficiary of her late father's estate, though she is shocked to discover  she has inherited a house in the town of Marketville--a house she didn't know  existed. However, there are conditions attached to Callie's inheritance: she  must move to Marketville, live in the house, and solve her mother's murder.  Callie's not keen on dredging up a thirty-year-old mystery, but if she  doesn't do it, there's a scheming psychic named Misty Rivers who is more
than happy to expose the Barnstable family secrets. Determined to thwart  Misty and fulfill her father's wishes, Callie accepts the challenge. But is  she ready to face the skeletons hidden in the attic?"


That's the blurb for a book titled Skeletons in the Attic.  My immediate question:  Did the author think to ask a lawyer if such a condition to an inheritance would be accepted by a probate judge?  My instinctive response:  No way.  Even if the "move to Marketville" condition might be enforceable (but does that constitute a condition prohibiting sale of the house?), there's no way that the "solve her mother's murder" condition is possibly enforceable, especially given that the murder occurred 30 years before the story begins.  (And that's leaving aside the scheming psychic, which sounds like part of the title to a bad Perry Mason pastiche:  The Case of the Scheming Psychic.)  Faced with that as a set-up, I don't care how well-written I am told the book is, I'm not buying.

5 comments:

  1. It is unfortunate when the folks who are supposed to be the pros can't make it work. Sigh.

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  2. Well, there are pros, and then there are pros, and then there is prose.

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  3. I'm with you. I tend to avoid reading or writing book blurbs--it's a separate talent. so I might end up reading the book in question, but not the blurb.

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  4. This appears to be a self-published book, so the author wrote it herself.

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  5. Good point. Still doesn't make me want to read the book...

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