Monks, Moose and Lumby - Bev Russell, Library Director

(This column appeared in the December 2, 2007, Star-Herald)

 

If you like Jan Karon’s Mitford series or Joan Medlicott’s Covington books then have I got a series for you. Frankly, curiosity first attracted me to this series because of the title of the second book, "Stealing Lumby. I wanted to know what a Lumby was. As it turns out, Lumby is the fictional name of a small town somewhere in the Pacific Northwest and is the creation of Gail Fraser’s imagination. It is populated with a host of eccentric characters.

Everyone knows one another in Lumby, and crime is almost nonexistent. When a famous and very valuable painting, "The Barns of Lumby" is stolen on its way to the British museum, the townspeople are horrified. The media descend on Lumby, putting the quiet community in turmoil. If no other story is available, reporters find any story to fill their pages but tend to dwell on the quirkiness of the town and its residents.

The book contains multiple plots and sub-plots. Of course, the core of the book is the mystery of the stolen painting. This crisis awakens in the artist, Dana Porter, memories of a 50 year-old love affair that he had the summer he painted his masterpiece. When one of the famous barns is stolen down to its last board, the plot becomes even more complicated. Also, included among the story’s complications are a romance between a reporter and the owner of the barns, the hostile takeover of the rum syrup business owned by local monks, as well as the stolen painting and barn. However, it is the characters that really make this book enjoyable—the monks with their rum syrup business, Hank, a plastic pink flamingo, who thinks he’s an eagle, city-slicker Mark Walker with his screwy horticultural schemes.

Following her marriage, author Gail Fraser jumped off the corporate merry-go-round to settle in rural upstate New York and try her hand at writing. Lumby, U.S.A. was the result. As she describes it, Lumby is a "one-moose town". Her first book, "The Lumby Lines", revolved around the escapades of the Walkers as they attempted to turn the burned out Montis Abbey into the Montis Inn. As outsiders they did not receive a warm welcome to Lumby. The grumpy Mr. Beezer, publisher of The Lumby Lines aggravated this situation. (A printer’s error misnamed the newspaper from The Lumby Times.) A weekly highlight in the newspaper is the Sheriff’s Complaints Section. It includes such newsworthy items as, "Caller reported a moose running through his cornfield with a tricycle hanging from his antlers."

To date only two books in the series are published "The Lumby Lines" and "Stealing Lumby". A third book, "Lumby’s Bounty" will be out in January, and Fraser’s fourth, "The Promise of Lumby", is on the drawing boards. A visit to Lumby will never shock or offend the reader, but it will delight. These are books that you can curl-up under a blankey with a cup of cocoa on a long winter’s day. Each book contains recipes from various Lumby establishments. I want to try the Winter White Chili. If you get a chance, visit Gail Fraser’s web site www.lumbybooks.com and join her circle of friends. For book discussion groups questions are available on her web site as well as in her books. Lumby, U.S.A. is a town we can all enjoy.

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