Behind the story of Read and Gone by Allison Brook

Allison Brook is the pseudonym for Marilyn Levinson, who writes mysteries, romantic suspense and novels for kids. She lives on Long Island and enjoys traveling, reading, watching foreign films, doing Sudoku and dining out. She especially loves to visit with her grandchildren on FaceTime.

Read and Gone grew out of a desire to have Allison’s sleuth, Carrie Singleton examine her past demons. “One of them is having felt abandoned by the father she loved. I suppose every novel has some element of personal experience. My own father was a difficult man, yet I always knew he loved me. We became closer when I had to oversee his care in the last years of his life. Carrie Singleton, comes from a dysfunctional family. She grew up missing her father, a professional thief, who spent little time with his family. Eventually, her parents divorced.”

Allison said Read and Gone opens when Carrie is at a good place in her life. She’s finally stopped moving from place and has settled in Clover Ridge, CT, the town her father’s family comes from. She has a good job at the library, a boyfriend she adores, and is surrounded by friends and relatives for the first time in her thirty years. Then her father appears in the dead of night and asks her to help him retrieve his share of a heist that his partner, the town’s jeweler, is keeping from him. When the jeweler is found murdered, Carrie’s father is suspected and Carrie feels compelled to prove him innocent and find the missing jewels.

“Through many instances in the book,” Allison said, “Carrie realizes that her father truly loves her. What’s more, she loves him, too. I suppose the issue I’m addressing is that family relationships are very complex and can be improved years later despite the pain caused by a parent in earlier years. Carrie realizes her father will never by like most fathers, but that he loves her deeply.”

Allison said she writes mysteries to entertain her readers, but enjoys exploring the inner lives and relationships of her characters. She said, “Every character has a secret that usually has its roots in the past and impacts his or her behavior. I love to reveal and explore these secrets.”

Of course, the Haunted Library Mysteries have a cat. “Living with a cat, I loved giving Smoky Joe a large part in READ AND GONE. So many of the settings—the library, the hospital where Carrie’s father’s a patient—are places I know and that I change somewhat to make them a part of the story.”

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