Dear Great Book Guru, This Friday, February 28, I will be at one of Sea Cliff's iconic events: the Beach Committee’s 7^th Annual Pub Crawl. As an added attraction this year, we will get to check out the Woodpecker’s Lodge (311 Sea Cliff Avenue) where tickets, and mugs, and shirts will  be sold.  The rest of my weekend is free so I would love to have a good book to read when I get home from the Crawl. I think a mystery would be just right.  Any ideas?  Enthusiastic Pub Crawler

Dear Enthusiastic,  I love this event too- the best part for me is seeing all of Sea Cliff out and about after the numbing isolation of winter.   I have an interesting book that is a quirky sort of mystery, character, historical and geographical study: THE LAST ANNIVERSARY by Liane Moriarty.  Set in Australia and in particular on a picturesque island a short ferry ride from the mainland, the novel is told from varying perspectives and over a number of years starting with the 1930’s up until 2010. The novel’s focal point is “The Baby Munro Mystery”- Alice and Jack Munro disappeared over seventy years ago from a small cottage on the island- the couple left with a marble cake cooling, a pot of tea ready to be poured, a trail of blood, and, oh yes, an infant daughter lying happily in her pram. As a result of the “mystery” and the entrepreneurial skills of the young sisters who raised the baby, the island has become an enormously profitable tourist destination with food concessions, souvenir shops and guided tours. This is a quick, enjoyable read with some rich character development and, of course, a clever mystery waiting to be solved.