the smells of new books, and coffee, and, from somewhere, the hint of pipe smoke. My favorite depiction is that of Bay Books, Cable’s island store. The romance writer who “you won’t believe has ever had sex with anybody,” the literary writer who pens “really impenetrable stuff the stores can’t give away,” the alcoholic novelist whose been in and out of rehab so often everyone’s lost count, the “vampire girl” young adult novelist, the poet “snob,” etc. Grisham has a lot of fun with books, authors, and characterizations. The New York Times said Camino Island reads like it was written while John Grisham took a vacation from writing John Grisham novels. She wants Mercer to return to Camino Island, the home of Mercer’s grandmother, and infiltrate the community’s cabal of eccentric authors as a means of getting close to Cable, who has quite the reputation for his way with the lady authors. By the time he was thirty, some gray was working itself into the picture, a few whiskers and a few strands of the long hair, and it was quite becoming.”Įlaine, the insurance investigator, believes Bruce Cable has the manuscripts. His hair was thick and wavy, and he wore it long, almost to his shoulders. He never wore socks, not even in January when the temperatures dipped into the forties. His ensemble was completed with a pair of dirty buckskins, no socks. “He owned a dozen different seersucker suits, each with a different shader color, and he wore one every day, along with a starched white shirt with a spread collar, and a loud bow tie, usually either red or yellow.

In his own mind he is “a well-read playboy” and an ambitious businessman. Bruce Cable, owner of Bay Books, acquirer of valuable books, Southern dandy, and book (and author) lover. Mercer Mann, young, broke, aspiring writer with a past that includes time in Camino Island, Florida. The heist happens quickly in John Grisham’s latest novel, Camino Island, and serves as a backdrop for the real intrigue: where have the manuscripts gone after some of the thieves are caught and how can Princeton get them back.Įnter Elaine Shelby, an insurance investigator. One of the greatest literary treasures in the United States, F.Scott Fitzgerald’s hand-written manuscripts are stolen from the Firestone Library on Princeton University’s campus by a gang of five: Denny, a former Army ranger kicked out of the military Mark, a professional thief with a history of “smash-and-grab” jobs involving art and artifacts ransomed back to the original owners Jerry and Trey, petty thieves who met in prison and Ahmed, a computer hacker.

John grisham bruce cable