An update in the time of Corona

It has been a while since I posted. TKE has been weathering the pandemic but we had to close our doors to browsing due to the Mayor's stay home order but work did not stop, if anything it intensified. Internet orders rolled in, our 11:00 a.m.storytimes went online (FB and Instagram) and we added a chapter book storytime at 2:00 p.m. With only a skeleton staff we couldn't get the orders out and answer the phones. So the phones went on the back burner, new skills, new procedures were developed, implemented and in a matter of days we were on top of the orders. Weeks later, the lockdown is easing (too fast - we think) so we continue to keep the store closed to browsing, contactless curbside pick-up is now in effect and our delivery team are back on the job for those customers who don't want to venture out. We practice social distancing, we wear masks (to protect ourselves and our co-workers) and gloves and sanitize everything that doesn't move and we've even managed to start answering a few phone calls in between mountains of texts, instagram messages and emails.

We are bookworms, not scientists and if you are interested there is a manifesto on the front page of TKE's website that explains our reasons for staying closed for the time being but the upshot is that we love our customers and we don't want to risk their health or our own. Frankly, I hate wearing a mask, but I chose to do so at work and in public because you can have this thing and not know it.

Another casualty in the bookstore world is in-store events and book launches. My new book, Rollover, A Nikki Doyle Novel was published in March and the reading and signing would've been a couple of weeks ago. Despite that the book is selling well and getting some great reviews, such as:

Nikki Doyle, Rollover's intriguing and intelligent heroine, builds new lives for jackpot lottery winners escaping the notoriety caused by their big win. It's definitely not her fault when dark secrets emerge from the past and things go awry. Paula Longhurst makes us feel the London setting in our bones, and gives us a page-turner with well-drawn, unexpected characters, and an insider look at the perils of sudden fame and fortune.

Sue Cox, author of Man on the Washing Machine

Featuring an inventive premise, a cast of engaging characters and surprisingly dark undertones; Rollover is fast, pithy and fun.

Chris Ewan, author of The Good Thief's Guide to...mystery novels