The Duke's Book
by Jill Shakley

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The year is 1931. An unsuspecting Danny Goodgame sits in his class at Hexeth, an exclusive boarding school in the English countryside. Little does he know, his world is about to be turned upside down. Twenty-four hours later, he finds himself alone in London, sole proprietor of Marshal Brothers, his father's bookshop. Here, Danny must find a way to rise to the challenges of the big city, learn how to run a business, and deal with the shop’s eccentric customers. Not to mention finding ways to get closer to the charming young Alice of Honey Books. And as if all this wasn’t enough, he is soon roped into a scheme to steal back a book of great historical importance. Set between the two world wars, The Duke’s Book is part detective fiction and part coming-of-age story. It will appeal to readers who enjoy the light-hearted and quirky world of writers such as P.G. Wodehouse.

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Jill Shakley is actually two people, Jill Shakley and James Shakley. Other books by the duo include The Villars-Manningham Papers (1978), Three on a Match (2020), I Always Win (2021), The Bearded Queen (2022), Not Full Circle (2023), Only the Unexpected (2023), and Dundreary's Jam (2024). The Duke’s Book is the first in a series. Both Shakleys are book people. Jill enjoys detective fiction and James sold military history books for many years. James’ English family includes a war-bride mother, and a paternal great grandmother who served as a nurse with the British Army in India, married a QSM, and upon his death came with their daughter to Toronto. Born in Minnesota, Jill came to Canada at twenty-two—so, like Danny Goodgame, she knows about starting over. James and Jill Shakley were married in a replica Norwegian chapel in the Adirondack Mountains in 1969. They live in the Upper Beaches in Toronto, in the house where James grew up. Although they've had as many as four cats at a time, currently they have only two.

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Jill Shakley