Robots in the Diner
A Becky Murphy Mystery
A precocious student works to save her favorite restaurant from an AI threat in the spirited mystery novella Robots in the Diner.
In Ron Charach’s charming mystery novel Robots in the Diner, a girl works to save her favorite diner from a malevolent robot plot.
Even after COVID-19 shutdowns end, Hank and Henrietta’s diner, situated in a small, warm community, lacks sufficient customers. Former regulars, walking by and seeing empty tables, balk at returning to the lonely eatery. Prompted by enterprising young Becky, a patron who raves that the diner is “the best restaurant in” town, Henrietta hires two local actors to dine and create a welcoming atmosphere for new customers: “They sat enjoying wine and fresh buttered rolls, as if to announce to passers-by: ‘This is a diner!’” The ploy works; soon, the diner is bustling again.
Eerie Herr Doppelgänger, who is thought to inhabit “the old baseball factory,” is among the new customers, though. After an uncomfortable conversation, he threatens to set robots loose on the restaurant. Worse, his robot doubles of real people are almost impossible to distinguish from those they portray. Becky, now helping out at the restaurant after school, is determined to solve this new challenge to the diner; she sets out to discover the truth behind the robots.
Becky is a charismatic, precocious heroine whose dedication to those around her is matched by her insatiable curiosity. She negotiates both adult conflicts like kidnappings and failing businesses and childhood concerns like deciding whether or not to lie to her parents with equal gusto. However, her busy life leads to a story that is rife with digressions.
Among the book’s various subjects is Carl, Hank and Henrietta’s shy son; he becomes Becky’s confidant and peer. Oswald and Zumwald, the jovial actors Henrietta hired, become staples at the diner long after their professional duties are fulfilled. And Becky’s sensitive dog Kaley jumps in on the action in an attempt to dissuade her owner from making poor decisions. The varying concerns of this ensemble cast are interwoven, and while individuals within the cast are not all developed with equal depth, all support Becky’s storyline well.
Illustrations appear throughout the book, adding organic life and color. They depict the characters in a spirited manner, in particular where Herr Doppelgänger is concerned. Details within the images, as of autumn leaves on the ground, people in the background, family photographs, and furniture, flesh Becky’s world out further.
In the endearing mystery novella Robots in the Diner, a small-town girl works to save a beloved local business from advanced technological dangers.
Reviewed by
Willem Marx
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book and paid a small fee to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. Foreword Reviews and Clarion Reviews make no guarantee that the publisher will receive a positive review. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
