Somebody’s Fool is the latest in Richard Russo’s North Bath Trilogy, and it is also the best. The first two are Nobody’s Fool (2011) and Everybody’s Fool (2016). You don’t need to read the first two before Somebody’s Fool, but reading them will give you a firm footing on the returning characters and the bigger plot. The unidentified, decomposing body of a suicide is found in an abandoned hotel. We don’t see the connection between the annexation of North Bath and the decomposed body until the last chapter.
You will learn about Donald “Sully” Sullivan’s son and grandsons, who connect with the very barstool named after Sully in his favorite watering hole. Doug Raymer, the town’s chief of police, returns after a disastrous campaign for reelection on the platform of “We are not happy until you are not happy.” Hired as a consultant by the new chief, Charice Bond, Raymer is called upon to identify the suicide. Did I forget to mention that the suicide had a Blackberry Phone? Only a fool would forget to mention that Rub Squeers survives the annexation of his town and loses his trademark stutter. You will love this book.