Murder by the Book by Lauren Elliot

Hello my cozy friends,

Today I am finally discussing a book that was in my TBR pile for a little while.  Lauren Elliot is a new author to me and I love finding new cozies like Beyond the Page Bookstore Mystery Series.

Addie Greyborne loved working with rare books at the Boston Public Library—she even got to play detective, tracking down clues about mysterious old volumes. But she didn’t expect her sleuthing skills to come in so handy in a little seaside town . . .

 Paperback: 304 pages

Publisher: Kensington (October 30, 2018)

Genre: Cozy Mystery

Addie left some painful memories behind in the big city, including the unsolved murder of her fiancé and her father’s fatal car accident. After an unexpected inheritance from a great aunt, she’s moved to a small New England town founded by her ancestors back in colonial times—and living in spacious Greyborne Manor, on a hilltop overlooking the harbor. Best of all, her aunt also left her countless first editions and other treasures—providing an inventory to start her own store.

But there’s trouble from day one, and not just from the grumpy woman who runs the bakery next door. A car nearly runs Addie down. Someone steals a copy of Alice in Wonderland. Then, Addie’s friend Serena, who owns a nearby tea shop, is arrested—for killing another local merchant. The police seem pretty sure they’ve got the story in hand, but Addie’s not going to let them close the book on this case without a fight.

I was excited to read the first in a new series Murder by the Book  by Lauren Elliot features a catchy title, an interesting premise and an lots of characters who doesn't love a bookstore setting.  Although I would like to know more about the town so I can picture it in my mind.

The heroine, Addie, has moved to a small town in New England that was built by her ancestors following an unexpected legacy from a great-aunt. Now she hopes to start life fresh after a rash of unexplained deaths involving too many of those closest to her.

The story line itself is intriguing and shows promise but I did find myself, unfortunately, putting it down a lot. It has an appealing setting, but the characters aren’t too fully realized yet and the plot is pretty straightforward.  Coincidences abound throughout the book and readers should be able to figure things out along with Addie.

Murder by the Book is a good first mystery and I look forward to reading the second installment Prologue to Murder available April 30th, 2019.

My Rating

Lauren Elliot grew up devouring the entire Nancy Drew series and then graduated to Victoria Holt, Agatha Christie, Barbara Erskine, Lynn Kurland, and Michael Crichton to name a few of her favorite authors. When it came time for post-secondary education, journalism seemed like the logical choice as she had written for as long as she could remember. Soon after graduation, while working for a small publication, she discovered that reporting wasn’t what fueled her writing passions. As someone with an additionally strong background in professional theater who had the love of storytelling and captivating and holding an audience, her fiction-writing career began to take center stage.

Lauren Elliott’s new Beyond the Page Bookstore Mystery series promises to keep readers guessing right up until the last chapter. Plot twists and an array of colorful characters make for page turning, whodunit adventures filled with suspense, mystery, murder and just a touch of romance.

Website:     http://www.laurenelliottauthor.com/

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Bookbub:   https://www.bookbub.com/profile/lauren-elliott

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