Once Upon a Seaside Murder by Maggie Blackburn

Hello my cozy friends,

Today I am reviewing "Once Upon a Seaside Murder " the 2nd instalment in the A Beach Reads Mystery series by Maggie Blackburn.

As the holidays approach, bookstore owner Summer Merriwether learns a dark secret in this second volume of Maggie Blackburn's Beach Reads mystery series.

There's no place like home for the holidays, even if home is sleepy, beachside Brigid's Island, NC. During this season for giving, the town wakes up to a welcome throng of shoppers--and Beach Reads is no exception. But bookseller Summer Merriwether's Christmas cheer turns to cringing fear when she uncovers a deadly secret about her late mother--a secret someone will kill to keep.

When the local library hosts a cozy mystery panel discussion, Summer learns that one of the authors on the panel based her book on an actual murder that shook Brigid's Island thirty-five years before. Worse, she soon learns that her dearly missed mother, Hildy, took a disturbingly deep interest in the case, going so far as to collect clippings and keep a journal of the dark doings. This doesn't jibe with Summer's memories of her usually cheery mother at all.

Tidings get worse when Summer learns of her long-lost biological family's involvement in the crime...and still worse when the life of the book's author is threatened. With the help of Hildy's plucky book club, Summer puts her scholarly smarts to work on protecting the cozy author and solving the decades-old murder.

But this ghost from Christmas past may still be deadly in the present, and if she can't find the killer, Summer's future will be brief.

I have grown to like Summer throughout this instalment and immensely enjoyed the story.  We have a few mysteries to solve the 35yr old cold case, and author Mimi Sinclair’s kidnapping (whose Mermaid Point Murder mystery is loosely based on the murder) to keep us engrossed in the mystery of whodunnit.  Plus Summer is dealing with her newly discovered relationship with her half-brother, Sam, and half-sister, Fatima and how the Bellamy family ties into the murder.

The mystery is interesting and I loved the characters of Agatha, Piper, Mia plus who can forget Mr. Darcy.

It was a quick easy read and I am looking forward to the next instalment as I’m anxious to see what happens with Summer and Cash’s relationship.

I recommend this book to all my cozy lover friends.

I requested and received an advance reader copy of this book from Crooked Lane Books and Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

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