This is the first in a new series of cozy mysteries and it is held back by introducing the many characters and back story.

Addie worked in Boston but moves to a small New England town after inheriting a house from a distant relative. Her Fiance has been murdered and her Dad has died in a car accident so its a good time for a new start. Along with the house she inherits from her Aunt she also inherits many books and opens a book store.

Her friend Serena is arrested for murder and Addie works with the Police Chief Marc to help clear her name. Addie isn't the most appealing character but the plot races ahead and all the different strands tie together at the end.

Will try the next book in the series .

Addie, an unlikable character I might say, has tragic deaths in her recent past and inherits a large home and money in a small town with her last name. Somehow she doesn't remember anything about the town or of her recently deceased great aunt, but decides to move to the town and open a store of curios and used books, both rare and valuable books. Then mystery and questionable murders happen seeming to revolve around her.
Problems I had with this book are many. First, she's been there for a month working all the time setting up her store, but never bothered to meet the business neighbors she's next to, but as soon as she opens her doors she is instantly bffs with one, and enemies with the other. Also she is constantly leaving the shop, when are the shoppers supposed to buy anything. Secondly, she is a self entitled know it all, rude and about as cuddly as a cactus. One minute she is attracted to the police chief, the next she is rude and rebuffs any friendly attempt from him, but gets all pissed when he doesn't hold her after she is held at gun point, plus she keeps butting into official police business. She has multiple chances to ask others about the mysterious strangers identity, or even take a photo to ask later, but she doesn't, but then the mystery would have been solved quickly. She knows someone is stalking her, lives in an isolated house, yet leaves the doors unlocked.
On to the stalker, robbers book thief. These are the worst international thieves ever. They are in the area before she moves there but don't find what they want. They break in to her store and home, but only when she's there, not when she's gone from either place. They also supposedly have been in this business for several years, they just aren't good at it.
Lastly, myself as a book lover, Addie recognizes a semi valuable book stolen from her store by the sticker from her shop on the cover. Nobody would place a store price sticker on a cover of a book worth something. Maybe on a jacket protector, not on the cover.
Lastly, why do writers think that having a strong female lead character means she has to be rude, arrogant and know it all's? I didn't come to even remotely like her and had to force myself to finish this. To the police chief-run, run quickly away.

Addison Greyborne moves to the small town her family came from. She has inherited a big house and a lot of money from an aunt she thinks she never met. She had worked in the Boston Public Library, and is now opening a small used book store with some of the wonderful antiques from the house she inherited. Bad things have recently happened - her fiance was killed in her apartment and her father died in an automobile accident. As she approaches her store, and car almost runs into her. She first meets an older woman from the bakery next door who was very unfriendly. Then she meets Serena, from the tea store on the other side, and Addie and Serena soon become best friends. As Addie is giving Serena a tour of her store, someone tries to break in the back door and dumped garbage all around outside. While they were cleaning up, someone came in the front door and messed up a lot of the books. Addie soon meets the Police Chief, Marc, who happens to be Serena's older brother. Back at home, she finds someone has broken into her house. Addie and Marc soon become attracted as Addie continues to need police help with strange cars parking near her house or trying to run her down. Serena is called to talk with Blain, who owns the biggest store in town. On arrival she finds police and crowds, and soon Marc comes out with Serena in handcuffs, as the only suspect. Addie manages to prove it wasn't her, but it take awhile for all the clues to show up. Marc and Addie work together to find out everything that has happened is connected, including Addie's father's accident. With some exciting confrontations and dangerous situations, everything works in the end.

Note: I will post on Amazon on October 30. They won't let me do it now.

Addie Greyborne moved from Boston to Greyborne after her great aunt Anita leaves Addie her estate. Addie was her only heir. Prior to moving to Greyborne, Addie had lost both her father in a car crash and her fiancé, David, who was murdered. She was still mourning their deaths.

In Boston, Addie had worked with rare books at the Boston Public Library. In Greyborne, she opens a used and rare book store, using books she inherited from Anita.

From the beginning, a lot happens quite quickly. Addie almost gets run down, there is a break-in at her bookstore, and it is soon obvious that something big is going on. The action is pretty non-stop throughout the story. This is intertwined with the back stories about Addie, her father, David, and Anita. Along with being introduced to many townspeople in Greyborne, there is almost too much going on.

Addie makes friends and enemies at a rapid-fire pace. She becomes instant best friends with Serena, the tea shop owner next door. Yet the owner of the bakery on the other side, Martha, is instantly cold to her and sets out to ruin her. Then, later, Addie hires Martha's niece to work at her bookstore without any prior connection to her?

Addie is able to get more involved with the police during the investigation of the mystery than I normally see in cozies. Marc, Serena's brother and the Chief of Police, vacillates between trying to get Addie to stay out of the investigation and outright encouraging her involvement at other times.

The murders and the mystery itself were interesting to uncover and it was interesting to see how all the pieces fell into place. I was kept guessing until the end.

Although some of the above sounds a bit negative, I did enjoy the book. I really enjoyed the descriptions of Addie's shop and the mansion, as well as the books Addie encounters. I look forward to getting to know more of the townspeople in future instalments in the series.

I received an advanced digital copy of Murder By the Book by Lauren Elliott from NetGalley and Kensington Books in exchange for an honest review.

Fabulous beginning to a new series and I hope to see it continue. Well written plot that all fits together in the end with a wonderful main character and lots of books. Looking forward to more.

Addison moves to a quaint New England town after inheriting her elderly aunt's estate. Since her aunt poseesed many books, she decides to open a book shop. Trouble follows her. She lost her fiancé and father close together and both her home and business are constantly being broken into. Fortunately, she has made fast friends with fellow small business owner, Serena, and her brother, Marc, the police chief. The mystery plot is interesting as it involves a rare book, but the villains are numerous and it gets convoluted. One tiresome aspect is the numerous break ins and proliferation of bodies, an excess for a typical cozy mystery. Also, it's a bit far fetched that Marc suddenly appears to rescue Addie from several tight situations.

I received an advanced digital copy of Murder By the Book by Lauren Elliott from NetGalley and Kensington Books in exchange for an honest review. This is the first book in a planned series featuring Addie who has recently moved from Boston to a small harbor town after experiencing several personal tragedies. Having inherited an estate and lots of money, Addie decides to indulge her love of old books by opening a second-hand book store. She is a former librarian who researched many old and valuable books, which has allowed her to develop her investigative skills.

Almost immediately we learn of the accidental death of her father and the unsolved murder of her fiance, as well as the death of a previously un remember great aunt who is believed to have died from natural causes. The book begins with Addie opening her new bookshop and then almost being run down by a black sedan, an occurrence she brushes off as the result of a distracted driver. Almost immediately, there is a breakin at the shop, Addie’s keys are stolen, suspicious people wander into the shop and then her house is burgled. This sets up the constant bringing together of Addie and the police chief, Marc. It’s clear from the beginning there is a physical attraction between Marc and Addie and they spend the rest of the book being drawn to one another then pushing each other away, only to repeat the same action with much the same written description a few pages later.

The book relies more on relationship building than on solving the numerous murders that are ultimately determined to have occurred. Other characters who are likely to be recurring fixtures in future books include Serena, who owns a shop down the street and is Marc’s sister, Martha who owns the bakery next door and Paige, who comes to work for Addie. The relationships spring up almost immediately, with Addie and Serena becoming best friends almost overnight and Addie hiring Paige, then immediately giving her a substantial raise and responsibilities in the shop in spite of the fact Paige is Martha’s daughter and Martha is doing everything she can to shut Addie down and force her out of business.

There is almost too much happening within the world of this one book. It abounds with secret staircases, hidden drawers in furniture and connections that are revealed at the convenient time for Addie and/or Marc to further their investigation. Often the dialog and writing comes across as more suited to the young adult reader. The final chapters are written in a way to summarize all that has taken place within the book, some of it having been telegraphed early on and some of it being revealed through the sudden appearance of knowledge that gives the results away.

It is hard to believe that Marc, chief of police, would involve Addie in crime scene investigation on one hand and then insist she stay out of it because she is an amature on the other. Throughout the book there is a constant shift between Marc being stern and business like only to have his look soften in the next paragraph as he gives in to Addie’s desire to be involved in learning why she is being targeted through break-ins and threatening occurrences.

In summary, the book reads more like a very light romance/relationship novel with a mystery component than an in-depth mystery that offers some relationship building. It is probably best suited for the reader who is interested in the personal lives of the characters and how they relate to one another.

This is one of the best cozy mysteries that I've read in a long time. I could not put the book down. I cannot wait to buy this for the library I work at and share with my patrons.

4 stars
Addie Greyborne is living with the grief of losing both her father and fiancé, when an unknown aunt dies and leaver Addie her entire estate. Addie uses the opportunity to leave Boston and head to small New England town that is named after her family. There, with the inventory from her aunt’s estate, Addie is able to start her own bookstore. From the day she opens the shop she is hit with problem after promblem. Things escalate until a local business owner is found dead, and her new friend Serena is charged with the murder. Addie insists on untangling the mystery behind the shopkeeper’s death and the string of events that have been plaguing her.

So, I loved this cozy mystery from the start. It was one of those books where you keep telling yourself you will go to bed as soon as you read just one more chapter. Yet, you can’t stop reading. There were a lot of characters introduced through the novel, and some reviewers have said they had a hard time keeping them straight. I didn’t find that to be the case as of the characters were unique enough to be remembered. The story offers some unique twists and turns, and it does a great job of tying everything together in the end. As soon as I finished this book, I went to Amazon to make sure that was another book in this series. I was excited to see that there was an added it to my TBR pile. #MurderByTheBook; #netgalley

Murder by the Book is a fantastic start to a brand new cozy series! I absolutely cannot wait for the series to continue! Lauren Elliot has delivered in this one and I was shocked when I found out "who-dun'it". Everyone who enjoys the genre should pick up the first book in the Beyond the Page Bookstore mystery series! I very much recommend it.

The story started off with promise, but it began to get clunky and felt disjointed at times when discussing some of the back story and revealing each character (which there were a lot to keep track of). I like the relationship/friendship between Addie and Serena. It's fun and quite endearing. I also enjoyed the small-town setting and the bookshop.

There were a few implausible parts that if the same situations happened in real life, the story would be different. For example, a package is hidden, but the main character Addie doesn't ask the person where it is located. That would be the first question someone would ask. And Addie doesn't ask the names of the two mysterious women when she has the chance to ask another character in the book. Why didn't she ask this person their names?

Overall, it was an okay story and okay characters. I may give the next book in the series a try.

I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

Murder By the Book is an okay start to a, hopefully, promising new mystery series. The biggest issue I have with this book is it lacks the polish of a well-edited mystery book. As I read it, it seemed more like a book that a first-time author self-published on Amazon. I'm used to getting uncorrected egalleys and ARCs, but this is very different. This is clearly a beginner who needs guidance on how to fully develop a plot, develop characters, and keep the story together. For example, it seemed like there were sections missing in the book, especially in the beginning. So much seems to happen outside of what the reader is shown in the book. It reminded me of a DVD with deleted scenes, except these scenes were essential to the flow of the story. We didn't even get to see Addie meet Marc for the first time. One minute they need to call the police and the next, the police (i.e. Marc) has come and gone and the reader didn't get to see it at all. I'm quite shocked that a well-known publisher like Kensington is publishing this book. I can only hope that they sent out the wrong version for the egalley and that the book will be massively edited and corrected when it's published.  What earns the book 3 stars is the fact that I honestly couldn't put it down. Despite all of the issues with the book, I was still invested in the mystery and wanted to know what happened. That's why I hope the author gets better with the next book and why I think the series is promising. It's a great premise, even if the execution falls short on paper.

Note: I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for my fair and honest review.

This book was just OK for me. It started off strong. Addie Greyborne receives a large inheritance from her great aunt whom she doesn’t remember ever even meeting. She opens an old and rare book store and, for better or worse, quickly meets the other local merchants, including Martha, the cranky woman who owns the bakery on one side of her store, and Serena, free-spirit who owns the tea store on the other side of her shop. I was 20% of the way in to the book when it started to fall apart for me.
For one thing, the story turned light-hearted to murderous so quick I had to flip back a page to make sure I didn’t miss a page (I didn’t). Addie has a massive inheritance but is worried about the tchotchkes in her shop not selling. The murderer reveal was disjointed. The reader learns a bit about Addie’s family, but I didn’t feel like we really understood why her last name has such an impact on the town citizens. The book kept moving along enough that I wanted to keep reading to learn how it ended, but if I read the second book in the series, I hope it’s better than this. Thankfully I received a copy of this book to read from NetGalley and the publisher so didn’t buy it.

Murder by the Book is a first in a new series that is engaging and has plenty of colorful characters.
Addie is still in mourning over the loss of her father and her fiance. Settling into a new business and new home takes its toll, and when her new friend is arrested for murder, Addie can't help but get involved.
I was intrigued by the story description and was excited to read this new book.
My only complaint was how fast Addie was accepted to be investigating with the police. It came across as forced, but I was able to read on, and found myself pleased with the end of the book.
I will be looking forward to reading the next book in this series.
I volunteered to read and review an ARC of this book provided by the publisher and NetGalley.

While I did enjoy this book and the story moved along at a good pace with lots of action, I felt like it was lacking something. Some of Serena's actions made it seem like she was the one behind everything (not sure if that was the author's intention or not). I'm not sure if I'll read book 2 or not.

Murder by the Book by Lauren Elliott was an engaging beginning to a new cozy series that I had difficulty putting down.

I thought Addie was a very strong and resourceful young woman who has managed to keep moving forward in spite of the tragedies in her past. Her new friend, Serena, totally captured me with her positive attitude and her friendship to Addie. I thought Ms. Elliott's descriptive writing introduced reader to the lovely small New England town. I would love to visit this seaside town and see it for myself. The characters are beginning to develop and only left me wanting to get to know them better - well, except for Martha who runs the bakery. I'll take a pass on meeting her. The plot was skillfully paced with turns, twists and red herrings that kept me turning the pages. I was totally rocked by the reveal as I never saw it coming. A great beginning to what I hope is the start of a long running cozy series.

I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley.

Goodreads offers a decent synopsis of the plot, and I will not duplicate it here.

I appreciated the protagonist's resourcefulness and courage. Whenever she is placed into jeopardy, she keeps her cool and watches for opportunities to escape and/or fight back. But the book actually moved a bit too fast for me. I had to read it in chunks just to give myself a break. (Your mileage may vary.) And it got to be a challenge to keep up with all the characters and suspects and backstory and how all those details were related, and, at the risk of committing a spoiler, the fact that there were no true accidents, with possibly a single exception.

I will look forward to reading the next installment in Addie's story.

This was a great book. Very complex mystery with many layers that didn't seem related at first. The ending was fantastic. The main character was smart but stubborn and not afraid to call the police when needed. I love the friendship with Serena and the backstory you find out later. I read it in one day and couldn't put it down.

This is a fine beginning to what I hope will be a long running cozy mystery series. It is complex and multi-layered and it is amazing to see how all the disparate pieces of the puzzle fit together. After undergoing the separate tragedies of the murder of her fiance and the suspicious death of her father Addie has inherited a mansion and a large sum of money from a great-aunt she never knew. She moves into the mansion and uses the money to open a used bookstore and curio shop. But as soon as she arrives in town and opens her shop she is met with open hostility from some of her neighbors as well as break ins at both her new shop and her home. She meets and becomes friends with Serena and her brother Marc, the police chief. When Serena is found at the scene of a murder and charged with the crime, Addie joins Marc in searching for evidence to clear her, little thinking that this murder would be connected with everything going on in her own life. Strangers in town, hidden treasures and valuable antique books are all intertwined and make this book a very special one.

Addie Greybourne has inherited her great aunt’s beautiful home, along with a huge collection of books and collectibles. Always a bibliophile, Addie decides to open her own book and collectibles shop in the little town. It’s a welcome change from the terrible year she’s had, when both her fiance and her father were killed. She begins to make friends with her the tea shop owner next door (and her handsome brother, who’s also the chief of police) and things begin to look up. But then her shop and her home is broken into and someone tried to run her down. Has bad luck followed her from the city, or is something in her aunt’s collection worth killing for? I really liked this book, it’s well written with interesting characters and a quaint setting. I look forward to the next in the series