Tricia Miles has more time on her hands these days since she promoted Pixie to assistant manager. Tricia makes up her mind to fill this time by joining the board of an animal rescue but is getting some resistance from one particular member. While deciding what to do next she makes plans to enter an amateur baking competition. But in between her plans Tricia stops by Joyce Whitman’s book store looking for a new book with a little romance and suspense but what she finds is an argument between Joyce and Vera Osborn. Hours later Tricia arrives at Joyce’s house for a gardening lesson and to pick some fresh vegetables only to find Vera’s dead body. Tricia can’t help but get pulled into the investigation.

This is one of my favorite series. I mean how could it not be, it’s about a town of bookstores and the protagonist owns a mystery bookstore. The books can be enjoyed as part of the series or stand-alone mysteries. The aforementioned setting of Booktown has a small-town cozy feeling. Author Lorna Barrett spins a well-written story with well-developed complexed characters. My favorite character, Tricia and Angelica have a wonderful relationship. They support one another but sometimes can get on one another nerves and have a healthy sense of sibling rivalry like the baking competition. I felt bad for Tricia in this book because she seems so lost and doesn’t know what to do with so much free time. The mystery has great pace with several well placed red herrings. All this and some tasty recipes included for the food lovers. 

I voluntarily agreed to read a copy of this book supplied by Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own and in no way have been influenced.

Series: A Booktown Mystery - Book 13
Author: Lorna Barrett
Genre: Cozy Mystery/Bookshop
Publisher: Berkley
Page Count: 318

Publishing Date: August 13, 2019

The newest addition in the “A Booktown Mystery” series written by Lorna Barrett is A Killer Edition. Published by Berkley. This is the thirtieth cozy book in this series.

Tricia is an unusual business owner. She has far too much time on her hands and has allowed her assistant manager to take over running everything. She fears she is losing control of her store. Tricia also fears that she no longer knows what is going on in her own business, but more than that, she fears she is no longer needed. A lack of work to do allows Tricia to get involved in things she should stay out of, like a murder investigation.

The characters in this cozy book series are well established. Their personalities are complementary, and each one has a way of making readers care about their lives. Tricia’s sister keeps things interesting and moving forward. Readers will enjoy reading about the many bookstores in Booktown, but I did not feel that Tricia spent enough time at her business, and she spent far too much time doing nothing.

The murderer in A Killer Edition is unexpected, yet not necessarily inappropriate. Tricia catches the killer but mainly due to chance. There does not appear to be any type of real investigation and it looks as if the police do not feel the need to look beyond their original suspect. There is little to no evidence in the book to point to anyone, not even the suspect.

Overall this was an easy cozy book to read, with developed characters and relationships. Although not as good as I had hoped, it wasn’t awful. If readers have read the other twelve books in the series, they will enjoy the slower pace of this addition. New readers will most likely need to go back to previous books to catch up on who the players are and their function. The recipes in the back will make your mouth water.

ARC provided by Berkley and NetGalley

A Killer Edition
(Booktown Mystery #13)
by Lorna Barrett

Hardcover, 318 pages
Expected publication: August 13th 2019 by Berkley



Goodreads synopsis:
Murder's in the mix for mystery bookstore owner and amateur sleuth Tricia Miles, in the latest entry to Lorna Barret's New York Times bestselling Booktown series.
 
With her assistant, Pixie, picking up more responsibility around the shop, Tricia Miles suddenly has a lot more time on her hands. Tricia decides to join the local animal-rescue board and enter the Great Stoneham Bake-Off, but neither pans out as smoothly as she’d hoped.
 
Balancing a bake-off that’s heating up with a frosty reception from the board, Tricia stops by Joyce Whitman’s romance bookstore looking for a book to get her fired up. She stumbles on something hot, but it’s an argument between Joyce and her neighbor Vera Osborn instead of a steamy read. When Vera turns up dead in Joyce’s garden hours later, Tricia has to wonder—could Joyce be the killer? Or is the culprit still lurking in town?
 
One thing is for sure, someone in Stoneham is stirring up something more sinister than sweet. Tricia is determined to win the cutthroat cooking contest, but first she will have to make sure no one else is in danger of getting burned.

***

4.25 Stars

This is the thirteenth book in the Booktown mystery series by Lorna Barrett.

Tricia Miles has one of the many bookshops located in Booktown. Her vintage mystery shop called Haven’t Got A Clue is doing well and she has made her assistant Pixie more of a general manager while she has time to do other more relaxing things … like entering a amateur baking contest and of course, solving the newest murder in town!

While visiting a fellow bookstore owner to learn about gardening and planting an herb garden Tricia and Joyce find the dead body of Vera Osborn. Vera is Joyce’s next door neighbor and neither have gotten along with each other since the day Joyce moved in. Vera is found dead with a pitchfork jutting through her body which seems like a pretty extreme weapon to just have hanging around waiting to use for a murder. Joyce immediately jumps up to suspect number one.

There was barely any help in the investigation from one time flame, Chief Grant Baker and Marshall Cambridge, owner of the Armchair Tourist bookshop. Both linked romantically to Tricia at one time. Not to mention there was barely any interaction between Tricia and either of these men. I wish they had been more included in the story. I think it would have made a richer product in the end.

The story came to a satisfying end but I wasn’t jumping up and down about it. I felt like Tricia was left out in the cold a lot by people who said they cared about her. Her sometimes flame Marshall barely acknowledged her and her sister was so clueless that she named her new day spa in the same fashion as Tricia’s bookstore. I fear neither of them would have noticed if she had gone missing or for heaven’s sake, abducted.

Good story but I wanted more. Gimme some romance in this, please. Just a touch. Something. Keep me coming back to Booktown.

I received this as an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) in return for an honest review. I thank NetGalley, the publisher and the author for allowing me to read this title.

With Pixie capably handling more responsibility around the bookshop, Tricia is trying to find something to do with her unexpected free time, so she enters Stoneham's bake-off and applies for membership on the executive board of the local animal rescue. But neither goes as she had hoped, and she is determined to figure out what is going on and who is responsible.

This has been one of my go-to series for years, and I eagerly look forward to the release of each new book. While I enjoyed the book, I got a little frustrated with Tricia's almost constant introspection throughout the entire book. I recognize that there are times when we all question different aspects of our lives, it seemed that Tricia spent more time thinking about her store, her relationship, and her 'enemies' in town than anything else, and that was a little off-putting.

I love the setting for this series, and would love to spend a day or two – or longer! – in Booktown, browsing through all the different stores and meeting their proprietors. Most of the recurring characters are people whose businesses I would love to support, but of course, there are exceptions. Many series have a love triangle thing going on, and I'm glad this one does not, but I would love to learn the reason behind the hostility shown by several of the town residents toward Tricia. Yes, she's nosy, but no more so than anyone else in the stereotypical small town.

Unlike many cozy mystery heroines, she does not get in the way of the police, and at least in this book, she does not make stupid decisions that end up putting her life in danger. Like Tricia, I was still trying to figure out the identity of the killer when things came to a head in the book. I don't know if I missed the clues pointing to this person or if they just weren't there, but I am rarely that surprised by a book's reveal. I look forward to reading the next book in this series.

I enjoyed reading the latest Tricia / Angelica saga. I love these two sisters, and I also enjoy the other main characters in these books. I'm always so happy to return to Booktown to find out what is going on in their lives. There's always a murdered person for Tricia to discover and try to figure out whodunit. Along with a little love sprinkled in. And other things for Tricia to figure out. All in all, this is a great addition to this series. A very enjoyable read!

This is book 13 in The BookTown Mystery series, with recipes at the end.
Now that Pixie is the assistant store manager Tricia has found a lot of time Cree to get her hands into other activities.
An animal shelter, a baking competition, gardening on her balcony, don't seem to be enough to keep Tricia occupied.
Once again Tricia finds herself in the middle of a murder. Can she discover the truth with out putting herself in danger?
I always enjoy my time back in Stoneham, and Tricia and Angelica.

Thank you NetGalley and Berkeley Publishing for the opportunity to read this book. Opinions are my own.

Trixie really doesn't have a lot to do since hiring Pixie as assistant manager. She does an excellent job and Trixie finds herself with lots of spare time. She decides to apply for the local animal-rescue board and participate in the big bake off competition. They're good ideas but neither one comes out as planned...

Berkley and Net Galley let me read this book for review (thank you). It will be published August 13th.

When she's visiting a friend at a romance bookstore, she hears an argument between her fried and the neighbor next door. Vera is upset that a tree limb has been removed without her permission. The other woman said it was in her side of of the fence and shaded her garden too much. Then she asks Vera to leave. She does, in a huff.

Later Vera is found dead in the garden in question. She appears to have been strangled and the had a pitchfork run through her. Trixie calls it in. The store owner goes in for questioning. It was her pitchfork and her garden. Trixie doesn't think she could have done it, but who would?

Then she finds out about underhanded dealings at the shelter. While she's looking into that, she's also looking into Vera's death. She's setting herself up for death even if she doesn't realize it.

Everything comes to a head at the bake off.

I like this series. They are good cozy mysteries. Give 'em a try!

I really love this series, but this book fell short for me. I felt like I missed a book (I didn't), because I didn't remember the whole Marshall storyline and it was just strange. It seemed like the author was trying to become more modern (maybe) and it didn't work for me. I always like how the killer is in front of you, but someone you wouldn't expect, which is what happened this time as well. There were a lot of things happening in this book, and the end rushed to get everything tied up. The Pet-A-Plenty storyline didn't end how I was thinking. Tricia spent the whole book wanting to be on their board of directors (which I'm not sure where this came from either, since I don't remember the animal rescue being mentioned before) and then when Toby came to his senses, she seemed to not be interested anymore. I hope that storyline continues into the next book. I look forward to the next book, because I really like these characters.

A cozy mystery involving books, a murder, cooking and an animal rescue shelter - what's not to like? Tricia has hired a manager for her bookstore, and finds herself at loose ends, with too little to do. She is considered by the residents of Booktown somewhat of a jinx, always seeming to be mixed up in whatever adventure or mystery or murder taking place in town. Here we find Tricia, amateur sleuth, again in the middle of another hometown murder mystery.She rarely cooks, but decides to enter the upcoming bake-off, hoping to succeed against her sister Angelica who is an excellent cook, cafe owner and all-around entrepreneur. As Tricia finds a dead body, definitely not death by natural causes, and learns more about the events at the animal shelter, she gets to the truth and the danger comes closer to her.

Book 13 in the series and continues with an interesting mystery or two. One dead body, one non-profit not wanting Tricia on their board, a cupcake bake-off with both Tricia and Angelica competing against each other.

I enjoy this series and look forward to meeting up with the cast of characters in future books.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for my eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I’ve read most of this series and always enjoy Tricia and Angelica’s adventures in Stoneham. In #13 Tricia’s uberly efficient bookstore assistant Trixie leaves Tricia with time on her hands. While I missed the bookshop (I’m very partial to book stores), new interests in a baking competition, the animal shelter, and gardening expanded the cast of characters while not abandoning friends from previous books. I thoroughly enjoyed this contribution to the series and look forward to the next one.

This was another great addition in the booktown mystery series. This is by far one of my favorite cozy mystery series because of the great cast of characters. Tricia is a great protagonist, but her sister Angelica always feels like the protagonist too. Together, they make a great team - their differences help them to see problems from many angles. Of course, there are lots of other great characters as well, plus a really fun setting. I hope this series continues on for a really long time because I'm always SO excited to absorb each one.

Number 13 is definitely not jinxed for this delightful cozy series, although heroine Tricia Miles feels the sting of being Stoneham, New Hampshire's town "jinx" again as she stumbles across another dead body. This one is Vera Osborn, an animal rights proponent, who had just had a heated argument with romance bookstore owner Joyce Whitman.

Tricia is witness to the argument and is with Joyce when the body is discovered. Tricia's sure that Joyce's backyard where the body was dumped holds a vital clue, but the pieces don't fall into place easily. This new mystery comes at a time when Tricia is at loose ends, having taken an overly efficient Pixie on as an assistant in her mystery bookstore, Haven't Got a Clue. A baking competition, gardening, and volunteering at an animal shelter as well as her "friends with benefits" romance with Marshall offer some diversions, but Tricia's feeling a bit unmoored.

Family, friends, enemies and frenemies all add to the mix as well as some "killer" cupcake recipes. All in all, a charming visit with characters fans have grown to love.

Again this is number 13 in a series about books and bookstore mysteries that I haven't read. The characters were quirky, the town charming and the food delicious. The story was entertaining and I will look for the author's older books.

A Killer Edition is the thirteenth book in Lorna Barrett's Booktown series. Perfect for cozy mystery lovers, we always recommend her to our patrons and buy for our library.

The thirteenth book in the Booktown series finds the town gearing up for a baking competition and Tricia at loose ends. Pixie has been promoted and Tricia has a lot of time on her hands and tries to become more involved at the local pet shelter and takes up gardening. When visiting fellow bookstore owner Joyce's garden Tricia finds Joyce's neighbor and pet shelter volunteer murdered Tricia once again is on the hunt for a killer.