This was a fun cozy mystery and I totally enjoy a good mystery-who-dun-it type of book. I liked the idea of the All-school reunion, having been to one that was so fun. So the book starts right out with a body and the police are convinced it was a suicide, but Arlo and Chloe, best friends, feel differently. They are convinced he was pushed.

This book takes place in Mississippi and has a fun Southern flavor to it. There are some rather fun villagers among the "cast of characters" and I enjoyed the fun that these people brought to the story-line.

Enjoyed it and think you will too!

I received an ebook copy from NetGalley. All thoughts are my own.

This was a fun, cute cozy mystery! I love the theme throughout, and I will definitely be continuing with the series.

This book is a good start to a new cozy mystery series. Set in Mississippi, it is a southern mystery, with the setting of Sugar Springs. The town is getting ready to have a big high school reunion, with the guest of honor the famous writer and alumni, Wally Harrison. Arlo Stanley and her friend Chloe own the local bookstore and are happy to sponsor Wally’s homecoming. Unfortunately, Wally ends up dead on the sidewalk in front of the bookstore. Since Chloe was the last to see him alive, and has a history of a relationship with him, she is the prime suspect and is ultimately arrested. Arlo’s Friday Night Book Club, consisting of septuagenarians and older, are determined to prove Chloe’s innocence. Thus the plot is set and the funny romp through the twisted clues begins. I loved the parrot in the bookstore, named Faulkner, and the book club member Helen. All of the characters were portrayed in a delightful way that made the book come alive, It was an easy and quick read and I will look forward to more books in this series. Fans of cozy mysteries will really enjoy this one!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC for my honest review.

This is a cute cozy mystery, I really enjoyed the first book in the series. The characters were likeable and I couldn't wait to see what the little old ladies of the book club would come up with next. I definitely recommend this one and I look forward to reading more in this series!

Cant Judge a Book by its Cover is the first book in a new series by Amy Lillard. I loved the small town feel to the story. The "older" characters were interesting and fun. I thought the plot was satisfying with just enough twist to be interesting but not to have me lost. I can recommend this book. Thanks netgalley for gifting me an arc. The review is my own opinion

The blurb really grabbed me but sadly I just could not get into this book. I found the characters annoying and the whodunit was just not that engaging.

I voluntarily reviewed an advance reader copy of this book.

Can't Judge a Book By Its Murder is the first book in Main Street Book Club Mysteries.

I had high hopes for this book. I really love the title and the short description showed so much promise.
Also the cover is absolutely gorgeous.

Arlo has made her dream true and opened book store/coffee shop with her best friend Chloe. The biggest event is going to be a local boy turned famous writer book signing. Unfortunately he is found dead right in front of Arlo's store.
Her friend is devastated, not only was the dead man a father of her child but she obviously still had feelings for him, even though he has both a wife and a mistress.
Local police think that it is a clear case of suicide although Chloe believes that he was pushed.
Arlo also hosts a book club with three senior ladies, who upon hearing of his death decide to investigate and find out the truth. Arlo has no choice but to accompany them and keep them out of trouble.

As I said I had really high hopes for this book but sadly it did not deliver for me. I found Chloe almost paranoid and her and Arlo's behavior strange. Dialogue was stilted and situations exaggerated. There are many inconsistencies as well.
I don't like love triangles. especially not in cozy mysteries as for me it simply doesn't go well with it.

However, this is the first book and hopefully the author will resolve these issues in later installments.

The first in a new series with a promising theme (books!) and a decent array of characters. Arlo Stanley and her best friend, Chloe, own Books and More, a shop on main street Sugar Springs, Mississippi. This is a book/coffee shop - Arlo runs the book side, Chloe the coffee side.

The death of a man on the doorstep drives Arlo to investigate as it leads to Chloe being arrested for his murder. The man is Wally J Harrison, author and ex-Sugar Springs resident. He left Chloe with a son ten years previously and had only come back because he was supposed to do a book signing at the book store. Who killed him, and why? Most fingers point to Chloe.

Along with her newly-formed book club members - Fern, Helen & Camille, octogenarians all - Arlo starts to look into the murder to clear her friend's name.

What I liked (with the understanding that first novels can sometimes be a bit rough as they struggle to set up, well, everything):

A good premise, promising characters, and a good murder plot. It was well tied up at the end, and pretty satisfactory overall. It kept me more or less engaged for a couple of days after a week of not really being able to focus on reading, so that's definitely a positive.

What I didn't like/struggled with:

- Camille. She's apparently Australian, but I don't understand what that has to do with English aristocracy? (@10%: 'Born and raised in Australia, Camille had all the bearing of an English aristocrat.')

- also at the same point: '...Camille's strawberry scones with clotted cream. That was one thing the Brits had gotten right.' The clotted cream? Definitely. Or the strawberry scones? Scones in the UK are cheese, plain or fruit (raisins/currants). Definitely not strawberry. Strawberry jam goes on a scone with the clotted cream, but the fruit itself isn't baked into the scones.

I am completely at sea over what these have to do with being Australian. Her use of 'love' when she was speaking to people is also an English affection, rather than Australian (in my experience).

So, I struggled with all of that the whole way through. I just don't buy it, I'm afraid.

- The set-up for a love triangle almost right off the bat. An annoying trope in cosy mysteries these days. Please don't go there! Also, both men are ex-high school boyfriends of hers. Are there no new, single men in town?

- There was some limited background on the characters. Arlo's parents were hippies (she and her brother named after '60s folk singers Arlo & Woody Guthrie, I assume?), and she spent the majority of her childhood moving from place to place every few months, but she has some kind of 'generous trust fund' via her dad, which allows her to stop moving and set up home in Sugar Springs when she's 16. A hippie dad who sets up a trust fund? What does he do for a living? That's the sort of thing hippies are fundamentally rebelling against, isn't it? These sorts of details are not explored.

- Chloe. A single mum to a nine-year-old son, Jayden (the dead man's son). Jayden lives with her parents in their big house. Chloe (a baker? barista? book shop co-owner?) lives elsewhere. Again, this is touched upon, but not really explained, other than 'she needed her own space'. She seemed to visit on occasion, but not really pine for the boy.

Also, through most of the book, 'Books & More' reads as 'the Books & More', like the author did a search and replace of 'the store' and just changed 'store' to 'Books & More'. Just a formatting niggle that will hopefully get fixed before publication.

Anyway. As I say, first books can be a bit funny in that respect because there's so much information that needs to be provided on so many things. Overall, it was an easy and enjoyable read and is a series I'd like to continue, so I will be keeping an eye out for the second book in the series as I'd like to follow to see how it rounds out.

I had a lot of fun reading this book. I liked the storyline and the characters. The ladies in the book club made me laugh out loud a lot! I'm looking forward to more in this series.

Through NetGalley, I received a free copy of CAN’T JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS MURDER (Book 1 of the Main Street Book Club Mysteries) by Amy Lillard in exchange for an honest review. Arlo Stanley is a bookstore owner in Sugar Springs, Mississippi. With this year’s high school class reunion being attended by Sugar Springs’ most famous graduate, New York Times bestselling author Wally Harrison, Arlo is delighted to host a book signing for his newest release. Arlo is not so delighted when he shows up on her doorstop unannounced and dead as the proverbial doornail. Arlo is even less thrilled when police arrest Chloe, her business partner and the mother of Harrison’s illegitimate son, for the murder. Others in town have plenty motive to have done the deed: the surviving brother of a boy Harrison killed in a long-ago car accident, Harrison’s live-in mistress/assistant, and the betrayed wife. When it seems like law enforcement is willing to send Chloe to trial for the crime despite not really believing her guilt, Arlo enlists the assistance of her Friday Night Book Club to catch the real culprit. Before the end of the book, the entire town will be involved in the matter.

I liked this book. This is a smalltown cozy mystery featuring a hometown girl running the local bookstore and a bevy of active seniors as sidekicks. There’s not any romance in this book, but it sets up one for the future. Arlo’s settled little life isn’t just shaken up by the murder but also by the recent return of her two serious high school boyfriends. Arlo chose the one she thought would stay, but he left and broke her heart. Now, they’re both back in town. Good start to the series.

Can’t Judge a Book by its Murder by Amy Lillard is a fun story about murder, a book club, and little old ladies. Arlo owns a bookstore and coffee shop with her best friend Chloe in a small town in Mississippi. Since I live in Mississippi it was fun to read about places I’m familiar with. The story starts with the death of a local boy turned famous author right outside the doors of the coffee shop/bookstore. When Chloe is arrested, Arlo and her book club friends, a trio of old ladies with fire in their veins, set out to prove her innocence. The result is a lot of chaos, a lot of laughs, and the beginning of some romance. It was a fun book and I enjoyed it. Lillard made me laugh out loud more than once. I’m looking forward to more stories about this wildly different book club. I received a free copy of the story from NetGalley for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Great cozy mystery. Loved the character development. This is some solid writing that kept me guess who done it until the end!

Thanks Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for the ARC of this great mystery!

Enjoyable cozy mystery. Arlo was funny and frazzled trying to find the killer and helping her friend. Her interaction with the ladies from the book club was hilarious This book was well written and I look forward to more from this author

What do you do when your guest author, Wally Harrison dies before his book signing? Solve the crime, of course! That's just what Arlo does to keep her best friend Chloe from being convicted of murder and save their fledgling business - Arlo & Chloe's Books and More!

Arlo is determined, smart and a loyal friend. I enjoyed her relationships with the Friday Night Book Club members- Fern Helen and Camille. Those ladies made the book so much fun! While all are "mature" they're young at heart. Bookstores are one of my favorite settings and this one didn't disappoint. Faulkner the parrot was a delightful character.

Another trip to the bookstore is planned!

I received an ARC from NetGalley for a fair and honest review of this book.

Amy Lillard
Can’t judge a book by its murder.
I love a new series especially all about books ,also a new author for me.
A lot going on in this first book .
Plenty of intriguing twists that makes you think was he really pushed.
Enjoyable read getting to know the characters will certainly be a plus for the next instalment.
Looking forward for the 2nd book.
Many thanks to Poisoned pen press and to NetGalley for advance copy for my honest review.

Disclaimer: I was given an advance reader copy of this book from Poison Pen Press through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Can't Judge a Book By Its Murder by Amy Lillard is the first in the new Main Street Book Club series.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! I didn't lose interest in the story once, it was wonderfully written and the characters were well developed. I really enjoyed getting to know the characters for this new series and and very much looking forward to more in the series.

There were twists in the plot that kept you thinking about who the killer is and guessing up to the end. It is definitely a wonderful new cozy mystery!

Fun read by a new-to-me author. Good storyline, lots of suspects, loved the hometown feel. Loved the older ladies in the book club. Good mystery. Fun story!

So much to digest in one story, but I am here for it! A small town shop, a cast of crazy characters, and a murder is the perfect script to this mystery. With a solid mystery and engaging characters, this is a story you won't want to quit.

Can't Judge a Book by Its Murder starts with a bang -- or rather with our protagonist, Arlo, finding a dead body, who seems to have jumped from the roof of her bookstore. We soon find out that the victim is visiting hometown-boy-done-good, best-selling author Wally Harrison, who has returned to promote his new book and attend the towns class reunion.

Like all good sleuths, Arlo is soon gets set to investigating, when her best friend and business partner, Chloe, is accused of the murder. Arlo rather reluctantly teams up with her book club members Camille, Fern and Helen and they do what they can to get Chloe released.

One of the things I really like to put this one was the way the investigation felt believable. Lillard spends a bit of time discussing the ways in which the ladies ago about sorting a schedule to provide meals for Chloe while she's in jail (so she can avoid a prison transfer, which felt a little unbelievable to me, but was something a little different), and ways in which they listen to various people in town to uncover clues and secrets from Wallace past. The three book club members have colourful personalities and it's fun to see them talk the more sensible Arlo along with their plans.

Lillard does a good job of setting up larger storylines within the town as well. There's a potential love triangle which involves both Arlo's childhood sweethearts (this might be a pro or a con, depending on how/ how long it's played out) and it seems like lots of different locations and interesting characters populating the time for us to get to know as the series progresses.

At first I struggled a little with Can't Judge a Book by Its Murder, there was just something in the first few chapters that didn't quite quick for me, and I had a bit of a hard time to really immerse myself in the characters. However, once the story got moving and the pace picked up I found myself really enjoying the characters, and Arlo especially. I think she's going to be really interesting cozy protagonist.

I'd definitely be interested in reading more of the Main Street Book Club and possibly were of Amy Lillard's work in the future.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I really like this first book in the series! The characters are well-written and believable and the mystery was entertaining.
There was a little oddness to how some of the characters were described but I'll get into that with the video review after the book is released.
Definitely a solid outing.