Lang's novel, set in an unique bookstore in a historic castle, is a fantastic mystery. The castle setting helps set this mystery series apart from the rest, and I look forward to reading the next installment!

Death on the Page: A Castle Bookshop Mystery
By Essie Lang
Crooked Lane Books
March 2020

Review by Cynthia Chow

Now that Shelby Cox is co-owner of Bayside Books and running the branch operated on Blye Island’s Blye Castle, she is eagerly anticipating the promotional book-signing event by bestselling True Crime author Savannah Page. Savannah has chosen the site just off of Alexandria Bay, New York to further her research for her next book, the murder of a rumored Mafia mobster during the days of Prohibition. Savannah even plans to stay overnight in the Castle as its first trial-run guest, wallowing in the atmosphere and hopefully catching a glimpse of the mobster’s legendary ghost. The well-organized book launch goes swimmingly until it’s interrupted by a woman accusing Savannah of plagiarism, but that snafu doesn’t compare to when police find Savannah’s body at the bottom of hidden stairs in Blye Castle.

After nearly meeting her own end while meddling in a previous case, there’s no shortage of friends - not to mention Police Chief Tekla Stone – warning Shelby away from investigating again. In the six months since she moved to Blye Island to help her aunt run the bookstores though, Shelby has fully embraced her former hometown and is invested in protecting its future. That means that Shelby will do everything she can to discover what happened to Savannah’s missing laptop, whether her fiancé truly was in love with his intended, and why the writer had been sparring with her undeniably handsome agent. This doesn’t even take into account the desperation of aspiring and competitive authors, some who may be willing do to anything to get a foot in the door and a contract signed.

This is an entertaining second of the series that delights in exploring the personal lives of its characters and their romantic entanglements. Shelby does a little Middle School passing on of messages between the Brad Pitt-looking agent and her very interested BFF, while Shelby’s Aunt Edie has her own spark with a tragic former bestselling writer. At the forefront of Shelby’s mind is of course her relationship with handsome Coast Guard Investigative Agent Zack Griffin, who hasn’t yet resigned himself to seeing his girlfriend hurtle herself into the midst of danger. Providing relatable moments of humor is Taylor Fortune, Shelby’s extremely pregnant friend who is desperate for time away from her mother-in-law and overprotective husband. Mystery fans will enjoy the glimpses into the workings of the writing business, while all readers will be entertained by Shelby’s intrepid investigation and questioning of Blye Island’s quirky characters. The continual mystery of Shelby’s mother, a woman she long believed dead, promises further intrigue and personal growth for a very likable and spirited heroine.

Poor Cabana Joe just can't catch a break. He wasn't responsible for the death in the first book and now he is getting the blame for the death in the second one. A famous true crime author comes to town for a book signing at Bayside Books only to become the a true crime victim. There is no shortage of suspects from her fiancé to Cabana Joe (although no one has ever seen Cabana Joe or given reason to believe that there is in fact a ghost).It is all very mysterious and of course Shelby feels the need to get to the bottom of it in spite of pleadings from Aunt Edie, Michael Kessler the castle caretaker and fellow true crime writer, and especially Shelby's Coast Guard investigative agent boyfriend. The great thing about this story is that you do not need to be familiar with the previous plot to be able to tell the characters apart. They are developed just as well in the second story are they were in the first. A very good story with a well developed plot that moves the story along and sets us up for the next installment, which cannot get here soon enough.

A cute cozy mystery but it tended to be on the slower side compared to others in the genre and the eccentric secondary characters tended to be lacking.

Title: Death on the Page

Author: Essie Lang
Series: Castle Bookshop Mystery Book 2

Chapters: 38

Pages: 330

Genre: Cozy Mystery

Rating: 4 stars

Publisher: Crooked Lane Books

Death on the page by Essie Lang is the second book in the Castle Bookshop Mystery and bookstore owner Shelby Cox finds herself in the middle of another murder mystery. But with this one she wasn't even trying to get involved.

I enjoyed this one more than the first book in the series, and I look forward to more in the series. This book just like with most cozy mysteries was a fairly quick read. It's a good book to read if you're looking for a temporary escape.


I received a copy of this book from the publisher through netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are mine alone.

Death on the Page by Essie Lang is the second novel in A Castle Bookshop Mystery series. It can be a standalone if you have not read Trouble on the Books. Shelby Cox co-owns Bayside Books in Alexandria Bay, New York with her aunt, Edie Cox. They have an auxiliary location in Blye Castle on Blye Island which is one of the Thousand Islands. It is the 35th anniversary of their bookstore and Savannah Page has agreed to do a signing of her latest true crime novel. Savannah also got the board of directors of Blye Castle to allow her to stay at the castle over the weekend. The author plans on researching Joe Cabana, a prohibition mobster, whose murder was never solved. Shelby arrives to open the bookstore on Sunday to learn that Savannah is dead at the bottom of a staircase in a secret passage. Shelby is curious about the secret passages and the author’s death, so she begins asking questions. There are a variety of suspects from the castle’s caretaker to the author’s fiancé. Shelby asks questions of people involved in the case despite being told by her aunt, boyfriend and Chief Stone to stop being a nosey parker. The mystery is straightforward, and readers will have no problem solving the whodunit before the solution is revealed. When Shelby is not sleuthing, she is working at the bookstore, visiting friends or her aunt, spending time with Zach Griffin (the Coast Guard agent she is dating), or indulging in coffee at Chocomania. I wish the story had contained more action. I found the pace to be on the slow side (for me). I would like to see Shelby become more mature especially with regards to her relationship with Zach. It would be nice is the author fleshed out the main characters (Erica, Matthew, Aunt Edie, Zach). I also wanted more sleuthing at the castle. I felt the author lost out on an opportunity to make this an intriguing mystery with Shelby sneaking around the castle and finding clues in the secret passages. The ending seemed abrupt and lacking in a solid conclusion to the mystery (I have questions). Those readers who prefer more cozy than mystery will enjoy reading Death on the Page. Death on the Page has secret stairs, chocolate coffee, pocketed objects, injured individuals, tricky thieves, and a cagey killer.

I like cozy mystery and enjoy this series. The author has kept me guessing as to who the murder is so It kept me interesting untill the end.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for this lovely copy.

When settling down to read the second entry in a new series, I always wonder if the second could be as good as the first or will it suffer from a sophomore slump. No worries here, this is another winner from Essie Lang.
Shelby Cox and her aunt Edie run two bookstores and one of them is in Blye Castle on Blye Island. What's not to like about that? Well, having a murder in the castle, for instance. Shelby and her aunt are hosting a book signing for a very popular true crime writer, Savannah Page. While Savannah is in town she gets permission to spend the night in the island castle, all part of her research for a future book. Part of the castle's history includes prohibition law breaking. Seems like she has crossed paths with somebody who has secrets to keep - her body is found in a passageway and Shelby finds herself involved in another hunt for a killer.
I like everything about this series, from the setting in the Thousand Islands in New York state, the Blye castle and the town of Alexandria. Shelby and her Aunt Edie are very well developed characters, a pair of ladies I would like to have in my circle of friends. I would be spending a lot of time in their bookstores. Not sure how I would do if I was to be drawn into one of their investigations. As in most amateur sleuthing the local police wish Shelby would tend to her bookstores and leave the crime solving to them. So what else is new, right? The secondary characters are people I would like to know more about in future books. As for the reason we read cozies, the mystery is very well crafted, the writing style flows smoothly and, as with all mysteries that make it to my TBR series, the puzzle kept me guessing to the final reveal.
My thanks to the publisher Crooked Lane and to NetGalley for giving me an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

My rating: 1 of 5 stars, It's a NO from me.

Book 2 in the series.

I struggled with book 1, and I struggled with the one as well. It just didn't hold my interest. I finally gave up on it a few chapters in. I did not finish and I give up on this series.

I’d never heard of the Thousand Islands, located in the St. Lawrence Rive in upper New York State, before I read this book. I was charmed to read about the ‘castles’ on some of the islands, retreats built by super-rich tycoons in the latter half of the 19th or early 20th centuries. Shelby, the protagonist of Death on the Page, runs a bookshop located in one of the castles, working in tandem with her aunt and another bookshop in the town of Alexandria Bay. Pleased to host a famous true-crime author planning to write a book about a cold case centred on the castle, the dream turns into a nightmare when the author turns up dead.

Having met and liked the author, Shelby can’t quite help asking questions, and winds up enmeshed in the case, much to the frustration of the local police chief and also her boyfriend Zack, who’d much rather Shelby stayed safe and off the radar of murderers.

This could be a really intriguing mystery, but it frustrated me intensely because there are too many side characters and the story kept devolving off on completely irrelevant tangents involving them. I couldn’t even keep them all straight: I kept mixing up Trudy and Taylor, and there were other characters like part-time bookstore attendant Cody who appeared so briefly they could easily have been tossed altogether. And did we really need Shelby going to her friend’s chocolate shop twice a day and eating a different flavour chocolate truffle each time? It just didn’t in any way advance the plot. Once or twice is local colour and demonstrates character quirks, more than that needs a ruthless editor to cut the waffle.

Three stars for an interesting concept which the author just didn’t do justice to.

Death on the Page is a cozy murder mystery. It is set mostly at a bookstore in a castle on an island, a houseboat, and a coffee/chocolate shop. The setting is interesting and well written. The characters are somewhat formed but not fully developed. Early on the plot was good and the book moved at a steady pace but near the end it becane somewhat unbelievable and seemed to be rushed. The romances felt awkward. The main character was mostly likeable but she repeatedly ignored directions from an authority figure and made a couple comments about "rowdy" children that didn't sit right with me. The main character disregarding police and getting themselves into trouble while solving a mystery that doesn't directly concern them is an overused plot device in these cozy mysteries. I enjoyed reading this book but it wasnt spectacular or new.

This was by far one of my least favorite cozy reads so far this year. I had liked the first one well enough and thought that the author could only improve on what was a decent read. I was wrong [though I realize that I am an outlier considering all the 4 and 5 star reviews I am seeing]. It really was not the book for me this time around. I found the MC to be super annoying this time, the book was about 50-75 pages too long and because I am late in the game right now, there was an audiobook available and the narrator was just hideous, so I had to read it [which is fine as that is how I would have had to do it if I had been on time] and that is how I noticed it was really too long of a book for a cozy. I felt the plot was thin, the mystery not that engaging and even with all the suspects, it was easy to pick out who the murderer was and the why was even easier [as the author basically tells you in the beginning of the book]. All in all, this just wasn't the read for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Death on the Page by Essie Lang is book two of the A Castle Book Shop Mystery series. This was the first one I have read but was able to follow the characters quickly.
Shelby is hosting book signings by a popular true life crime author, Savannah Page. Page has agreed to the signing but, wants to be able to stay in the castle alone and over night to do research on the death of a former owner of the castle. When Page is found dead the following morning at the bottom of a flight of stairs in a secret passage in the castle the suspect list is long but the big question is "how did they get to the island".
There are great characters, a unique setting, and plenty of twists and turns to have you guessing until the end.
I was given an ARC by NetGalley and the publisher for an honest review.

This is the first book I've read in this series but had no trouble following along. I enjoyed the book. I liked the description of the castle and town, and the peak at owning a bookstore. The story was interesting with lots of red herrings and the pacing was good. The characters were believable and the dialog was natural.

I received an advance copy via NetGalley and this is my honest review.

I will admit when I read the description of this book and the setting was a bookstore within a castle I knew I had to read it. What reader doesn’t love a bookstore? Add in the fabulous setting of the castle you had me from the get go. Now when you add a compelling Plot that involves a true crime writer getting murdered inside said castle and you have more than peaked my interest.

The second installment of the Castle Bookshop Mystery, Death on the Page is an interesting and enjoyable read. Shelby Cox, co owner of the Thousand Island book stores and has the nose of a sleuth, host a signing for crime writer Savannah Page, and she get more than her pages worth when the lady of the hour ends up murder inside the glorious castle. Shelby don’t necessarily want to help, yet she can’t seem to keep herself away from this binding murder.

Essie Lang knows how to catch her readers attention in more ways than one. The setting draws you into a beautiful place, the well-developed characters make the company fun and entertaining and then she gives you a plot that is well paced and keeps you attention fully in the book. Shelby and her aunt Edie are together. Shelby is a natural at sleuthing and entertaining while she does it. This is my first read by Miss Lang and I will tell you I was highly impressed.

I liked this cozy mystery as much as I liked the previous installment.
An excellent cast of characters, an unusual setting and a solid mystery make this story engrossing and entertaining.
Can't wait to read the next story in this series.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this arc, all opinions are mine.

Death on the Page is the second Castle Bookshop Mystery by Essie Lang. I would recommend reading this series in order, to fully understand the set up and relationships. However, I do think a determined read could catch up even without the prior knowledge. This book is currently scheduled for release on March 10 2020.

There are a thousand stories in New York's scenic Thousand Islands, and Bayside Books co-owner Shelby Cox stocks them all. But lately, the Blye Island bookseller's life is more about investigation than inventory. True-crime writer Savannah Page caps off two successful signings at Bayside Books with a night in Blye Castle. She's there to research Joe Cabana, a colorful Prohibition-era mobster who owned the castle--until he was found dead in the island Grotto. But crime becomes all too true for Savannah. Her body turns up the next morning, in a secret passage at the bottom of the stairs. The last thing Shelby Cox wants is to sleuth another murder, but she's intrigued about how a killer could have reached the island after hours. She's not at a lack for suspects either. It could have been anyone from Savannah's fiancé, Liam Kennelly, who argued with her the evening before, to island caretaker Matthew Kessler, recently cleared of his wife's murder. Can Shelby keep regular store hours, elude the police chief, and assemble the clues into a hard-bound case without getting permanently shelved?

Death on the Page is a book that I should have loved, it checked off all the boxes for mysteries I usually enjoy. The characters are well defined and interesting, the mystery is solid with a few good twists, and as a whole it never takes itself to seriously. I liked Shelby's inherent kindness and interest in those around her and her determination to do the right thing. I liked that while there is a touch of romance- it never takes over the plot. I liked that there were secondary characters and suspects introduced and expanded on. I like that I got to know returning characters better and that I could understand the reasoning and motives of the major players. I did have an inkling of who was the big bad, but the reveal was very well done nd rather unexpected. However, I just never found myself compelled to get back to reading or wondering what was going to happen next. Perhaps I just was not in the mood to read a mystery or this author's writing style and I just do not match up. There was nothing in the story that bothered me or did not work, I just could not get fully engaged in the story.

Death on the Page is a well written mystery, and I think fans of the first book will really enjoy the read.

Death on the Page is the second book in the new 'A Castle Bookshop Mystery' series. I have read the first one, Trouble on the Books and absolutely adore this series! It has an amazing setting - a bookshop in a castle, no less, and an eye-catching, colourful front cover - the makings of a great read for me.
There aren’t many settings as perfect as a bookshop located within a castle, and Essie Lang made great use of this. Blye Castle is in a fine lakeside town, with a real sense of community and a general feeling of nostalgia. This, as well as a town full of secrets, made it a brilliant backdrop for a murder investigation.
Death on the Page sees the return of protagonist Shelby, who has the necessary attributes of any great sleuth - intelligence, curiosity and attention to detail. She is desperate to improve the profitability of the shop, especially before the Winter sets in, but she is not great at dealing with people. Also making a reappearance, much to my delight, is Shelby’s endearing, plucky and strong-willed Aunt Edie, of whom I am especially fond.
In this instalment, a famous author, true-crime writer Savannah Page, visits the bookshops to carry out signings at both the Blye Castle store and the store at Alexandria Bay. She wants to stay overnight at the castle to research another book she is currently writing. But a dreadful accident occurs and Savannah's body is found the next morning in a secret passage. Shelby must figure out what happened...
This book has many of the components that make a really good story: from the mood and undercurrents to the very clever writing. The details of the plot were brilliantly executed and every chapter left me with a compelling need to read on. The end is perfect satisfactory, with all loose ends neatly tied up. I highly recommend Death on the Page to those who appreciate well-written cozy mysteries. This is a series I really enjoy, and I very much look forward to my next outing with Shelby and Aunt Edie!

[Thanks to NetGalley, Crooked Lane Books and the author, Essie Lang for a complimentary copy of this book. This review is my own unbiased opinion.]

I enjoy this series. The author has kept me guessing as to who the murder is in every book. I enjoy the idea of a bookshop in a castle in a small town. The characters are interesting as well.

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

Death On The Page is the second book in the A Castle Bookshop Mystery series.

Shelby Cox is co-owner with her Aunt Edie of two bookstores. Edie manages the store in Alexandria Bay and Shelby the store in Blye Castle on Blye Island. Shelby is excited when Edie tells her that crime writer Savannah Page is coming for a book signing of her latest book. She is also surprised when she is also told that Savannah will be staying overnight at the castle. Normally the Alexandria Bay Heritage Society is very protective of the castle and has never allowed anyone to stay there overnight. Savannah’s next book will center around Joe Cabana, reputedly a mobster and smuggler who had owned the castle before being murdered, and she hopes to get a sense of his life while living in the castle.

Savannah arrives for the book signing and has a very successful book signing until the end when a lady confronts Savannah, saying that she stole her idea for the story about Cabana. After having dinner with Savannah and her boyfriend, Shelby escorts her to the castle.

The next morning Shelby goes to open the bookstore and to see how Savannah night in the castle has gone. But when Shelby goes to Savannah's room she isn’t there. She goes in search of Savannah and soon finds her dead at the foot of the staircase in a hidden passage.

Shelby will be some investigation of her own, as she wants to know why the security guard didn’t hear anything, how the killer got in, and who wanted Savannah dead.

The story is well-written and plotted and has an interesting and a cast of believable and likable characters. The book reads at an even pace and there are enough red-herrings that kept me guessing until the end.

I will be watching for the next book in the series.