A good and quick to read cozy mystery. I received an arc from the publisher and this is my unbiased review.

Summer returns home after her mothers passing. She can't believe her mother is gone. As she is going to her mother's bookstore she spies an envelope. Inside is a threatening letter and summer learns that it is not the first one. Now she believes her mother may have been murder but no one believes her. The characters are loveable. The story was quite intense, filled with secrets and suspicions. This book kept me up well after midnight turning the pages trying to play detective and decide who the murderer is. This book was delightful.

This is somewhat a light or cozy mystery. It is a quick read. Guessing what happened to the owner of the bookstore is almost answered too quickly. The characters are predictable and the reader often wants to know more about them. This is a fun read. There is a surprise at the end about the protagonist’s father. I want to read more books about this bookstore-hope it is a series. The only change might be a really nice male character. I don’t love the supernatural aspect in the book-thus four stars instead of five.

After recently listening to a podcast that raved about cozy mysteries, I was excited to read my first one! However, Little Bookshop of Murder was a true disappointment. The story was extremely repetitive and didn't move forward at all. The writing was too simple and there was little character development.

I am all for a fun, palate-cleanser type book, but this was not it.

I really wanted to like this book, but it was written in such a sophomoric style, it was a struggle to finish it. For someone with such a lyrical and friendly name, Summer Merriweather is anything but that. Granted she is back to her North Carolina island home because of the death of her mother, but I was really tired of hearing how she was a PhD in English Lit. A friend at college was on the Dean's List for her entire college career and she did not have a lick of common sense. Summer is too strident a character to warm up to and her running battle with the police chief should have lead her to complain to a higher authority about his negligence while investigating her mother's death. Needless to say I did not like this book

This wasn’t a bad book. I liked the setting of a bookshop on an Island. But I really didn’t care for the main character, Summer. And there was a lot of repetition, especially about her being a Shakespeare scholar and PHD.

My eye fell on the rating for this book before I started reading. It was well below 3.5 starts. That’s very low for a cozy, particularly one that’s only available as an ARC. That was not very promising.

The plot sounded promising: Shakespeare scholar returns home after the death of her mother only to find her mother was receiving threats. With the help of her aunt and her mother’s book club the scholar starts digging for the truth. (Book club members are a curious lot.)

I don’t think I have ever been less impressed with a book. I didn’t hate it, though. It just left me feeling very mwah.

In a way I was prepared for a not very well-written book. This is surprising as the author has already penned quite a few cozy mysteries under another penname, but this story seems to have been written by someone flexing their writing muscle for the first time. At the very least it lacked a good editor. (There’s an editor receiving thanks in the acknowledgements; makes me wonder how they earned their keep.) There are inconsistencies throughout the story.

For instance, Summer remembers never having hung out at the arcade, though earlier she remembered being told off by the owner for running through the arcade. In a later chapter, Summer, Piper and Agatha leave the house together, but only Summer and Piper arrive at their destination. What happened to Agatha in the mean time is not mentioned.

Another editing issue is the misuse of names. Agatha is called Hildy several times, and the name of the island is Brigid, St. Brigid or St. Bridget. This issue gets particularly annoying when new names are mentioned, such as Loretta and Abbey, but it’s unclear who is meant. I can understand that a galley proof is not perfect, but this galley is not even fit to be submitted to a publisher, let alone to be published.

Editing issues aside, what about the story? After finding a threatening note, Summer is convinced her mother was killed. After all, a healthy woman doesn’t just die of a heart attack. (Fact is that many people don’t realise that signs for heart failure are different in women than in men. They could quite easily be mistaken for ‘feeling a little bit under the weather’.) And she suspects everyone she comes into contact with. I like characters that are a little more subtle about their suspicions. And also characters that have a stronger case for their suspicions. How can she be so sure that Hildy did not have an underlying hearth condition? Hildy was a healthy living hippie. That doesn’t sound like the kind of person that goes for an annual full-body scan.

Yet, the police have ordered an autopsy on Hildy. This bothered me throughout the book. Summer asks them for the results a few times, but the police also believe Hildy died of a heart attack (i.e. natural causes). They don’t consider her death suspicious. Then why have an autopsy done? Makes no sense. Only Summer, as next of kin, could have requested an autopsy, but it’s quite obvious she didn’t.

Summer is a hard person to like or even feel sympathy for. She seems to think she is a better person because she reads classical literature rather than anything else: “<i>Summer had never read a commercial romance in her life. She was a classics person all the way around and had been vocal about people filling their brains with trashy books.</i>” Now, how would she know the quality of commercial fiction if she’s never even tried it?

I have the distinct feeling the author was writing for word count rather than for plot development. The story drags on. Many scenes have the same structure. Summer is talking to someone about something insignificant then someone else (usually Piper) walks in. A rule of writing is: every scene should do something for the story. It either should establish character or further the conflict. Most of the scenes in this book did neither. Really, how many scenes are needed to show that the five women Summer talks to most are pretty much interchangeable? Perhaps some of them could have been deleted from the story altogether or merged with others. (For instance, keep Agatha, but merge Piper with Marilyn and Glads. Loose the teenager.)

After reading I believe this book’s low rating is well-deserved and should actually be even lower. This is not the quality I expect from a previously published author.

Little Bookshop of Murder is a solid start to a brand new series. While I didn't quite connect with the characters in the beginning, they grew on me as the book progressed. I think as the series continues the characters will grow and I look forward to that.

This book was beautiful. From the first page right up until the end, it gripped me and didn't let go. Full of heartache, fear, and intrigue, everything about this story was perfectly tied together to make an enchanting read. I cannot wait for another installment in this series!

This book was boring and not well written and on the whole pretty unbelievable. Would definitely not recommend. The main character is annoying.

I thought a story about an academic who comes back to her beachside hometown to deal with her late mother's bookstore would appeal to me more than it did. It had a good premise, but the mystery portion of the story was flat. Of course Summer's mother was murdered, and it didn't make sense that the people around her were so bumbling and simple that they just didn't notice clues all around her. What's worse is that the murder and method of killing were obvious from about 20 pages in. I might forgive that if I connected to characters, but I couldn't. Summer made no sense as a person, and the details of her career problems didn't ring true. What university would suspend a tenured professor for getting caught on camera freaking out about a spider? In what universe? That is so implausible I was offended the author would try to sell this idea. Bummer.

Maggie Blackburn’s Little Bookshop of Murder is a very nice start to her new cozy mystery series. Initially I had a difficult time connecting with Summer and her rigid mine set on what constitutes literature...but as the story grew, and she came to open up her world view on the different book genres outside of Shakespearean literature, she became a much more relatable person...especially in regard to her views on her relationship with her mother. Though it wasn’t difficult to determine just “Who done it”, the journey of the story in Summer’s self discovery, as well as learning the ins and out of significant sleuthing is what I felt the essence of the story was about.

This ARC book was complimentary, provided by the Publisher and NetGalley. I am voluntarily providing my honest review.

Summer Merriweather has returned home to Brigid's Island for the funeral of her mother. The two haven't spoken since Summer left her fiancee at the altar several years ago. But she believes her mother, who was healthy in every way, was murdered, even if the police aren't listening to her. They don't listen even when she finds threatening notes - "Sell the bookshop or die" - or when there's an attack on her. So Summer, her Aunt Agatha, Agatha's daughter Piper and Piper's daughter Mia, set out to solve the murder themselves. But will Summer find a killer before she's the next victim?...

I really wanted to like this book because I love books about books, but I was heavily disappointed. I have to tell you (and anyone who knows me or has read my reviews already knows) I am a big believer in details. I notice them. I notice many things about books including little details that escape others, or things others don't really care about in the first place. But what I noticed here isn't little, it's staring us in the face: at the heart of this book, I'm seeing that it's supposed to be about feminists. There isn't a single strong male in the book, nor, believe it or not, a single strong woman. Having a PhD doesn't qualify as being strong; and the Shakespeare quotes throughout seemed just weird and out of place. However, while all the main characters are women, the men are either angry, stupid, inept, 'smelly', or practically non-existent. This is just my opinion, although I do realize others might disagree, which is fine with me.

The women are also too 'trippy' for me. Old hippies and flower children are not my idea of a fun or interesting cozy mystery. Some women are supposed to be "free spirits" (of which I have no liking whatsoever in the first place) so perhaps this wasn't the best book for me to choose. I also don't really care for books with witches. I'm just not interested. But back to the women - neither (the late) Hildy, Agatha, Piper, nor Summer have husbands nor are in relationships. Not even Mia's father is in the picture. What was the author's purpose in this? That you can't be a strong woman if there's a man in your life? While I don't like romance to take center stage in a cozy, I do like to see that the main character not only has a good mind for solving murders, but can handle other things in her life just as well (although the MC did tell us early on she couldn't handle relationships, so oh, well).

I likewise had a hard time believing Summer truly cared for her mother. Sure, she shows anger at her mom's death, but she ran away from the town and never contacted her mother again? That screams guilt, not love. And we're supposed to feel sorry for her? Not to mention the murderer was the easiest one to identify that I've ever come across. The person practically screamed "I did it!" the minute they stepped onto the page. (The author moreover needs to research before she writes things. She states as how the African Grey Parrot, Mr. Darcy was “getting old,” but African Greys can live 40 to 60 years. Nineteen is not old for them.)

The ending was a big disappointment; I think it may have been written to keep the reader interested enough to read the next in the series, and it didn't seem plausible why the killer was threatening Summer when the person had never even met her before. So there was that. But perhaps I'm just the wrong audience and hopefully many others will enjoy this book.

This was an excellent addition to the cozy mystery genre. Set in a Southern beach town, our main character Summer returns home to handle her mother's unexpected death. She is enveloped by her mother's friends and her aunt as she realizes her mother's death was not a heart attack but murder. I felt the "who done it" was a little predictable but the why was somewhat of a surprise. I won't mention other surprises but there is one that I thoroughly enjoyed.
I would definitely read more in this series and by this author!

I had a hard time connecting with this book. The main character, Summer, is not likeable and does things that I felt were off. The book felt like it dragged on without a whole lot happening and then the murder was just sort of solved at the end. I just felt like I really could not get into the story.

As a huge fan of the cosy mystery genre I absolutely love to read about beautiful settings, great relationships and of course the ol’ whodunnit! Maggie Blackburn delivers all three of these in The Little Bookshop of Murder.

Summer Merriweather returns home to St Brigids island after the sudden and tragic death of her mom Hildy, the much loved owner of the local island bookstore. Summer is dealing with her own professional failures when this happens but she just knows that her healthy, happy, hippy mother couldn’t have died from a random heart attack. Surrounded by her mothers book club friends, her family of strong women and her moms bird Mr Darcy, Summers determined time find out what really happened - or die trying.

There were a few things I didn’t like about this story and a few things I did. First of all the arc is long and shallow: that is, not much happens story wise for quite a long time. (The suspected murder isn’t confirmed until your 85% of the way through the book) and also there are a lot of things that don’t get resolved or get resolved in a shallow way. for instance, Summer’s arachnophobia ( which is so severe it nearly costs her tenure at the University she teaches at) boils down to a scary story she read as a child. Also the question of Summers father lingers all the way through the book which a quick send off resolution.

I loved the setting of the book, the beautiful island environment and the community that it fostered. I love love love the way that Summer, a self confessed book snob, slowly falls in love with Hildy’s bookstore and the romance genre; that’s such a lesson for me, who is also a bit of a literati snob sometimes! And lastly the beautiful relationship and the coming home journey was so sweet and heartfelt.

Overall a sweet, meandering read for the die hard cozy mystery fan.

I was very excited to read this and I'm glad I did. This is a very enjoyable story. Lots of twists and turns and I loved the ending! I hope this series continues! Can't wait to read more about Summer and her family!

This book was not for me. While it was well written, the subject matter of the MC losing her mother was too close to home for me as I lost my mother not too long ago. The characters mother reminded me a lot of my mother which made this story very sad for me. That being said, I will be recommending this title to customers bc the writing was very good. I am still giving this title 4 stars bc of the cohesiveness of the story and the well written story line

Description
A Shakespearean scholar inherits a beachside bookshop--and a murder mystery--in this delightful new cozy series for fans of Kate Carlisle and Ellery Adams.

Summer Merriweather's career as a Shakespeare professor hangs by a bookbinder's thread. Academic life at her Virginia university is a viper's pit, so Summer spends her summer in England, researching a scholarly paper that, with any luck, will finally get her published, impress the Dean, and save her job. But her English idyll ends when her mother, Hildy, shuffles off her mortal coil from an apparent heart attack.

Returning to Brigid's Island, NC, for the funeral, Summer is impatient to settle the estate, sell her mom's embarrassingly romance-themed bookstore, Beach Reads, and go home. But as she drops by Beach Reads, Summer finds threatening notes addressed to Hildy: "Sell the bookstore or die."

Clearly, something is rotten on Brigid's Island. What method is behind the madness? Was Hildy murdered? The police insist there's not enough evidence to launch a murder investigation. Instead, Summer and her Aunt Agatha screw their courage to the sticking place and start sleuthing, with the help of Hildy's beloved book club. But there are more suspects on Brigid's Island than are dreamt of in the Bard's darkest philosophizing. And if Summer can't find the villain, the town will be littered with a Shakespearean tragedy's worth of corpses--including her own.

My Review
Little Bookshop of Murder starts off with Summer Merriweather at the beach enjoying the waves and the sand warming her feet. In town for her mother's funeral she was reminiscing on the years spent away from home.

Summer thinks she is just going to come into town and after the funeral sell the bookshop. However, she learns her mother had received numerous threats and things are not what she expected. She must find out who the real killer is before it's too late.

This is a good cozy mystery filled with twists and turns. The characters are well-crafted and enjoyable.

I give this a 4 Star.

I enjoyed this book. Liking Summer was difficult for me in the beginning. She really is a book snob. Luckily by the end of the book she's not as bad. The mystery is pretty predictable, it wasn't hard to figure out who the killer is. But all in all it's a pretty easy read.