Cozy Mystery on a Coastal Island
This story has many neat things going for it. It takes place on a Coastal Island which has street vendors, an arcade, and is not overly developed. It features a group of women of all ages and all stereotypes. From hippie-witches to University professors, they all share a love of books and love of a deceased bookseller. I read an Advanced Readers Copy that still needs a lot of work. It won't be published for 3 months so I am sure that they will work out the bugs. The story has a lot of promise and should be a great read. I received this ARC book for free from Net Galley and this is my honest review.

A new series out now from Crooked Lane and Maggie Blackburn/Mollie Bryan, Little Bookshop of Murder in the "A Beach Read Mystery" bookshop series will be available soon.

Summer, as a character is hard to like. Although I understand wanting as a teenager to be utterly different from her mother, right down to the type of books she enjoys, but as an adult, she seems to still be a rebellious teenager. Even with her mother dead, and presumed murdered, she has instances when her snobby attitude towards fiction books, romance, in particular, comes in to play. Now the owner of her mother's bookstore, she seems determined to hate it no matter that her mother worked her entire life to make the bookshop something people love. The arachnophobia is far too outlandish as well. However, by the end of the book, many readers will begin to accept Summer for who she is and what she is becoming.

Other characters, such as Aunt Agatha, Summer's cousin, and what is now her bookshop employee, all have characteristics that are easy to like, and hopefully, as the series grows will become an intricate part of each book. A good background on the characters would have helped this book be better and will be a must in the next addition. Readers need to know who the characters are, what happened in their lives, such as, why are none of them involved in a relationship, what happened to Mia's father, was Piper ever married, or was she a single mom. Too many questions were left unanswered or not addressed at all.

The murder of Summer's mother isn't plain to everyone, but as the story evolves, readers are presented with evidence that shows she was most assuredly killed. She died in her beloved bookstore with witnesses, yet no one seems to have questioned anything until Summer arrives. Unfortunately, the killer is evident from the start, and most readers will figure out the motive quickly. For a debut novel in a series, Little Bookshop of Murder is a bit disappointing, especially from a seasoned writer. I feel this series could be enjoyable if attention is given to the issues in the next installment to help readers like the characters and keep turning the page.

In “The Little Bookshop of Murder,” Summer Merriweather returns to her home community to attend her mother’s funeral, but rapidly becomes involved in an investigation into the true cause of her mother’s death. The cast of characters includes Summer’s family, book club members, a local teacher, a police chief, and some unexpected family members that arrive at the end of the book. The action mainly occurs at the charming bookstore and the house that Summer inherited from her mother.

Most of the characters were interesting, but the way the family members were related to each other seemed puzzling. My favorite character was the bird, Mr. Darcy! Some parts of the plot just did not hang together very well. Those readers experienced with reading cozy mysteries will guess the identity of the killer early on, although the motive is not evident until the end of the book. The surprising family relationships revealed at the end of the novel seemed to be tacked on, obviously leading to another book. This story had a lot of potential, but confusing details and a clumsy ending proved to be disappointing. The inclusion of unnecessary swear words also detracted from the story.

I received this novel from the publisher and from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed here are entirely my own.

I loved the premise of the book, but the actual story felt flat.. The characters are quirky. For instance, Summer has a huge fear of spiders, and one of Hildy's friends as flower tattoos all over. And then there's Mr. Darcy, Hildy's parrot. He slips cuddled up with Summer. The story was entertaining and easy to read. Now for what I didn't like. I know this s a galley version but there were misspellings, wrong names used, and clues given and then the author appears to have forgotten them.. Also, I thought the murderer was pretty obvious, however, there were multiple suspects but the characters didn't figure the murderer out until at the very end.. This was the biggest reason for the 3 star rating.

Summer returns to her home town following the sudden death of her mother from a heart attack. However, she finds threatening notes to her mother and begins to suspect that all is not as it seems. We follow Summer and her family as they investigate the death of Hildy, beloved community member.

This book was quick and easy to read. I really liked the setting and the community fee. However I didn’t find the mystery element mysterious at all and had worked out “whodunnit” early on. A few more twist and red herrings may have made me give a higher rating.

Summer Merriweather, a Shakespearean scholar inherits a beachside bookshop, and a murder mystery when her mother dies suddenly.

Little Bookshop of Murder is the epitome of a cozy mystery! The cast of characters and setting were so beautifully developed it’s clear the author is well versed in writing cozy novels. The book primarily takes place on Brigid’s Island and at the romance-themed bookstore, Beach Reads, owned by Summer’s mom. Summer is surrounded by a quirky cast of characters like her mom’s book group and a grumpy neighbor while they try to determine if her mom was murdered. There were several plot lines interwoven but well written and nicely defined. The author put wrote a lot great tongue in cheek humor in this book that I really loved. This was a fantastic start to the new Beach Reads series and I look forward to reading the next book.

Thank you to the author and publisher for providing me with this ARC.

Summer Merriweather is called back to her small island hometown and her mother’s bookshop after her mother’s unexpected death. Summer grew up working at Beach Reads, a bookstore that stocks mainly romances and mysteries. She rebelled by only reading what she called “great” literature, and became a Shakespearean scholar and professor. She’s a bit of a book snob and she knows it. This made her difficult to like sometimes, but she comes around in the end. Summer’s mother was well-loved and had many friends. When Summer begins to believe that her mother was murdered, there is no shortage of suspects. There are a lot of characters introduced in a short amount of time. I had no idea who the killer was until the autopsy came back, which took an incredibly long time. Once the “how” was known, the “who” was clear, to me anyway. If you like books about bookshops, book clubs, and scene-stealing pets (a parrot named Mr. Darcy), then definitely check it out. ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 stars.
Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the eARC to review.

Usually I really enjoy cosy mysteries with a bookish theme and this one had all the right ingredients - a beachside bookshop specialising in romance and mystery novels, the sudden death of the much loved owner, multiple characters and a distant daughter who has returned home. However, it just didn't work for me. There seemed to be little in the way of clues gradually unfolding and no real red herrings or twists to throw us off. The murderer was someone who was an obvious candidate for the short list of suspects but was overlooked for some reason until the end of the book.

The main character, Summer, daughter of the murdered bookshop owner was also not a pleasant character - not that she needs to be for a murder mystery, but I suspect readers are meant to like her. We are constantly told she is a Professor of Shakespeare and only reads the classics, not romances (although I think Shakespeare might have written one or two, as did Tolstoy, Flaubert, Du Maurier and Austen, to name a few 'literary' authors). We were also constantly told she has a phobia of spiders so I thought readers were going to be treated to at least one spider related event, but disappointing none occurred. The supporting characters were more likeable and at one stage it looked as if a romantic interest for Summer was being introduced in the form of the handsome fire chief, but nothing eventuated. Mr Darcy, Summer's mother's heartbroken parrot was the hands-down runaway star of the book.

Summer returns to the beach town where she grew up and where her mother owned a "beach reads" bookstore. Her mother, a seemingly healthy woman died of an apparent heart attack. Summer begins to suspect one of her mom's friends played a role in her mother's death. Summer left the police detective's son at the altar so he does not take her suspicions seriously. When someone tries to burn the house, the fire chief takes her side. Summer, a literary snob and Shakespeare scholar, despises "beach read" material, so she's not sure what she will do with the bookstore. However, her job security in academia is tenuous so she weighs her options. Summer does give the book club selection a try and surprisingly finds herself enjoying it. Eventually Summer and the police get to the bottom of the investigation. I was disappointed the story line with the fire chief seemed to drop. While the novel is probably not the most plausible piece of literature, it was a fun read in COVID-19 times. I'll probably read the next installment to see if the fire chief makes an appearance or if the story line with him is abandoned completely. I received an electronic advance review copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book! I was immediately in love with Hildy and wanted to know (almost as much as her family did) who had murdered her. I think that it was a little obvious who the murderer was, but really enjoyed the story. It made me wish there was a shop like Beach Reads in my hometown that had women who loved reading books as much as these women did! I would recommend that others read this book if they are looking for a light read that offers the beach, a book club and above all mystery.

This is the first cosy muster themed book that I have read. To me it is similar to a romance story without the girl meets boy part.
This was a pleasant, easy going story where Summer (the main character) returns to her childhood hone following the sudden unexpected death of her mother Hildy. It then slowly follows her and other family members as they try to uncover the truth about Hildy's death.
Thanks to the publishers & netgalley for allowing me to read this.

Little Bookshop of Murder begins with estranged daughter, Summer, returning to the beach town where she had grown up to attend her mother's funeral. The story covers Summer's insistence that her otherwise healthy mother was murdered and her insistence on interviewing all of her mom's friends in order to find the killer. That part of the story was really slow and she didn't have any convincing motives until the last couple chapters of the book. There were also too many aspects of the case that were difficult to follow or didn't add up. More intriguing was the relationship between Summer and her mom. Summer has to come to terms with her mom's death and that she hadn't made things right between them before up and leaving. A running gag through the book was Summer's mom's love of romance novels and Summer's love of classic literature which her mom refused to carry in her shop. More fun was Summer reading the book her mom had been reading for the book club and realizing she might actually like romance novels after all despite her abiding love for Shakespeare.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley and have reviewed it willingly.

Little Bookshop of Murder kicks off a brand new cozy mystery series by an author who has a robust list of other series. Summer is back in her little beach town that she tried to hard to escape from. Her mother's sudden death has many questions which Summer is determined to solve. The pace is good, the characters are quirky, and there are many books to salivate over. I liked the setting, the characters, and the interesting twist at the end.

A Shakespearean college professor inherits her mother's "beach reads" bookstore on an island in North Carolina. Summer is painted as a rigid (somewhat snobby) intellectual, while her mother has hippie-like qualities. When faced with her mother's sudden death, she finds it hard to believe that her mother simply had a heart attack--she thinks she was murdered, but has no idea who did it. Summer also has been afflicted with arachnophobia that has seemingly caused her tenure as a professor to be threatened.

There's a lot going on in this book. It's not helped by the lack of proper editing--there are inconsistencies in characters (e.g., one minute, Summer is with Marilyn but then a few lines later, she's with Glads instead, with no comings/goings mentioned.) At times, the narrative switches from third person to first person, then back again. Grammatical errors and repetition of some dialogue make this a very difficult read, especially when they occur early in the book when the reader is trying to keep track of everyone who's just been introduced. For this reason, I'm rating this book lower than I would had the book been easier to read.

I'm a retired college professor and find it a bit hard to imagine that the arachnophobia incident could really threaten a tenured professor's job. I do understand the pressures of "publish or perish" and the entitled consumerism of today's students. But those conflicts seem to be treated as add-ons rather than the main reason why Summer's job is threatened. So, I can't say she seemed very believable as a college professor.

So, I'm not sure I can recommend this book in its current form. Perhaps if some of the inconsistencies are corrected before publication, it might be an acceptable cozy mystery.

This is the first book in the beach reads series. Summer Merriweather returns to her home town when she learns that her mother has died. Her mother was young and healthy and Summer just can't believe she would die of a heart attack. The police don't believe Summer that her mother was murdered, so she and her aunt and cousin take to investigating themselves.
This was a cute, quick read. There were a lot of things I liked about the book but a lot that bothered me as well. I hated the way the police chief just dismissed Summer and was openly rude to her. It seemed like he wasn't even doing any police work in the book. Summer was an okay character for me. I didn't initially love her as she came across very set in her ideals about what books people should be reading, but she grew on me as the book progressed. There were a couple of side mysteries woven in , such as the identity of Summer's father, that I liked as well and hope they will be explored further in future books. The side characters were some of my favorites. I loved Summer's Aunt Agatha and cousins Piper and Mia. The murder was okay. I figured out the killer very early on as it was made extremely obvious. Overall this was not my favorite book but I enjoyed it enough that I will probably pick up the next book.
I received this book from net galley and Crooked Lane Books in exchange for an honest review.

I love cozies and bookstores so what could be better than this one?! It was a quick, light, fun read. I liked the characters and the writing style.

Summer Meriweather has to return to the small island St. Brigid, North Carolina after her mother's death. An embarrassing incident at work caused a rift between Summer and her mother Hildy, and now Hildy is gone. But, something about her death doesn't feel right, and the police are writing the death of an unfortunate heart attack, despite Hildy's active and healthy lifestyle. So Summer, her cousin Piper, Piper's daughter Mia, and her aunt Agatha set out to find out what really happened.

I loved the premise of this book! I love a cozy mystery and one set in a bookshop is even better, however its one fell flat for me. The killer was obvious from the start, although with how many mysteries and thrillers I read, I have called weirder plot twists, however, this one was handed over on a silver platter. The main character was unlikeable, acting as though her PhD and career in academia made her better than everyone else. Multiple times I groaned in frustration at her random Shakespearean quotes, and condescension over every book that wasn't what she deemed "good" literature. She also took no responsibility for any of her actions, whether it was fleeing her embarrassing work situation on top of her already poor work performance, leaving a man at the altar, or not standing up for what she knew were her mother's last wishes. She also told most of the town she thought her mother had been murdered, for ostensibly no reason. The setting and dialogue also felt underdeveloped and odd with pseudo-British syntax and slang despite the Southern setting. Last, the motive for the killer was underdeveloped. The killer wreaked havoc throughout the book, even threatening the main character and committing other major crimes, but in the end the killer did all this because she was "crazy" and jealous of the original victim, making the other crimes after the murder nonsensical. I'm rating this two stars because I feel like this is a rocky start to a series but the premise and more development could turn this into a solid series.

Summer Merriweather is a Shakespeare professor, struggling to keep her university position. She goes to England to do research & hopefully write/publish a paper good enough to make the dean happy. Suddenly her mother Hildy dies & Summer has to return to her hometown in North Carolina for the funeral & to deal with estate. Especially to sell her mothers romance novel bookstore Beach Reads. When she gets there though she finds threatening letters among her mothers things “sell the bookstore or die.” Now Summer has to find out what truly happened to her mother. The police are no help & the suspect list is growing.

This is a perfect summer/beach cozy mystery. The opening lines put me right into that seasonal time feeling. We’re thrown into Summer’s (the main character, not the season) world quick as she is abruptly returning from England for her mother’s funeral. Luckily she has a great aunt & cousin & friends of her mother’s to add support along the way. The atmosphere is perfect for a cozy mystery. I can definitely see myself reading the next book when it comes out.

Cozy mysteries are so wonderful to read and while this one it’s not a bad book it just missed the mark for me. The characters are a little one dimensional and from early on it was quite obvious who the killer was. The main character was likable enough but a lot of the supporting cast didn’t really seem to have a purpose. The best character in the book actually happened to be a parrot named Mr. Darcy. It was an easy read and I’m hoping in the future some of the issues will be resolved for the series.

I started this book with very positive expectations, simply because I could so well relate to main character Summer Merriweather. She's a woman who, like me, hates romance novels, dislikes cozy mysteries, has a history of working in higher education and is terrified of eight-legged critters. Wow, I thought; any or all of these threads will make for an interesting plot.

Woulda, coulda, shoulda - but didn't; the best I can say now that I've finished is that it's 20% substance and 80% speculation. The only one of those threads that was fully developed is her hatred of romance novels - which ironically, strung out over many pages, ended up being a tribute to how great they really are. Then there's higher education, in which I spent several enjoyable years as a university administrator; turns out Summer hates her experience. And in her mind, it hates her despite the fact that she has a Ph.D. in Shakespearean literature (which she's fond of throwing in the faces of those around her every time something doesn't go her way). Cozy mysteries, too, somehow become more friend than foe. And my angst at almost every page that some kind of confrontation with those aforementioned creepy crawlers would happen? Well, let's just say I worried for nothing.

The substance comes when Summer's mother, free-wheeling Hildy, owner of Beach Reads bookstore, drops dead of an apparent heart attack and Summer returns to Brigid's Island for the funeral. She reluctantly comes from her self-imposed exile in England (she escaped there after a classroom video she thinks maligned her dignity went viral online; after all, she has a Ph.D., don't you know). Now that she's back on the beach where she grew up, readers learn she never liked it there, didn't get along with her late mother and hates her mother's bookstore because it stocks "trashy" beach novels and not a single work of what she and her Ph.D. consider serious literature. If that weren't enough, when she left home years earlier, she left a sour taste in the mouth of several island residents.

Summer hasn't seen her mother for ages, but she somehow concludes she couldn't possibly have had a heart attack (the argument seemingly being that she ate healthy foods and practiced Yoga and witchcraft). The rest of the book mostly centers on never-ending speculation: Is it really murder? Did he do it? Did she? Will I get my teaching job back? Should I call to find out? Do I really want it back? Did my mother really love me? Do her friends love me? Why don't people understand that my Ph.D. makes me smarter than everybody else on this godforsaken island?

Besides that, while I realize the copy I read is a pre-release version, courtesy of the publisher via NeGalley, the book could stand a bit more editing. Glitches like Summer's telling one character that she'd finished a novel only to tell another just a few pages later that no, she had not, really put a damper on any enjoyment I was feeling at the moment. And I'm still flummoxed as to how a bird described as very large could perch comfortably on a single human finger. Oh wait; maybe that's because I don't have a Ph.D.

I'm going to assume (yes, I know what happens when you do) that the author is trying to lay a ton of fodder for the next book - this is supposed to be the first of a series, I believe - as well as familiarize readers with characters and settings. As far as the settings go, she was successful; I loved the bookstore and life on the island and and would be very interested in reading about them again. The characters, not so much; most were rather nondescript, and the snobby Summer can take her precious Ph.D. to England. Or Canada. Or anywhere except the next book. As she speculates about herself somewhere in the pages, "Summer was aware she wasn't easily liked...but she wasn't completely unlikable, was she?"

You already know my answer to that question. Sorry, but for me this series ends here. I'm PhinishD.