Sadly I was not interested in this story at all. I couldn't focus on it and the characters fell short for me.

Fun characters! Quick witted dialog. A few twists added to fun. Second in series. Looking forward to third.

The best entry in this series so far. I loved all the details of fixing up the theater, along with the plans for the movie opening. The characters are really gelling at this point, and the cozy companions here are a fun bonus.

I'm sorry, I loved your book, I've tried, but I could not finish the review on time due to corona.
I hope to get another chance

A delightful romp of a cozy murder mystery!

Thanks to Net Galley, the publishers, and the author for the opportunity to read and review the book. All opinions are my own and completely honest.

In this second book in the Main Street Book Club Mysteries, Arlo Stanley's Friday Night Book Club ladies are all geared up to solve a cold case. The book they are reading, Missing Girl, had them convinced that it is about the disappearance of Mary Kennedy, a 50 year old case set in Sugar Springs, Mississippi. Arlo tried to get the ladies to back off, but nothing is going to stop them from investigating and solving the case. When a present day murder occurs in the same location where Mary disappeared, they are even more convinced. Are Haley's and Mary's murders connected? The ladies sure think they are.

I really enjoy this older group of women and their tenacity and investigation skills, but they can't do it alone, Arlo has to help, or is she keeping them in line. The ladies are her friends and she cares for all of them, wanting to keep them safe. Chloe is Arlo's friend and works in her shop. She is a single mom, who's son lives with her parents. I like the relationships in this story, they make the characters real. There were a lot of characters in this story which made it a bit difficult to keep them all straight, which took away from my enjoyment somewhat. There were a lot of suspects and red herrings which made it hard to figure out who the culprit was. With two cases 50 years apart, there was a lot happening. Did the ladies solve these two mysteries? How were they connected, or were they connected? You will have to pick this one up to get the answers to those questions. This is the second book in the series, but there is enough background shared that it can be read as a standalone.

Dollycas’s Thoughts

We return to Arlo and Chloe’s Books & More in this second book in the Main Street Book Club Mysteries where the Friday Night Book Club, which meets each day at noon are discussing Missing Girl by the now-deceased Wally Harrison. (Can’t Judge A Book by Its Murder) The elderly members of the group, Fern, Camille, and Helen, are sure the book was derived from a 50-year-old-case when piano teacher Mary Kennedy went missing after giving a lesson to the son of a wealthy family.

When the ladies travel to the very manor where the disappearance occurred to pick up a book donation they witness another murder. They are convinced the two murders are connected and no matter how hard Arlo tries to direct their attention elsewhere they are intent on investigating both murders come hill or high water.

I will confess when I started this book I stopped to be sure I hadn’t already read it because the young woman’s death was very similar to something I had remembered reading before. I had not read this book and as I got further into it the similarity faded away.

Arlo is a terrific character. Her book club plan did not come together as planned but she rolled with it and accepted that she ended up with Fern, Camille, and Helen. It sure turned out to be a lot more work especially now that the ladies see themselves as amateur sleuths instead of book club members. It tests Arlo’s patience but I enjoyed tagging along to see what kind of mischief they were going to get into much to Arlo’s dismay. Arlo also has man trouble, personally and tangentially. With both Sam and Mads back in her life, she is dealing with old feelings and new. Plus Camille is dating a very interesting man that no one knows anything about. Ms. Lillard has created a wonderful group of characters. They make me laugh and a bit nervous at times but all are characters I want to follow through their adventures.

As I said the new mystery felt familiar but the way the author twisted it to encompass the old cold case caught my interest. While nosing around a certain event got the ladies all twitterpated. They were all in on solving both mysteries. I was nicely entertained by the way the drama all played out. Ms. Lillard threw in some wonderful twists and turns that really muddied my thinking. I really enjoyed the subplot about Chole and her son too.

There is plenty of humor sprinkled through this story including the antics of some spry octogenarians but also from a certain parrot named Faulkner. His quips and one-liners had me in stitches.

A Murder Between the Pages was a delightful trip back to Sugar Springs, Mississippi. I am excited to know I will be returning in just a couple of weeks when I read and review A Murder Like No Author.

A Murder Between the Pages is the second book in Amy Lillard's Main Street Book Club Mysteries. The quirky characters of this small town are once again challenged with a mystery that needs to be solved. This fun and entertaining cozy mystery is a combination of humor, romance, and plenty of twists and turns to keep you guessing. It's definitely a story you won't want to miss.

***I received a copy of this book from NetGalley. All comments and opinions are my own.

Another excellent edition to a wonderful series! Full of twists and turns that leaves you wanting more and enjoying each moment until the end when the killer is caught!

This is everything that a cozy mystery should be. There are fun, eccentric characters, a small-town setting, and mysterious occurrences needing to be explained. Author Amy Lillard has included all of these in A Murder Between the Pages and she offers ample clues to help us solve the mystery. I loved that the main characters belong to a book club and while they are sometimes overly eager to find out what is going on, they are very capable in doing just that! Arlo, the bookstore owner, certainly has her hands full trying to keep these grandmothers with absolutely no filters under control!

If you are looking for a fun, entertaining mystery that will keep you guessing until the end, you will want to read this book. It is the second book in Lillard's Main Street Book Club Mystery series but I didn't feel like I was left out by not having read the first.

I received a complimentary digital copy of this book. There was no requirement for a positive review and no monetary compensation was given. These are my own thoughts.

I loved the first book in this series and i loved this one, a sort of follow up.
I was happy to catch up with the quirky characters and found the funny and fleshed out.
The mystery is solid, full of twists and turns, and kept me guessing.
I can't wait to read the next book in this series, this one is highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Arlo owns a bookstore where the main customers are a group of 80+ mystery loving book club members. I liked this book in theory, but the execution fell flat. Arlo and everyone else who is supposed to be working at the bookstore simply do not. I get that in cozy mysteries the heroine often neglects her business, but in this book everyone neglects it. The mystery revolved around a cold case, but the police chose to completely ignore any actual police work. Unfortunately for me the negatives outweighed the good points.

A Murder Between the Pages by Amy Lillard is the second book in the Main Street Book Club Mysteries series. In the first one, local author and celebrity Wally was found dead outside of Arlo and Chloe's shop. In this one, his book, Missing Girl, is being dissected by the three elderly women in Arlo's book club. Apparently, they believe the book is actually the story of a young girl named Mary who disappeared fifty years before in their small town. When a young girl is murdered in the same place that Mary went missing, they can't help but throw themselves into investigating and trying to make the connection and find the killer. The book was quite fun and I truly love Fern, Camille, and Helen, the three older ladies. They seem to make life enjoyable, even if you do want to shake them a little. You don't need to read the first book to know what is going on, but why wouldn't you want to? Everyone needs a little mystery in their lives!
Thanks to #NetGalley for the chance to read this story. All opinions are my own. #Bookstagram #all_the_pages

This Book Club is comprised of three feisty older ladies and one younger one. When they solve a murder apart from book reading activities, they are all alert to solve another - the one which happened in their own backyard. A missing woman, over fifty years old, and the Police could not care less.
When another murder happens in their very presence, it is far too much for them to accept meekly and they seek not only to find out the why's and wherefore's of this one but also to find an answer to what happened fifty years ago.

How Arlo (the youngest) tries to keep a leash on the older ones not to break the law (you cant just walk into someone's house, pilfering their stuf, you cant break into a car and walk away with a diamond necklace) but these ladies cannot be stopped and in between investigating a murder, there is a touch of romance as well as a lot of cross talk and action going on!

A fun detective novel, nice characters as well in a small town.

New to me series and author but I fell completely in love with the series. I have since added the previous books to my Mount TBR and I will be on the look out for future books. Great characters and setting with a well crafted mystery.

Murder, Mystery and Mayhem... Nothing says cozy mystery any better than 3 older female mystery sleuths who bind together in book club meeting at their local bookstore. While reading a book called Missing Girl, the ladies decide that the book is in fact connected to a missing girl from 50 years ago in their own hometown. After all, the author had lived there. Determined to find the connection the ladies set out to prove their theory right. This was an enjoyable read. I want to thank Net Galley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

If I could give this book no starts, I would.
Book store setting, small town, eccentric characters--it all sounded great. But I hated this book. I wrote 75 notes to myself on my Kindle, which is a record. Most concern the idiotic and very unrealistic behavior of the characters. Does that sound too strong? It's not. The story centers on a bookstore in a small Mississippi town, where a group of eccentric and very elderly ladies form the core of a book group, a bookstore owned by the adopted daughter of one of them. Arlo co-owns the bookstore, yet is able to just dash off following the eccentric older ladies at the drop of a pin, heedless of whether anyone can watch the store for her. Having worked in a bookstore and other small, privately-owned companies with just a few employees, that would quickly lead to a shuttered business and bankruptcy. Why Arlo felt responsible for these women, and why she couldn't corral them, is mentioned again and again and again and...to the point where I started yelling at the book "Just let them go alone, Arlo! Let them get arrested!" I had trouble understanding how the older ladies that comprise the book club were able to leap from the fictionalized account in their current selection to the real-life disappearance of a former town resident that is the plot. It just seemed very forced and not natural enough to be the basis for the plot. Their behavior was untenable. No police chief, no matter how small the town, no matter his personal relationship to the bookstore owner, would let people barge in to his office, contaminate crime scenes, and make off with evidence without repercussions. And the stealing of medical records by the old ladies, when the author is well aware of HIPAA? I really lost all interest in finding something to like about this book at this point. I disliked all of the old ladies and Arlo, and even the police chief in his complacence and the hunky Sam who indulged the ladies in their mischief. If the mystery had been well plotted, the book might have been salvageable. But there were so many ridiculous, unrealistic scenarios Who thinks a movie producer is going to call the Chief of Police in a small town not to discuss security details but to make the police chief make hotel reservations and act as project manager/major domo? A large, man-made lake is completely drained to look for a stolen necklace. No divers sent in to search; nope, completely drained. Where did the water go? No mention of where the pumps and hoses let the water out, and this was a lake deep enough to hide a Volkswagon for decades. A small town has the budget and equipment to do this? Borrowing a couple of divers from another county would have been realistic. It boggles the mind that the author thought these were reasonable ways to force the connections she needed to in order to advance her story. I could go on and on (see last month), but I'm stopping here and considering changing my Kindle settings so all those notes would be available to anyone who wanted to read them. This is not the first in the series, but I'm going to actively avoid the rest and suggest you do, too, Gentle Reader. Instead, read the next book (reviewed below this one on the blog)..

No matter the genre, Amy Lillard does not disappoint. I enjoyed the antics of Helen, Fern and Camille. The three elderly ladies that made up Arlo’s book club. They made it their job to solve a cold case and kept Arlo busy trying to keep them out of trouble.

I think my favorite in the book though is Arlo’s bird Faulkner. That bird is a hoot!

Read this story about Arlo; the bookstore owner, her two ex-boyfriends; one a sheriff and the other a PI, and those mischievous old ladies. It will have you chuckling throughout.

Lillard is on my must-read list and, if read one of her books, she’ll be on yours too. Thank you Amy for another great read!

Who doesn’t love a great mystery with a book shop, book club and small town antics?! A Murder Between the Pages by Amy Lillard is just that and much more. While the story was very good, the author gives some priority to her descriptions of characters and surroundings that allowed me to close my eyes and visualize the scenes! If you want an enticing cozy mystery, this might be the one for you. Thank you to the Poisened Pen Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this advanced copy in return for my review.

Arlo and her friend, Chloe, have opened a bookstore and coffee shop. Arlo is in charge of books, while Chloe takes care of the coffee drinks. Anyone who’s tasted Arlo’s coffee, appreciates Chloe all the more.

Arlo pictured a book club of thirty-somethings, debating the merits of beloved books. Instead she got Camille, Fern, and Arlo’s guardian, Helen. They are in their eighties. A few months ago, an author died in front of the store, and the trio was instrumental in finding the killer. Now, they fancy themselves as amateur detectives.

They finagle a way to tag along when Arlo is summoned to Lillyfield mansion to pick up donated books. Judith Whitney, owner of Lillyfield, had a stroke a month ago. The ladies want to see if she’s well enough to talk. They’re reading Missing Girl written by the dead author and are sure it’s the story of Mary Kennedy who disappeared fifty years ago and was presumed dead. This could be their last chance to find out what really happened.

They have an added connection. Haley, the sister of Chloe’s helper in the café, works at Lillyfield. They’ll simply ask to see her and go from there. Unfortunately, when Helen comes to the top of the second floor stairs, she falls and is dead on arrival at the bottom of the steps. Surprisingly, she was already dead when she fell. The ladies agree not to interfere in an active investigation but have no qualms about investigating Mary Kennedy’s disappearance, believing the two cases are linked.

Add in a new boyfriend for Camille, Sam the upstairs private detective who may or may not be interested in Arlo, and a confession, it’s a wonder Arlo can keep track of the trio. They are a wily bunch.

This is the second book in the series. Arlo is a sensible woman, at least when away from the three older women. Camille, Fern, and Helen have no inhibitions about barging into the Sheriff’s office to tell him how to handle a case or into a suspect’s home. They may be older but have hidden depths—and are a delight. The uncertainty between Sam and Arlo will keep readers wanting more.

Lillard also has written eight other mysteries including the Kappy King Amish series, contemporary, Amish, and historical romance books, totaling thirty-four romances.