Member Reviews
Sam, Nana Jo and friends head to UK on a Mystery Tour. From Jack the Ripper to Agatha Christie they go, right off a murder, but is it, a second murder. The band of unlikely detectives follow the trail of clues. Great cozy.
Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for an early read.
As a big Agatha Christie and Sherlock Holmes fan, I enjoyed this themed cozy a ton. It's very celebratory of the mystery genre as a whole and I think it would appeal especially for those who love the classics (and who doesn't?).
A Tourist's Guide to Murder is the sixth book in the Mystery Bookshop Mystery series by V.M. Burns.
I love the characters in this series and was thrilled to visit with them again.
The setting is well described and the mystery was well written, I was surprised at the ending.
I really enjoyed being back with Sam, Nana Jo and her friends. They are a lovely group of characters, that I have enjoyed reading about for a couple of years.
In this cosy mystery Sam, Nana Jo and friends are going to England, to take part in a murder mystery tour, to help Sam research for her murder mystery novel she is writing. Things start going wrong from the get go. I think if I had been in the group, I would have been very annoyed with Irma at the airport!!
I liked the setting of London and then travelling to other parts of England. You got to see the country through others eyes. I also enjoyed the amateur sleuthing of the group and the way they went about it.
A good start to 2021.
This is a wonderful instalment in the Mystery Bookshop series. Sam, Nana Jo, and their four retired friends are still just as fun but this time they are on a mystery lovers tour of England. I loved traveling to a new location and the tour fit in perfectly with the mystery and the cozy that Sam is writing throughout. It's great to get two mysteries in one book. I like the "fictional" mystery story just as much as the main one. If anything, I wish there'd been more about London and tourist stops. I couldn't get enough.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book.
A Tourist's Guide to Murder was the great adventure I expect from V.M. Burns, Sam and the crew. I can sooo relate to the challenge of the beginning of Sam's trip to England. While it is usually her grandmother and the other seniors who provide most of the laughs, I was almost in tears both for Sam and at her terrible luck.
The Mystery Lovers Tour should be perfect for the whole group and even with all the unexpected events, they get even more than they expect. Talk about twists! Not only do we get to read Sam's newest historical cozy as she writes it, there is another mystery within the murder mystery that befalls the groups planned tour. When a new friend is identified as the prime suspect in a murder, the group, always ready to investigate any mystery, jumps in with all 10 feet.
I missed Snickers, Oreo, and all my two-footed friends from back home but had a delightful journey with Sam and the ladies from Shady Acres.
I was excited to be approved for an ARC of A Tourist's Guide to Murder because I love every book I have read from V.M. Burns and I knew that a trip to England would hold tons of excitement. As always, I share my enjoyment of this book because that is what I do.
#NetGalley #ATourist'sGuidetoMurder
An entertaining and well written cozy mystery. Great addition to the series. Well crafted plot and characters. I highly recommend this book. I received an advance ebook from the publisher and Netgalley and this is my unbiased review.
Number six in the series does not disappoint, and is my favourite in the series!
The main character is also a writer, so there is a bonus in that there are two mysteries to solve within the book. This is not a distraction from the main story, but a compliment.
The regular cast of characters are so endearing and I love to read about them! I really enjoy the relationship between Sam and Nana Jo. As well, I enjoy Nana Jo’s friends, who are written as smart, full of life and entertaining.
This latest offering takes the main characters to England, and what a treat it is!
The mysteries are well written and kept me guessing!
I look forward to reading the next in the series.
I voluntarily reviewed an advance reader copy of this book.
One generally doesn't think your mystery lover's book tour is gonna give you an actual death mystery to solve, but as Sam and her elderly crew find out, they are getting a 2-for-1 deal, that has more suspects than clues! What seems fake suddenly turns into a real crime and they get to see Scotland yard in a whole new way, Sam and her solving buddies find themselves literally fighting to keep their tour going while trying to solve a mystery with the local cops. This is a fun, quick read, that you may guess halfway through, but it's still fun to see the gang solve it too! This is the 6th book in the series, and I'll definitely be reading the previous books!
Wow! This book is so good! It is entertaining, witty, cozy-mysterious, full of unexpected twists and turns, and so-well written! Whenever I picked up "A Tourist's Guide to Murder", I was whisked away on a sleuthing adventure in England, and found myself guessing up until the very end.
This is the sixth book in V. M. Burn's "Mystery Bookshop", but the first I have read, and I definitely think the book can work as as stand-alone novel as well (however, after reading this one, I definitely want to read the others from before too, and hope this series will continue!). Her storytelling is spectacular, and she truly knows how to bring her characters to life right from the start. All of their personalities are distinctly clear, and I could envision each and every one. It is so clear the Ms. Burn's is extremely passionate about what she is writing.
Samantha, her grandmother Nana Jo, and some of Nana Jo's friends travel to England to go on a tour specifically designed for lovers of mystery novels. When they arrive, things very quickly start to go wrong, and not everything is at it appears to be. Little could they have expected what occurs, or that they will decide to become involved and try to help solve the case.
I really enjoyed getting to read the snippets of one of the novels that Sam is writing, and felt that is really mirrored what is going on in the story quite well. I think it added to the story, and as the tension begins to build on the tour, it does in her story as well. I found this really interesting!
I do feel that the plot took a little too long to get in to in terms of the characters arriving in England, and to really start moving with the mysteries. I also wish that the author would have delved further into each location, and the history and connection to various authors' mystery works. While it is mentioned and spoken off, sometimes this felt a bit rushed, and I wish we would have seen more of it. I also wish that the two adorable puppies on the cover had more to do with the story in some way. However, even with these things said, none of this took away from my enjoyment of the novel in any way.
If you enjoy cozy-mysteries, I highly recommend this book! I found myself reading into the early hours of the morning to see whodunit, and what and how everything worked out. My mouth dropped quite a few times, and there are clues brilliantly placed throughout that are brought together brilliantly (no spoilers here!).
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Kensington Books for the ARC of this book, I so enjoyed it! All opinions expressed in this review are my own.
This is a very fun series. I love the book within a book, so that I have two stories to follow. I am very invested in the "books" being written by the MC. Both mysteries keep me guessing. I also enjoyed going to England and having a mystery to solve there.
Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for my eARC in exchange for an honest review.
I love love love this series. I always like reading about the characters because it feels like I’m catching up with old friends. It’s a quick, light, fun read and I would recommend it to others.
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Cozy Stars!
Aww I was in the mood for a nice cozy mystery. This is Number Six in the Mystery Bookshop series.
Look out London ~ Samantha and Nana Jo’s retirement friends Irma, Dorothy, and Ruby Mae are on their way. They are excited about seeing the areas that gave Agatha Christie, Dick Francis and Arthur Conan Doyle their inspirations for their novels.
However, this group will have some murder mysteries of their own.
In addition to this mystery, Samantha is writing her own historical mystery novel~ so we are getting two books in one!
This story was clever and fun!
Want to thank NetGalley and Kensington Books for the early release granted to me in exchange for an honest professional review. Opinions expressed in this review are my own.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for January 26, 2021
I enjoyed this book in the Mystery Bookshop series. You can also count on fun and a little bit of mayhem when Samantha starts to sleuth and Nana Jo and her friends are involved.
This book was well-written and I thought the premise of a mystery tour was quite interesting. These relationships are continuing develop and these characters are now like old friends.
Samantha Washington and a nice selection of her friends and family head off on a murder-themed tour in England. Things start going wrong almost immediately.
This book has a mystery within a mystery, since we get to read the period mystery novel Samantha is writing. Neither story is great literature, or even very plausible, but both are fun. The characters are pretty much all over the top and the stories are both filled with twists and turns.
It's a fun read.
A Tourist's Guide to Murder is book#6 in V. M. Burns' Mystery Bookshop series.
Sam and the group have a rough start, getting off on a trip to England for a mystery tour. They are ready for visits to Whitechapel, #221 Bakers Street, and to see where Agatha Christie plotted her masterpieces. Sam is also plotting her own mystery, throughout the visit, as she hopes to be published soon. I found myself as invested in this mystery, set in the past, as in the present mystery. The ladies are embroiled in solving the murder mystery in no time. Humor, fairness, and the ability to be kind are what makes the characters so wonderful! I love these characters! I enjoyed this book so much!
Thank you to Kensington Press for allowing me to read an ARC of this terrific book. The opinions expressed are my own-- and freely given
#ATouristsGuidetoMurder #NetGalley
The idea of a mystery with a travel note sounded very interesting.. the story had a slow start with many characters in the main characters travel group. It is written with humor but it took a long time to set up the group and get them to where they needed to be in London for the murders to take place. Everything that could have gone wrong did and this I found tedious to read. Once we get to London there’s a book within a book which disruptingly introduce ps more characters that seem out of a bad American version of the Englishman upper class. Honestly I couldn’t get into the story the main character was writing and skipped over this part after reading page after page of an unrelated story that seemed to be started in a previous book in this series. The main mystery itself felt like a lifetime movie unraveling itself during the tour and references to places of interest. The suspects were flat and carton like in the authors description. Only the main character made you feel somewhat grounded until she takes off into her story within the story again.
Although I always enjoyed the exploits of Sam, Nana Joe and the retirement village ladies, A Tourist's Guide to Murder was not up to par. The characters were outrageous in their behavior which is extremely odd as they were in a foreign country and not in Michigan. The early introduction of a Clue-like mystery sounded intriguing, but it kind of fizzled. I don't know how Sam functions because she barely sleeps. I did like the parallels in the mystery and in the one Sam is writing. Hopefully when they return home to Michigan, the author will get her footing back. .
Great read by a new author for me. The plot is well written and enticing to the reader. The author writes in a way that makes the reader feel like part of The story.
This was a great cozy mystery with characters that made me giggle. I loved how Samantha, the main character, wrote her own mystery while she was solving a whodunnit. The details given about the setting made me feel that I was right next to Samantha as she was investigating. I can't wait to read another mystery from this great series. I received an advanced reader's copy from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.