A crime novel set in the 1950s and moving at that sort of pace. The two main protagonists are quite likeable and there is a reasonable plot but it was too lengthy and slow for my taste and I found myself skim reading just to get through it. I'm sure there will be readers who enjoy this setting and style but sadly I'm not one of them.

A sleepy village , a quiet bookshop and a body found among the dusty shelves . .Flora, who has inherited her aunt's bookshop , has shelved her dreams of travel, first to nurse her dying aunt, then to carry on her aunt's legacy. Her life is mundane and boring until the morning she finds a dead body in her bookshop. It turns out he is a guest at The Priory , a once magnificent stately home , now an upmarket hotel. His death is dismissed as unexpected heart attack, despite his youth and previous good health. However ,the rumours and gossip of a curse attached to the bookshop,depletes the already few customers ,forcing Flora to take action. She sets out to prove the death was murder, abetted, initially reluctantly,by Jack, a reclusive crime writer. As they unearth clues, more sudden deaths follow, leading Flora into danger of being the next victim.

The Bookshop Murder by Merryn Allinham is the first book in her historical cozy mystery series, Flora Steele Mysteries. This is a good beginning to this series. The storyline is quite intriguing. The characters are realistic although the main character, Flora Steele could be annoying at times. I enjoyed following along as the mystery was solved.

I received an ARC in exchange for a honest review.

I absolutely love this book!

I was so captivated by Flora and Jack that I could not out this book down.

I loved the concept of the Bookshop being the crime scene of a murder and the reason behind why he was murdered was something I needed to know!

I absolutely loved the way that this book had twists and turns and I had to know what this 'legend' was as it played a key part in the whole story!

I needed to know what happened so I read this book in one sitting! I wish there was more between Jack and Flora, maybe a budding romance, but this story was amazing either way! I cannot wait to read more of the Flora Steele Books!

1955 several years after WWII and things are starting to look brighter, Flora Steele bookstore “All’s Well”, that she has inherited from her aunt, is slowly seeing people buying books again. All is well until Jack Carrington (hermit, crime author, living in the village) finds a body of a young man in one of the stores rooms. Official verdict is heart attack, but rumours are going around town that the building has quite the history of unexplained things, and so sales plumet … Flora needs to solve this mystery before she will lose the store, and she recruits a reluctant Jack.
Great start of a new cozy mystery! Looking forward to more Flora and Jack adventures.
Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for an early read in exchange for my honest opinion.

I really like historical cozy mysteries set in England and this book ticks all those boxes. Set in Abbeymead, Sussex in the 1950s, our protagonist Flora runs the village bookshop where she discovers the body of a young man. With her new acquaintance Jack, a writer of mystery novels, she dives into the mysteries that arise after this suspicious death.

I really liked the main characters. This was a fun read, a book I could easily finish in the busy time that is the end of schoolyear. It might be interesting to see where the author will take Flora and Jack next. I would love to see even more details about life in the ‘50s in her novels.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this eARC.

I picked this up since I love books and I thought a mystery around a bookshop should be good.
I enjoyed the setting and the idea of an old bookshop which has been handed down through the family. However, I did not connect with the main character (honestly I found Flora annoying) and I confess I skimmed through much of it. Perhaps it was just a personal reaction so I hope that doesn't prevent others from trying this book out.

This story was interesting and I really enjoyed the characters. I am looking forward to the next book in the series, I hope it will be a long one.

Flora owns a bookshop inherited from her aunt, the woman who took her in when her parents died when she was still a child. Located in a quiet English village, the bookshop is barely managing to survive from the tourist trade and orders from a few avid readers in the village. When the dead body of a visiting Australian, a guest at the local luxury hotel, is found her bookshop, with no obviously apparent cause of death, the village rumour mill gets going, and the belief that the building itself is the cause (the hypotheses go from ghost to something toxic in the walls) endangers the bookshop's survival. Flora doubts the official cause of death - heart failure - because of the deceased's youth and lack of preexisting medical condition, so she decides to investigate in order to prove foul play and save her bookshop's reputation. 

I thoroughly enjoyed this cosy mystery. It is set in the 1950s, with the aftereffects of the war stil visible (the end of rationing, the loss of life, the trauma of the men who returned) and the societal changes that were happening. Flora is a modern young woman, she went to university and dreamed of travel, but ended up stuck in this little community by her aunt’s illness and death. She is driven, a bit obstinate, and very independent. The murder and subsequent investigation almost seem like an escape from the tedium for her. Other women are similarly stuck, either in a bad marriage or in a kind of financial arrangement in exchange for companionship for an older man (we would call this a “sugar daddy” nowadays). 

The cast of characters is interesting, including Flora’s investigative partner, a local mystery novelist who lives like a recluse, the chatty cook at the hotel, and an urchin who does odd jobs and provides invaluable help in the investigation. The mystery was excellent too, with the amateur detectives suspecting just about everyone, the conclusion is suitably nerve-wracking, and the pieces fit together well. There is even a hint of romance that may develop in any further books. 

I highly recommend this book if you like historical cosy mysteries, and am looking forward to Floras further adventures.

I really enjoyed this mystery! I loved the setting of the English town and bookstore and found the two main characters very likable. Thank you to Bookouture and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Nora is running the bookshop she inherited from her Aunt when a reclusive author stops in and promptly finds a dead body. Thus begins the first book in this new series. Set in an English village in the 1950s, this is a thoroughly enjoyable read. Nora and Jack have a great future

With a classically picturesque English village, an intrepid amateur detective and her somewhat reluctant partner, and some interesting side characters this offers lots of potential for a cozy series. The characters would benefit from drawing them with more depth, as there is little information about the main character’s friends, Kate and Alice. Likewise, the series could benefit from more description of the village and the surrounding area.

The identity of the murderer was easy to figure out for me, as was the reason for the murder in the beginning. I would like to see clues buried a little deeper to increase the reader’s challenge for solving the puzzle. The book is easy to read and would make a good airplane or beach read. I would like to thank Bookouture and NetGalley for providing me with an advance copy for review. The opinions expressed here are entirely my own.

When a dead body is found by a customer collecting reference books in Flora's bookshop All's Well, Flora didn't realise how much her life and the customer author Jack Carrington's life would become involved by the dead man Kevin Anderson. They found he had come over from Australia and was staying at The Priory a local hotel that Kevin Andersons uncle had inherited and sold. While trying to solve the mystery of what he was doing in the shop it seemed there were more questions than answers.
I really enjoyed this book by Merryn Allingham it was based in 1955 where there was a different way of life which has been captured in the book.

This feels like the start of a great series. I wasn't sure in the beginning just how I'd feel but as the story progressed I became more and more invested in the lead characters., Flora and Jack. They make for an interesting couple..

I do enjoy learning new things as I go. It's really hard to believe the longer-term impact WW11 is still having in 1955. It seems that meat had only just come of rationing. Wow!

The murderer is not hard to work out, but the motivation and the back story are most intriguing. It was definitely worth the read.

My thanks to #Netgalley, Bookouture and the author for my honest opinion in exchange for my Advance Reader Copy.

The Bookshop Murder is the first book in a historical cozy fiction series. In this book we meet Flora Steele a young bookshop owner who dreams of being somewhere else other than in Abbeymead running the book shop that was her Aunt's she''s barely getting through the days until one day, to her surprise, not only does she meet the Famous but reclusive crime writer Jack Carrington but Jack stumbles upon a dead body laying on the floor of her bookshop. When the medical examiner gives the official cause of death it doesn't quite sit right with Flora; Worse than that her shop is going down hill fast as the community catches wind of the murder. Desperate to uncover the truth of how this young man died she enlists the help of the hesitant crime writer, dragging him along as she investigates with the goal of clearing her shops negative image.

The beginning is cute, though the prose is at times a bit clunky the majority of the story is a smooth ride. The plot unfolds at a decent pace, the characters evolving as the story progresses, becoming more loveable as the pages flip by. Though it's not completely historically accurate it is a sweet, cozy, and entertaining read.

In the past I have avoided cozy mysteries such as these in favor of the more hard crime horror cases, mistakenly believing that I'd quickly become bored with a book like this. While I can't honestly say I now prefer this sweet literary trend, I can say without a doubt I have changed my mind and will certainly be waiting for the next book in Merryn Allingham's series.

If cozy mysteries are your thing, this book rates around a 4 out of 5. You won't be disappointed in The Bookshop Murder, of that I am positive.

Thank you to netgalley, publishers, and Merryn Allingham for an advance e-copy of this book for me to read and provide my honest, unprompted opinion's. I'm happy to say this was another good book hitting shelves very soon!

I loved this cosy crime novel set mostly around All Well's Bookshop with owner, Flora and crime writer, Jack, doing the investigating when the police believe there is no foul play. With the duo set to travel together, I look forward to more of this series. Perfect for cosy crime fans!

I have so many patrons that love murders set in the English countryside, so I had to check this one out. It is well-written, the mystery kept me guessing, and the two main characters were lovable. I am learning that this setting isn't my favorite...but that's my problem, not the book's!

In this book we meet Flora Steele a young bookshop owner who dreams of being somewhere else other than in Abbeymead. The death of a stranger in the bookshop shocks the village, but the cause of death doesn't sit well with Flora. She enlists the help from a crime writer recluse called Jack Carrington. The two of them set out to find out the truth.

So this is my first netgalley read and I really enjoyed it. It was such an easy read and not too heavy, like some dark thrillers can be. I loved the village setting and the build up of the story.

I really liked Flora and Jack as characters, they always bounced off of each other and they were just likeable people. You could slowly see their relationship blooming and I can't wait to see what happens next.

The book gave me Agatha Christie/Poirot vibes the whole way through but I enjoyed that. A classic storyline but i still kept trying to guess how it would end.

I will definitely be reading more books written by this amazing author and would recommend this book to others.

Can't wait to read more about Flora Steele.

A nice and cute beginning to a hopefully long series. Cozy mysteries are great, fast reads, but in fact not the easiest genre for an author. You need to get the readers hooked on both the quirky characters, and the sweet small town. I didn't quite find my way there yet, but I absolutely think I'll get there in future books. I find like I will grow with the series and the characters. So, a good start, but not yet at the level I would call it great. I am looking forward to the next book in the series. I absolutely adore the setting though. Brighton has a special place in my heart, and a village around there can easily steal my heart.

When a dead man is found in Flora's bookshop, the rumors spread about her shop being haunted. The man's death is ruled to be a heart attack but Flora isn't convinced it was, she has many unanswered questions about the man and why he would break into her bookshop. Engaging crime author Jack Carrington to help her investigate the pair begin until another body turns up.
A enjoyable mystery that takes you to 1950's England and a small village of Abbeymead. I enjoyed the story and the characters and look forward to the authors next book in this series. Flora is a lovable bookshop owner and her new relationship with Jack keeps you turning pages to find out what next.