Princess Fuzzypants here: After a tornado damages the local library, bookshop owner Sam is coerced into hosting a book club that would have met at the damaged library. It turns out to be far more than an inconvenience or a pain catering to the demands of a literary critic diva. Things go swiftly from bad to worse with the woman attempting to blackmail Sam. Then when her body is found in the bookstore, the local cops fixate on Sam as the perp;

Things are going to get even odder when an old nemesis turns into an ally and as Sam and her posse investigate, they learn the woman was detestable and made a lot of money blackmailing victims, any one of which would have a great motive for murder. Sam finds when she is stymied, she turns to writing her historical mystery that tends to mirror her current day mystery. She solves the murder, finishes her novel and gets her previous novel published by the end of the book.

Four purrs and two paws up.

This book was my first introduction into
V.M. Burns's works. I'm glad that I checked out this book. The author does a wonderful job of storytelling, creating a cast of characters, and wanting you to read more.

I also recommend that readers check out Two Parts Sugar, One Part Murder (A Baker Street Mystery #1), her other series.

My thanks to Kensington Publishing for a digital copy of this book for my review!

Loved this story, as usual! Loved both stories, actually, and I'm not really a fan of British historical cozies, but I don't mind this. So much fun!

Samantha Washington a popular mystery writer discovers there is such a thing as bad publicity when she finds a woman dead on the floor of her bookshop. Sam offers her bookstore to the Mystery Mavens Book Club to meet since the library was flooded. The club leader Delia Marshall a book review who can make or break careers something Sam can’t afford as her debut historical mystery is soon to be published. While Sam is writing her latest British historical mystery in which the queen mother is suspected in the murder of a London Times correspondent a pair of ambitious cops suspect Sam of real-life crime. Sam gathers Nano Jo and their friends from the Shady Acres Retirement Village to review the case they discover every one of the Mavens had a motive.With her novel about to hit stores Sam must find out who clubbed Delia before a judge throws the book at her. A very enjoyable story to find the killer. I would recommend it to everyone.

V.M. Burns continues the mystery bookshop series with Bookclubbed to Death. Sam has opened her mystery bookstore to the library's book clubs after a tornado damaged the library. Delia Marshal, the book club leader, at the club's meeting at the bookshop threatens Sam with a lawsuit over a too close encounter with Sam's dog. Then she is found murdered in the bookshop hit by a huge compendium of Agatha Christie's works. The local police are sure Sam is the murderer so she has to work with friends to find the real murderer before she is arrested. Meanwhile she is writing a murder mystery involving the royal family just before World War II. Great parallels in the two stories. Read and enjoy.

Samantha owns a bookstore and is about to become a published author herself. When her town's library is flooded after a storm, she offers to host a mystery book club in her bookstore. That brings her face-to-face with a book critic who is demanding all sorts of perks in return for a good review of Sam's book. When the critic turns up murdered in Sam's store, she and her team of family/friends investigate to clear Sam of suspicion. Overall, this is a good plot for a cozy mystery, and, if you like historical fiction, there's a second story set in England during the world war that is interspersed within the pages. I'll be honest: I skipped over those parts. The book was still pretty good on its own, and perhaps some will find that unique feature a plus. I do like the characters in the book--particularly the group of seniors that help to investigate.

Thank you NetGalley and Kensington for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

As an avid reader, I love a good bookstore mystery. As an aspiring writer, I loved the sub-plot of the store owner, Sam, and her quest to publish her own mystery novel. While the murder may have landed in her lap, finding the solution was complicated enough to keep me engaged all to the end. I definitely recommend this book for anyone who loves a good bookstore cozy mystery.

This was a Netgalley review.

Bookclubbed to Death is #8 in the Mystery Bookshop series by V. M. Burns. I hadn't read any of the previous books and found it easy to slip into the story because the author deftly brings the reader up to date with the various characters.

There is an eclectic mix of characters as there often is in a cozy mystery. Samantha as bookshop owner and more is the main character, along with her Nana Jo, and together they are a rather formidable team. And on to that they can add Jenna - Sam's sister  who happens to be a lawyer.

When there is a murder in Sam's bookshop the inept detectives make noises about putting it on Sam as the murderer. However they don't take into account the wiles of Sam, Jenna, Nana Jo and the girls who have powerful links.

The person murdered was a horrible woman who was big into blackmailing so a number of people wanted her dead. Sam works away at the mystery, she is also a budding author and in writing her mystery set in the late 1930's in England she unwinds and begins to notice clues. I have to say I didn't really bond with that device of including it in the story but others may like it.

It was easy to read, engaging and often humorous.  I didn't know who the murderer was to the end so that was good although really unsurprising in light of all the blackmail!

Dollycas's Thoughts

North Harbor, Michigan is hit by a huge storm that downed trees and power lines and flooded the local library. Mystery bookshop owner Samantha Washington wanted to help so she opened her doors for the Mystery Mavens Book Club until the library could be reopened. Club leader Delia Matthews walked into the shop like she owned the place and started making demands for food to be served during the meeting and complaining that the meeting room was too small. Delia is a well-known book reviewer and the last thing Sam wants to do with her debut historical mystery about to be released is to ruffle the woman's feathers so that while she can't do anything about the space, she can provide food for the group.

The next morning Nana Jo wakes up Sam telling her that Delia Marshall was downstairs, dead. "Someone clubbed her to death with that book." That book happens to be The Complete Works of Agatha Christie which was ordered by the now-deceased reviewer.

Sam has been busy working on her next mystery but now she has to add a real murder investigation to her duties as the police are ready to book her for Delia Marshall's murder. She is glad she will have her Nana Jo and her friends from Shady Acres to help because it looks like every member of the Mystery Mavens Book Club had a reason to club the woman to death.

____

This is one of my favorite series. I really enjoy that our protagonist Samantha Washington is an author as well as a bookshop owner and that Ms. Burns gives us two mysteries within each book. The one Samantha is writing and the other that she ends up investigating to clear herself or someone near and dear to her. She is a darn good amateur sleuth and Nana Jo, Irma, Dorothy, Ruby Mae, and this time Detective Bradley Pitt—aka “Stinky Pitt” do their best to help. All these characters are very well-developed and those ladies from Shady Acres sure will tickle your funny bone. "Irma!" is heard often. She is a hoot and a half. I love her reports to the group. But she isn't the only one to bring the humor. These lines really cracked me up. This is Nana Jo to Sam on their way to the basement with a scared Oreo and hard-of-hearing Snickers.

"We don't have time for this, Dorothy. That tornado is almost on top of us, and I left my magic wand and shiny red shoes at the dry cleaners."

Sam's stories are also filled with great characters. The Queen Mother is a suspect this time and Lady Elizabeth is searching for clues. It is fun that Sam uses her writing to escape the drama happening in her real life but that it also helps her see what she is missing in her very real investigation. She rarely travels without her laptop so can write anywhere, even at a crowded casino.

Both mysteries are very well plotted with twists and turns. I really felt for Sam because her huge heart put her in Delia Marshall's path. It is great that she has a supportive man by her side in her fiancee' Frank. Frank has a mysterious past that gives him some fabulous connections. She also had a wonderful sister who Sam hates to ask for help but this time she really needs her. Interesting evidence paved the way for Sam but it involved some hard work to figure everything out. Lady Elizabeth has great support too.  It is always fun to have a mystery involving the royals.  Both mysteries kept me guessing.

Oreo and Snickers are a spunky pair and they always add to the story but they are getting up there in age. Our girls lasted for 17 years. I hope these two continue to frolic through the pages for a good long time.

Bookclubbed to Death is an excellent addition to this series. I was entertained totally by these wonderful characters and the situations they found themselves in. While this book can be read all on its own I truly recommend you read the series in order to enjoy the characters and their antics from the start.

This is the first Bookshop Mystery I have read which is surprising to me since I love cozy mysteries centered around libraries or bookstores.

Samantha Washington is a widow who lives above her mystery bookstore. Her grandmother lives with her and Sam's social contacts are many of her grandmothers friends. She has put her hand to mystery writing and is awaiting the publication of her first book.

When the local library experiences water damage after a tornado, the librarian asks Sam if she will host a mystery reader's club in her bookstore. Sam agrees but later has regrets. Delia Marshall, a book reviewer, has many demands of Sam who is afraid that if she doesn't acquiesce Delia will kill her book with bad reviews. When Delia is discovered dead in the bookstore, Sam is the prime suspect for the police and it is up to Sam and friends to find the real murderer.

I enjoyed the plot line for the story. I liked the characters who I felt were probably in previous books in this series. It was easy to imagine them. I am very glad that the author didn't comment on things from previous books, but allowed this book to stand alone.

What I didn't enjoy was the insertion, when Sam needed to get here mind off her own problems, of her next novel. I found the story line tedious and it didn't seem to add anything to the book except pages. The story-within-a-story was distracting.

I imagine that as time allows, I will go back and try to read some of the previous books. It would be interesting to see if I can learn more about Frank who has many, many "connections."

This is another fabulous instalment of the cozy mystery series featuring Samantha Washington and the Sleuthing Seniors. I am enjoying the growth of all the characters and particularly Frank and Detective Pitt (Stinky Pitt). I enjoy the predictable format the books follow. Nice easy read - well written.

The cozy mystery within the cozy mystery is also enjoyable - get 2 stories for 1.

I did not like the one mention of social distancing which I presume was in reference to covid. With no other reference, it just seemed weird and unnecessary.

I will continue to read any further additions to this series should the author continue to write them.

Always enjoy my visits with Sam, Nana Jo, and the girls; they're always good for a laugh. The mystery was well-paced and I had no idea who the murderer was until the reveal. Loved the thrilling addition of the potential tornado in the beginning and learning how communities deal with the aftermath (fortunately haven't had to deal with one). Recommended for cozy lovers and those who think reading is a safe hobby.

Book reviewers can be a writer’s best friend or their worse enemy. Sam finds this out the easy way, by discovering one of them dead in her bookstore. When Nana Jo and the Mavens get involved in the investigation, Sam knows there will be no peace until the killer has been found and her name, along with the Mavens, is cleared. Bookclubbed to Death takes readers down the road of the less traveled and puts them on a clear highway to intrigue.

The characters in this series are always a joy to revisit. Sam and Nana Jo keep things interesting, and the Mavens help with everything from research to clean up. A nasty book reviewer who is the leader of the Mavens book club fits the bill of an unsympathetic victim from the beginning. No one is sad when she meets her end. But nasty or otherwise, no one deserves to be murdered. All the evidence seems to point to Sam as the killer. Did one too many critical reviews tip an author over the edge? Or did something from the past rear its ugly head? Truth is stranger than fiction, so they say, and it doesn’t take long for readers to discover that sometimes things they thought were true are nothing more than a rumor or perhaps purposeful deception.

The ending of Bookclubbed to Death will make book reviewers and writers think twice before posting or publishing their material. I loved that the victim was killed with an Agatha Christie book; it seems fitting for a book reviewer. I adore the Mavens and Nana Jo in particular. Who wouldn’t want to be a part of their book club? Sam is a fun character that gives readers hour after hour of entertainment. The book within a book continues in this latest addition to the series and may even be better than the actual mystery. This is a must read for fans of VM Burns and the series. This was an excellent read. I look forward to the next one.

Bookclubbed to Death follows bookstore owner Samantha Washington as she is preparing for her own book launch and taking on some the of local library's book clubs after a major storm damages their building. A famous book reviewer runs one of the clubs and she's out for Sam and her book. Threatening to sue her and pan her book after an incident at the store.
She ends up dead next to a very expensive book that Sam ordered her and Sam becomes suspect number one.

Sam must discover who else Delia had issues with and decode her journal to find out which of those people had the most to lose. She is also intertwining the writing of her second cozy mystery throughout the story. You get two mysteries in one. Both mysteries tend to mirror each other so you can tell where she gets the ideas for her writing. It also helps her to work through her ideas and clues to come up with the truth.

A unique cozy with great side characters and an interesting plot. Recommended.

I love this series. I like how the MC is a writer so we get pieces of the historical mystery to follow along in each book in this series (contemporary cozy mystery). I love how this author writes.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for my eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is the eighth book in the 'Mystery Bookshop' series by Valerie Burns and my third one. From the setting to the characters and the theme to the mystery, I absolutely loved this story. It was good to be back with sleuthing seniors, Samantha (Sam) Washington and Nana Jo. Sam runs her bookshop and has two Poodles named Snickers and Oreo.

The author's character development is second-to-none and I delighted in the lively dialogue, the interesting plot twists and I love the focus on family. The smooth, clean writing, wonderfully engaging characters, the comedic aspect and the clever, multi-layered mystery that kept me guessing were fantastic and I loved the bookshop setting too. If you are new to this series this book stands alone, but I'll be going back to play catchup with the previous books.

I received a complimentary copy of this novel at my request from Kensington Books via NetGalley. This review is my own unbiased opinion.

Bookclubbed to Death is book #8 in the Mystery Bookshop series by V.M. Burns.

When the local library floods, Sam offers to host the book clubs temporarily. The leader of one group is also a book reviewer who likes to throw her weight around. When the woman is found dead, it doesn’t look good for Sam.

I enjoy the books in this series. Sam, her friends, and her family are wonderful characters that are there to support each other. The more we learned about the victim, the more suspects there were and it kept me guessing. The way the mystery was solved was interesting. The 2 dogs are sweet and there is the bonus of having a book within a book.

Thank you to the author, Kensington Books, and NetGalley for the Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) copy of this book and I am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

Bookclubbed to Death
by V.M. Burns
Pub Date 27 Dec 2022
Kensington Books, Kensington Cozies
Mystery & Thrillers

I am reviewing a copy of Bookclubbed to death through Kensington Books and Netgalley:


After a literary critic is found bludgeoned to death with a copy of The Complete Works of Agatha Christie, Michigan bookstore owner, author, and amateur sleuth Samantha Washington discovers there is such a thing as bad publicity in Agatha Award finalist V.M. Burns’ latest Mystery Bookshop novel.


Sam offers her bookstore as a new venue for the Mystery Mavens Book Club, after the local library in North Harbor, Michigan, is flooded in a storm. She immediately runs afoul of the club leader, Delia Marshall, a book reviewer who can make or break careers, something Sam can ill afford with her debut historical mystery soon to be published. The next morning, Sam opens her shop to find the unpleasant woman dead on the floor, bashed with a heavy apparently lethal tome: the Complete Works of Agatha Christie. While Sam is busy writing her latest British historical mystery in which the queen mother is suspected in the murder of a London Times correspondent, a pair of ambitious cops suspect Sam of the real-life crime. When she gathers Nano Jo and their friends from the Shady Acres Retirement Village to review the case, they discover every one of the Mavens had a motive. With her novel about to hit the stores, Sam must find out who clubbed Delia before a judge throws the book at her .


I give Bookclubbed to Death five out of five stars!


Happy Reading!

This was a great addition to the Mystery Bookshop series and I love that there are always two mysteries to solve, one in the present and one set in the English countryside that Sam is writing throughout the book. Sam, the owner of the mystery bookshop and a soon to be published author, and her Nana Jo are two of my favorite characters in this series. I like how they work through the clues along with the other characters and help to solve the mystery and how Sam uses her writing when she is stumped to help her figure things out. I also learned about steganography, which I had never heard of before and found to be fascinating. This is another wonderful book by V.M. Burns and I would highly recommend it.

I received a complimentary copy of this ebook from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Bookclubbed to Death by VM Burns is a mystery wherein the lead is accused of murder. Well, OK, they had had a run in and she was murdered right there in Samantha’s bookshop, but really? It read almost like the first in the series. That is when many amateur sleuths get their beginning: defending themselves. Not this time, though. It is an established series and one worth the read. This victim, Delia Marshall, was a book reviewer, and not a nice one. Apparently she was also a blackmailer and serial suer, that is she sued every time she got the chance, warranted or not. She had kicked on of Sam’s dogs on the way out of the shop and the other had attacked her in defense of his friend. Yep, a law suit, until she called that night and offered to drop the suit if Sam brought her a book she had ordered and not yet paid for: $1200. Of course, despite the hour, Sam did it. No one was home at Delia’s but the place had bee trashed. Delia called her friend, Detective Pitt, currently on leave recovering from a bullet wound. He left a note for Delia to call and sent Sam home, where she fell instantly to sleep, until her grandmother woke her. She had found Delia’s body downstairs and wanted Sam to call 911. She did.

The police were determined Sam had killed her. It was obvious she would have to investigate if she planned to stay out of jail. Fortunately she had friends who could help and so did Nana Jo, so they called them all together to figure out a plan. As they investigated, they found plenty of people who had been blackmailed by Delia, and so had a motive. The police didn’t seem to care about any of that. They wanted to arrest Sam, but her sister, Jenna, the lawyer, prevented that from happening. At least, for a while. Frank, her fiance, continued to provide food and comfort and they women continued to investigate. The murderer was found and life went on. One kind of had to feel sorry for them after what Delia had done, but murder is never the answer. This was a fun cozy with well-written characters and a decent plot. There were plenty of clues and lot of deception. Worth the read.

I was invited to read a free e-ARC of Bookclubbed to Death by Kensington, through Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are mine. #Netgalley #Kensington #VMBurns #BookclubbedtoDeath