Member Reviews
Juni Jessup returns home to Texas to run a record shop/cafe with her sisters. At the grand opening, a young woman is found dead in a closet and Juni's uncle is the prime suspect. Along with the help of her 2 older sisters, Juni takes it upon herself to prove his innocence. A fun, new cozy mystery series!
A new Series! The Record Shop Mysteries
Always fun when a new Cozy Series debuts! This one has the location, a fun family-owned record shop with a small cafe on the side. Working with family can be fun and it can also be tricky. Everyone in your business, thinks they know what is best for you.
Juni Jessup and her sisters, Tansy and Maggie have sunk everything to open this record shop in the same location as the prior family. Selling vinyl is a pretty good business these days except for the body. In the storage closet.
A murder will get your business closed down really quickly. These ladies need to find a killer quickly.
Only Juni’s ex has arrested her uncle! What?! The girls know he is not guilty and even bail him out with the shop as collateral.
Imagine their surprise when he disappears! Now they need to find him and a killer before someone pulls the needle off of the store.
I liked the Texas location and the record shop. All of the music puns and references were cute and effective.
I can’t wait for the next one!
NetGalley/ December 27th, 2022 by St. Martin’s Press
I really enjoyed this book. It was a fun, cute Murder mystery. I will be looking for the rest of this series! I would definitely recommend this book!
This is the first time I have read this and I really enjoyed this cozy mystery. Juni, Maggie and Tansy were sisters who were the amateur sleuths. They are reopening Sip and Spin (a family business) consisting of coffee drinks and vinyl record albums. On the night of their grand opening someone was found murdered in their cleaning closet. That is all I am going to tell you. I had no idea who did it until the author was ready for us to know. A VERY GOOD cozy mystery read. I will read Oliva Blacke again .
This was a top notch first in a new series.
Interesting characters and a great premise for a cozy.
I look forward to reading the next book in the series.
I voluntarily reviewed an advance reader copy of this book.
This was an okay read.
I read Olivia Blacke’s other 2 novels and this felt exactly like an Odessa Dean mystery - just in Texas and this coffee shop is also a record shop rather than a restaurant.
Juni felt exactly like Odessa, from the detective instinct to how she kind of doubts herself. I kind of wish this was a little different than the Brooklyn Murder mysteries.
The premise is cool and it’s a light read. I kind of figured it out like 75% into the book because there are a few red herrings in my opinion but overall a good read.
(I’ll also be reviewing this on my IG page reading_with_britt closer to the release date)
Vinyl Resting Place by Olivia Blacke is the first book in the Record Shop Mystery series. I was so fascinated by the fact the storyline is set around a record shop I just had to read this book. I like the idea of the three sisters, Juni, Tansy and Maggie, opening a record/coffee shop. All three get involved when someone is found murdered in the supply closet of the shop . It seems that Juni takes the lead in the investigation though. The characters are all very likable and I love the small town atmosphere. I am looking forward to the next book in the series.
I received an ARC and this is my honest review.
This is a fairly interesting book with a bit too much about repeating how they got the stores not much a out depth of characters. The characters could've made this much more involving and the base was there but didn't follow through.
Thank you netgalley and the publisher for this arc
I didn't think I could have as much affection for Olivia Blacke's newest heroine as I did for the quirky Odessa in Blacke's Brooklyn Murder Mysteries series. Thankfully, I've been proven wrong. Our amateur sleuth, Juni Jessup, is my kind of MC. She's smart, funny, kind and resourceful. Coming back to her small Texas hometown, Juni and her two sisters have invested all their funds in reopening the family record store but with a coffee bar.
Coffee bar/record store. Do you want to live there? I do. Even though they find dead body in the storage closet on opening night. Don't care. Still want to live there.
What I love most about this series is that there is so many plot bunnies hopping around from the first page, but the book does not overwhelm with characters or conflict. There is a potential love triangle, there are sisterly and maternal conflicts ahead, and there are records and coffee. Blacke has hit her stride and is one to watch in the new era of millennial cozies. For anyone who enjoys cozy mysteries with a side of smart and sass, this book is for you.
Olivia Blacke sets her new cozy series in a combination record store and coffee bar, Sip & Spin, that three sisters renovate and open. A dead body in the supply closet delays the opening, and police arrest their Uncle Calvin as a suspect in the murder.
Calvin disappears after the sisters, Juni, Tansy, and Maggie, post bail, leaving his cut-off ankle monitor lying in the street. Ms. Blacke creates an original mystery populated with engaging characters, telling an entertaining story that cozy readers are sure to enjoy.
A good cozy mystery needs a few things. A small town atmosphere, a quirky -yet relatable protagonist, the ride or die best friend, strong family ties, usually some sort of love triangle between a member of law enforcement and the protagonist, and then a cute goofily named pet. This is the formula, we love the formula.
Vinyl Resting Place mixes up the formula a bit by having our girl, Juni,, opening a record store with her two sisters. (No best friend sidekick here) All these sisters want to do is open their punny coffeehouse and record store.- unfortunately there's a dead body in the storage closet. Juni's ex, the detective, Beau comes to investigate. There's her friend from growing up that's aged very well that comes calling as well. And a cat named Daffy. And it's all set in small town Texas.
If you're a cozy lover, this should be on your radar. There's puzzles and the mystery itself is very well plotted. Olivia Blacke never disappoints. The story is immersing, I read the whole thing in a day. It's a warm hug in book form.
Vinyl Resting Place is a great start to the new series, The Record Shop Mysteries by Olivia Blacke.
It starts off with the Jessup sisters, Tansey, Maggie, and Juni opening up a coffee/record shop called Sit & Spin, in the same location that their grandparents and parents owned a record shop. Thinking that the grand opening was a huge success, they start to clean up the store and find someone murdered in their storage closet.
I felt like this book was more of a get to know the characters with the murder as a way to help that along. The story was very engaging and you learned so much about them and how family is everything.
#Netgalley #VinylRestingPlace #FamilyisEverything #VinylRecords
I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
3.25 stars. A solid cozy and I’m looking forward to more in this series from this author. This book had a good flow and interesting characters that I look forward to reading more about. The cozy formula was all there: two ‘mysteries’ for the heroine to solve, a love interest police detective asking her to stop meddling and a cute but independent cat. What was jarring in the writing were the interruptions in the flow of conversations and actions by mentioning again and again the same background: family owned record store, sister love, no car-only trike, small town Texas and the move from Oregon. Nonetheless a promising start.
Vinyl Resting Place is a great introduction to a new series by Olivia Blacke. I am so glad I did. I can see this series becoming one of my go-to cozy mysteries. Three sisters work together to revitalize a business their parents and grandparents ran for years only to lose it when vinyl went out of style, but it is back and so are they. The building has been closed for a long time, so preparing it as well as providing a large assortment of records and the equipment to keep customers happy in the coffee department have left the girls invested deeply. They need money to start rolling in immediately! When the first night ends with a body found at the grand opening the three are in shock. When their grandfather becomes a top suspect, they step up to find the real villain. Much of what the grandfather does doesn’t make sense to the girls or to the reader until, well that you will have to discover for yourself. Lots of action, lots of tension and a little romance bring a just-right balance to this winning novel.
Olivia Blacke is a new author to me, but the book sounded interesting, so I requested an ARC from NetGalley. And was excited to have it approved. It more than met my expectations so I am delighted to share the fun with friends and followers.
3 sisters start a record store in Texas. Unfortunately there is a murder during the grand opening, and their uncle is the chief suspect. So of course they are investigating! As they are near Austin, the reader gets a lot of great local music information, plus record info. Really enjoyed that, plus the sisters interactions. Great cozy, and buying for work.
Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. Junie and her sisters opened a shop together. When their uncle is arrested for murder, they use the shop as collateral. Junie knows that her uncle did not kill someone but is unsure of how she can prove it.
Vinyl Resting Place is the first of its Record Shop Mystery series. Set on the outskirts of Austin Texas, this cozy mystery takes place at the vintage record store run by three sisters. Not only does the murder take place in the newly reopened record shop but now the girl’s uncle is missing and presumed guilty of possibly murder.
I loved this cozy mystery! The characters were likable and storyline was interesting and easy to follow. I’d definitely read more in this series!
I received this book in exchange for my honest review, all opinions are my own. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this advanced copy.
After the IT company Juni Jessup works for abruptly closes, she returns home to open a record/coffee shop with her two sisters. All is going well with the grand opening of Sip & Spin until a dead body is discovered in the supply closet. Unfortunately, the dead body is clutching their Uncle Calvin's business card. After putting up the shop as collateral for Uncle Calvin's bail, he takes off. Now the three sisters must find Uncle Calvin and identify the murderer before the shop is lost.
Delightful start to a new series.
#VinylRestingPlace #NetGalley
A love triangle, Murder mystery and three sisters? Sign me up. I really couldn’t resist this quirky read and have become a fan of the author. I loved the music references and drink specials. It’s really pulling at Texas living. While I did figure out the mystery fairly quickly; I enjoyed the book.
Vinyl Resting Place is a cozy setting in the current day. Juniper Jessup – Juni to her friends – is the main character. She had grown up in a small Texas town near Austin, leaving after college for a job in Oregon. When that job ends after the company goes out of business, Juni is recruited to move back home to open a record store with her two sisters, Maggie and Tansy. Her parents and grandparents had previously owned a music store in the same location, so it seemed like a logical idea. The sisters are equal partners – Juni sold her car and cashed out her savings for her share. Everything is going well (if busy) until the preview night when a young woman is found dead in the supply closet at their store. Because family is everything, the sisters use their new business as collateral to bail out their uncle (and prime suspect) out. When he promptly skips bail, the sisters decide they’ll need to figure out where he is and whodunit.
While this is a fairly typical cozy, there were some nice differences. I liked the fact Juni was returning home in part because she missed her family. At one part she even mentions that she could have found a new job in Oregon, but this was better. The obligatory dual love interests are there; again, it’s a nice twist in that one is a detective and her ex who altruistically broke up with her by text while the other is her male best friend who’s had a crush on Juni since third grade. I really loved all the musical references and the punny drink of the day names. And my pet peeve – the hero doing something stupid to catch the killer – was avoid as well. Overall all a fun read.
Highly recommended.
I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley.com and voluntarily chose to review.