Murder in the Book Lover’s Loft by Ellery Adams is a delight to read. We journey back to Storyton Hall in Virginia where Jane Steward is getting ready to go on a vacation with her betrothed, Edwin. I would love to visit Storyton Hall. It is a resort for bibliophiles and writers (for anyone who loves and appreciates books). I thought Murder in the Book Lover’s Loft was well-written with a great cast of characters. I have enjoyed getting to know Jane, Edwin, the twins, Aunt Octavia, Uncle Aloysius, the staff at Storyton Hall, and the Cover Girls. I like that the author tied this story in with her A Books by the Bay Mysteries which features Olivia Limoges and her canine companion, Captain Haviland (a black standard poodle). Jane and Edwin travel to Oyster Bay, North Carolina for a vacation and end up embroiled in a mystery. It is a well-plotted mystery. There are several suspects because the victim who is author Justin St. James was not a nice man. I had a good time following Jane as she questioned people and searched for clues. The costumed All Hallows’ Ball was a great place to catch a killer. The Fins and the Cover Girls as well Sheriff Evans (loved his costume) and his deputies were there to keep an eye out for suspicious activity. I loved the ball with everyone in costume. It made for an entertaining and lively reveal. I like how all the various elements tied together. The last chapter will delight fans of the series. I finished Murder in the Book Lover’s Loft with a smile on my face. I was sad that Jane felt the need to dispose of the treasures in the secret room (she has been doing this in the last couple of books). I can understand being afraid of people breaking in to get their hands on the special items hidden at Storyton Hall, but I do not if I could have let go of such unique items. I enjoyed the humor sprinkled throughout the story. I like that the author included Olivia Limoges and gave us a conclusion to her story. The woman certainly deserves to have a happy ending. Murder in the Book Lover’s Loft is the ninth A Book Retreat Mystery. It can be read as a standalone. However, I have enjoyed following Jane Steward on her journey since the beginning. It has allowed me to get to know her as well as the other characters and the secret of Storyton Hall. Murder in the Book Lover’s Loft has friendships, family, books, murder, furbabies, food, romance, and fun. I sincerely hope that this is not the last book in A Book Retreat Mysteries because I will miss my yearly visits to Storyton Hall. Murder in the Book Lover’s Loft is an entertaining tale with an odd death, a beach retreat, murdered author, playful puppies, fishy suspects, bookish costumes, and a startling reveal.

Thanks to NetGalley and Kensington Books/Kensington Cozies for the eARC and to Tantor Audio for the ALC! It’s such a privilege to read/listen before pub day and provide my candid review.

Story Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (0-5)
Audiobook Rating: 🎧🎧🎧🎧🎧 (0-5)
Overall Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (0-5)
Steam: 🔥 (0-5) kissing only, not a romance book

What I’m Starry-Eyed Over:
🤩 Mood readers—Halloween time and costume fun with Pinkoween, & All Hallows Ball.
🤩 The mixed small-town & beach-town settings between Storyton (Storyton Hall hotel) & Oyster Bay (The Book Lovers Loft at The Admiral’s Inn). Read the blurb.
🤩 Such beautiful and interesting descriptions—immersive.
🤩 So many clever one-liners, constantly made me smile.
🤩 Book club, book lovers, book store—all the bookish fun. “Books, booze, and a bunch of people obsessed with murder. What could possibly go wrong?”
🤩 Eight ball decision-making. Ha! I need The Cover Girls book club friends in my life.
🤩 The MCs are the sweetest—the romance lover in me was glad to be hanging out with Jane and Edwin.
🤩 The mishaps and mystery-solving fun make for an intriguing plot.
🤩 The twist, the end (I had no idea). I got goosebumps and had tears in my eyes.

What I’m Wishing/Dizzy About:
💫 I don’t love dead people in my books, but this was tolerable and not gory. Maybe I can have a goal to read at least one cozy mystery per year like I do thrillers (or possibly two).

Jane and Edwin take a mini vacation. Some vacations don’t always turn out as one had planned. The perfect getaway bungalow takes on a sinister affect when writing is found in their bathroom along with a skull. To add to the woes of the couple, Edwin has a mishap in the ocean while Jane and her friend, Olivia, discover a body close by. As in prior books in Book Retreat Mysteries Series there’s also festivities happening: imagine a town where everyone dresses up in pink for charity. The murder victim seems to have a connection to Storyton Hall so all is alert at the Masquerade Ball. All the lovable characters around Storyton Hall including Jane’s twins Hemmingway and Fitzgerald play a role in the end—one that felt like an end to the series; if so, I can’t wait to read the next series by Ellery Adams. Thanks to NetGalley and Kensington Books for advanced reader copy; this is my honest opinion.

Again, another wonderful masterpiece. I finished reading this mystery in one sitting, In the 9th Book Retreat cozy mystery, Jane and Edwin travel to Oyster Bay, North Carolina. Their friend Olivia Limoges, from the Books by the Bay series, lives in Oyster Bay with her dog, Captain Haviland.

When Jane and Edwin arrive at the Booklover's Loft, they are rudely surprised by a fake skull in the bathroom. They learn that someone was targeting the person who was staying at the same cottage before Jane and Edwin's arrival. And there is a strange message on the mirror.

They overhear an argument at a bookstore and one of the people involved in the argument winds up dead on the private beach. It looks like Olivia is the suspect in the murder. Jane and Edwin ask for the Fins' help in finding the real killer.

Wonderful story development. Interesting characters.

4.5, rounded up. There's a reason this is one of the cozy series I've recommended most often. Even with a change of setting for the majority of this book, away from Storyton Hall, it was still a well told, bookish to its core mystery with well developed characters. Ellery Adams also does an incredible job making each book feel complete on its own, so while this one feels like it could be an ending, there is also room for further books.

Jane and her fiancé, Edwin, are heading off on vacation for the first time by themselves. Their plan is to spend the next five days relaxing, enjoying their accommodations and the beach, but life throws them a curveball. Edwin ends up in the hospital and Jane discovers a dead body.

Her initial plan was to enjoy vacation without having to solve any murders, but that idea has gone out the window. Back in Storyton, she collaborates with her nearest and dearest to ensure the safety of her family, friends, and what she has sworn to protect.

This is the second novel that I’ve read by Ellery Adams, and I can’t wait to read more. Since this is the ninth book in this series, I’d love to go back and read the others. Storyton Hall sounds like the perfect getaway for a book lover, mysteries and all!

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for allowing me to read an ARC of this novel. #NetGalley #MurderintheBookLoversLoft

A romantic getaway! A Halloween party complete with custom made costumes! A storybook wedding! It all sounds enchanting, doesn’t it? So why did I dislike the new cozy mystery, Murder in the Book Lover’s Loft, so much?

Jane’s family has a long history of protecting a secret vault of unique manuscripts such as an unpublished play by Shakespeare. Generations of four families called the fins have also pledged to keep the documents safe. After Jane’s husband is killed, Jane is called to carry on with the stewardship until her young male twins are old enough to continue the family’s tradition. Jane decides that the risk of protecting the sacred documents is too great for her wee feminine hands. She starts donating and, worse, selling the library. While I agree that the money will be useful to educate her children, what about her and the fins’ century-old family tradition and values? The feminist within me recoiled constantly while I was reading this book. To have the last adult male in Jane’s family be the savior of the family’s tradition was the fatal stroke for me. Ugh, that’s why I actively hate this book despite liking the previous two in the series.

Since I always try to leave at least one positive comment in my reviews, here is my lone good thing to say about Murder in the Book Lover’s Loft. It appears that this is probably the end of Jane’s story and possibly the series. Rest in peace… 2 stars.

Note that everyone else seemed to love this book. If you decide to read it, you may enjoy it more than I did too.

Thanks to Kensington Cozies and NetGalley for a digital review copy of the book.

We are back at Storyton Hall and it was another excellent addition, #9, to "A Book Retreat Mystery" series!
Jane and Edwin are going on a much needed vacation, just the two of them. Storyton Hall has been so busy and Edwin's restaurant has been just as busy so they need to have a relaxing getaway. But there is nothing relaxing about their trip to the ocean town in North Carolina. Excellent story and it kept me reading.
I have read this series since the first book and I love how Ellery Adams can pull you into a story that you don't want to put down. Life got in the way of me reading this in one sitting but I did finish in 48 hours. It's sad to see such a good book end but I have to remember there will be another one and I look forward to it.
The characters are wonderful and well thought out. Jane owns Storyton Hall and it is a readers paradise. Full of books and quiet places to read them. It's hard to ask for more when you have that.
Love this series and anxiously awaiting the next book.
Highly recommend!!

What a pleasure to return to Storyton Hall and all the wonderful regular characters who live there. Murder in the Book Lover's Loft is the ninth installment of this delightful series, but hopefully not the last! This unique cozy series features secret treasures and books, a sweet romance, lively family chats, and books. The mystery is always twisty, and fun to try and solve. The blurb will pull you in without giving anything away-- but I encourage a newbie to the series to begin at the start to get the most enjoyment from the characters.
I received an advanced ecopy of this book, by my request---all thought and opinions are my own. Thank you to #KensingtonCozies, NetGalley and #ElleryAdams for granting my request.
#MurderintheBookLoversLoft #NetGalley

One of my favourite series and this might be my favourite one in this series. The mystery was just so much fun, the way they methodically worked to solve it was great, plenty of red herrings, and a bit of romance thrown in! If this is the end of the series, what a lovely way to go.

In what appears to be the last book in this series, Murder in the Book Loft finds Jane and Edwin taking a vacation to visit their friend Olivia in North Carolina. While there, Jane discovers not one, but two dead bodies, and she is of purse, drawn into the investigation!

I found the story to move at a decent pace and the mystery to be compelling. There were some twists I didn’t see coming, as well as some plot developments for a few of the other primary characters. There is a satisfying ending, and even though there is a scene where the author could return to the series, the ending wrapped up many loose ties, leading me to believe this series is finished.

I enjoyed this 9th book in the series. It was somewhat of a surprise that the beginning of the book took place in another location, The way the town of Oyster Bay was described made me want to take a vacation there also! Hopefully, I would not end up in Edwin's place. It was also a nice way of combining Olivia and her dog Haviland once more with the Storyton people. The plot was well thought out and I didn't guess the bad guy right away.

I am saddened though, because of the way the book ended. Quite a few of the story lines seemed to come to an end, and to me there were hints that this was the last book of the series. I really hope that I am wrong, because I liked it so much.

Thanks NetGalley and Kensington Publishing for the chance to read this book.

Murder in the Book Lover’s Loft by Ellery Adams is the ninth in the Book Retreat Mystery series and the first that takes Edwin and Jane away from Storyton Hall. They deserved a break and they took it. Sadly, the first day out, just as Jane was discovering a dead body, Edwin was getting stabbed on the bottom of both feet by a stingray’s barbs. He nearly drowned but got out of the water in time. They ambulance came and took him to the hospital where they removed the barbs, kept him overnight, and sent him back in a wheelchair. It would be a couple of days. Olivia Limoges, one of the reasons they had come to Oyster Bay, was having a book signing at her bookshop that evening, which Jane attended as Edwin was in the hospital, asleep, recovering. There were supposed to be three authors, but there were only two as the third had been the body Jane had discovered earlier: Justin St. James, who had a loyal following, but was disliked by a few people as he had taken their personal tragedies, and written books about them, thinly disguised. Olivia was one of them, as were the two other authors in attendance. Jane quickly discovered that the police in Oyster Bay were certainly different than those in Storyton.

As it was Halloween when they returned, there was to be a masquerade ball, at which they hoped to trap the killer. Most of the attendees they knew and they found out a way to track the others. The characters and over arcing plot in this series are always entertaining. Jane has mostly succeeded in rehoming the valuable books her family had been guarding for centuries so most of the danger had passed. Things still popped up, though. One body in Storyton and Justin St James in Oyster Bay. The mystery was a good one, and some might even say they got what they deserved. It took a while to track the killer, though, and it made a good read. As always, this was a very satisfying venture into the world of books.

I was invited to read a free e-ARC of Murder in the Book Lover’s Loft by Kensington, through Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are mine. #Netgalley #Kensington #ElleryAdams #MurderInTheBookLoversLoft

I love this series so much, and this latest installment was excellent. Loved the two settings and I can't wait for the next one!

I have loved every book in Ellery Adams’ Book Retreat cozy mysteries series but Murder in the Book Lover’s Loft (the ninth book in the series) may be my favorite so far. This book has a bit of everything – a romantic vacation, a Halloween Ball, books, and of course a murder or two. I love the fact that Adams has added Olivia Limoge from her Books by the Bay cozy mystery series (if you have not read that series, you should) – it is nice to catch up with Olivia and see how she is moving on with her life (I was delighted with some of the things that happened with her in this book!). The mystery is well done with more than a few twists and turns and surprises – I couldn’t help but feel a bit sad when the killer was revealed. Finally, I just love the ending of the book.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley.

The whole series is a book lover's dream since it is set at a luxury resort in Virginia that has thousands of books that can be borrowed by guests, but this newest book may be my favorite. The main character, resort owner/manager Jane Steward, and her fiancé Edwin Alcott, are taking a break from Storyton Hall. They visit their new friend Olivia Limoges (from the author's Books by the Bay series) in Oyster Bay, North Carolina. Their relaxing vacation takes a turn when Jane discovers a dead body. This investigation is intriguing but Jane and Edwin must return home before it's solved.

Back at Storyton Hall, a masked Halloween Ball is being held, but danger has followed them home and it looks like they may have a murderer as an uninvited guest. This part of the book is dramatic and suspenseful and I was on edge right along with Jane wondering how the evening would turn out. Jane's twin sons are as charming as ever, and I enjoyed spending time with them and the other regular characters from this series. The surprising ending of the book is perfect and one that fans of the series will especially appreciate.

I received an advance copy of this ebook at no cost from NetGalley and Kensington Books, but my review is voluntary and unbiased.

This is a series that I joined late and I must try and find the time to go back and read the earlier books. The stories are set at Storyton Hall, a book retreat managed by Jane Steward. In Murder in the Book Lover’s Loft Jane goes on a short holiday with her partner Edwin but bad luck follows them. She stumbles across a dead body and he steps on a stingray. All the events that follow indicate that Jane is being targeted and all her associates swing into action to catch the guilty party.

Although this book is certainly a cosy it has a certain aspect of being a bit more with Storyton Hall's history, the secret library, the Fins who are actually guards, and mentions of past espionage. The author writes well and the story is well paced and always interesting. It even has two children in it who are well mannered. A rare event in most books today. I enjoyed it very much.

This is part of a series, and I haven't read all of them, but this makes sense as a standalone story. Storyton Hall is a charming hotel setting for book lovers. The murder is a bit more complex than what's found in some cozy mysteries. There are many suspects, which keeps the reader guessing. The mystery is fast paced, and there's even a bit of romance thrown on (that, thankfully, isn't an overwhelming part of the story). If you're looking for a fun summer read, this book is a good option.

I rarely give cozy mysteries 5-star ratings, but this series consistentely earns them! This is another perfect addition to the Book Retreat series, with an interesting and unique mystery, complex (for a cozy) characters and themes, and a totally fun mashup of Storyton and Oyster Bay. I absolutely loved it! The ending and the author's note do have a "wrapping it up" vibe, so I hope I'm wrong that this may be the end of the series, as I could keep reading it forever. If it is, I'm thankful to have had this experience with this wonderful retreat and cast of characters. Thanks to Netgalley and Kensington Books for the advance digital copy!

This review of Murder in the Book Lover’s Loft is courtesy of NetGalley
#MurderintheBookLoversLoft #NetGalley #KensingtonBooks #CozyMystery
Rating 4/5
Upcoming publication date: Aug 1, 2023

Murder in the Book Lover’s Loft is the 9th book in Ellery Adams's The Book Retreat Mysteries series. While I hadn't read any books from The Book Retreat Mysteries series before, I have read Ellery Adam's A Secret, Book and Scone Society series as the books flitted in and out of Amazon's Kindle Unlimited program. Note that as of this review writing, books 4-8 of The Book Retreat Mysteries series are currently available in Kindle Unlimited.

The book starts with an epigraph quoting Jack Kerouac that is immediately followed by a Welcome to Storyton Hall which includes a listing of the staff, select Storyton village merchants, a listing of some Oyster Bay residents and a list of (fictional) authors referenced in the book. This was followed by a map of Storyton and really gave off an epic fantasy feel (usually where character lists and maps are common). I did end up referring to the list of staff and merchants while reading. Despite the initial epic fantasy feel, it's not a magical fantasy mystery.

Things I liked about the mystery: Despite not having read the first 8 books of the series, Murder in the Book Lover’s Loft was easy to follow. The main character Jane doesn't do anything stupid as she attempts to solve the mystery and works with her friends and colleagues to figure out who the killer is. She doesn't attempt to do anything illegal to gather info. As a book lover, I loved one of the lines of Jane's Aunt Octavia "If there's no truer friend than a book, there's no better person than a book-loving friend."

Things that kept it from being 5/5 (things I didn't like as much): Chapter 11 had 3 typos in close proximity which made me feel I was reading a self-published unedited book: a bad sentence that didn't make sense, messing up a character's name with extra space, and odd hyphenation. The murderer's confession was just a bit too easy.