Murderously fun, cozy and caffeinated! 💀 ☕️🎧

We are back in Cedar River, Texas with Juni, Tansy and Maggie just in time for the annual Bluebonnet Festival! The sisters are busy gearing up new coffee recipes to debut at their Sip & Spin Records booth when the Mayor dies right after drinking one of their coffees! The rumor mill goes into overtime blaming the sisters for the mayor’s untimely demise and threatening their business! With their coffee’s reputation and their shop on the line the sisters spring into sleuthing action to solve the mystery & catch the killer so they can get back to the festival (that holds a mystery of its own!)!

I absolutely love The Record Shop Mysteries series by Olivia Blacke! Cozy, murderous fun filled with quirky characters, head scratching mysteries, small town life, sisterly love and endless coffee & music puns!

Thank you to St. Martin's Press for the gifted arc!

I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars

A solid second book in this cozy series set in smalltown Texas. The characters are developing nicely and the writing held my interest. Two mysteries to solve. While the first was obvious despite some clues being held until the end, the other was beautifully interwoven into the investigation. I look forward to reading the next one.

I love this cozy mystery series. This is only the 2nd in the series but I am anxiously awaiting the next one! This was so good. I love the characters in this series!
I just reviewed A Fatal Groove by Olivia Blacke. #NetGalley
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What a fun and innovative cozy! I loved this fresh take on the genre, set around three sisters and their coffee/record shop. Looking forward to seeing where this series goes and can't wait to see what Olivia Blacke does next.

With this one, you get two mysteries, one old, one new. The old one involves a bank robbery and the never recovered loot supposedly buried...somewhere. The robbers were killed before they could recover it. The second, newer mystery, who killed Cedar River's Mayor Bob? Juni(per) Jessup finds the ineffectual but relatively harmless mayor dead in his office during the town's bluebonnet festival. He's still holding a coffee cup from, you guessed it, the Sip & Spin Record shop which Juni co-owns with her family. Her sister Tansy made the coffee for him. The investigator in charge is Juni's old beau, uh, Beau.

Cedar River, near Austin, is a small town and gossip spreads fast. How fast? Almost before Juni can ever return home after giving a statement about how she came to discover the body. In this case, the gossip seemed to spiral, from a mutilated body to little green men with probes, no lie. So, outrageously humorous and insightful into small towns and how gossip grows wilder with each sharing. Although sworn not to talk about the case, Juni does attempt to calm minds, albeit with limited success. Mayor Bob's wife is reportedly away on an Alaskan cruise.

Juni is soon investigating with the help of sisters Tansy and Maggie, with input from Uncle Calvin, who has mellowed a tad since book one, I note. His stories still tend to be long and rambling, however, they're also often revealing once Juni manages to get him to the point. What connection did Mayor Bob have to used car salesman Marcus? Does Marcus have an ulterior motive for dating Juni's widowed mother? Juni could use a map to sift through all the clues piling up, so where is that map when she needs it? Why doesn't Juni simply share the info she gets with Beau? Will people ever trust Sip & Spin for coffee again?

And, will Buttercup be a recurring character? Don't ask, just read. Daffy the cat gets some space, too, I'll note. Bottom line, it's a fun, relatively quick read with humor and romance, so lots going on. Heck, first time I've ever heard of a hole digging contest. I'm not a fan of love-triangles, however, so hope the Beau or Teddy triangle is resolved soon. Both seem great guys.

Thanks #NetGalley and #StMartinsPress - #StMartinsPaperbacks for inviting me back to Cedar River, Texas. The bluebonnets are lovely.

Juni and her sisters are involved in another murder investigation in A Fatal Groove.
During the Bluebonnet festival, Mayor Bob becomes the victim of a crime, but no one is sure who the perpetrator is.
It was Juni's sister that served the mayor his killer coffee, but Juni knows she didn't kill him.
On top of the murder, it seems someone believes Juni has evidence proving the location of missing money from a bank robbery years before.
Juni insists on trying to figure out who killed the mayor, and finds herself in hot water.
I enjoyed this story, the characters are good, but I haven't found myself attached to any particular one.
I did like the part where Juni wins a cow, it added a few chuckles to the story.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for selecting me to read an advanced copy of the book.

Thank you, NetGalley for this ARC.

I enjoy cozy mysteries and this one was no exception! I Love that it is set in Texas and any book that mentions bluebonnets is a winner in my book. I did struggle getting into this book but I think because I didn't read the 1st one in this series. I'll have to get that one now.

I really loved this book in a new to my series and author. I can't wait to read the next one. The characters and location really add to the plot. This book keeps you guessing until the end

Kindle Copy for Review from Net Galley and St. Martin's Press.

I received a free, advance copy of this book and this is my unbiased and voluntary review.

It’s hard enough opening a vinyl record shop but trouble strikes when the mayor is murder y drinking your freshly brewed coffee as the machinery goes on a fritz.

Who could possibly want the mayor dead as the sisters will have to figure out a killer before the record stop spinning or they will end up in jail? A cozy to get your groove on in this quaint series.

This was a fun and delightful cozy mystery. It's the second book in the series but it would be easy to read as a standalone.

Juni and her sisters are great! There wasn't enough Daffy but I love the addition of Buttercup, the cow. I hope she shows up in future books.

There is a bit of a love triangle (which is my least favourite romantic trope) but it doesn't take up too much of the book and both men are really great. Not sure how Juni will make the decision but I hope she does soon.

This book features a mystery within a mystery with the girls investigating a modern day murder as well as a decades old bank heist. Both resolve well.

I'm looking forward to reading more of this series!

I received a complimentary copy of this book from St. Martin's Press through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. Thank you, St. Martin's Press!