A bookstore set cozy with an eccentric cast of characters who keep the reader guessing until the end. Many possible and plausible red herrings keep the pages turning.and the touches of humor, many provided by a verbose pet bird, are welcome. Fine as a standalone, but if you've read others in the series, it may be more engaging. Recommended for fans of the genre.

A Killer Romance is the third book in the Beach Read series. The story takes place on St. Brigid Island, North Carolina. Summer Merriweather is the main character. She owns the Beach Read bookstore which she inherited along with her cottage from her mother, Hildy who left it to her when she died. As this is the third book in the series there are characters from the first book, Little Bookshop of Murder, that make up the town. The new characters to the series add to the story.

Before inheriting her mother's store, Summer had been a professor at a university teaching about Shakespeare on line. She had also written two books on the subject. She retired from the university 37 years ago.

Summer is having her first instore author discussion since the pandemic. Her first author they are hosting is Lana Livingston. She wrote a modern-day book on Romero and Juliet. Her assistant, Poppy and her mother's old friends Glads and Marilyn. as well as her cousin, Piper are helping getting the store ready for the Valentine event As Summer is coming down the steps from the second floor she trips and falls spraining her ankle. She ends up going to the hospital and is told by the doctor that she is to stay off of her ankle for a week as it is badly sprained. Because of this her assistant and friends will have to host the event for her.

It was decided that Summer will stay home and her niece, Mia will stay with her and watch the book Valentine Day event on line. Her parrot, Mr. Darcy that she inherited from her mother also kept her company. While waiting to watch the event a Detective Liam Connor came to her house and asked about Lana. Wanted to know if she was staying at her house. He told them he was on a special assignment and was keeping his eye on Lana. She is a suspect in her husband's death.

The next day Summer got a phone call from her old boyfriend, Cash Singer, that Lana had been found dead in her bed at the B&B she was staying in. Mia, Glads and Marilyn were at Summer's house giving her lunch when Detective Connors came and spoke to them. He asked them questions and they believed it was murder by poison which was later verified.

Marilyn called Summer to tell her that Glads had been arrested for Lana's murder by Detective Connor. Cash , who is a lawyer was at the station and got Glads out on bail. He was concerned that she was not doing well. Apparently she had brought Lana some tea at the event and they found the poison in the cup. Glads arrives at Summer's house late at night saying she didn't want to stay at her house. Summer lets her stay with her.

For some reason, the boxes of Lana's clothes, etc. were sent to Summer's house. Tina, the owner of the B&B were told by the police to send them there. They went through the boxes but didn't find anything to tell them why she had been killed. When Glads is looking at one of Lana's books to read that were in the box she finds a bag of cocaine in the book. They call Ben Singer, Cash's father and chief of police to come and get it. Why did Lola have it in the book.

Gina Chocolates is a new store in town next to the bookstore. it is owned by Gina Giancarlo. She has an open house to introduce the town to her store. She later hires Mary Laura, Lola's step-daughter to work for her at her shop.

This is where the story takes the reader on an adventure and there is too much to relate to put on paper. I will leave this to the reader to enjoy. The ending is built up with such a surprise at the end. It is not what the reader thought.

Epilogue: One year later: Summer has established the Lana Livingston Scholarship for woman who wanted to become a writer. Summer is also pregnant with a baby boy and is about to marry Cash. They do get married on Mermaid Point.

I have read this series from the beginning and have loved Summer's family as well as her friends. I look forward to the next book to find out what the next adventure they will all be going on.


Thank you NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for this ARC.

Enjoyed the book as well as the setting. Interesting characters and well crafted mystery. Definitely recommend

Thank you to Maggie Blackburn, NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for the arc of this book.

#AKillerRomance #NetGalley is a fun addition to this series and I found it to be my favorite book!
Summer is hosting a Valentine's celebration at her family bookstore, but when the visiting author's body is found, Summer feels she needs to get involved.
This is a great book,reading it is the perfect way to spend a weekend.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for selecting me to read an advanced copy of the book.

Another fun book by the cozy mystery master, Maggie Blackburn. This is book #3 in the 'A Beach Reads Mystery' series. I have enjoyed the first two books so this one was a must-read for me! There is yet another murder for Summer Merriweather to solve. It was an entertaining read, I like the main character and it kept me guessing until the very end. I hope there are more books in this series as I enjoy them so much.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

Maggie Blackburn's "A Killer Romance (A Beach Reads Mystery #3) " continues the series in a similar fashion to the previous book. There's another murder that Summer Merriweather gets pulled into. Honestly, the person didn't even actually die on her property, but her property is taking the brunt of all the bad publicity. It's a bit odd really. I mean, I kinda can see why but still, that's not where they actually died. Also, will this be the last book in the series? It could go either to more books or be done from how this one wrapped up.

The mystery part was very well done. I honestly did not see that reveal coming. Until it did. Then it all fell into place and made total sense. I found it very refreshing.

I didn't realize this was a series, but it didn't hinder my reading experience. It was so easy to get to know our characters and the story, I find both to be enjoyable and fun. The mystery itself was entertaining.