A relatively easy read. Nothing too complex or unique. Your typical cozy mystery with a very typical plot and characters that are not too annoying to spend time with. Nothing to write home about and I won't search out future installments of this series. I did like that the author created a world with a diverse set of characters without making it seem like she was trying to check off the boxes. Not entirely impressed with the lawyer bestfriend who encouraged the nonsense of her layperson bestie. There were those typical cozy mystery moments where i wanted to yell at the lead that she was doing something dumb or illegal and I would have liked if the lawyer would have said those things for me.

This was super cute cozy and now I have another series to add to my never-ending list!! I loved watching Scarlett grow into her confidence and start taking full control of her life. Especially when she handed her ex-fiancee his ass and sent him packing!! Can't wait to read more books by Samara Yew!

#MurderbytheSeashore
#NetGalley

Murder by The Seashore AUDIO by Samara Yew was an entertaining listen as heroine and amateur sleuth, Scarlett Gardener, is accused of murder, only to find out the dead woman has left her a fortune. Motive much? Why? Scarlett didn’t even know her. It did occur to Scarlett that Lorelai Knight may be her biological mother, but there was no other reason. It didn’t help that Scarlett discovered the body under the pier in front of her bookshop, Palm Trees and Page Turners. Also, that the police found an empty poison bottle, matching the kind that had been used on Lorelai, behind her shop. This was such a nightmare for Scarlett. This was her dream, this bookshop and this life. She had nearly lost it once already when her boyfriend and partner had left for a startup in Silicon Valley. Things were looking might dismal once again. Good thing her roommate was a lawyer.

Scarlett was a ray of sunshine and a reader. Enough said. She was pretty and perky and clever. Her roommate, Lucia, was an excellent character as well. Always ready to help. Evelyn, the clerk in the bookstore, seemed oddly interested in the whole situation. She was always where she didn’t belong and always saying she could handle the bookshop. The ex showed up as well, smelling money. There were no shortages of suspects, in Scarlett’s mind. Hopefully the police saw it the same way. It was a decent mystery with plenty of red herrings and misdirection. There were a plethora of characters, both involved and not. It was a good read.

The narrator was Catherine Ho who made the story enjoyable and kept it moving at a good pace. She was the perfect choice for this book, something that doesn’t always happen. It was a terrific listen.

I was invited to listen to a free audio version of this book by Dreamscape Media, through Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are mine. #Netgalley #DreamscapeMedia #SamaraYew #CatherineHo #MurderByTheSeashore

Not my fave - not very cosy and idk, I unfortunately didn’t enjoy it at all - I wish I had! Also the going from friends to suspects to friends as a bit weird to me. Not leaving my review on GoodReads since it’s not really positive.

Scarlett Gardner is trying to make her dreams come true. Opening her beach book shop Palm Trees and Page Turner is the beginning of a good thing. Until her boyfriend/business partner decides to leave for a better job. Then to top things off, Scarlet finds a dead body under the pier not far from her Bookshop, making her a suspect in the murder. Then to mix things up just a little bit, a lawyer shows up wanting to speak to Scarlet about an inheritance from a person she has never heard of. Scarlet is filled with lots of questions and not finding too many answers. Deciding to do a little investigating of her own, Scarlet has to clear her name, and that of the book shop.


Murder by the seashore, is a fantastic opening book for this new series. Scarlett Gardner is an interesting main character. She has some complexities to her, has dreams and desires. She wants to fulfill and has a very good heart. She has a solid character any Author has written her in a way that she will be able to grow through future installments. I thought we were going to see the beginning of a love interest in the first book but I guess we’re not quite there yet. As for the mystery, I found it very enjoyable. Author Samara Yew does a wonderful job at keeping the reader guessing as to whether they have actually figured it out or not. From the setting to the characters to the storyline, I found this a very enjoyable, cozy mystery.

This is the first book in the California Bookshop Mystery Series by author Samara Yew. The main character, Scarlet Gardner, owns a bookstore and finds a body by the pier that she recognizes as one of her new customers from the day before. She doesn’t know the woman but later finds out that the woman recently changed her will and left everything to Scarlet. Why would a woman she doesn’t know leave her inheritance to Scarlet? When it is discovered that the woman died from poison and not drowning, Scarlet becomes the main suspect as that same poison was found near her shop. Now Scarlet must clear her name and find out who killed the woman and why plus the reason she was left the inheritance.

This is the first book by this author that I have read but it won’t be the last. This book is a fun cozy mystery and contains no romance.

Thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for an advanced copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Murder by the Seashore is a cozy mystery by Samara Yew. I listened to this book while on a road trip. The mystery kept me guessing and that is a great way for a cozy mystery to be for me to enjoy it.
Scarlett Gardner runs a bookshop near the beach while she is out for a walk on the beach. She finds a body and the woman was a customer at her shop the day before.
Scarlett is shocked to learn that she is in the womans will because she only knew her as someone who came in to her bookshop, Scarlett quickly becomes a suspect in the murder.
The author did a great job of tossing in twists and turn to keep me guessing.
Thank you NetGalley, Samara Yew and Crooked Lane Books for the Audio of Murder by the Seashore. This is my personal review.

The ok you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.
Another great new cozy mystery series. I’ve just become addicted to these types of audiobooks. They make for such an easy and fun listen. This one was no exception. I can’t wait to listen to more in this series in the future!

Scarlett Gardner thought she was living her SoCal dream life running a bookstore with her boyfriend. She is now attempting to pick up the pieces after her boyfriend left suddenly. On a morning walk near the pier things go from bad to worse as she finds the body of a customer that had just visited her shop. A lawyer later turns up with the surprising revelation that she has been left the estate of the murdered woman. Now the police and the town think she had a reason to murder the woman. To top things off another attorney shows up as the will is being contested. Scarlett must try to solve the mystery to clear her name and to attempt to find out what her connection to the murdered woman actually was.

I had a really good time with this book. There were several interesting mysteries inside of the story. I really liked Scarlett as our main character. Her friendship with her roommate was great and I enjoyed how they worked together. The story moved very quickly. I look forward to reading other installments of this series.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the ALC in exchange for an honest review.

Bookshop, coastal town, and murder. Murder by the Seashore is a fun cozy mystery and great as an audiobook, narrated by Catherine Ho.

Scarlett Gardner is the owner of "Palm Trees and Page Turners" bookstore in Oceanside, California. While walking along the beach she stumbles upon a body under a pier. She calls the police and becomes a suspect for more reasons than one.

As with all the cozies, our FMC will have to solve the mystery to clear her name. At first, I thought Detective Maxwell may be the love interest, but nope he's married to Scarlett's employee, Evelyn.

Enjoyable first in the series. I love to hate Scarlett's ex, Connor who is such a slimeball. 3.5⭐

Scarlett Gardner’s dream was to open a bookshop in Southern California, but it soon becomes a nightmare when she finds the dead body of a customer—and becomes the prime suspect.

Are the cooler temperatures putting a damper on your mood? Then head to sunny California for a walk along the beach in Samara Yew's new cozy mystery Murder by the Seashore.

I'm not a fan of the protagonist being the prime suspect in book 1 of a new series. I know it is a popular trope, but it is probably why I often skip the first book in a series.

I liked the main character Scarlett as well as the supporting cast. I would hazard to guess that many bookworms dream of owning a bookstore in a close-knit community. But as it is only a dream a fictional bookstore owner is fun to read about.

The plot was easy to follow while listening to the audiobook. The mystery isn't full of twists and turns nor is the pace super fast. There are still plenty of suspects and trying to piece together who had motive, means, and opportunity will keep you engaged.

As the first book in a series, it is really to set up the characters we will see in future books. We get plenty of details about the various characters but not in an overwhelming info dump kind of way. We get just enough to feel like we know them by the end. Unfortunately, the audiobook didn't help much in helping the reader delineate the characters. Some of the voices were too similar and others just didn't seem to match the character so I would be pulled out of the story in order to figure out which character was talking.

Overall, it is a good first book in a new series. I look forward to Scarlett building her new business and checking in with the other characters in the next book.

My review will be published at Girl Who Reads on Tuesday - https://www.girl-who-reads.com/2023/10/2-cozy-audiobooks-for-fall-listening.html

Super cute cozy mystery that was a fun way to spend the day listening while I worked.
Scarlett and her boyfriend moved to Oceanside to open a bookstore called Palmtrees and Pageturners but he quickly dumps her when he gets a better offer and she decides to go ahead with her bookstore plans anyway and prove that she doesn’t need him to be a success. Things are going along fine, she even has an employee, Evelyn. Until one day she finds a dead body by the pier near her bookstore and the body appears to have been poisoned and the bottle is found behind her store making her the prime suspect, especially when it is discovered that the woman has left Scarlett a substantial inheritance. But Scarlett claims to never have met her until the day before when she came into the store to buy a book, so why would she leave her everything? Then Scarlett’s roommate’s nemesis at work, Martin, turns up dead on their doorstep. What is the connection? Scarlett decides that she better figure out what’s going on for herself and quick so that she can clear her name, before the police come to take her in.
The narrator did a great job of establishing the various characters and keeping the story lively and engaging.
Thanks to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for this audiobook arc in exchange for my review.

Murder by the Seashore

3.25

Murder by the Seashore is the first of a new cozy mysteries series by Samara Yew. If you are a cozy, mystery fan, chances are you’re a little relaxed about complex plot lines and written prose. Not to mention that first books in a series are usually the lowest rated.

That said, this is a cute story, though there are several things that confused or annoyed me. First of all, I am reviewing the audiobook version. The narrator sounds like and has a name that appears to be Southeast Asian of some sort as does the author’s last name. I assumed that was going to be a factor defining the heroine's character. They never actually tell you much about her appearance or describe any Asian heritage. I read just now that she is a big Psych fan, which makes sense knowing that she’s Canadian and her husband is apparently from Singapore.

Scarlett has just opened a bookstore in the spring in her new supposedly small town of Oceanside, California. A bookstore. I’ll give you that mom and pop shops, especially cute ones, tend to be more popular in tourist towns, but the fact that she is run off her feet with customers so soon is a little hard to believe. Also hard to believe is the idea that she had originally been in partnership with her boyfriend who had since left her, and the business and she was able to carry on without his investment. It doesn’t sound like she is from more than a middle-class family and didn’t leave a high-paying job to follow a dream, so even if she gets a loan (big IF), it seems unreasonable that she would be able to hire another employee and talk about hiring one more. She lives in a townhouse with a roommate who is a lawyer, but they seem to both be capable of taking turns grabbing takeout or eating out quite frequently. It doesn’t make sense.

Other than that, the story is cute, and you wonder what’s going to happen, who the victim even was, and, especially, what she was to Scarlett. I don’t know whether I would keep reading or listening to the series. I did play the audiobook at a 1.25 speed which is the next fastest speed on the app I used after regular speed. I probably would have made it a tiny bit slower, but it was not too fast in most places and would have dragged at regular speed, I think.

I hate to be negative about other people’s debut novels as I haven’t been able to pull mine off, but it’s cute enough and I’m hoping that the sequels will be improvements on each other (as they tend to be) and the writer will become more confident, and it will sound a little less Dick and Jane than I started to feel the first one was. Ironically, this is the third mystery from a series I listened to in the past week where a young woman has opened a book shop in a new town. This one was my least favorite, but I chose the other two based on their rating amongst many established mystery series and, as this was an advanced copy, I went into this one blind (or should that be deaf?). Incidentally, at least two of the three heroines drove a Mini Cooper.

I received a free copy of this audiobook from NetGalley in exchange for providing an unbiased review.

A new cozy mystery series featuring Scarlett, who runs a beachside bookstore in CA. Scarlett finds a body 1 morning while walking the beach. Turns out the victim, who she’s never met, has left her inheritance to Scarlett.

What I liked:
🌊 Beach town setting
🌊 Side characters, especially her Roomate/lawyer
🌊 Inheritance story line

Final thoughts: I really enjoyed this new cozy mystery and the audiobook was great to listen to. The California beach setting, a bookstore and great side characters have all the makings for a great series.

I loved the audiobook of Murder By The Seashore! It has everything I love about cozy mysteries including wonderful characters, friendship, and a good cozy mystery. Scarlett Gardner recently opened up a bookstore with her now ex-boyfriend Connor.
On a walk she discovers someone dead under the pier. Her new employee Evelyn is acting strange and Connor shows up and causes trouble. Scarlett learns she is inheriting a lot of money from someone she doesn't know. That really makes the story even better! Scarlett becomes a suspect. Evelyn's husband Steve is a police detective. Scarlett, Evelyn, and Scarlett's roommate Lucia worked together to solve the murder. There aren't many suspects and I guessed the culprit but wasn't sure until the end. Very enjoyable cozy mystery! The audiobook narrator Catherine Ho did a wonderful job! I am looking forward to more books in this series! #MurderByTheSeashore #NetGalley. #DreamscapeMedia

I can’t get enough of cozy mysteries!! And this one did not disappoint! First off A COZY MYSTERY IN FIRST PERSON!!!! It’s so rare- literally a unicorn. A wonderful beautiful first person POV unicorn🥹🩷🩷🩷 thank you. Thank you. thank you!! Scarlett was a great character, I loved how determined she was to solve the mystery. I loved Lucia as not only her friend but her lawyer who had Scarlett’s back to the end! I really enjoyed all of the side characters, and I really hope this becomes a series because I am here for it😍 I really loved listening to this, it really kept me on the edge of my seat! I also really love the clean story, my daughter likes to listen sometimes and it’s really nice to not have to worry about anything inappropriate or curse words. The ending really surprised me! I had no clue they would be the murderer! I loved this book and can’t get enough of it!

A story with a bookstore in it? Count me in!
A super cozy Murder mystery. The story draws you in and you want to keep reading so you can know who the murderer is. Did I suspect everyone just like Scarlett? Yes I did lol I was pointing fingers at everyone! Like the spider man meme
Fantastic debut novel kept me listening and wanting to learn more about the characters.
If you want a cozy mystery this fall this is definitely one to pick up the FMC is a bookshop owner which we all love!

This was a good, solid cozy mystery set in a Southern California bookshop. The world building was well-done. I could picture the setting in my mind. The characters were well-developed. It had all the classic ingredients of a cozy mystery - a body, the store owner accused of the crime, wrongly-accusing police (this one depends on how it's handled), romantic interest (or two).

From the cover, it looks like this may be the start of a new series, but I don't see indications in other places that this is the case. Hopefully the author will continue these mysteries.

Thank you to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for an ARC audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

This was an enjoyable first in a new series. It is full of cozy tropes, including a bookstore in a beachy tourist town (my personal favorite locale), a jilted owner, a sleazy ex-boyfriend, the requisite friends, new and not as new, and of course, the murder. Somewhat unique aspects include Scarlett's status as an adopted child with no knowledge of her birth family and Lucia, a Latino attorney and Scarlett's roommate. I might want to be a slightly softer Lucia. Keep an eye on the young sushi chef. There may be promise there. Those who do not like the protagonist's love interest to be the police detective are in luck since the town's police detective is married to Scarlett's assistant at the bookstore and is old enough to be Scarlett's father. It all works, though the detective needs to lighten up and warm up, in my opinion. Scarlett is likeable enough, but she tends to ramble on in her head or out loud, overreact, and jump to conclusions. To be fair, this is her first murder; so, I will give her some leeway and hope she gets it together in the next book. All in all, I look forward to the next in this series.

This was a fun cozy mystery. I love mysteries that take place in or partially in a bookstore.
Our main character Scarlett owns a bookstore in California. One night, she finds a dead woman outside close to the bookstore. She finds herself a suspect as she has inherited this woman's whole will despite never meeting her before. Instead of accepting her fate, Scarlett decides to investigate herself. Everyone who is a friend now seems like a suspect, several people turn out to have some sort of motive.
The plot in this one was fun. It was nothing complex and it was easy to follow. The characters were good. Scarlett has some friends that seem very loyal and were a great help to her investigation. There were some "villains" like her ex connor who has come into town and wants to get back together with her because he has figured out she now has a large inheritance.
The ending had a really fun twist that I wasn't expecting. It seemed certain to be one person and it turned out to be someone from left field. But it also made sense. I wasn't completely blindsided by a character I had never met before.
The narrator was great. She did a fantastic job bringing the book to life and keeping my interest.