A quaint village, a former mercenary with a bounty on her head, and a murdered mage? Sign me up! I love such tales, and the synopsis reminded me of one of my favorite books, "Legends & Lattes," so I couldn't resist the book. "Mages & Murder" by L. Evans is a sweet cozy fantasy I enjoyed reading.

The book follows Leonor, a former mercenary with a shadowy past, who has opened an inn in the quaint village of Bearstone. She lives there with her 15-year-old son and the help. A winter storm brings an influx of travelers, including a mage. When the mage is found murdered in her best room, her peaceful life is shattered. She has to find the murderer before the high guard arrives and her secret is revealed. As she keeps digging, she finds out she is not the only one with a hidden history and secrets.

I greatly enjoyed the book. The story is written in the first-person narrative from Leonor's perspective, allowing us to experience the events as they unfold through her eyes. The storyline is not so complex as to frustrate readers, but neither is it so simplistic as to bore them.

I loved the setting, the atmosphere, and the mystery. I didn't figure out at first who the murderer was, and I enjoyed following in Leonor's footsteps as she pieced together the clues. I'm not sure how I feel about the ending; I felt justice wasn't totally served. I also expected a bit more magic, as it is fantasy after all.

I had no trouble keeping up with the speakers or remembering their names. I found the book easy to follow. It could benefit from another round of editing, as there are a few spelling and grammar errors, and the writing was a bit choppy at times. That said, I loved the book and rate it 4 out of 5 stars. I would love to read more books in this setting. I recommend the book to lovers of the genre who enjoy stories of reinventing oneself to start over and books that focus on community.

* Thank you NetGalley and (publisher) for the opportunity to read this arc. All opinions are my own.

The cover and synopsis really grabbed me. Unfortunately that was the best part of my experience with this book. It read rough as you never couldn’t keep up with who was speaking at times and the ending just tumbled out so quickly and easily. I really wanted to love this, it sadly that was not the case here.

I enjoyed this tale of a retired mercenary who has opened an inn. When a storm brings many benighted travelers to her door, the inn is packed to the rafters. When one of the travelers is murdered, the innkeeper works very hard to discover the murderer before investigators try to uncover her own secrets while solving the mystery.

The setting was fun, the characters interesting if superficial (rather in the mode of Agatha Christie with her stock of character types) and the mystery just full enough for the pages.

Not a bad little tale, though the ending was a bit too neat, and quite quick.
But what set this book back badly was that it is in serious need of proofreading and editing, far too many spelling mistakes, grammar slips, and an egregious copy paste error. Tidying this up would make the book 100% better.

Thank you to NetGalley and Xpresso Book Tours for giving me access to this eARC.

I wish I could say that this book was good, but that would be a lie.

One of my favorite books in this genre is Legends & Lattes so when I saw the cover and the title of this book I was immediately intrigued. Sadly it left pretty quickly.

We get slammed into a short story with a huge amount of characters that you have to remember the names of. And some of them have similar names which makes it even harder.
The writing of this story felt very choppy in some parts and almost like something I wrote in english class 10 years ago. Plus there was a lot of misspelling.

The main character felt boring and the story as well. I didn’t care about anyone and the ending was the same, I didn’t really care.

Sadly it felt like the author just pushed us through a story without giving us any depths with too many characters. Maybe it’s a way to build a new world with spinoff books but it was a bad way of doing it.

1/5 for me.

This was a short read and it was interesting. I enjoyed the premise because cozy fantasy is my jam but from the start there were issues with the voice that I couldn’t tell who was talking. The editing in the book was not as well done as I had hoped and brought down the quality of the story. I found myself having to reread to figure out who was talking and whether we were in past tense or present tense. Overall the story was interesting and I enjoyed the mystery. The book is only 128 pages long but it feels like a longer story which is so fun with each new twist that crops up. Overall I would give this a 3.5/5 stars and would add to my shelves.

This was a fun short read. Liked the mystery mixed with the fantasy. I would like to read more books like this.

A fun and interesting quick read. This was different from my usual tastes, and I think I remember requesting the arc based on title and the cool cover art. While it will not make any of my top ten lists or anything, it was still enjoyable enough to where I will recommend this to fans of the genre:)

Through NetGalley, I received a free copy of MAGES & MURDER by L. Evans in exchange for an honest review. Local innkeeper Leonor has a secret; she used to be a mercenary, and one of her past jobs ended up with a bounty on her head. The life of a small town innkeeper off the main thoroughfares is usually pretty quiet, but things change when a storm makes the main road impassible, and that out-of-the-way inn becomes the nearest refuge for stalled travelers. When one such lodger is killed and when that lodger is a mage, all sorts turn up to investigate. In order to fade back into obscurity and to keep her family safe, Leonor must discretely dust off her old skills, delve into local secrets, and solve the case as quickly as possible.

I liked this book. I recommend the book to fans of high fantasy murder mysteries featuring kings, peasants, mages, taverns, and innkeepers.

#MagesMurder #NetGalley

I quite enjoyed reading Mages & Murder. The mystery and how everyone comes together was a pleasant surprise. The story was well written with characters you felt you might actually know in real life.

Kudos to the author!

Of course, I only request books that intrigue me, so this one did. LOL! I didn’t realize that the book took place in a past-like setting, but that’s OK, I can deal. Even if it isn’t my favorite time setting, I still enjoyed this. It’s a mostly simple murder mystery in a backwoods town with a retired secret assassin. The mystery itself wasn’t simple, and I didn’t figure out who did it before the reveal. While there wasn’t a huge amount of depth, I still quite enjoyed this well-written tale. Recommend. I was provided a complimentary copy which I voluntarily reviewed.

Leonor a former mercenary is running the local inn in Bearstone. When a snowstorm blocks in a load of travellers there is murder. Leonor does not want her past to come to light and agrees to investigate with the mayor until the Constable’s arrive.
A village run on old folk's tales and magic brings life to this mystery.
The characters really come alive on the page, and you rush through this exciting adventure.
Thank you NetGalley and (publisher) for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

Review: This was a fun read albeit short in length. The characters are well built within the limits of the story line. The movement is well paced and the world buildig is kind of meh.

Although the culprit is easy to spot within the first few chapters, I don't think that this was the point of the novel. The point was to test how far to bend the genre by mixing mystery and fantasy as well as introducing an MC that will most likely return in another installment.

The editors need to make another go at reducing the grammatical errors and the paragraph duplications. If this was a longer novel, an easy 4 stars.

Rating: 3.5/5

"Mages & Murder" by L. Evans is if renaissance festival type fantasy met cozy mystery. I can already imagine a few spin off plots for future books just based on the main character's background with fathers of her children and history as a mercenary. Especially now that she's an inn keeper and trying to live a more relaxed life.

In this particular story she's trying to solve the case of a dead mage in her inn. They're not sure if it has something to do with a potion he was working or bad blood between him and some locals. Either way, she can't have the constable looking too closely at her or he might find out there's a bounty out for her. In the end I didn't really have a special person in mind as the culprit until it was pretty much revealed.

I would keep reading this as a series.

I was captivated from start to finish! The most enjoyable part of books for me can the language. Evans prose is vivid, succinct, "picture painting". I felt incredibly immersed in a world that while unique and fantasy, felt like it was being built around me.

The mystery & magic combo is working for me and I love twists.

Relatable and real characters, excellent world building, good magic and mystery. I highly recommend

The book is engaging and the writing is engrossing. The author has written a mysterious tale with a gripping narrative, magic and several plot twists. Loved setting of the quaint village of Bearstone. The book ended on a mysterious note.

Leonor is a mistress of the inn. She has a very poignant past. Everything was good until the unthinkable happens and a mage is found dead/ murdered. Then Florian is also found dead. She gets tangled between secrets, mystery of potions, unexpected alliances and the danger of getting close to the killer as the killer is still lurking around and those who are trying to get to the bottom of the mystery of the Mage’s Murder, the killer is killing them all to protect themselves. Dark secrets are buried beneath the past and shadows history of Bearstone, Will Leonor find them out?

Thank you Author, Publisher and Netgalley