Thank you to Netgalley and the Publishing company for this Advanced Readers Copy of Booked for Murder by P.J. Nelson!

After Madeline inherits a book store, she moves home to small town Georgia. It isn't long before things start happening and a body is found at the bookstore. Determined not to let it get the best of her, Madeline sets out to solve the murder.
Opinion
This is a sweet cozy mystery with some punches. This book doesn't follow the typical recipe for a cozy mystery. There were some surprises with "who done it." Overall, this was a great beginning to a new series and I cannot wait for the next book in the series (set to release at the end of 2025.)
Many thanks to Net Galley and to St. Martin's Press for providing me with an ARC of this book.

Madeline (Maddy) has spent her adult life distancing herself from Enigma, Georgia. Her aunt, Ruth, is her one remaining tie to the town. When Ruth dies, Maddy is surprised to learn that she has inherited Ruth’s bookstore. The night Maddy arrives, a gazebo in the backyard is set on fire. Maddy receives a threatening phone call telling her to leave town or else they will burn the house down – with her in it! The book has a cast of characters including Ruth’s friend Wilhemina, a preacher Gloria, Billy the policeman (Maddy used to babysit him), and several college students including Tandy who becomes an instant friend. When someone does try to burn the house down, Maddy finds Tandy’s body in the bookstore stabbed to death. Maddy, Wilhemina and Gloria decide they need to solve the case. Maddy does some crazy (dumb) things while trying to solve the murder. The ending has twists that I didn’t see coming. I’m looking forward to the next chapter in this series.

Aunt Rose willed her house and bookstore to her niece, Mabel. On her first night the gazebo in back is set on fire. Phone calls come warning, Madeline to leave before the house is burned. Next, her aunt's friend, Philomena, shows up. Maddie is strung out, stressed over the fire, phone calls, and then murder of a college helper, Fanny, in the house. This is all too much. Philomena takes her to Gloria, a priest. These three decide to find the murderer. Maddie has a temper, too, which puts her in danger.. Too many potential suspects...who did it? Read and discover the surprising twists.

I thought this book was cute and enjoyable but I found the main character to be a bit dense at times and annoying at other times. I loved Gloria and Phil, I would have loved to see the trio of Rose, Gloria, and Phil together. I liked how the whole town missed Rose and talked about her. I wish I would have seen more of the romance between her and David. Overall, not awful but not my favorite.

Booked for Murder is the first book in what I hope becomes a long running series! I enjoyed the cozy, southern atmosphere and the characters that have personalities as wide and big as the stage.

Booked for Murder is a cozy mystery with entertaining and quirky female characters who join together to try and solve a small town murder. Madeline Brimley lost her eccentric aunt, but learns she inherited a house and bookstore in a small Georgia town. Not thrilled about returning home, but curious enough, Madeline finds her way back to Enigma, GA and straight into a murder scene.

PJ Nelson does a admirable job of alternating between a "small town/Mulberry" mentality with her characters while also writing a more detailed twist filled plot, in order to keep the reader wondering who the real killer could be. All in all, this was an enjoyable read and I look forward to the next novel in this series.

This is the first book in what seems to be a series, a cozy mystery. As book 1 this one didn't really work for me, it was a lot of information and I wasn't sure I needed it all to solve the mystery. A lot of things happened which pushed the story along but solving the mystery wasn't hard but in a cozy, I don't expect it to be. It felt a bit overdone to me on the southern drawl but as a non-southern maybe I'm just not accumsted too it.

"Booked for Murder" is the start of a new cozy mystery series that has all of the usual factors: an amateur detective (Madeline, an actress who has inherited a bookstore from her aunt), a small-town (Enigma, Georgia), quirky support characters (an eccentric college professor and a non-traditional Episcopalian priest), a murder with a few suspects and a seemingly inept police team that needs the amateur detective to help.

What "Booked for Murder" unfortunately doesn't have is enough heart for me to care. The writing is fine and the plotline was well-done with some good red herrings, but the characters were lacking. I didn't care enough about the main character to care about what happened to her and many of the other characters were almost caricatures rather than seemingly real characters.

I won't seek out the second book, but I won't skip it if I run across it either.

Book: Booked for Murder
Author: P.J. Nelson
Format: Digital
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Places Featured: Georgia, United States
Review Score: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

This was a fun, cute, cozy mystery that was an easy, quick and interesting read. I put this one off for too long and I’m so glad I picked it up! It has everything I look for in a mystery including a captivating female main character and an epic cliffhanger. I was left with questions about aspects that weren’t wrapped up by the end so fingers crossed those are threads leading to a sequel!
Would definitely recommend to anyone looking for a cozy mystery to pull them out of a reading slump!

A fiery read (literally) featuring an inheritance, a murder, a real estate scheme and more webs of lies. It was a fun debut and I’d be interested to see what becomes of the series.

3.5 ⭐️
Overall this was a great cozy, it had a lot more suspense than most do, and some moments that really cracked me up. I usually stick to food cozies, and so I was pleasantly surprised.
The main character has a lot of spunk, holds her own, and she was the main reason I enjoyed it so much. My cons would be that the murderer was kind of obvious in my opinion, and I didn’t love the professors character.
Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read this arc in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed this book. A young lady comes back to a small town in Georgia after her aunt passes away and finds out that her aunt left her the bookstore that she ran in town. Lots of bizarre things begin to happen and she begins to investigate on her own which doesn’t set well with everyone. Lots of twists and turns before the mystery is solved.

I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

After working on the stage, Madeline Brimley unexpectedly inherits her aunt's bookshop in Enigma, Georgia. She settles in and begins receiving threats - and then there is a murder in the bookstore. She works as an amateur detective to solve the mystery.

I wanted to read this book because I love cozy mysteries. I am from Georgia and have worked on stage and in bookstores, so this book was particularly appealing.

I enjoyed this leisurely paced mystery. The bookstore setting was especially appealing. The mystery was well written, and I enjoyed Madeline's detective work. I recommend this book for other cozy mystery fans, and especially for readers who enjoy southern settings.

Booked for Murder kicks off a new cozy mystery series set in Enigma, Georgia, featuring a quirky bookstore and a former actress, Madeline, who returns home after her career stalls. When mysterious fires and a murder unfold at the bookstore, Madeline digs into the town’s dark secrets, even as she bounces between reckless decisions and moments of insight.

The setting is unique for a cozy mystery, with Enigma’s hidden tensions adding an intriguing layer. Madeline’s erratic behavior, while frustrating at times, keeps the plot moving. The dialogue, though, was hard to follow at times, especially with Southern speech patterns, which made it a bit difficult to fully immerse myself in the story.

The mystery itself was engaging, though the culprit was fairly obvious, and Madeline’s delays in solving the crime were at times more irritating than suspenseful. The supporting characters—especially Gloria, the priest—were well-developed and added depth to the story.

Though Booked for Murder had its ups and downs, particularly with pacing and dialogue, it’s an enjoyable start to a series with potential. The bookstore is definitely a highlight, and I’m curious to see where the next book takes the characters and their secrets.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an ARC of this novel. The author Nelson does such an incredible and lighthearted work with plot. This novel took the reader on a fun and mysterious journey through a meta kind of world where the book was about a murder related to a world of reading and books.

This book was such a pleasure to read! I was immersed and engaged throughout the whole novel, and was transfixed through the whole journey.

Thank you to NetGalley, PJ Nelson and Minotaur Books for the early-access copy in exchange for an honest review.

A clever, thrilling and captivating story full of tension and suspense! Great multi-faceted, realistic characters. Very interesting plots. Vivid descriptions. Kept me intrigued from the first page to the last.

*I received a complimentary ARC of this book in order to read and provide a voluntary, unbiased and honest review, should I choose to do so.

Madeline Brimley is back in the little Georgia town she grew up in after not quite succeeding at becoming an actress. She's returned to take over her beloved, eccentric Aunt Rose's bookstore, but a fire followed by a murder quickly shows her that things in the small college town of Enigma are not as she remembers them.

It's a small-town cozy mystery that instantly shows how complex the relationships and assumptions can get in a town where everyone knows everyone and their business. Madeline arrives thinking she knows how things work, but she soon discovers that time and distance change relationships, particularly with those closest to her.

The mystery is interesting and Nelson drops little clues and nuggets at a nice pace. There are things that are obvious from the beginning, while others remain a pleasant surprise all the way until the end.

It's a pleasant read with tragic consequences but a relaxing pace.

Very happy thanks to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the twisty read!

This is such a fun, cozy mystery! I loved the southern, small town feel, and I'm a sucker for a book about a bookstore.

This book is incredibly well done especially as a debut book, and I can't wait for the next book in the series!

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for my advance copy!