Bailey Briggs lives in a small Halloween themed town in Oregon. She manages her family’s bookstore and lives with her grandfather. Actually she grew up with her grandparents, as her mother was a teen mother who’s goal was getting into med school not raising a baby. Fortunately, her grandparents felt differently. Bailey is hosting a Spooky Season Literary Festival and has invited 3 guest authors. A classmate of her mother and one of the guest authors is found dead in the maze. Bailey turns out to be one of the suspects so she becomes involved. Great characters and a fun storyline. I look forward to more in this series.

I was introduced to Emmeline Duncan earlier this year when I received a book in her Ground Rules series from Netgalley and really enjoyed it. So I was very happy to see that she had started a new series, when I was awarded, Chaos at the Lazy Bones Bookstore I couldn't wait to dig in. This is a wonderful start to a new series! It will be satisfying to many people for many reasons. First if you like Halloween or anything Halloween themed, it will grab you, the town of Elyan Hallow was made famous by a movie filmed there with that theme and the town as a whole has decided to run with it. It is fun and not overdone or too cutesy. Second, Bailey had taken over the family bookstore, Lazy Bones Books, from her grandfather, and the store is a delight despite Bailey's very complicated family history. She has worked hard to infuse new ideas, including the addition of the literary festival, as part of the town's focused Halloween celebrations to keep the shop vital. Finally and most importantly to me, Bailey leads a cast of wonderful characters, friends, fellow business owners, and townspeople who give us a nice small town feel. Bailey is also a very smart main character who doesn't do really dumb things to move our mystery along, and she also has a very charming furry buddy named Jack. All these things will keep you reading to a very satisfying end to our mystery. I really can't wait to visit Bailey and Lazy Bones Books again. Thanks to #NetGalley, #Kensingtonbooks, and the author for an opportunity to read. #ChaosattheLazyBonesBookstore, #EmmelineDuncan, #bookideas, #retiredreader

Bailey lives in Elyan Hollow, Oregon. She took over her grandfather's bookshop. A reality show looking for ghosts is causing havoc in town
Bailey finds a dead body and she's a suspect. Now she needs to clear her name.

I really wanted to love this book. But I had such a hard time connecting to the story and the characters. I had to force myself to read this book each day. It wasn't my favorite of the author.

A nice start to a new cozy series that sees Bailey, who owns the local bookshop, work to solve a murder with the help of-wait for it- her dog. That's a bit of sarcasm on my part but know that Duncan has set this up with all the cozy tropes so while it might feel a bit familiar, that's not a bad thing. Bailey's a good character, I like the town of Elyan Hollow, and there's potential to grow. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Looking forward to the next one.

Thank you NetGalley for a prerelease of Chaos at the Lazy Bones Bookshop.

I absolutely love cozy mysteries with a bookstore owning heroine. This was my first time reading Emmeline Duncan. I really enjoyed the characters, the storyline flowed well, and the ending wasn’t predictable. I definitely will read more of her books in the future - and so should you!!!

Chaos at the Lazy Bones Bookshop is the perfect blend of cozy mystery and Halloween!

Elyan Hollow is a town that was used to film an iconic Halloween movie. The movie has such a huge fanbase that people come from all over to see the filming sites. What’s a town to do when that happens? They lean into it and celebrate what has made them famous. Several businesses in town have Halloween-themed names, and there’s a month-long Halloween festival. The new Spooky Season Literary Festival kicks off this year’s Halloween festival.

Elyan Hollow is a small town where everyone seems to know everyone else. Bailey lives in the house her mom grew up in and runs the bookshop that her grandfather first opened. Several of her friends are either people she went to school with or people who watched her grow up. It’s that kind of small town!

My biggest issue with the book, even if it does help drive the mystery, is the depth and seriousness of family secrets. Bailey and her grandfather are keeping a secret from her uncle. And Liz, Bailey’s mom, has kept a secret from Bailey her whole life. One of the family secrets is revealed in the book, but there are still a few aspects of the family dynamic I’m not a fan of.

If you are a fan of movies like Hocus Pocus and Halloweentown, you probably would love to visit the towns where they were filmed—a town much like Elyan Hollow. While waiting to take that trip, why not give Chaos at the Lazy Bones Bookshop a read?

Great-Pyrenees-dog, themed-town, inheritance, festivals, first-in-series, new-series, bookseller, Oregon, small-town, small-business, tv-personality, librarian, local-law-enforcement, family-dynamics, family-expectations, relatives, friendship, friends, amateur-sleuth, cozy-mystery, investigation, murder****

Welcome to my new favorite bookshop dog: Jack Skeleton, a beautiful Great Pyrenees who owns Bailey Briggs, bookseller. They live in a small town with a Halloween theme year-round but now it's gotten real when Bailey finds the author dead with a jack-o-lantern over his head. It's a pleasant, easy read that made for a nice afternoon.
I requested and received a free temporary EARC from Kensington Publishing via NetGalley. Thank you

Bailey Briggs takes over her grandfather‘s book shop. I’m finding it keeps her busier than she could ever suspect. Why they celebrate Halloween year in the small town, she is not able to take the time to enjoy the whole vibe.

Yet when the Halloween festival, kick off, Bailey finds herself adding clearing her name as a murder back to the long list of things she hast to get done. Time is running out for Bailey, can she clear her name, or will she never be able to enjoy all that?Elyan Hollow has to offer?

This is an adorable first century in this series. I actually love Halloween and more than once thought wouldn’t it be great if this were a real location and I could move there? The mystery was solid and I enjoyed this book so much that I’m already waiting for the next book in the series to drop.

This was first time I've read this author. I did enjoy this book and look forward to more. The murder kept me guessing

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for my eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is a great start to the series. It introduces the characters we will be seeing through multiple books and establishes the somewhat quirky setting really well. There are a lot of twists and turns throughout the story which keeps you guessing who the killer is pretty much up until the big reveal. Since I didn't know these characters all that well I could see them all as possible suspects which is a lot of fun when reading a mystery - if it was obvious from the beginning it would not make for a very enjoyable read, now would it? And the twist involving the identity of Bailey's father also came as somewhat of a surprise. On the topic of Bailey's parents, am I alone in thoroughly disliking Bailey's mother? She's not a bad person, but she's so self-absorbed and all about her new family that it's no wonder Bailey doesn't have much of a relationship with her. Back to her father - I'm glad that it wasn't an immediate close bond/relationship between them and more of a one-day-at-a-time kind of deal. Overall, I really enjoyed this book and am very much looking forward to reading more from this series!

Thank you Netgalley for providing this ARC!

The story takes place in a small town, Elyan Hollow, in Oregon, who celebrates Halloween year round. The town itself is made famous by being the backdrop to a movie! Cue everyone's love of HalloweenTown! The book starts by introducing us to Bailey Briggs who excitedly inherits a cozy bookshop from her grandfather. Each year, the town holds a literary Halloween themed festival that Bailey is hosting. Things are going great for Bailey until she stumbles upon a dead body in the festival's maze. A dead body of which she is the prime suspect. The story follows Bailey as she tries to clear her name of any wrong doing.
Overall, this book is a perfect example of a small town, cozy mystery. It made me really look forward to the Fall season! The writing wasn't terrible but it was very redundant. A lot of repetition making me think it was to fill the pages. I also felt like the characters lacked emotion. Especially, when the dead body was found it seemed like it was just an ordinary day to find a dead body even though the police officer said there hadn't been a murder in decades.

It was a different kind of book from what I usually read, but I liked the cozy small town and mystery vibe.
We can follow this perky town through the halloween season. The names of the stores were really funny, by the way!
In here, we have Bailey, a bookstore owner, that is organizing a festival close to halloween to boos her shop. Her authers arrive and everything is going ok, until she finds a dead body in town. If that wasn't bad enough, she is one of the suspects. So she does waht anyone (or not!) would do.. she starts her own investigation while hosting the festival.
It was a slow pace novel, with mystery and a small town and found family feeling, that had some twists along the way. It's a nice and simple read, without the angst some mysteries have.

There's lots to like in this series debut! A themed tourist town (Halloween--yay!), interesting characters, and a well thought-out plot. I like the conversational tone of the writing, peppered with interesting comparisons: dread blossoming like a corpse flower and such. And I know I'm in good hands when I feel the tiniest bit sorry for the killer at the end of the book!

Bailey's a likeable narrator/protagonist, and I'm looking forward to the next book in the series.

Review copy provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Emmeline Duncan for providing me with a complimentary digital ARC for Chaos at the Lazy Bones Bookshop coming out July 23, 2024. The honest opinions expressed in this review are my own.

First of all, I’m obsessed with cozy mysteries. I especially love the spooky Halloween ones set in bookstores. I think there was a lot of setting up the world and characters, but there was something missing for me. It didn’t feel as cozy to me. I think there was a lot of explaining without showing as much. It was lighter on the murder mystery than I’m used to. I just wanted a little more spooky with the fall vibes. I loved the dog Jack. He was a fun character. I would check out more books in the series.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys Halloween mysteries!

A fun, quick and cozy read Chaos At The Lazy Bones Bookshop is going to be a favorite for many.
In a small Halloween themed town Bailey runs the local bookstore and during a literary festival things take a turn for the sinister when a body is discovered in the local corn maze.
For a more in depth review please check out my spoiler free youtube review here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLKahTBIe64

Great title, great cover, great premise. I love Halloween, so I was excited for this book.

But as much as I wanted to love it, this book left me wanting. The prose felt clunky. There was too much focus on the mundane details of everyday life. The start was slow. And the whole thing felt a bit bland: basic plot, no real tension or intrigue, poorly defined characters. Mostly there was just too much fluff that didn't contribute to propelling the story forward.

An easy, decent read, with a Halloween theme.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this ARC!

WOW!! What a great book!! This was such a cute cozy mystery. I loved it! I can’t wait to see what’s next in the series

Was this book overly simplistic? Sure.
Was the writing a lot of tell not show? Yeh.
Were the main character’s emotional responses unclear and inconsistent? Yep
Did I read the whole thing in 2 days? You bet.

If you’re after a straight forward cosy mystery that mentions a lot of book related things then this is for you. I’ll probably read the next one in the series too

Thank you for the EArc Kensington and NetGalley. I really really wanted to like this book but I just couldn’t do it. It seemed like there were way too many characters shoved at you from the get go and several of them were unlikeable. Couldn’t and didn’t finish reading,

The Pacific Northwest: Bookshop owner Bailey Brigg is looking forward to Halloween. Elyan Hollow’s claim to fame is being where a cult horror film was made, and the town has cashed in on it, with many of the places having spooky, Halloweenish names (hence, the Lazy Bones Bookshop).

A ghost-hunting reality show, starring a local boy who sort of made it big, is taking advantage of the atmosphere by filming an upcoming episode. When the crew films an ‘haunting’ overnight in Bailey’s bookshop, they damage it, causing Bailey to bash heads with the star. When he’s later found dead, Bailey becomes the primary suspect.

I enjoyed this book; the characters were just quirky enough without being too over the top, and side characters like Bailey’s family feel like they’ll be the source of future, less fatal, types of conflict. One negative was the fact that it felt like the book needed another set of eyes to review it. There were a number of phrases that were duplicated; characters would be front and center in one scene, then reintroduced again a chapter or two later like the previous scene never happened. A couple of characters seemed to disappear - they’d ask a question, but then were gone. No typos, per se, just needed a little more polishing.

Recommended! I look forward to reading future books with Bailey.

I received a copy of this from NetGalley.com that I voluntarily chose to review.