This book follows the story of Annie who is the manager of a quirky crime/thriller bookstore in Redgrove. Unfortunately the bookstore sales are declining and Annie is desperately trying to come up with ways in which they can increase sales and also support the local business community. Bingo - They have the best idea for a Mystery festival! Perfect for Crime/thriller book lovers, this festical takes place over a nuber of days with local businesses supporting and coming up with mysterious sounding drinks, hosting author panels and more. It is a huge success, but nobody expects is a real life murder! This has such cozy 'Who done it' vibes, and 'who can you trust?'. Absolutely brilliant book and cannot wait to read the next one!

I was very excited to read this new series. It took me a minute to get to know all the characters but the story started to flow more half way through.
I can not wait for the next one!

I received a complimentary copy of the book from Storm Publishing through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

he Secret Bookcase series is set in a charming California bookshop, complete with a Sherlock Holmes expert and an entire room devoted to Agatha Christie. Basically, it's a mystery lover's dream bookstore! Our amateur sleuth is bookseller Annie Murray. Her education is in criminology, but grief-stricken, she gave it up when her college best friend, Scarlet, died under suspicious circumstances.
Book one in the series sets up the world of Redwood Grove and introduces us to Annie, her colleagues, her best friend, Pri, and her cat, Professor Plum. Alexander does an incredible job making this dream bookstore come to life, populating the book with vivid and interesting characters, and balancing the world-building with the mystery. The opening scene is quite memorable, and the book maintains that momentum with good pacing and a well-plotted, fun mystery.

Annie is a likable, intelligent sleuth, and her background in criminology is a clever touch, lending weight to her investigations. In this book, her background comes in handy when a body is discovered in a hidden room behind the bookshelves. I am very intrigued by the dynamic between Annie and the lead detective on the case, a woman who was Annie's criminology professor and also impacted by the loss of Scarlet. The overarching mystery surrounding the death of Annie's college friend intrigues me. I love books about books and good mysteries. So this one, with its incredible bookstore and so many fantastic literary references, is a great kickoff to the series!

Thank you to Netgalley and Storm Publishing for the free book!

“There’s no such thing as a coincidence.”

It was a pure treat to venture into this new world! The author excels at creating a picture perfect world full of interesting and intriguing characters that will surely become so real to her fans that we’ll refer to them by their first names and assume everyone knows them! In this debut outing the past comes back to haunt Annie in more ways that one when her hometown in overrun with former college classmates, an unwelcome reminder that the murder of her best friend was never solved. And when one of them ends up dead her favorite college professor is the woman in charge of the murder investigation. Set amidst the hustle and bustle of a mystery book city wide take over it’s the things cozy mystery lovers dream of!

“There’s no such thing as a coincidence.”

It was a pure treat to venture into this new world! The author excels at creating a picture perfect world full of interesting and intriguing characters that will surely become so real to her fans that we’ll refer to them by their first names and assume everyone knows them! In this debut outing the past comes back to haunt Annie in more ways that one when her hometown in overrun with former college classmates, an unwelcome reminder that the murder of her best friend was never solved. And when one of them ends up dead her favorite college professor is the woman in charge of the murder investigation. Set amidst the hustle and bustle of a mystery book city wide take over it’s the things cozy mystery lovers dream of!

The Body in the Bookstore the first book in A Secret Bookcase Mystery Series by Ellie Alexander is also the first book I have read by this author. This cozy mystery takes a little bit to get to the big murder mystery but the pacing is still smooth and even. There are characters to meet, setting to explore and the main character, bookseller Annie Murray to get to know. She has some issues which become a running thread in the series, at least for the first two books anyway. One that I hope becomes solves before too many books.

There are supporting characters to love, a mystery to solve and a hint of romance between enemies who could be friends if Annie would let herself. A book that welcomes you into the small town of Redwood Grove, making you want to visit and stay a while.

I really enjoyed this book!
Medium paced with lots of little twists. The way the characters behaved made it enjoyable to watch as they tried to solve the murder. Scarlet's murder kept being brought up and I would like to read the story of how that happened. I enjoyed the dynamic of the MFC and one of the male characters. I would like to know his story and more between the two.

Annie Murray works in a bookshop , and has devised a mystery themed book festival in order to revive its fortunes .
All seems to be going well and it looks like the festival is going to be a great success until a body is found in Annie’s workplace .
Annie a former Criminology student begins some amateur sleuthing in order to find the murderer.
The characters are likeable and the town of Redwood Grove seems to be a tight knit community who want to find the culprit .
I enjoyed this book it’s an easy to read cosy mystery and a great start to a new series.
Looking forward to reading more from the series.
Thanks to NetGalley and Storm Publishing .

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Storm Publishing, and Ellie Alexander for the opportunity to read an arc of THE BODY IN THE BOOKSTORE, a new series for the queen of cozy mysteries. Alexander has been my favorite cozy mystery author for a while, so I was thrilled to be approved to read her latest book ahead of release!

A mystery bookstore, a small town in Northern California, a mystery book festival, and an actual murder? 100% yes, sign me up. This book was so much fun from start to finish. Alexander is truly the master of writing compelling cozy mysteries, characters that have depth and feel like your friends, and settings that feel like home. I absolutely adored the set up of the bookstore with each room being themed. The descriptions of the food and events at the mystery book festival were perfection and so clever. I actually wish we got a little more about the set up for the festival because I was so engrossed in that plot line! Also, as a crazy cat lady, the MC’s cat Professor Plum was the star of the show for me.

This new series, “A Secret Bookcase Mystery,” is an excellent addition to Alexander’s many wonderful cozy mysteries. And the best part is that you won’t have to wait long for both book one AND two (A MURDER AT THE MOVIES) - out June 19th 2024! Looking forward to continuing in this series and would recommend to fans of cozy mysteries, mystery books in general, and all things cozy!

When Annie Murray's best friend is murdered investigating a cold case for her finals right before graduation she abandons her aspirations of a career in law enforcement. 10 years later she's working in a mystery bookstore in a small town trying to get on with her life, haunted by her friend's death. When she comes up with an idea of mystery themed weekend to promote the bookstore and the town it brings not only eager readers but 3 of her former college classmates to town. When Kayla winds up murdered in her bookstore Annie sets up to figure out who the killer is. Kayla was a belligerent drunk, a thief and a stalker, so there are plenty of suspects who would've loved to see her dead.
A great introduction to the new series- Ellie Alexander never disappoints.

A great start to a new series! Ellie is the first person to come to mind when I think of cozy mysteries. With her lovable characters, amazing settings, and gripping plot lines, her books always become favorites.

Ellie Alexander is a skilled writer. In this start to a series, she expertly establishes a town setting, provides vivid characters, a reoccurring event, and a real murder mystery! There is a compelling sub-story, and professionals who take our main character, Annie, seriously. You will love being a guest in Redwood Grove, and taking in the rich details of its mystery book festival.

I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This book was enjoyable - if you're looking for a cozy vibe, I recommend this book. I enjoyed all of the characters and the subsequent options about who would have committed the murder based off of all of the grudges everyone had - lots of pathways to explore here, which made the book fun! I also liked the backdrop of the bookstore and the main character's efforts to bring more business to the store, as well as having a mystery festival - what a great idea.

Thank you to NetGalley and Storm Publishing for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The first book in a new cosy mystery series. This book was a lot of fun. Something that a good cosy should be.

This book focuses on Annie Murray, who works in a mystery themed bookstore called A Secret Bookshelf. The description of the bookstore is delightful and I loved the atmosphere described in the store and the interactions between Annie, Fletcher, and store owner, Hal. The author also creates the wider Redwood Grove township with a great eye of colour and cosiness, and introduces a great cast of characters that perfectly match the mood of this book. I found myself wishing I could visit, especially during the first Redwood Grove mystery themed book festival. If only they held festivals like that nearby.

Being a cosy mystery, readers eagerly anticipate the crime. And the murder mystery in this book is delightfully clever. And Annie has a bit of a secret weapon up her sleeve as she is compelled to investigate.

What's also clever in this book is Annie's history is thrust into the limelight and looks set to become a larger story arc in the series. That caught my interest, since it involves a cold case murder mystery. My whiskers are a'twichin' wondering what is going to come next with that part of the story.

I had so much fun reading this book. I only wish the cat, Professor Plum, made more of an appearance, but that's a small thing. I'm sure we'll have plenty of opportunities to see more of him in future books.

Link for video will be added soon.

It was exciting to receive this first book in a new series from Ellie Alexander since I love her writing. I enjoyed Annie, our amateur sleuth, her passion for the bookstore she works at and her organization of the mystery festival to try to keep it going. The setting is picturesque and the mystery intriguing. Apart from Annie, the only character I connected with was Fletcher. I hope to see more of him in the series. My perception of the book and reality just didn't jibe. It was enjoyable, but not as great as I had hoped.

Thank you Netgalley and Storm Publishing for the ARC of this book. This was an honest review.

My first cozy mystery and definitely won’t be my last!
We follow Annie who works at a local bookstore in the cute, small town of Redwood Grove. The bookshop is struggling so she comes up with an idea to host a mystery festival in the town to help generate more revenue. The festival is turning out to be a success, that is until she discovers a dead body hidden behind a secret bookcase within the bookshop. This story had all the cozy, small town vibes that I love, plus some quirky characters that made the story fun. This is the first in a series and I’m looking forward to the 2nd book.
Thanks so much to NetGalley and Storm Publishing for selecting me to read and review this cozy mystery.!

Bookseller Annie Murray has settled into the small town of Redwood Grove. With sales in the bookstore falling, together with the community, Annie organizes a mystery-themed book festival. Always in the forefront of Annie's mind is the unsolved murder of her school friend Scarlett some years before. Just as the festival begins, the body of another of Annie's old classmates is found inside the bookstore. She is determined that the festival will be a success so Annie, her friend Priya and Annie's former criminology professor, now Detective, gather together the clues to find the killer.

This is my first book by Ellie Alexander and I enjoyed it very much. Interesting and varied characters and despite the murder, a fun cosy mystery. I will definitely be looking for more stories by this Author.

A charming (but a bit twee) whodunnit mystery. Annie tries to revive the fortunes of an ailing bookshop and plans a murder mystery weekend in the small town where it is based. All goes well especially when a real body is found in the bookstore. Very easy to read.
Thank you to NetGalley and Storm Publishing for the advance copy of this book.

The Body in the Bookstore was written so well. The reader gets the feeling that they are in the small town of Redwood Grove as the book unfolds. The mystery keeps you guessing until the end when the killer is caught. The characters are amazing. Annie and Pri have a great friendship. Cannot wait for Book 2 in the series to see how the story develops and continues. Ellie Alexander has done it again! Pick up this 5 star book -you won’t be disappointed!

A new series set in and around a bookshop and just look at that cover. Books, cakes and a cat. What more could you ask for?

I really enjoyed this first book where we meet Annie Murray and the bookshop where she works called A Secret Bookshelf. There really is a secret bookshelf which opens, when you pull out a particular book, to a small room behind it. This is important as it is very much involved in later events.

A good cosy mystery with many nice characters and a good story. Interestingly the second book in the series A Murder at the Movies is being released the same day as the first book and I found it fun to move straight into reading that one as well!