Well, it’s that time again – time to once again highlight one of the most recommended Cozy Mysteries by you, the site readers. This month I’ll be reading Lauren Elliott‘s Murder By the Book, the first entry in the Beyond the Page Bookstore Mystery Series. This is a fairly new series, starting in 2018, but already has 10 entries. So it’s definitely a fast-paced release schedule of a modern Cozy series – something I really appreciate considering how many series tend to fizzle out at around 3ish entries!
Anyway… this particular entry starts with Addison (Addie) Greyborne, starting a new chapter in her life, opening her new business – “Beyond the Page-Books & Curios.” As with so many Cozy sleuths, she’s retiring to a small town, (in this case, a small seaside New England town of Greyborne Harbor) from a series of disappointments in the big city (in this case, Boston). She’s had a string of deaths in her family – her fiance, killed in what appeared to be a robbery a year ago, her father, killed in a car crash six months ago, and her great-aunt three months ago. This last case was as much a blessing as a curse, as she hadn’t even known she had a great-aunt, but inherited enough money to retire from her job as assistant curator of acquisitions at the Boston Public Library to open up a small bookstore as a semi-retirement.
Unfortunately, her first day opening doesn’t go terribly well either – she almost gets hit by a car, then someone tries to break into the back room with a crowbar, only to be chased off by a neighboring shop owner, then while she’s distracted checking on the damage and cleaning up, some of her books are scattered on the floor, and an apparently low-value copy of Alice in Wonderland stolen. Additionally, the name of the town and Addie’s own last name isn’t a coincidence – the Greybornes founded the town, and most of the residents thought her aunt was the last Greyborne until she showed up for the inheritance, and some seem more welcoming than others. Even some of the more welcoming residents start mentioning things like ‘legacies’ when they learn she’s a Greyborne. When someone breaks into her home, it quickly becomes clear it isn’t a coincidence. When her first friend she made in town – one of her neighboring shopkeepers who helped her get through the string of bizarre occurrences – for the murder of another store owner, she feels that there both might be a connection and that she has to investigate.
As with most modern Cozy series, this one has a theme connected to it – the rather-universal theme that just about any Cozy readers should love, of books. It also has plenty of small-town charm and interactions between the local shopkeepers. If you’re looking for a solid modern Cozy with a light theming of books, then Murder By the Book is a solid choice.
As always, if you want to read more of these brief discussions of some of the more popular Cozy Mystery Series that I’ve written in the past, you can find them at the Most Recommended Cozy Mystery Series page.
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