So I finally got around to rereading Murder is Binding, the first book in Lorna Barrett’s Booktown series. This book is the introduction to Tricia Miles, owner of the Haven’t Got a Clue mystery bookstore, in the town of Stoneham, New Hampshire. Tricia is a big city former upper class woman who has moved to Stoneham following her amicable divorce >>> to start-up her dream shop, a mystery bookstore. (Something I’m sure a lot of us would love doing!)
Tricia opened her store on the main street area of small town Stoneham as part of an effort to revitalize the town’s flagging economy to help develop the town as a stop for local tour buses. She wasn’t the only one, though. There were others who follow suit and opened book-related shops as well. Unfortunately, not all the locals are pleased to have so many out of towners coming in to take over prominent real estate area >>> and this conflict is an important part of some of these early books, and part of the reason Tricia finds local law enforcement less than cooperative when she finds an unpleasant neighbor dead.
Tricia’s problems aren’t limited to dying neighbors though, as she also has to contend with her sister (Angelica) coming to town. Tricia and Angelica never got along terribly well as children, so Tricia is less than completely happy when Angelica’s stay turns out to be a more or less indefinite duration. Fortunately Angelica does turn out to give some helpful advice and help in getting to the bottom of the recent murder >>> including suggesting actually getting a lawyer, a completely reasonable step to consider when potentially faced with a serious murder charge!
Another interesting touch to this particular series is that since the protagonist is an unabashed fan of mystery novels, she also does often bring up other mystery authors that the reader might already read – or might be interested in reading afterward! And from the names that she lists, it does sound like Tricia might be a fan of Cozy Mysteries in particular…
If you’re interested in reading more of these brief revisits 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 on my site.
HookedOnCozyMysteries says
I just finished “Sentenced to Death” … I am enjoying The Booktown Mystery Series (mixed in amongst other Cozy Mystery Series). The variety of characters add to the enjoyment, along with the sibling relationship – fun!
Danna - cozy mystery list says
HookedOnCozyMysteries, I so agree with you. There’s a reason this series is so beloved to so many Cozy readers. Lorraine/Lorna/L.L. is terrific!
johnna says
absolutely love this series!
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Johnna, thanks for the Booktown shout-out! There are probably a lot of us here who agree with you.
carolyn says
I love Kate Carlisle’s Bibliophile mysteries & Lorna Barret’s Boottown mystery series. Will have to try the Kylie Logan books. always looking for new (to me) authors while waiting for my old favorites ro get the next book in print.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Carolyn, I hope you enjoy Kylie Logan’s books. When I decided to start highlighting some of the authors who have been recommended on the site, I wasn’t sure about re-reading their books. BUT >>> I’m enjoying it!
Rita says
Love this series. I was stunned at the ending of the latest release, Final Chapter, didn’t see that coming.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Rita, I’m looking forward to seeing what you are talking about. I haven’t read A Fatal Chapter yet…
Rita says
Post when you do..please
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Rita, I’ll certainly try to remember!
Fran says
I love this series, have been reading it since the beginning and recently read the latest… very enjoyable!
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Fran, thanks for the Lorna Barrett shout-out. I can’t wait until I (finally) read her ninth!
Ingrid says
Am delighted to have discovered Kylie Logan to be an old favorite author of mine, Miranda Bliss, thanks to your highlighting her on the blog recently. I have now read her first books in her Literary Ladies and Ethnic Foods series, both of which I enjoyed and plan to continue reading. So thank you!
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Ingrid, oh, lucky you! I haven’t read Irish Stewed yet, but it’s good to hear it’s another Kylie Logan hit!
Mary says
LOVE the Booktown mysteries by Lorna Barrett, so glad you featured this wonderful writer and her series. And I’m a big fan of Kate Carlisle’s Bibliophile mysteries. You made two excellent choices, thanks so much for this great blog.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Mary, I wish I could take the credit! The Cozy Mystery readers who recommend their monthly favorites are great pickers-of-good Cozies.
Linda C says
Danna, I love this series. This has got to be one of my favorites!!
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Linda C, this and Dana Stabenow and John Grisham! (It’s great to see you back here!)
Linda C says
Danna, I did get to check your site out nearly every day but just couldn’t type since my rotator cuff surgery. I was able to read quite a bit. I had to hold my books with my left hand or just have the book in my ample lap. I’m doing better now. I’M still in a lot of pain but I’m getting better.
Right now I am reading Vicki Delany’s Molly Smith’s series. It’s a good series but there’s too much bad language in it to be considered to be a “cozy.”
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Linda C, I’m sorry to see you are still having problems with your rotator cuff. It sounds like you have been in a lot of pain. It’s a good thing you’re able to read, but I’m guessing you’re not enjoying being so immobile…
robin in oregon says
I have enjoyed this series since it first came out. I love the small towns with bookstores, craft shops and restaurants. The recipes aren’t bad either! As much as I enjoy this series, I think I like her other one even more written as L.Bartlett, and thrilled to see a new book about Victorian Square coming in Dec. It’s been several years and I thought she had stopped the series.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Robin in Oregon, I’m with you about the small town appeal in Cozies! Love the bookstores, too!
I’m looking forward to her Dead, Bath, and Beyond as well. It seems that more and more authors are opting for the co-author method of writing books. I remember when I first saw Ellery Adams co-authoring >>> and I thought it was such a great idea. That way she can release more of our favorite Cozies. Now I’m noticing other authors who are going with that system…
Linda C says
Robin, I like the ” sister” storyline myself. I am the middle sister of 3 sisters. I see the younger sister most often. She seems to be the most bossy. Good Thing I love her!! I love the books with sisters as the main sleuths/characters.
Maria says
I always reread my cozy mystery books. If a new book comes out in a cozy series and it has been a while since I have read them I will reread the books to refresh my memory about the main characters.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Maria, as slow as I read, if I tried to re-read all of the books in a series before I read the latest, I’d be even more behind with all of my favorite authors’ Cozies! But, I do know exactly what you are talking about >>> sometimes at the beginning of a book I can’t quite place the characters or setting…
Margaret StashEmpress says
For some reason I had never got onto this series in the beginning, only picking up one of the more recent releases — and found that I just couldn’t get into it (despite that it’s a favorite of soooooo many readers) & ended up sending it back to the library unfinished. Perhaps I need to start with the first title in the series & work forward from there? I do love her Victoria Square series & glad to see that there’s a new title coming in that series.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Margaret StashEmpress, yikes! I’m not sure about reading a Cozy in a series out of chronological order. I’ve done that a few times (like when a friend gave me a book or when a holiday season came around and I just had to read one of the books out of sequence) but since Cozies rely so much on character and settings, it’s usually difficult to “get the book” when you aren’t familiar with everyone/everyplace.
Margaret StashEmpress says
Normally, if I decide to start a series because I’ve seen a lot of recommendations (on this blog LOL), I would start with the first, if I could get it. (If my library has it, so I’d put it on hold till they locate a dusty old copy someplace in the main branch basement… 😉 — but if I’m in the library browsing the “new books” shelf & come across the newest release in a series that I’ve seen a million recommendations for, I’ll check out that book — and if I like it — THEN I’ll go back & start at the very beginning, (its a very good place to start… la la la… 😉
So I had never read any of Anne Perry’s Thomas Pitt series before I found Dorchester Terrace on the library shelf (#27 in the series) — well I wasn’t going to leave it there & track down #1 & start from there, was I? (And if I had, I don’t know if I would have liked it as well — I like the later books in the series better, where he’s Special Branch instead of just a copper on the beat, as it were.)
Then I DID go back & check out & read all 26 previous books & read them in order (some of them I had to purchase used from Amazon because the library didn’t own all of the series).
Similarly, I had actually read the first Carolyn Haines in Sarah Booth Delaney series, Them Bones, when it first came out, and for some reason didn’t really like it that much so didn’t follow the series — but then a couple of years ago found Booty Bones (#14) on the “new books” shelf at the library and the cover caught my eyes (pirates — what’s not to love???) so I checked it out, read it, LOVED it — and now actually working my way BACKWARDS through the series! (Well, and forwards too, with each new release as it comes out.)
Same thing happened with Laura Levine’s Jaine Austen series. I had read the first way back when & for some reason it didn’t really grab me, so I passed on the rest of the series — till I found Death of a Neighborhood Witch (#11) on the “new books” shelf — again, the cover grabbed me — I checked it out, loved it & then went back & read all the others (no idea why I didn’t like the first one — when I reread it all these years later, I did love it too!)
So when I found a latest release in this series on the shelf (don’t recall which number), I figured I’d see if I liked it — but somehow just couldn’t get into it — maybe I was having trouble figuring out the relationships between the various characters or something like that — anyway — so since I know I do like her other series, I figure I’ll try tracking down the first in the Booktown series & see how I like it & take it from there.
I did once have the experience of picking up a book, maybe #11 or 12 or so in a very popular long running series that I’d never read before. It was one of the million “crafty” series, and since I do like those, I figured I’d probably love it. Well there were a million characters & the author never bothered to introduce them or tell any new readers how they “related” to each other — it felt very much like being at a party where everyone knows everyone else & you don’t know anyone… bad feeling… (in fact the opening scene actually *was* a get together with the main character & all her “people” — and if you didn’t know who they all were & what their back stories & relationships were, you were lost — as I was). So I did finish the book, hoping it would improve. It didn’t really & I left that series. About a year ago I picked up the newest release & flipping through see that the author NOW puts a page listing all the characters & describing who they are! Thank you! So I checked out the book…. horrible.. just horrible… no story… I read about 100 pages, at that point there was one death, nobody thought it was murder, nobody was investigating, the book was all about the geography (of a state that I’m not familiar with) and what was going on there at the time… I finally gave it up. Then out of curiosity (since it IS a bestselling series)– I looked up the reviews on Amazon for that title —- lousy reviews on that title… So maybe the beginning of that series might have been good (which I’ll never know, because that author doesn’t write any other series, and I’m not that investing in proving her!), but apparently has gone downhill (as unfortunately too many once good series seem to be doing these days).
Pam says
Also just found Eva Gates cozy series on the Lighthouse Library. Have only read the first one but look forward to reading the others. I have read and enjoyed all the Booktown and Bibliophile mysteries to date. They come out first in hardback so either have to wait for paperback or get them at the library! (have done both 🙂 I am thankful that our local library carries a lot of cozies. Sometimes have to wait a while for the newest one in a series, but I have plenty of unread ones to keep me busy in the meantime.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Pam, your library sounds great!
Margaret StashEmpress says
PS. I adore the Bibliophile series! That was another one that I picked up in the middle because the premise sounded so cool (I think it was the 7th one — where she’s with friends in their aunt’s wild house — that’s sort of like living inside a video game — so funny). I totally loved that one & so went back to read all the others in the series — funny thing is — when I looked through the library’s website, I found that I had the first in the series on my “completed” list — so I must have read it at some time — but have totally no recollection of it! So I’m working my way through that series, and again have had to purchase a number of them since the library doesn’t own all of them.
Mary Joy says
The Booktown Series is my favorite since my favorite authors (I’m not going to bore you again with their names! : ) ) have stopped writing or being published. I do also enjoy the Victoria Square series and I also liked With Baited Breath, the new Lotus Bay mystery by Lorraine Bartlett. I guess I just like her style and the way she writes her characters.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Mary Joy, I just hate it when my favorite Cozy authors stop being published! I agree with you >>> it does seem like you just like her style!
Catherine says
I have read all of Lorna Barrett’s bookstore mystery books and I love all of them. They are entertaining and funny at times. I have one question in so far as the “The Final Chapter” is concerned.
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Why did Ms. Barrett “kill-off” Christopher????? That was such a shocker in the book.