Murders and Metaphors (A Magical Bookshop Mystery #3)

Author:  Amanda Flower
Genre:  Mystery

Hardcover; Digital Book
ISBN #:  9781683318996
Crooked Lane Books
320 Pages
$12.61; $10.99 Amazon
February 12, 2019

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January means ice wine season in the Niagara Falls region, but the festivities leave Charming Books owner Violet Waverly cold, still reeling from a past heartbreak.  A past heartbreak who will be present at the annual midnight grape-harvest festival, and no magic in the world or incantation powerful enough could get Violet to attend.  But Grandma Daisy, an omniscient force all on her own, informs Violet that she's already arranged for the mystical Charming Books to host celebrity sommelier Belinda Perkins's book signing at the party.  Little do either Waverly women know, the ice wine festival will turn colder when Violet finds Belinda in the middle of the frozen vineyard - with a grape harvest knife protruding from her chest.

Belinda grew up in Cascade Springs, but she left town years ago after a huge falling-out with her three sisters.  One of those sisters, Violet's high school friend Lacey Dupont, attends the book signing in the hope of making amends with her sister, but Belinda and Lacey end up disrupting the signing with a very public shouting match and Lacey quickly becomes the prime suspect in the sommelier's murder.

Violet is sure Lacey is innocent, and to keep her friend out of prison, Violet asks for guidance from her magical bookshop.  The shop's ethereal essence points her to Louisa May Alcott's Little Women, but what have the four March sisters to do with the four Perkins sisters?  If she can't figure it out, Violet, herself, may turn as cold as ice.

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When Violet Waverly returned to Cascade Springs, New York, it was because she thought her grandmother was ailing.  What she found was that her grandmother was well and hearty, and wanted her to come home after a dozen years away.  Violet left because she had been betrayed by her then-boyfriend, Nathan Morton, who is now mayor of the town and still wants Violet.

But Violet discovered that she'd also unwillingly become the Caretaker of her family's bookstore and its magical tree inside - a tree that grew inside the home and allows the shop's books to find just the right book for the right person.  A secret that the Waverly women have hidden for decades.

When a noted wine writer is coming to visit, the Waverlys are providing the books, and head to the Morton winery where the signing is to be.  While there, Violet discovers that Belinda Perkins is not only not very nice, she's also the older sister of her friend Lacey.  After Lacey has a very public confrontation with Belinda, Violet finds Belinda's body outside the home, and Lacey is the main suspect.  Now Violet has to find out who really killed Belinda, or her friend's life might just be destroyed forever...

This is the third book in the series and I must say that I liked it much better than the first two.  While the beginning almost lost me as I wasn't really drawn into the story immediately, I am glad that I stuck with it to finish the book.  Once it got going it steadily drew me closer, and I found myself enchanted by the tale.

The fact that the book this time that Violet has thrust upon her is Louisa May Alcott's Little Women was an interesting choice.  Watching Violet decipher the clues leading to the murderer were done nicely, and I followed along trying to decipher those clues myself, although it seemed I was having the same trouble as Violet, but that's not a bad thing.

When we get closer to the murderer, we find that not everything is as it seems, and other things are afoot that we don't really see.  When the ending comes it does so in an intriguing manner, and leaves us realizing that the mind of a killer sees only what matters to them.  Recommended.

https://www.amazon.com/Murders-Metaphors-Magical-Bookshop-Mystery/dp/1683318994/ref

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3634722430

More on Amanda Flower's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/f/amanda-flower/