Genre: Mystery
Hardcover: Digital Book (Audio Book Available)
ISBN #: 9781643852942
Crooked Lane Books
328 Pages
$18.26; $2.99 Amazon
March 10, 2020
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There are a thousand stories in New York's scenic Thousand Islands, and Bayside Books co-owner Shelby Cox stocks them all. But lately, the Blye Island bookseller's life is more about investigation than inventory. True-crime writer Savannah Page caps off two successful signings at Bayside Books with a night in Blye Castle. She's there to research Joe Cabana, a colorful Prohibition-era mobster who owned the castle -- until he was found dead in the island grotto.
But crime becomes all too true for Savannah. Her body turns up the next morning in a secret passage at the bottom of the stairs. The last thing Shelby wants is to sleuth another murder, but she's intrigued about how a killer could have reached the island after hours. She's not at a lack for suspects either. It could have been anyone from Savannah's fiancé, Liam Kennelly, who argued with her the evening before, to island caretaker Matthew Kessler, recently cleared of his wife's murder. Can Shelby keep regular store hours, elude the police chief, and assemble the clues into a hardbound case without getting permanently shelved?
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Shelby Cox, along with her Aunt Edie, owns Bayside Books and rents space in a legendary castle for a second bookstore, which is where Shelby prefers to work. However, with her aunt out of commission due to a knee replacement, she's in charge of a book signing for a noted true-crime author, Savannah Page. When Savannah arrives, the store is swamped; but she's interrupted by a local woman who insists Savannah stole her plot for a book. When everything quiets down, the book signing carries on and then Shelby takes both Savannah and her fiancé Liam out to dinner. Getting to know the woman is a plus, since she seems nice enough, but Shelby is still surprised when she's told that Savannah is being allowed to spend the night at the castle to further her research into the death of a local mobster.
But the next morning when Shelby arrives on the island, she's told that Savannah's body was found in one of the secret passages -- the passages no one was supposed to know about and that Shelby still didn't know existed. Though she's told to stay out of the investigation, she can't help but wonder what Savannah was doing there, and who would know about the passages. So she decides that asking a few questions here and there can't hurt, right? After all, who would be suspicious about a bookseller wanting to know who killed an author...
This is the second book in the series, and I enjoyed it as much as the first. I love the fact that there is no 'evil nemesis' and no love triangle (two things I abhor in series); so this was a big plus. However, I think the police chief could tend to soften a little bit since she seems really hard; and the other thing that gets me is Shelby has no problem hunting people down to question them. A little subtlety goes a long way; and I would like her to back off a tad and maybe not be so accusing of everyone she talks to. It started to grate a bit.
Other than that, the plot was nicely done, and the secondary characters gave the story a little life, although they weren't around much. I also liked the backstory of Shelby learning more about her mother's life, and I would like to learn more myself, so I hope this continues in future books. There was also a secondary story about missing items, and I would like to see that resolved, also.
When Savannah is killed, there are several suspects in the murder, but Shelby is irritated that the police chief has put Matthew Kessler, caretaker of the island, on her list. Shelby's gotten to know him, and he's been seeing her aunt. She knows he's not guilty, and this is her main reason for investigating. But eventually Shelby asks one too many questions, and it puts her life in danger without her even realizing it.
When the ending comes and the killer is revealed, it's not really a surprise, since you can see the clues if you look for them, but I hesitate to give the reason for the murder as it will obviously reveal the murderer, which I have no desire to do. You will have to read the book yourself; and I intend to read the next in the series. Recommended.
More on Essie Lang's Books: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/l/essie-lang/
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