Author: Lauren Elliott
Genre: Mystery
Mass Market Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #: 9781496735126
Kensington Publishing
304 Pages
$8.99; $6.99 Amazon
October 26, 2021
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Three weeks before Thanksgiving, bookshop owner Addie Greyborne already has a full plate -- and a killer on her case...
Addie's determined to turn a seemingly ordinary November in coastal Greyborne Harbor into one for the books. The windows of her shop display carefully curated works by American writers, including a rare selection of traditional holiday recipes from the influential 19th-century publication Godey's Ladies Magazine. And then there's the town's Civil War-era themed cooking and baking competions, with a hefty cash prize and free publicity going to the winning dish...
But when she finds her cousin's boyfriend murdered, a stunned Addie reluctantly realizes she may be the only person who can blow the cover off a grisly crime. With so many unanswered questions surrounding the victim's death, Addie must figure out the strange connection between a mysterious vintage briefcase, the disappearance of the first edition copy of Sarah Josepha Hale's famous nursery rhyme, "Mary Had a Little Lamb," and a dangerously well-read culprit...
✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽
Addie Greyborne lives in Greyborne Harbor, named for an ancestor, and owns Beyond the Page Bookstore. One morning she receives a frantic call from her cousin Kayla Hudson, who owns a dress shop a few blocks away, and when she arrives she finds Kayla crying, and Kayla's boyfriend JArod behind the counter, dead. After calling the police, things start to go really awry, with Kayla as the main suspect in his death. Addie has had problems with Kayla in the past, but she refuses to believe her cousin is a killer. With no help from her ex-boyfriend and chief of police Marc, Addie decides to investigate herself and find out who wanted to kill the man.
But it isn't going to be easy, especially with everything else going on. There's a contest on recipes from the Civil-War era, and she's swamped with people buying books on both recipes and the era. Then there's the only thing missing from Kayla's shop: Jarod's briefcase. What at first seems like a burglary gone wrong sets Addie's instincts humming telling her there's something else afoot. When a major clue turns up later in the case, Addie needs to call in reinforcements from an unexpected source. Still, the evidence is piling up against Kayla, and Addie's racing against time. Something she doesn't have much of...
This is the seventh book in the series, and I have read every one of them. I have greatly enjoyed spending time with Addie and her friends, even if some of them can be annoying at times. I did like this book quite a bit, and there was plenty going on throughout from the various subplots. We're watching the characters evolve quite a bit, and their lives are changing, although I still can't warm up to Kayla (my own opinion). I remember how she treated Addie in previous books, and Addie has a better control on her mouth than I would have! (ha!). Ms. Elliott has a true feel for her characters which keeps the series moving along wonderfully.
But finding out who is setting up Kayla to take the fall is giving Addie a headache, since she can't really put her finger on one specific person. (I knew who it was almost immediately when I met them, but then again, I read a lot of mysteries, so there's that). Still, watching her glean her information piece by piece while she also learns about a mysterious person in town who has just come to her attention is worth it alone.
There are changes in the book as well; some unexpected and others not so much; and the usual altercations between Addie and Martha, who are like oil and water together, as always; and Addie might just discover something about herself.
When the ending comes and the murderer is revealed, it is not without a decent climax, and the reason for the murder is rather sad in itself, although I still couldn't quite feel sympathy for the killer. Such is life, I guess. But I was torn at the epilogue; while I wanted more, I didn't quite find it, yet we still have something to look forward to in the next book. Highly recommended.
More on Lauren Elliott's Books: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/e/lauren-elliott/
No comments:
Post a Comment