A Deadly Chapter (A Castle Bookshop Mystery #3)

Author:    Essie Lang

Genre:     Mystery

Hardcover; Digital Book (Audio Book Available)

ISBN #:  9781643855769

Crooked Lane Books

320 Pages

$26.99; $13.99 Amazon

March 9, 2021

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Wake up on a houseboat moored in scenic Alexandria Bay, New York.  Ride the gentle waves to work at quaint Bayside Books, where you spend your days supplying literature and conversation to the charming locals and seasonal tourists.  Sounds pleasant, doesn't it?  Except bookseller Shelby Cox has already sleuthed two murders from Bayside Books' home base on Blye Island, one of New York State's famed Thousand Islands.  And this time, mayhem knocks right on Shelby's waterside door when she finds a body lodged between the side of her houseboat and the dock, his skull shattered.

The victim is no local, but Shelby can't shake the feeling she's seen him before.  Twice, in fact -- that's how many times he's dropped into Bayside Books asking about an enigmatic woman who lived on Blye Island many years before.  The last time?  The day before he was found.  But the poor man obviously was killed elsewhere, so who brought him down to the bay, and why?

When the victim's daughter hits town demanding answers, Shelby takes the case, despite Police Chief Tekla Stone's usual reservations.  But she uncovers more suspects than there are pages in War and Peace, and Shelby can expect no peace -- except the peace of the grave -- unless she can turn the page on this grisly mystery.

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Shelby Cox co-owns Bayside Books along with her Aunt Edie.  She works at the second store on Blye Island and lives in a houseboat.  Her boyfriend is an investigator for the Coast Guard, and she has a cat named JT.  Her life is pretty great...except when she wakes up one morning and finds a body floating against her houseboat.  Calling the police chief, she's eventually told she needs to leave and not come back until it's clear.

Showing up at her aunt's home in her pajamas, she wears her borrowed clothes to go to work but wants to know who he is.  That's resolved in a way when the chief shows her a picture and she recognizes him as a man who's been to both bookstores looking for an unknown woman.  But the story ends there, or it should -- until the man's daughter shows up asking Shelby for help in trying to find out who killed her father and why.  Shelby, understanding Hillary's need to know, tells her she will ask a few questions...but a few questions could get her killed, if she asks the wrong person...

This is the third book in the series and I have to say that I've been enjoying the progression of Shelby's life in Alexandria Bay.  When she arrived she knew no one except Edie, but that's changed and she has friends all over town.  She's also gained a boyfriend in Zack, and things are progressing nicely.  What I enjoyed most about this book was the fact that we're starting to learn more about Shelby's mother, Merrily, who abandoned her when she was a child.  It's an interesting journey that I hope to see more of.

When Shelby starts asking questions, it seems innocuous enough, but then she discovers things about some of the people she's been questioning, and it draws the attention of Chief Stone, which is never a good thing.  She also has another problem to deal with concerning her personal life, and it's causing her angst in trying to decide what to do.

Shelby is having more than enough problematic situations in her life right now, and dealing with any of them isn't going to be easy.  But she takes her time thinking through most of them, and you know that the right conclusion will come about.

When the ending comes and the murderer is revealed, the surprises are there, as there is more to the story than anyone could have guessed.  While it was all resolved satisfactorily, I eagerly await the next in the series, hoping to continue the journey with Shelby.  Recommended.

https://www.amazon.com/Deadly-Chapter-Castle-Bookshop-Mystery/dp/164385576X/ref

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3872446528

More on Essie Lang's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/l/essie-lang/

Death on the Page (A Castle Bookshop Mystery #2)

Author:    Essie Lang

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.

https://www.amazon.com/Death-Page-Castle-Bookshop-Mystery/dp/1643852949/ref

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3868805807

More on Essie Lang's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/l/essie-lang/

Trouble on the Books (A Castle Bookshop Mystery)

Author:  Essie Lang
Genre:  Mystery

Hardcover; Digital Book
ISBN #:  9781683319818
Crooked Lane Books
336 Pages
$26.99; $12.99 Amazon
March 13, 2019

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Rookie bookstore owner Shelby Cox must hit the books to learn the ropes before she loses a killer in the stacks.

Shelby Cox never intended to become a bookseller, so when the former editor returns to her hometown of Alexandria Bay, nestled in upstate New York's breathtaking Thousand Islands region, to take over her aunt's bookstore, she has no idea what to expect.  To her amazement, she discovers that she now owns a fifty-percent share in Bayside Books, and will also run the store's second location in the majestic castle on nearby Blye Island.

But just as Shelby is gearing up for the start of the tourist season, the Castle volunteer coordinator is found murdered in the nearby Grotto.  Castle caretaker Matthew Kessler is suspect number one, but Shelby thinks the killing may be connected to an earlier era, when violence among Prohibition-era smugglers was rampant in the region.  As Shelby launches her own investigation, handsome and unnerving Special Agent Zack Griffin of the Coast Guard Investigative Services tries to quell her smuggling theory and keep her safe.  But Shelby is determined to summon all her savvy as a book editor to plot the murder - and find the killer before he strikes again.

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Shelby Cox moved to Alexandria Bay, New York, to help her Aunt Edie run two bookstores, discovering that she owns a fifty percent share.  Edie is recovering from knee surgery and therefore leaves Shelby in charge, and she's enjoying her respite from the small publishing house she's where she's been working as an editor.  She doesn't, however, enjoy working with Loreena Swan, curator of exhibits and volunteer coordinator at Blye Castle on Blye Island, the location of their second bookstore.  In fact, Loreena and Shelby have a run-in when Loreena attempts to tell Shelby how to run the bookstore. 

But when Shelby decides to take a stroll around the castle she finds herself in the grotto...along with a very dead Loreena.  When the authorities set their sights on Matthew Kessler, caretaker of the island, Edie asks her to intervene and see if she can figure out who wanted Loreena dead, since she's convinced Matthew had nothing to do with it.  It turns out Matthew's an ex-true crime writer, and when his wife was murdered years ago, he came to the island.  No one was caught in that case, and Edie's afraid that the police will falsely arrest him for killing Loreena.

Shelby also has some questions of her own about her late mother.  Since she and her father left Alexandria Bay when she was three, after her mother's death, she knows nothing about her.  But no one - including Edie - seems to want to tell her anything, or claims they don't know.  So Shelby has two reasons to ask people questions.  But will she find out the truth, or will a killer find her first?...

This is the beginning of a new series, and I liked the premise, since it appeared to be interesting, and thankfully, different from the formula.  Shelby isn't running away from a relationship, and she hasn't lost her job.  There's no 'evil nemesis' out to get her, and (relieved sigh) there's no love triangle.  All things I really dislike in mysteries.  So, with that to get me started, I was happy to pick up this book.  Although I will state I did have a bit of trepidation at the beginning when Shelby stated she had a healthy fear of water, but then I found out she lived on a houseboat.  Hmmm...thankfully, it was never mentioned again, and I found no other contradictions in the story.

Anyway, Shelby is used to living on her own and caring for herself, so while her aunt wants her to move into the home where her father grew up, she'd rather be on her own, hence renting the houseboat.  I don't think I'd ever get used to sleeping on the water, but I can see where she found it to be restful.  She's finding her way in their town and trying to make new friends, but when her aunt tasks her with finding out the truth, it's not easy to ask questions and hope to keep from ruffling feathers.

There's also a certain Coast Guard investigator named Zack who shows up every now and then; Shelby of course is attracted to him, but I'm glad to say she doesn't act like a tongue-tied schoolgirl when he's around, and he manages to convey interest in her without giving any appearance of doing so.  It will be intriguing to watch this progress in future books.

I found the mystery quite well written; while it seemed Loreena had her share of enemies, none of them hated her enough to kill her, which made it all the harder to discover who wanted her dead.  There were no evil deeds by the woman, and while she managed to rule the roost, as it were, the clues were hidden nicely within.

I also liked the back story of finding out the truth about her mother; I would like to see more pursuit of this in the next book also.  Secrets and lies are never a good thing, and someone is always bound to be hurt in the long run.

When the killer was discovered, and the reasons why, it made sense (in the mind of the killer, at least) and I found the climax put together quite well and I was happy to see that Shelby held her own in the matter, and could think on her feet, as it were.  The murderer came as a surprise, which bodes well for the next in the series.  I read a lot of mysteries, and one doesn't want to figure out the solution too soon.  I feel that this author has a decent career ahead of her if this book is any indication.  Recommended.

https://www.amazon.com/Trouble-Books-Castle-Bookshop-Mystery/dp/1683319818/ref

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2695875409

More on Essie Lang's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/l/essie-lang/