Author: Merryn Allingham
Published: July 26th 2021 by Bookouture
Format: Kindle Edition, 256 pages
Genre: Historical Cozy
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for an opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.
Series: Flora Steele Mystery #1
First Sentence: Locking the shop door carefully behind her, Flora heaved the last parcel of books into the basket.
From the Publisher: The young man with the shock of white-blond hair lay spread-eagled on the floor, surrounded by fallen books. His hand reached out to the scattered pages, as though he was trying to tell her something.
But who is he? How did he come to be killed in Flora’s ordinary little bookshop? Flora finds out he was staying at the Priory Hotel, and when the gardener suddenly dies in its beautiful grounds only a few days later, she is certain that something untoward is happening in her quiet village by the sea.
But are the two deaths connected? And is someone at the hotel responsible – the nervous cook, the money-obsessed receptionist, or the formidable manageress?
Determined to save her beloved bookshop’s reputation and solve the murder mystery, Flora enlists the help of handsome and brooding Jack Carrington: crime writer, recluse and her most reliable customer.
As the unlikely duo set about investigating the baffling case, guilty faces greet them at every door. And they soon realise there’s more than one person hiding secrets in Abbeymead (Goodreads)
My Opinion: Set in the 1950s and trying to keep the diction straight, Merry Allingham introduced readers to a first in a series volume surrounding Flora Steele and her new ownership of her recently deceased aunt’s bookshop. With the body of a man found in her shop, neighbors begin to chat about ghosts and other oddities; this is when a reclusive author retrieving peculiar research materials enters her life. Flora may be in desperate need of a long and much-denied vacation, but first, she must find out why her shop was broken into before her business dries up, leaving her with nothing.
Other than the strained attempts to fit in expressions and phrasing, I found myself enjoying The Bookshop of Murder. Following the tried-and-true approach of returning home to a family business, a new possible love interest, and interesting neighbors, Merryn Allingham has found a new home in the historical-cozy genre to coincide with her tenure in the romance field.
From the Publisher: The young man with the shock of white-blond hair lay spread-eagled on the floor, surrounded by fallen books. His hand reached out to the scattered pages, as though he was trying to tell her something.
But who is he? How did he come to be killed in Flora’s ordinary little bookshop? Flora finds out he was staying at the Priory Hotel, and when the gardener suddenly dies in its beautiful grounds only a few days later, she is certain that something untoward is happening in her quiet village by the sea.
But are the two deaths connected? And is someone at the hotel responsible – the nervous cook, the money-obsessed receptionist, or the formidable manageress?
Determined to save her beloved bookshop’s reputation and solve the murder mystery, Flora enlists the help of handsome and brooding Jack Carrington: crime writer, recluse and her most reliable customer.
As the unlikely duo set about investigating the baffling case, guilty faces greet them at every door. And they soon realise there’s more than one person hiding secrets in Abbeymead (Goodreads)
My Opinion: Set in the 1950s and trying to keep the diction straight, Merry Allingham introduced readers to a first in a series volume surrounding Flora Steele and her new ownership of her recently deceased aunt’s bookshop. With the body of a man found in her shop, neighbors begin to chat about ghosts and other oddities; this is when a reclusive author retrieving peculiar research materials enters her life. Flora may be in desperate need of a long and much-denied vacation, but first, she must find out why her shop was broken into before her business dries up, leaving her with nothing.
Other than the strained attempts to fit in expressions and phrasing, I found myself enjoying The Bookshop of Murder. Following the tried-and-true approach of returning home to a family business, a new possible love interest, and interesting neighbors, Merryn Allingham has found a new home in the historical-cozy genre to coincide with her tenure in the romance field.
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