Welcome to Cozy Wednesday!
Today I am sharing my thoughts
about Booked for Murder by P. J. Nelson!
Booked for Murder: An Old Juniper Bookshop Mystery
Cozy Mystery
1st in Series
Setting – Georgia
Publisher : Minotaur Books (December 10, 2024)
Hardcover : 336 pages
ISBN-10 : 1250909953
ISBN-13 : 978-1250909954
Kindle ASIN : B0CQHKW46Z
Audiobook ASIN B0DNNDBBHX
In this atmospheric southern cozy debut, Madeline Brimley returns to the bookstore she inherited, discovering that small towns hold deadly secrets.
Madeline Brimley left small town Georgia many years ago to go to college and pursue her dreams on the stage. Her dramatic escapades are many but success has eluded her, leaving her at loose ends. But then she gets word that not only has her beloved, eccentric Aunt Rose passed, but she’s left Madeline her equally eccentric bookstore housed in an old Victorian mansion in the small college town of Enigma. But when she arrives in her beat-up Fiat to claim The Old Juniper Bookstore, and restart her life, Madeline is faced with unexpected challenges. The gazebo in the back yard is set ablaze and a late night caller threatens to burn the whole store down if she doesn’t leave immediately.
But Madeline Brimley, not one to be intimidated, ignores the threats and soldiers on. Until there’s another fire and a murder in the store itself. Now with a cloud of suspicion falling over her, it’s up to Madeline to untangle the skein of secrets and find the killer before she herself is the next victim.
Dollycas’s Thoughts
Like most young adults from Enigma, Georgia, Madeline Brimley left town for college and to follow her dreams of becoming an actress. While she had some minor success she still hadn’t gotten that big break. When she learns her dear Aunt Rose has passed away she is heartbroken, but her aunt has left her bookstore which is as eccentric as she was. The Old Juniper Bookstore is right in her aunt’s Victorian mansion so ready to kickstart her life Madeline loads her belongings in her old Fiat and heads to Enigma.
Not everyone is happy that Madeline has come to town. On her first night there, someone sets the gazebo in the backyard on fire, shortly followed by a phone call telling her to leave town or next time the whole house will be set ablaze. The calls continue but Madeline has to remain in Enigma.
Apparently, the caller wasn’t messing around, Madeline woke up to find the store on fire and a dead body on the floor. Upset and unsure what to do she decides to try to find the person who is dead serious about wanting her gone. Can she do that or will the killer catch her first?
The author jumped right into the action giving readers the bare minimum of details about the protagonist or the setting of Enigma, Georgia. I was just getting comfortable with how The Old Juniper Bookstore was set up and meeting a couple of characters when WHAM! One of those characters is murdered. A character Rose, Madeline, and I liked. I slammed the cover of my Kindle and put it down. After several minutes I talked myself into continuing the book and I am glad I did.
Madeline didn’t give me that warm and fuzzy feeling I sometimes get from a main character. She is stubborn and closed off and needs more development. I know her sleuthing skills will improve as the series continues and she finds herself facing more challenges. Rose’s closest friend Philomena Waldrop comes to welcome Madeline as soon as she arrives. The head of the psychology department of the nearby Barnsley College and long time resident she knows everybody and everything about them. She tries to take Madeline under her wing and visits her daily like she did her Aunt Rose. She introduces Madeline to Father Gloria Coleman. Like Madeline, she is relatively new to town. She also has a very interesting past. Madeline meets Fire Captain Mike Jordan when he arrives to take care of the gazebo fire. They get off to a bad start almost immediately. With the damage to the gazebo and other events, handyman David Madison enters the story. He is an intriguing individual. Madeline also reconnects with Officer Billy Sanders, she babysat him twice when he was nine. We meet some college students and other residents too. All the characters were interesting, some quirky, and most need more development which is common for the first book in a series.
The fire and murder investigations were handled differently than any I have read. Understanding that Enigma is a small town with a small police force I still would have expected that Madeline would have to leave the residence and the bookstore would be closed for at least a couple of days but that wasn’t the case. She answered some questions, went upstairs to bed, and opened the bookstore the next day, even after the murder. People came in to shop/see where the crime had been committed or stopped by for coffee. It just felt strange.
Madeline does try to investigate the crimes and sometimes takes Gloria along, but at one time or another, she thinks everyone she talks to is the killer. Then when she needs to follow-up she goes alone and that is never a good idea. But it is even worse when the murderer comes to you. After I got over my dismay over who the victim was I had a good idea who killed them but I did enjoy following along with the new amateur sleuth and her journey to find the truth. The takedown was dramatic, exhilarating, and satisfying.
Booked for Murder was an Enjoyable Getaway. It has good bones. Set in a unique small town, with a wonderful bookstore, and characters I want to know better makes me keen to know what the author has up their sleeve for the next installment of this series.
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. Thank you to the Minotaur Books and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC.
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of this book. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.” “As an Amazon Associate, I earn a commission from qualifying purchases.”
Cozy mystery author, Darci Hannah, is a native of the Midwest and currently lives in a small town in Michigan. Darci is a lifelong lover of the Great Lakes, a natural wonder that inspires many of her stories. When Darci isn’t baking for family and friends, hiking with her furry pals, Ripley and Finn, or concocting her next cozy mystery, she can be found wandering around picturesque lakeside villages with her hubby, sampling baked goods, and breaking for coffee more often than she should.
About Sally Goldenbaum
. Sally also writes the 
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