Error loading page.
Try refreshing the page. If that doesn't work, there may be a network issue, and you can use our self test page to see what's preventing the page from loading.
Learn more about possible network issues or contact support for more help.

Little Bookshop of Murder

ebook
2 of 2 copies available
2 of 2 copies available
A Shakespearean scholar inherits her mother’s romance bookstore—and a puzzling whodunit—in this first Beach Reads cozy mystery for fans of Kate Carlisle and Ellery Adams.
Summer Merriweather’s career as a Shakespeare professor hangs by a bookbinder’s thread. Academic life at her Virginia university is a viper’s pit, so Summer spends her summer in England, researching a scholarly paper that, with any luck, will finally get her published, impress the Dean, and save her job. But her English idyll ends when her mother, Hildy, shuffles off her mortal coil from an apparent heart attack.
Returning to Brigid’s Island, North Carolina, for the funeral, Summer is impatient to settle the estate, sell Beach Reads—her mom’s embarrassingly romance-themed bookstore—and go home. But as she drops by Beach Reads, Summer finds threatening notes addressed to Hildy: “Sell the bookstore or die.”
Clearly, something is rotten on Brigid’s Island. What method is behind the madness? Was Hildy murdered? The police insist there’s not enough evidence to launch a murder investigation. Instead, Summer and her Aunt Agatha screw their courage to the sticking place and start sleuthing, with the help of Hildy’s beloved book club. But there are more suspects on Brigid’s Island than are dreamt of in the Bard’s darkest philosophizing. And if Summer can’t find the villain, the town will be littered with a Shakespearean tragedy’s worth of corpses—including her own.
  • Creators

  • Series

  • Publisher

  • Release date

  • Formats

  • Languages

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      May 4, 2020
      This charming series launch from Blackburn (The Jean Harlow Bombshell as Mollie Cox Bryan) introduces Summer Merriweather, who returns after years away to her hometown of Brigid’s Island, N.C., to attend the funeral of her mother, Hildy. Summer’s aunt, Agatha Merriweather St. Clair, tells her that the cause of death has yet to be determined, though Summer doubts her healthy 64-year-old mother died of natural causes. At Beach Reads, the bookstore Hildy owned, Summer is alarmed to find notes threatening Hildy if she won’t sell her beloved store. Summer suspects Rudy Irons, owner of the arcade next door, is behind the threats, but the local police chief isn’t going to be any use to her since he’s hated her ever since she left his son at the altar. Fortunately, she finds allies in Aunt Agatha, Agatha’s daughter, and granddaughter, not to mention the ladies in the Mermaid Pie Book Club, in her effort to unmask a killer. Plenty of booklore (Beach Reads has three shelves of werewolf romances) enhances the sleuthing. Cozy fans will be delighted. Agent: Jill Marsal, Marsal Lyon Literary.

    • Booklist

      May 15, 2020
      Shakespearean professor Summer Merriweather, who ran off to do research in England after an embarrassing episode at work, returns home to Brigid's Island, North Carolina, after her mother's death. Summer can't understand how her healthy mother, Hildy, with no previous symptoms, died of a heart attack. After learning that Hildy, owner of the bookstore Beach Reads, had received threatening messages demanding that she sell the store, Summer begins to believe her mother may have been murdered. The chief of police, with whom Summer has had past issues, declines to investigate, so, with the assistance of her Aunt Agatha and cousin Piper, Summer begins to look at those closest to her mother, including Hildy's book-group members. An arson attempt and an attack on Summer support her suspicions. Summer identifies the killer and must rush to save Aunt Agatha. The engaging cast and the appealing bookstore frame compensate for an easily identifiable villain. Watching Summer learn the joys of reading romances only adds to the pleasure!(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)

Formats

  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB ebook

subjects

Languages

  • English

Loading