Author Tess Harrow is trying to get back in the town of Winthrops good graces after uncovering not one but two murders. Her plan was to combine her new book release with her bookstores grand opening she would have the chance to wine and dine the locals and some big press contacts. Tess is surprised when her mother shows up for a visit with her much younger boyfriend in tow a boyfriend Gertrude recognizes as the notorious Levi Parker recently connected to the deaths of three elderly widows. Tess alerts the sheriff about Levi and his suspicious past but it’s too late Levi Parker is found dead and Tess’s mother is the prime suspect. Bernadette swears she had nothing to do with it but too many coincidences keep stacking up. While the whole town is against her family it’s up to Tess to prove her mother’s innocence before it’s too late. This is an enjoyable story tracking down the teal killer. I would recommend to everyone.

Oohhh mannnn! I literally read this book in a matter of hours! It was such a delight, too! I was trying to figure out on my own who the murderer was, and I was wrong! I’m not going to give anything away, though; y’all will just have to get your own copy! 5 stars!!

I enjoy this series so much! Tess, her daughter, Gertie (Gertrude), the stoic-but-very appealing sheriff, the quirky residents, the small town, and the intriguing storylines keep me entertained from the first page to the last.
I highly recommend this book and the whole series.

Many thanks to Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book. My thoughts and opinions are my own and without bias or favor or expectation.

“There came a time in every crime solver’s life when they wanted to stop getting stuffed in the backs of vans and facing down danger at every turn.”

My thanks go to Poisoned Pen Press and Net Galley for the review copy. This book is for sale now.

Tess Harrow lives with her daughter, Gertrude, in a tiny hamlet in Washington State. She’s taken the hardware store she inherited and had it redone, and so now it’s her bookstore. But the locals are a bit leery of Tess; everywhere she turns, somebody drops dead. To reassure them that she is normal and trustworthy, she’s throwing a gala bookstore opening; wine, cheese, books, and…a corpse.

Well, heck.

But the good news is, Tess is a pretty decent sleuth. She’d be a lot better if she knew when to shut up, though:
“His words became a snarled growl. ‘Has anyone ever told you that you talk too much?’ Everyone, all the time—and she wasn’t about to stop now.”

This book, and this series, contains exactly what I like to see in a cozy mystery: colorful characters, an easily followed plot, and a good deal of whimsy.

Because I was running late, I checked out the audio version of this story from Seattle Bibliocommons. I like the reader, and the narrative is easy to follow, even for a text-oriented reviewer like me. I highly recommend this book in whatever format is your favorite.

Happy Friday book lovers!

First I want to thank for sharing an early copy with me to this fun book! Now i know what you are thinking...Early Copy? Jahara this published May 30th, Jeez you suck! But I finally had some time to read this! Actually listen to it 😍 and trust me you guys will want to hear about this one!

Blurb: Author Tess Harrow and her daughter, Gertrude, are starting to get a bad reputation due to their involvement in recent murder cases, so Tess has come up with the perfect plan to drum up some positive press. She'll combine her new book release and her bookstore opening into one big event, giving her a chance to wine and dine the locals and some big press contacts. But the night before the party, Tess is greeted by a surprise: her mother has come for a visit, with her much-younger new boyfriend in tow...a boyfriend Gertrude recognizes as the notorious Levi Parker, a man recently connected to the deaths of three elderly widows. Tess immediately alerts Sheriff Boyd about the visitor, but it's already too late. Levi Parker is found dead and Tess's mother is starting to look like the prime suspect. Bernadette swears she didn't murder Levi, and Tess is doing her best to maintain her mother's innocence, but too many coincidences keep stacking up. With the whole town seemingly against her family, it's up to Tess to get to the bottom of the story before it's too late.

My thoughts: Well I discovered I must check the rest of these books out because the characters are lovable, The setting is fun, the writing style is great and the cozy mystery vibe is what its all about!
Check this one out!!

I give Murder Off the Books by Tamera Berry ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Another fun cozy mystery about mystery thriller author Tess Harrow and her daughter, Gertrude. The will they/won't they continues throughout this book between Tess and TWO suitors. And Tess's mother comes to town and Bernadette is OVER. THE. TOP. And also a murder suspect! Some of the antics in this were not quite believable in a real-life setting, legalities and such, BUT I still enjoyed it and am looking forward to more!

Murder Off The Books is the third book in the By the Book mystery series by Tamara Berry. I've read the whole series and I love Tamara's writing style. It's so fresh, quirky, funny and unique in the cozy world.
This book follows Tess as she opens her new bookshop the opening of The Paper Trail and celebrates the release of her new bestseller. Lots of people are in her small washington mountain town for the event, including her mother and her suspected killer new "boyfriend". He's being tracked by a famous podcaster and things get extra wild when he ends up dead. Never boring, I loved this book.

"Murder off the books" is the third book in the series. It's a very moving book. with thrills and laughs and keeps you on your toes as it keeps you entertained. Tess tries to open her bookstore gets forestalled with yet another murder. So, Tess has to think is a writer about murder mysteries to help her solve the mystery.

While I did enjoy this one as much as the first two in the series. As I couldn't stand some of the secondary characters in the story mainly the podcaster and Tessa's mom. I did enjoy the mystery though. That's what kept me turning pages. I just had to know how it ended.

Tess and her daughter, Gertrude, get in the middle of another hairy murder in Murder Off the Books. Tess' mom comes to Winthrop unexpectedly and it was fun to learn more about Tess' family life with this new character addition. Her mom is a piece of work and added some new interest to the story. We have several other new characters introduced, including a suspected (but not convicted) serial murderer and a mystery podcaster. Sheriff Boyd was hard to read in this story but we learn more about that by the end. It was a fun read to be back in small town Winthrop with these old friends and a few new. I still don't know how Tess can possibly manage a book store in a tiny town while tried to write new novels and runs around all over the place asking questions about murders, but it's still fun to read! Continuing to look forward to more books in this series in the future!

Murder Off the Books is out now! Thank you Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for my e-arc!!

I would have enjoyed this one much more had I realized it was the third installment of an established series. As with most cozies, you can jump in anywhere and be brought up to speed, but I prefer to read in order. I did like this one well enough to purchase the first two!

This book series is wild ride of craziness. Tess' mother arrives with her younger (suspected murderer) boyfriend. Trailing the boyfriend is a true crime podcaster. Add in the drama that generally follows Tess, and you have a roller coaster of a murder mystery. The mystery was not as strong as some, but it was all worth the ride. I look forward to the next installment.

The author did a great job with keeping the reader guessing. The plot line was well written and it took place in a nice town. Characters were described as fun and free spirited making the story more enjoyable.

I loved Berry's Morgan and Gilmore romances and I wanted to see if she could bring something to the one "subgenre" of crime fiction I never enjoyed. Unfortunately, there is nothing "new" to the cozy, other than Berry-Morgan-Gilmore can turns a sentence. However, what was humorous and sharp in her romances struck me as puerile in the cozy. I think it's the subgenre rather than Berry, in all fairness. I think crime fiction can be witty, even darkly humorous, but it is a genre that has a lot of gravitas, or leans to satire. I wanted to like this as much as I liked Berry's romances, but unless she returns to writing them, the cozy remains not my crime fiction of choice.

Murder off The Books does not disappoint! With each installment the By The Book Mysteries gets better and better!

I enjoy the characters and town so much in this series and loved that Tess and the sheriff are getting closer in this book. I also love the relationship the sheriff has with Tess's daughter.and it was alot of fun to meet Tess's mother in this book. She definitely brought something new to the series. I highly recommend this series and look forward to the next installment.

Thank you Netgallery and Poision Pen Press for the arc

This was such a fun, fast-paced cozy mystery! It was a good change of pace from what I usually read and I really enjoyed it. I liked the main character a lot and has fun following along on her adventure

A fast-paced, engaging cozy mystery with delightful characters. One of my favorite reads this year.

Our main character (Tess) is an author turned bookshop owner. She is working on getting her mother off the hot list of murder suspects, but there are multiple plot-lines going on here. And when I thought I had figured it out...I didn't.

Tess is joined by her teen daughter Gertrude, a tech wizard (Jay) with the power of Penelope Garcia (Criminal Minds), as over-the-top podcaster, a intelligent journalist, her mother, and the quintessential love-interest detective. A famous murderer is killed right off the bat...and of course Tess's plans are thrown off course. Her bookstore opening is derailed and her reputation....well it might just fall off the rails. But have no fear.....cozy mystery this is...and it will be solved.

I should also note..
There is an overall multi series ARC involving some undercover agents....but it was so easy to pick this up not having read the first two books. Kudos to Tamara Berry for using this super sneaky trick and hook - because I want to know where this is going. Now I have to wait for the next one..

This was one of my 48 hour reads of the summer. This would be a perfect beach or park read. Or even a day read for a porch reader (like myself).

This is the second great cozy mystery series I have happened upon this year that was new to me -
Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for an ARC of this book.

This was such a wonderful book! I love a good cozy and this didn't fail to disappoint me. It is filled with great twists and kept me hooked the entire time while reading it.

Thank you to Netgalley for this novel.
This is such a cute cozy mystery. Tessa is a thriller writer whose newest detective novel is based on a past case that she helped solve. On the day of her bookstore opening and book release her mother comes to town with her possible murderer boyfriend Levi Parker. Tessa doesn’t recognize him until her daughter Gertrude tells her that he is the subject of a podcast and he has been accused of killing older single women, like her mother. Tessa becomes suspicious and once she goes to the sheriff, Levi ends up dead. I think it’s great that Tessa is opening up a bookstore. Nobody comes to her party or her opening because of Levi’s death. A podcaster named Neptune is on the scene and the sheriff has her help him and invites her up to the crime scene and Tessa instantly becomes jealous because of her feelings for the sheriff and the fact that he has never invited her to help with a crime scene. Tessa finds out that Neptune’s real name is Darcy and has something to do with Levi’s death. Levi killed Tessa’s moms best friend the year before and Neptune’s producer is the one who killed him. Levi and Neptune are secret lovers and we’re planning on leaving town to be together. Tessa is going to help the FBI with the Parker brothers and her mystery hacker. Neptune is arrested for messing with a crime scene and her role with Levi. I loved this cozy mystery, I don’t normally read cozy mysteries but I loved this.

Murder Off the Books: By the Book Mystery
By Tamara Berry
Poisoned Pen Press
June 2023

Review by Cynthia Chow

Her involvement in real-life murder investigations may have garnered Tess Harrow a bit of a reputation as both a Black Widow and a Murder Mary in the town of Winthrop, but it also inspired the bestselling thriller writer’s new 400-plus page mystery, Fury Under the Floorboards. Its release coincides with the opening of her bookstore the Paper Trail, a ceremony unceremoniously overshadowed by the appearance of both an immensely popular murder podcaster and Tess’s own mother, Bernadette Springer. One definitely is linked to the other, as the thrice-married attorney has toting along a new young boyfriend, the handsome Levi Parker. That Levi has been implicated – but not convicted - in the deaths of three wealthy widows doesn’t seem to bother Bernadette, but it has Tess and her too-wise-for-her-age 15-year-old daughter Gertie ready to launch their own pre-emptive investigation. It turns out that “Bee” (do not call her Grandma) wasn’t the one in danger though, with Levi dropping dead just after his arrival. When Sheriff Victor Boyd, who eerily resembles Tess’s fictional Detective Gabriel Gonzales, declares Levi’s death to be a murder, it quickly becomes apparent that Bernadette is rising to the top of the suspect list for both law enforcement and the podcaster Neptune Jones.

While Gertie is thrilled to have the glamorous podcaster and her 35 million listeners in town, Tess is less enthusiastic; especially when Neptune ends up being housed in Boyd’s home while recording an episode that uses Bee as a way of tying up Levi’s storyline. It’s also not the best time for a journalist to be staying with Tess while ostensibly writing about her life as an author, but Tess is hoping to redeem herself in the eyes of the public and the upstate Washington town. That two undercover FBI agents have also settled in Winthrop and become a part of her undeniably unconventional life is both appropriate and convenient, and their skills are added to her growing resources that even include an ethically-challenged but talented hacker.

This third in the series delivers so many unexpected, laugh-out-loud moments that it’s impossible to not be engaged from start to finish. The introduction of Bernadette Springer at first seems to fall into the trope of the heroine dealing with an overbearing, narcissistic mother, but the motives behind her actions reveal her to be an extraordinarily fun and compelling character. Gertie continues to be the absolute best as she helms her mother’s PR and organizes morally questionable promotions, frequently proving herself to be the most mature one in the family. Hot FBI agent/handyman Jared Wilson isn’t shy about expressing his interest and feelings for the (slightly) older Tess, throwing off the equilibrium of both her and the equally interested but far more hesitant sheriff. The interactions between the three generations of women are the highlight of this mystery, and the banter and quips that often hide their genuine emotions are clever and endlessly entertaining. The depiction of true crime podcasting is biting and all-too-believable, making this an exhilarating read for mystery and podcasting fans. This is another winner by an outstanding writer.