Lauren Elliott's first Beyond the Page Bookstore mystery is a promising beginning. Addie Greyborne has been touched with altogether too much tragedy, but she's also been touched with an overdue sprinkling of fairy dust. The great-aunt she never knew was a rich woman, and now Addie can have her dream bookshop and live in an old Victorian house that's filled with first editions and other treasures that provide stock for her store. She's well-qualified to run such a business since she worked in the rare editions department of the Boston Public Library as well as the British Museum in London.

There is an excellent mystery in Murder by the Book: missing keys, Addie's shop and house being broken into, the local merchant being killed, secret panels, secret compartments, secret rooms... It was a pleasure to attempt to figure out what was going on. However, there are some annoying aspects to this book as well.

Murder by the Book tries to do too much for a first book in the series. The mystery is a complex one, and it is overshadowed by all the relationship building Addie does. She becomes immediate best friends with Serena, who owns the tea shop next-door. She hires a stranger off the street on her intuition alone, not even performing the most perfunctory background check. And then there's the budding romance with the local chief of police (who is also Serena's brother). This first book would have been improved if all this relationship stuff had been paired with a less complex mystery. This plot could then have followed in book two.

Other annoyances involve both writing and one particular character. In her writing, too many of Elliott's characters "huff," "puff," tap their toes or cross their arms across their chests and glare at someone. Not only did this make me want to hand everyone an asthma inhaler, I also felt as though I were reading about a group of reality TV divas. And then there's Martha, the crone in the bakery. Everyone tells Addie that Martha is always grumpy and never likes anyone. If she's always that hateful, how can she still be in business? No one ever says that her baking is ambrosia. Even her main complaint against Addie doesn't hold water. However-- if you ever need anyone to arm the villagers with pitchforks and flaming torches for a march on Frankenstein's castle, trust me, Martha is the perfect choice.

Even though Murder by the Book contains an excellent mystery and a likable main character, it is overshadowed by relationships and romance. Since I prefer my mysteries to focus on the mystery and not on the romance, I doubt that I'll continue with this series.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington books for sending me this review copy.

The book is about Addie who is new in town following tragic events in the past. She recently inherited a fortune from a distant aunt and decided to open a bookstore where her aunt lived as well as settle there in her new found life. But things take for the worse when she begins facing troubles from day one and ultimately a murder is committed. Addie is in the middle of this all.

As much as I like cozy mysteries, I really wanted to like this one. The cover really had me interested but nothing is cozy about the book. The character Addie comes across as rude and underdeveloped. The writing itself is not solid. Characters are just thrown in and situations and dialogues are pretty basic and feels rushed. I don't know what age group this is targeted at but to me the language was very unpolished. Even Addie sounds childish instead of a grown thirty something woman.

The book definitely has its pros as the mystery to the murder is not predictable. The author clearly is influenced by Agatha Christie and some section of the audience will definitely enjoy this.

Addison Greyborne worked at the Boston Public Library until a year ago, but then her life fell apart. Her fiance was murdered and her father died in an accident. While still reeling from the deaths, a relative died and left her money and a house in Greyborne Harbor. She opened her own shop, Beyond the Page Books & Curios, and started trying to piece her life back together again. Someone seems determined to put a damper on her plans. Her shop and home are broken into and a dark car seems to be following her. Just as she makes a new friend, that friend is arrested for killing another local merchant. Addie is determined to clear Serena's name and discover who is behind the break-ins and other bad happenings in Greyborne Harbor

I enjoyed the characters and the background theme of a book and curio shop. The story was entertaining and the mystery plot engaging enough to hold my interest. I found myself second guessing everyone Addie came into contact with wondering if they were the ones following her and breaking into her home and bookstore.

Addie really deserves some happiness after the dual tragedies of her fiancé's murder and her dad's death in a car accident. She thinks things will improve now that she's moved to Greyborne Harbor and opened a bookstore, a long held dream. Not so fast. There's a lot going on in this first installment in a new series as Elliott establishes Addie's life and introduces us to her new friends. AND to her romantic interest, Marc, who happens to be the police chief. Unfortunately, bad things have followed Addie and she needs figure out what's going on. Not only is there the classic cozy murder of a shop keeper no one liked, there's also a stalker and other unsavory activity. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Looking forward to the next one!

This is a great first book in a series. I look forward to many more and having Addie, Serena, Marc’s friendship and relationship develop. I also look forward to seeing how Addie settles into the town.
There is a lot going on in this book, what with the mysteries, building relationships and finding out Addie’s back story, so it moves along very quickly. All in all a great read.

I received an eARC from the publisher via NetGally for an honest review.

I enjoyed this book quite a lot. It had a few issues here and there that ultimately affected my rating, but overall it was a pretty decent read. The mystery was fantastically written and definitely the high point of the book. It certainly had me guessing right until the end. I also enjoyed the small town setting. It also had great secondary characters.

That said, it started out a bit rough with the author seemingly jumping into the story with both feet when I felt we needed a bit more buildup and fleshing out. For example, how did Addie spend months getting her bookstore set up with NEVER meeting another human being in the town? Especially Serena or Martha (her neighbors)? Martha, precisely because she seemed to be this over the top busybody that would have been over poking her nose in Addie's business first chance she got? There were also a few times here and there where the writing felt a bit clunky.

My only other issue was Addie herself. She came across quite b!tchy at times. Specifically when it came to her interactions with Marc. To be honest, I am not really a fan of budding romances in cozy mysteries. If the heroine is going to have a romantic entanglement I prefer it to be one that is already established and on solid ground. If I wanted to read romance angst, I would read a romance book. So a bit of a mixed bag with this one, but overall I enjoyed it enough to check out the next book in the series.

This book was so so good. It was a page turner. There was a lot of action in this book and you just had to keep reading to see what happened next. Well, the ending !!! I won"t spoil it for you. I highly recommend that you read this book.

Murder by the Book is the first book in Lauren Elliott’s Beyond the Page Bookstore Mystery series and is an entertaining read. The mystery is interesting and the cast of characters well developed. Many implausible things take place during the investigation, and some of the characters seem to behave rather childishly for their age, although the main character is knowledgeable and observant. It’s hard to believe that a chief of police, would allow a non-professional at active crime scenes, let alone be the one to take her there.

After Addison “Addie” Greyborne’s fiancé is murdered, and her father dies in an automobile accident, she learns that a great-aunt she didn’t know she had passed away and that she’s inherited her entire estate, which includes her home, antiques, and rare books. She decides a fresh start might be just what she needs and moves into Greyborne Manor in the quaint seaside town of Greyborne Harbor in New England. Addie decides to open the Beyond The Page – Books & Curios, a shop selling knickknacks, gemstones, candles, and used books with cozy reading spaces and offering free coffee to her customers and browsers. Addie becomes fast friends with Serena Chandler, who owns a nearby shop, SerenaTEAS. Several upsetting incidents happen to Addie (break-ins and someone trying to injure or scare her) that make her uncomfortable, making her wonder why she’s being targeted. When a local merchant, Blain Fielding, is murdered, her brother, Police Chief Marc Chandler, takes Serena into custody. There’s a mutual attraction between Addie and Marc, and he values her help in the investigation.

I received an Advance Reader Copy of this book from NetGalley and voluntarily reviewed it.

First in a new series, this cozy mystery draws the reader in by offering clues into the life of Addison, but not telling the whole story at the beginning. New in town, Addison opens a rare and used bookshop only to discover that someone is a little too interested in her store - in addition to one of the prominent town figures being murdered right before she is scheduled to meet with him! Clue slowly start to build and a story of rare books and book theft surprisingly is unveiled. Very enjoyable and looking forward to the next in the series!

Okay, a mystery set in a mystery bookstore--should be my perfect read, right? Wrong. There were too many unrealistic aspects large and small. Do you know how many books can be ruined by clients sitting and reading in comfy chairs and spilling the free coffee; and why would they buy the book when they can read it in the comfy chair for free? And the unrealistic time line--3 months to inherit a massive fortune, a huge house, and open a bookstore? C'mon. Every small unrealistic statement derails the flow of a story--even hardwired smoke detectors have back-up batteries, so the fire in Addie's kitchen is unrealistic, but when you need a plot device, who cares about accuracy? Now these may seem like small things that an be overlooked, but when every relationship in the book accelerates at lightning speed, the constant lack of realism becomes very noticeable and annoying: instant best friends with the store owner next door; instant intimacy with said store owner's police chief brother, all the while Addie simultaneously denies being attracted to him and flirts outrageously with him. These relationships read as if written by a high schooler with no experience of a real romance. Although the bare bones of the story were good, the execution was middling.

Murder by the Book by Lauren Elliot is a very well written cozy mystery that keeps you engaged throughout with several characters that could be the person or persons responsible for the crime. We meet Addie Greybourne who loves working with rare books and trying to find them. Through that she learned a few Detective skills along the way. Ones that she did not expect to use outside of the library. Addie gets an inheritance from an aunt and moves to a small town that holds lots of history for her family. She moves into the Greybourne Manor and things do not go so well for her after the move. With the move also comes an extensive book collection that is valuable as well. We meet her new friend Serena who becomes a suspect in a murder that Addie is sure she did not commit. Can Addie find the killer before the killer finds her. There are several twists in this story that will keep you guessing until the end. Certainly one to read if you love cozy mysteries. I can’t wait to see if we will meet Addie again.


Thanks to netgalley as well as the author for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed this "first in a new series" cozy. It has fun characters, a great setting, and a satisfying murdery plot. It is a *smidge* cliche (main character Addie owns a book shop, best friend owns a tea shop, mysterious aunt who leaves Addie an equally mysterious house, romance with the local police chief, etc.), but nothing that really put me off.

I liked the idea of Addie solving a mystery involving her own family. It was interesting to learn about her past along with her, and a couple of the turns I didn't see coming. I liked the investigative techniques she used, and that she was brave enough to follow up on her hunches.

I anticipate this will be a clever series, and look forward to future entries.

An engaging cozy mystery. I liked the main three characters, but there were many secondary people to track. Not that difficult, just several names, along with some back stories. I do look forward to reading the next one in this new series.

5 Stars
Rare Book Who Dunnit
This is a fantastic cozy mystery centered on a Rare and Antiquarian Book dealer. The plot is exquisitely twisted with plenty of suspects. The action never seems to stop in this exciting book. The characters are realistic, but maybe a little too perfect. This is the first in the series and I will be sure to read them all! This is also the first book of this author's that I have read. She is wonderful at spinning a tale. I received this book for free and this is my honest review.

Murder Mystery fans will love Murder by the Book. Well written with a great plot. I enjoyed this author’s writing and look forward to reading more of her books. My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for my digital arc this is my unbiased review review.

Fun cozy mystery set in New England during the fall. Fun characters with just a little romance. This cozy is great for book clubs that want a book that is light and not heavy with romance. Characters are well defined and relatable with a good storyline.

Ehh, I was so excited to read this first book in a new series. But, it is just too forced. The book was weighed down with just too much of everything. It just has too much crime, too many characters to make it believable or even keep up with any of it. The author kind of forced details and outcomes instead of letting the book tell the story. I am not sure if I will read the next in the series. I am so disappointed as this book and new series had such great potential.


I received this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. FANTASTIC!!!! Suspense, intrigue, and romance all rolled into one wonderful book. The flow of the story is exceptional. You will love Addie, Serena, and Marc as they attempt to figure out the mystery. This is a must read! Enjoy!

Murder By The Book is the first book in the A Beyond The Page Bookstore Mystery series.

After Addison Greyborne’s father dies in an automobile accident and her fiance is murdered. She has inherited her aunt’s home and extensive book collection and decides to move to Greyborne and with the extensive book collection, her aunt had she decides to open the Beyond The Page – Books & Curios store. But bad luck is continuing to follow Addie, as she’s heading to her store for the first time she is nearly run down by a speeding automobile. As Addie is straightening item in the store, Serena who has SerenaTEAS shop a few doors down the street comes in to welcome Addie. While they are discussing their shops, there is a disturbance out back and when they check what it was they encounter Martha who owns the bakery next to Addie’s who says someone with a crowbar was trying to get in Addie’s store. When Addie goes back into her store, she finds that it has been vandalized. Later she gets a message from Blaine Fielding, owner of the local department store asking her to come over. As she is heading across the street, Serena is being led out of the store be her brother, Marc who is also the police chief, in handcuffs. Fielding had been killed and Serena had been found holding the murder weapon.
Soon, there are also break-ins at her home too. Addie doesn’t feel that Serena is guilty and wants to clear Serena’s name. After some reflection, Addie begins to wonder if she wasn’t the one meant to find Fielding and to be framed for his murder. She soon believes that there must be something valuable enough hidden somewhere that is worth killing for and getting her out of town.

I found this to be a very interesting new series and there are a couple of other subplots, that if I would discuss, would take away from the mystery itself. I felt that the story was well written and had an interesting cast of characters. I’ll be looking forward to learning more about Serena, Addie, and her possible romantic interest with Marc.

I will be watching for the next book in this interesting new series.

I have been looking forward to this cozy for months! I came across it on Amazon over the summer and was immediately intrigued by it. So I was thrilled at the chance to be able to review it early through NetGalley. It was a solid cozy. Good characters and an exciting mystery with several surprises kept me involved. The writing did seem a bit choppy at times and there was a lot going on in the mystery aspects. While I didn't love this story, I did enjoy it and will continue reading the next offerings in the series next year when they release.