This book was a mixed bag for me. I really enjoyed Quinn and her cousin Dariah's relationship, with Dariah being a relatively new novitiate. And the murder was decently interesting. But Quinn's constant dithering over Aiden and how she knows there will never be a Q&A, it's all just a pipe dream, blah, blah, blah. Quinn is idiotic and delusional on the topic, and the book would have been much stronger without trying to make that such a big part of it. Also, the motives for the killings and the character turn-around at the end didn't really feel authentic to me.

Review copy provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I received this ARC via Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books, in return for an honest review. This is the first novel in a new series, set in Vienna, Virginia. Quinn Caine returns home after working abroad as an English teacher and discovers how much is the same in her hometown while much is also different. Quinn works out of her parents’ independent bookstore as a book binder. She also volunteers at a local dog rescue, located at a nearby nunnery. Her rescue works brings her in contact with her cousin, Daria, who decided to become a nun while Quinn was overseas. Quinn also encounters one of an obnoxious pair of twins, flaunting an engagement ring from a man that Quinn briefly dated before she went abroad. When the woman is found dead in Quinn’s backyard and she’s a person of interest, Quinn decides that she needs to take an active role, much to the police detective’s dismay. There are several sub-plots that fill out the characters in the story. The twins are annoying; the potential love interest is developed well; Quinn has a dog with a great name. As a former resident of Vienna, Virginia, I think Ms. Kincaid did an excellent job of noting the small town feel for an area that’s rapidly being subsumed by the greater Washington area. I look forward to the next book in this series.

Unfortunately I had a hard time getting into the story.
I felt the story was fragmented and a bit boring at times.
I couldn’t relate to any of the characters, which makes reading even more of a struggle.

So sorry! I know that I am not going to be able to finish this one--small town folksy is very unappealing to me and none of the characters appear too bright.

This is a new series that takes place in Virginia. Most cozies have a theme and I am hard pressed to determine what this one was based on. The main character, Quinn, comes back after traveling and teaching english in foreign countries. This was never really developed or capitalized on. The other characters are so unmemorable I don't know their names other than the cousin nun and she was overblown. The conclusion was boring and done before. My biggest problem with the book was that while it was written in third person; the author would OFTEN use a pronoun to refer to someone who had not be named for several pages and I had to spend time trying to figure out who was being referred to. Chapter 5 began with a statement that was not attributed to anyone but then it was phrased "they both..." I had no idea who they were until multiple paragraphs later when proper names were finally given. The story took place in Virginia, which some people seem to think is the South. Many times some of the ladies were referred to as Ms. Whisper. In the South we only attribute a person of advanced age the honor of Miss and never MS. Perhaps as the series progresses it will improve but I don't think I can give a second one a try.

This book has a lot of promise: a great mystery with lots of suspects, interesting characters and complex relationships. But the transitions are abrupt or non-existent. Characters change gear in the middle of a conversation or simply appear out of nowhere. My copy of the book is a digital galley, so I’m hopeful that the version that goes to print has addressed these concerns.


I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I was not paid for this review.

Quinn Caine is back from teaching overseas and is happy to be home in Vienna, Virginia. In Vienna, she has a career as a bookbinder and hopes to build her business. Instead, the murder of a former rival makes her the number one suspect in the young woman's murder!

What a great first book in the series! Quinn is a kind, spunky and curious main character. Her curiosity sometimes, leads her into trouble. So much was going on in this book and I loved it - the mystery, Quinn adjusting to being home, reconnecting with her "crush", understanding why her best friend and cousin became a nun (who helps her solve the mystery) and the discussion about her bookbinding business and her parents bookstore Prose and Scones was interesting and added to the book.I

Quinn may occasionally act without thinking, but she learns from her mistakes and I liked that. Of course, her beautiful German Shepherd, RBG, was a fun and important mystery solving addition to the book.

I'm looking forward to the next book!

I received an ARC from NetGalley for a fair and honest review of this book.

This was an easy read. Author Harper Kincaid writes a sassy, spunky story, much like the main character. At first I thought it was a YA read. While clever, I found some of the trash talk and sass had a “mean girls” quality to it. I enjoy a good mystery, and this fit the bill. The characters were well-developed, and the plot held my attention.
Thank you to Netgalley and Crooked Lane publishers for an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Good read!! Really enjoyed the characters, every well developed. Mystery was good, as well. Looking forward to a follow up book.

I enjoyed this book. I especially liked the character Sister Daria. I liked the characters, I think they're well developed. The setting of the town was described really well. I didn't like that the culprit for the murders is a character that's not mentioned earlier in the book, he just appears. The method of the deaths was interesting, out of the normal. #ToKillaMockingGirl #NetGalley

A small-town girl Quinn Cain who has been teaching English abroad for 3 years returns home to Vienna, Virginia, helping her parents at their bookstore.
Quinn is very happy to be home specially when his brother Bash also returns to Vienna and tells her he wants to stay there and start his own family.
Meanwhile Quinn come across Tricia, a beautiful real estate agent working together with her twin sister.
Tricia is now engaged to Scott, Quinn’s ex fiancé.
On the same day Quinn come across Scott at her favorite diner. And on the same day after midnight she finds out that Tricia is dead.
This is where the story begins.
To kill a mocking girl is an easy read and a romance thriller if that genre even exists. :) The characters are well chosen, and it is paced nicely. If you are looking for a cozy mystery this is definitely what you will enjoy.
I can't wait to read more of this series.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for the ARC. You can also find my review by checking my blog: https://bookoholicscafe.blogspot.com/2019/12/to-kill-mocking-girl.html
Instagram: https://tinyurl.com/mockinggirl

Quinn Caine moved back home after being abroad teaching English. She is working at her parents bookstore repairing old books when the fiancé of an ex is murdered. After a brief stint with everyone believing Quinn killed her out of jealousy, Quinn decides to investigate the murder. With the help of her cousin. One problem though. Her older brothers friend, Aiden, is the police detective doing the real investigation. He wants her to quit her meddling and to stay safe. Cue in a Quinn’s old crush on him and the signals he’s sending that she’s trying not to read wrong and you have a cute possible romance in the works.
This is definitely the beginning of a great series. Ms. Kincaid did a spectacular job of slowly building the story. The friendship between Quinn and her cousin, a novitiate to be a nun, keeps the story going. Aiden is swoon worthy and leaves hints to his interest that Quinn purposely misunderstands for her own reasons. I, for one, cannot wait to read more in this series. Great read!

amateur-sleuth, family-dynamics, friendship, relationships, red-herrings, murder, murder-investigation, law-enforcement, Virginia

Small town girl learns the price of amateur sleuthing. The book restorer is back with family in her hometown after three years of teaching in Cambodia and finds her retired lawyer dad and horticulturist mom running a bookshop, her wildfire specialist brother taking a job as a local firefighter, her high school crush is the town's police detective, and her BFF rebel cousin is a novitiate in the local nunnery! She runs into a whole lot of former classmates including the girl everyone loved to hate. Guess which one turns up murdered and who found the body. Clue to the latter: she owns a K-9 reject named RBG. Sleuthing can be dangerous and many relationships are not quite what they seem in this absorbing mystery. I loved it!
I requested and received a free ebook copy from Crooked Lane Books via NetGalley. Thank you!

Harper Kincaid gives the reader a cast of characters that are believable and interesting. Quinn has returned home after teaching English overseas. She is also repairs books as a book binder. Her brother is also returning home after being a firefight across the United States. Also another character is Quinn's cousin, Sister Daria, who is studying to be an Anglican nun. To round out the main characters is Quinn's high school crush, Aiden. who is the police chief. Quinn's classmate is murdered, and she is under suspicion because she finds the body. Quinn also has a German Shepherd whose name is RBG. So the race is on to find the murderer. With the help of her cousin and the police, Quinn does stumbles on evidence that points to the killer.
I liked the mystery, but I did have one criticism about the storyline. One of the murders did not make any sense at all. Other than that, I enjoyed the storyline and the characters. I do recommend this mystery; it is a page-turner.

I think this book is a great start to a new series. I enjoyed the setting and I think the mystery is well written. The characters are enjoyable and engaging and I look forward to learning more about them. I also enjoyed the fact that this is a longer cozy than most.

I'm guessing this is the first in a new series of mysteries. It covers familiar territory in cosy mysteries: the main character, Quinn, is a youngish woman returning to her picturesque hometown to work in a family business, the family business is a bookstore (and she's a bookbinder for double cute bookish points), she has a pet with a cutesy name, and she has a former hometown boyfriend now engaged/married to a mean girl rival. When mean girl Tricia ends up dead and Quinn finds her body (of course), Quinn becomes a suspect and then sleuths out the real killer.
The story kept my attention enough to finish the book, but probably not enough to make me continue with this series. While I usually like a formulaic mystery just fine, this one fell flat for me. I didn't find the characters interesting enough or the setting memorable enough to want to revisit the world again--character and setting are usually what hook me on a series. Quinn needed more friends/family who were memorable, and her hot-headed novitiate nun friend (really?) wasn't cutting it for me. The town of Vienna was super generic. This was a disappointment.

Harper Kincaid has written a killer book with this one and I have a feeling this is going to be a favorite series of mine! I absolutely love reading cozy mysteries as they are lighthearted, fun, and filled with some of the best characters around! I look forward to many more books in this series!

Good page turning mystery. Enjoyed the spunky main character and the sassy secondary characters. And who doesn’t love all the doggies pawing around in this book. My only comment is that there needs to be a little better proofing/editing. In the beginning Quinn gives up her phone during the police interview but in the next pages she is at the crime scene taking pictures with her phone. I thought it was just me but then Aiden comes to find Quinn in the next pages and makes a big deal of returning her phone. This didn’t effect the story but interrupted the flow of the story.

This was a great start to a new series. Quinn has been away from home for several years, but now she has come back for good and is ready to settle back in to the town she loves. Unfortunately for her, the death of a high school rival happens right after a minor confrontation over an old boyfriend. Can Quinn and her cousin clear Quinn's name and find a killer? And will her old crush ever realize that she's all grown up now, and no longer the kid sister of his old friend? Full of well developed characters, action, and a lot of depth this a charming book that kept me turning pages all night. I look forward to the next installment!

I had this sitting on my Kindle for a couple of weeks and finally pulled it up to read. What a pleasant surprise. Harper Kincaid wrote a funny, cozy murder mystery that I was able to finish in a day. I thoroughly enjoyed this story with a good plot and strong characters. Hope this is the beginning of a new series!