A wonderful setting with some really lovable characters is what really makes this book a worthwhile read. The mystery story? Not so much. The real problem is the murderer is really too obvious but the possible motive does keep you guessing. Summer, the main character who also happens to have a PhD in Shakespearean Lit (not that it's ever mentioned!!!!), investigates when she believes her mother has been murdered and the police don't believe her. She is joined in the investigation by members of her own family and is determined to discover why her much-loved mother was killed. The story itself is engaging and there are some twists and turns along the way but some plot elements are not fully developed and some characters just totally disappear! The Shakespeare angle seems a little wasted with even the prospect of a Shakespeare Folio not even tweaking the interest of the main character, a shakespeare devotee. For someone who dedicated so much of her life to Shakespeare she shows very little interest throughout which is a shame as the book description makes this seem as it is an important aspect of the book. Overall, this will keep you interested but probably won't keep you turning pages long into the night.

As much as I love cozies, especially those that involve bookshops, I have to admit that I had a hard time finishing this one. Dragged out, with the murderer becoming obvious early in the book, I didn't feel drawn to any of the characters. It was very disappointing.

Although I received a copy of this ebook in exchange for a review, all opinions remain my own.

This book is just as its title suggests, a "beach reads mystery." It is a great mystery to read on the beach or when you are in quarantine. The murder question keeps you guessing, but I guessed correctly. There were a few plot twists that had me gasping out loud (and my husband asking "what" next to me). But overall, this was simply a good book. I would totally read another of Blackburn's books, but it likely won't be at the top of my list. It is another of what my mom called "popcorn reads." Ones that are fun to "snack" on without too much substance or too much to think about.

Overall this is a solid three star book, would add a 0.5 star if I could. 3.5 from me. =)

This was a delightful romp through the cosy mystery genre. Well paced and enough twists and turns to keep you not entirely convinced if you had worked out Whodunnit. Add to that the MC's internal battle to accept the reading material that made her mother's bookshop such a warm and welcoming business with her own preconceptions of "worthy" books and the litany of likeable and eccentric book club members, and this was a thoroughly entertaining read.

A good start to a new mystery series. When Summer returns to her hometown after the death of her mother she gets involved in trying to solve the mystery. A good group of family and friends, and overall I did like the story. Hard to keep track of information in a new series, as a lot of new characters and such, but overall a good job here. I did find Summer a bit pretentious, especially in her concept of "proper" reading materials, but she mellowed towards the end. Would recommend.

Summer is a bit hasty and judgemental but the ladies of the book club soon brought her into the light about all things with romance books. Her sleuthing needs more to desire, she was like a loose cannon when searching for the whys and who done it concerning her mother’s death. There is hope for her yet once she can curb her over anxiousness, and the way she overlooks clues and witnesses. In searching for her mother’s killer, Summer almost lost another loved one. An interesting and entertaining read.

I received a free copy of the Little Bookshop of Murder by Maggie Blackburn from Netgalley for a honest review.

The story starts as Summer returns home, even though she swore she would never return, because she received the news her mom unexpectedly passed away. Things immediately don’t sit right with Summer and her intuition proved right once the autopsy came back...how was it possible her sixty-something ultra-healthy mom passed away from a heart-attack?

Overall, I rate this book a 3/5 stars! This mystery gave me all the cozy feels of a hallmark movie mixed with a little “who done it” action. I loved that this novel took place in a bookstore by the ocean, my two favorite things! However, it was pretty obvious early on who the murderer was. However, I didn’t mind that as much as the main character. I found her very stuck-up and I hated how many times that she repeated she had her doctorate in Shakespeare. As if that made her better than the folks she was surrounded by. The book was also repetitive in nature and I would find myself saying, didn’t I just read that? Overall, it was a fun and easy read that one could definitely enjoy on the beach!

Didn’t much care for this one and I usually like a cozy mystery. It was just kind of cheesy I guess for lack of a better word. Couple time I thought about DNF’ing it but I pushed through in the hopes that I might enjoy it by the end but no such luck. It wasn’t terrible, but it sure wasn’t great.

amateur-sleuth, professor, murder, arson, theft, family-dynamics, friendship, small-town, small-business, law-enforcement

Summer is a Shakespearean scholar and professor who has returned to her former home on a North Carolina island to bury her mother who died totally unexpectedly. At her mother's bookshop she meets some of the people who meant much to her as well as her own aunt and cousins. The police call the death a coronary, but there are inconsistencies including threatening notes followed by a burglary at the shop, arson at the house while Summer sleeps, and later she was pushed and sustained a severe concussion. The police chief has a closed mind on the subject and the tox screen seems to take forever. Meanwhile Summer has a good deal of angst about so many things including her career.
The mystery is quite well done, and the supporting characters are very well done. It's the main character who seems a little two-dimensional, partly because most non-academics don't realize the importance of things like Publish or Perish or how difficult things can still be for a woman in a field dominated by men. And still, image is everything in Academia.
Basically, I really liked it!
I requested and received a free ebook copy from Crooked Lane Books via NetGalley. Thank you!

A good and quick to read cozy mystery. I received an arc from the publisher and this is my unbiased review.

Summer returns home after her mothers passing. She can't believe her mother is gone. As she is going to her mother's bookstore she spies an envelope. Inside is a threatening letter and summer learns that it is not the first one. Now she believes her mother may have been murder but no one believes her. The characters are loveable. The story was quite intense, filled with secrets and suspicions. This book kept me up well after midnight turning the pages trying to play detective and decide who the murderer is. This book was delightful.

This is somewhat a light or cozy mystery. It is a quick read. Guessing what happened to the owner of the bookstore is almost answered too quickly. The characters are predictable and the reader often wants to know more about them. This is a fun read. There is a surprise at the end about the protagonist’s father. I want to read more books about this bookstore-hope it is a series. The only change might be a really nice male character. I don’t love the supernatural aspect in the book-thus four stars instead of five.

After recently listening to a podcast that raved about cozy mysteries, I was excited to read my first one! However, Little Bookshop of Murder was a true disappointment. The story was extremely repetitive and didn't move forward at all. The writing was too simple and there was little character development.

I am all for a fun, palate-cleanser type book, but this was not it.

I really wanted to like this book, but it was written in such a sophomoric style, it was a struggle to finish it. For someone with such a lyrical and friendly name, Summer Merriweather is anything but that. Granted she is back to her North Carolina island home because of the death of her mother, but I was really tired of hearing how she was a PhD in English Lit. A friend at college was on the Dean's List for her entire college career and she did not have a lick of common sense. Summer is too strident a character to warm up to and her running battle with the police chief should have lead her to complain to a higher authority about his negligence while investigating her mother's death. Needless to say I did not like this book

This wasn’t a bad book. I liked the setting of a bookshop on an Island. But I really didn’t care for the main character, Summer. And there was a lot of repetition, especially about her being a Shakespeare scholar and PHD.

My eye fell on the rating for this book before I started reading. It was well below 3.5 starts. That’s very low for a cozy, particularly one that’s only available as an ARC. That was not very promising.

The plot sounded promising: Shakespeare scholar returns home after the death of her mother only to find her mother was receiving threats. With the help of her aunt and her mother’s book club the scholar starts digging for the truth. (Book club members are a curious lot.)

I don’t think I have ever been less impressed with a book. I didn’t hate it, though. It just left me feeling very mwah.

In a way I was prepared for a not very well-written book. This is surprising as the author has already penned quite a few cozy mysteries under another penname, but this story seems to have been written by someone flexing their writing muscle for the first time. At the very least it lacked a good editor. (There’s an editor receiving thanks in the acknowledgements; makes me wonder how they earned their keep.) There are inconsistencies throughout the story.

For instance, Summer remembers never having hung out at the arcade, though earlier she remembered being told off by the owner for running through the arcade. In a later chapter, Summer, Piper and Agatha leave the house together, but only Summer and Piper arrive at their destination. What happened to Agatha in the mean time is not mentioned.

Another editing issue is the misuse of names. Agatha is called Hildy several times, and the name of the island is Brigid, St. Brigid or St. Bridget. This issue gets particularly annoying when new names are mentioned, such as Loretta and Abbey, but it’s unclear who is meant. I can understand that a galley proof is not perfect, but this galley is not even fit to be submitted to a publisher, let alone to be published.

Editing issues aside, what about the story? After finding a threatening note, Summer is convinced her mother was killed. After all, a healthy woman doesn’t just die of a heart attack. (Fact is that many people don’t realise that signs for heart failure are different in women than in men. They could quite easily be mistaken for ‘feeling a little bit under the weather’.) And she suspects everyone she comes into contact with. I like characters that are a little more subtle about their suspicions. And also characters that have a stronger case for their suspicions. How can she be so sure that Hildy did not have an underlying hearth condition? Hildy was a healthy living hippie. That doesn’t sound like the kind of person that goes for an annual full-body scan.

Yet, the police have ordered an autopsy on Hildy. This bothered me throughout the book. Summer asks them for the results a few times, but the police also believe Hildy died of a heart attack (i.e. natural causes). They don’t consider her death suspicious. Then why have an autopsy done? Makes no sense. Only Summer, as next of kin, could have requested an autopsy, but it’s quite obvious she didn’t.

Summer is a hard person to like or even feel sympathy for. She seems to think she is a better person because she reads classical literature rather than anything else: “<i>Summer had never read a commercial romance in her life. She was a classics person all the way around and had been vocal about people filling their brains with trashy books.</i>” Now, how would she know the quality of commercial fiction if she’s never even tried it?

I have the distinct feeling the author was writing for word count rather than for plot development. The story drags on. Many scenes have the same structure. Summer is talking to someone about something insignificant then someone else (usually Piper) walks in. A rule of writing is: every scene should do something for the story. It either should establish character or further the conflict. Most of the scenes in this book did neither. Really, how many scenes are needed to show that the five women Summer talks to most are pretty much interchangeable? Perhaps some of them could have been deleted from the story altogether or merged with others. (For instance, keep Agatha, but merge Piper with Marilyn and Glads. Loose the teenager.)

After reading I believe this book’s low rating is well-deserved and should actually be even lower. This is not the quality I expect from a previously published author.

Little Bookshop of Murder is a solid start to a brand new series. While I didn't quite connect with the characters in the beginning, they grew on me as the book progressed. I think as the series continues the characters will grow and I look forward to that.

This book was beautiful. From the first page right up until the end, it gripped me and didn't let go. Full of heartache, fear, and intrigue, everything about this story was perfectly tied together to make an enchanting read. I cannot wait for another installment in this series!

This book was boring and not well written and on the whole pretty unbelievable. Would definitely not recommend. The main character is annoying.

I thought a story about an academic who comes back to her beachside hometown to deal with her late mother's bookstore would appeal to me more than it did. It had a good premise, but the mystery portion of the story was flat. Of course Summer's mother was murdered, and it didn't make sense that the people around her were so bumbling and simple that they just didn't notice clues all around her. What's worse is that the murder and method of killing were obvious from about 20 pages in. I might forgive that if I connected to characters, but I couldn't. Summer made no sense as a person, and the details of her career problems didn't ring true. What university would suspend a tenured professor for getting caught on camera freaking out about a spider? In what universe? That is so implausible I was offended the author would try to sell this idea. Bummer.