I really loved this book in a new to my series. Tha characters and location really and to the story. I can't wait to read the next one. This book keeps you guessing until the end

Searching for more books to stock her store before the first cruise ship  docks in her town, Addie Greyborne heads out to an auction at a local so-called haunted house to survey the offerings. There, she runs into a colleague who enlists her help in cataloging the books. Everything is fine until the next morning when the woman she was assisting is found dead in a locked room. Even though this was the first I've read in the series, I did not feel the need to have read others to enjoy this one. The mystery was interesting, as were the characters and their relationships.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance copy of this delightful cozy mystery! This is the 4th in the series and it can be read as a stand alone although its always nice to "grow" alone with the characters.  I have not read all of the series, only #3 and Proof of Murder I enjoyed so much more. One thing I did not like in the 3rd book was the silly love triangle but in this book Im happy to say it is resolved! I look forward to reading more in the series!

The fourth book in one of my favorite new mystery series. The mystery was just ok but I really enjoyed how the characters interacted.

Title:  Proof of Murder

Author:  Lauren Elliott

 

Ch: 34

 

Pg:  304

 

Series: Beyond the Page Bookstore Mystery book 4

 

Genre:  Cozy Mystery

 

Rating: 3 Stars

 

Publisher:  Kensington

 

Proof of Murder is the fourth book in the Beyond the Page Bookstore Mystery series by Lauren Elliott. Addie Greyborne has found herself involved in another murder and again she’s a prime suspect. And she have to clear her name and fast.

Proof of Murder of Murder wasn’t my favorite of the series but I still enjoyed it. It kept me guessing from beginning to end. But the character plot this time fell flat for me. However it’s not enough to stop me from reading the next book in the series when it comes out.

 

 

I received a copy of this book from the publisher through netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are mine alone.

I am becoming a huge fan of the cozy mystery genre due to books like this. You can read this as an escape from the everyday in a weekend. A  really good mystery.

This was an entertaining, well-written book. I loved revisiting the characters and town. The mystery was well crafted, and I could not guess who did it.

Addie Greyborne, the bookshop owner in Greyborne Harbor still isn't fully accepted by the locals so when she has visited an estate sale in the town and is one of the people who finds the appraiser dead, suspicions are rampant and Addie is forced to try to discern what happened before she is blamed.  
An interesting locked room murder with "ghosts" that take rare books and scare others to death!

Fun series, looking for more!

I wanted to like this book a lot more. I picked up the previous books in the series to gear up to read this one. Overall the writing is strong & the premise is good but my sticking point was the protagonist. She’s not very likeable & I found her petulance to be too distracting. This could just be me, so I still think based on the author’s writing skills people could enjoy the series quite a lot.  I would still try another new series by the author down the line.

Another excellent edition to a wonderful series! Full of twists and turns that leaves you wanting more and enjoying each moment until the end when the killer is caught!

Local bookshop owner Addie Greyborne is excited to see a preview of a local mansion's estate sale, due to knowing the right people. The book is intriguing in several ways--there is a missing cousin, haunted mansion, rare Sherlock Holmes editions by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and a locked room murder! If it sounds busy, it is, but the story moves quickly as Addie is in turn questioned and then utilized for information about the books and state of the room. Her personal life takes up a bit of the story too, I hope that all settles down and everyone can be friends.

This series tends to be a mixed bag for me. I've read all 4 now and will likely continue to read them. I think Elliott has a great setting going--both the physical setting of the New England seaside and the more pronounced setting of the used and rare book store our protagonist Addie owns. There's a decent cast of secondary characters and the mysteries tend to be fun. (I especially like the cantankerous bakery owner next door to Addie's shop!)

I am one of those readers, though, who can't fall in love with the protagonist. She just isn't my cup of tea. Often, there are character interactions that make me wonder why anyone in the books like her at all. In this book, I had one other particular issue [SPOILER AHEAD]: I kept feeling like I missed a book in the series. I looked several times to make sure there wasn't an entry that I skipped over. The biggest draw to cozy mysteries for me is the character development. At the end of Book 3, Addie has the love triangle clearly in play (again) and it looks like she's going to have to make a big decision between Marc and Simon. Then, BAM! This book starts 6 months later and we discover that Marc proposed in the interim, she turned him down, he went away and got a new girlfriend, and Addie is trying to make things work with Simon. It seems like those are developments that might have better worked on rather than off "screen," so to speak. In fact, it could have just been done in the Book 3 if the author was ready to move on. So it was a little disorienting to me to jump into this entry with so much having happened between novels. I guess I would say, in Elliott's defense, that she has done this before (like, starting the whole series AFTER a huge life event for Addie--the death of her father and murder of her fiancé--that would normally be the basis for a first book). 

My final recommendation is that if you like cozy mysteries and this setting and background appeal to you, then go ahead and give this is shot. Despite my gripes, I tend to enjoy reading these and will most certainly be back for the next entry in the series!

Addie is headed to a local estate sale to purchase books for her bookstore.  There is something fishy going on with the management of the sale. Now with two dead bodies and someone trying to prevent Addie from solving the mystery it's a closed room mystery straight out of a murder mystery.  This is book 4 in the Beyond the Page Bookstore series. I enjoy this small town set in Connecticut and it's residents.  I like Ms Elliott's writing style, nothing to graphic but a good murder to solve.  I received a copy of this ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

And enjoyable fourth book in the Beyond the Page Bookstore Mystery series. I liked the characters and their interaction with each other, and the storyline. 

Thank you to the publisher, Kensington, and to NetGalley for an advance copy of this book. My thoughts and opinions are my own and without bias or favor.

This was my first time reading a book in this series and I found it to be a really enjoyable mystery. I look forward to reading more books in this series.

This is the four book in the Beyond the Page Bookshop series, and should be read in order, since characters are continued in the storylines. Addie is the smart, charming protagonist in this book and she is off to an estate sale looking for books for her shop, but along the way there is a murder, ghosts, and romance that have you reading till the wee hours of the morning. This was a well written book and I loved the twists and turns that the story took. I was excited to figure out who the murderer was, and I was not disappointed.

As a first time reader to this series, I found the book very accessible.  The author provided narration that brought new readers up to speed, but I don’t think readers who have been there since the beginning would be put off by the summary.  I really liked the characters and the setting of the novel;  sometimes cozy mystery characters are very derivative of each other, but I did not find that to be the case here.  Overall, I quite enjoyed this book, and I will be reading the others in this series.

Proof of Murder by Lauren Elliot is the fourth book in the Beyond the Page Mystery series.  Bookshop owner Addie heads to an estate auction hoping to finds some books for her shop.  Instead the following day she finds a dead body inside a locked room.  In addition some very valuable books are missing.  The mystery was good, but I had a few areas that bothered me personally.  First Addie abandons her own shop to constantly help out at the auction.  I could see a bit of time spent helping, but she practically gave up her own business.  Second her ex-boyfriend (almost fiance) returns to town with a new girlfriend.  This new girlfriend immediately decides Addie is guilty of everything.  If the ex had mentioned "following the evidence" one more time, I would have happily had him be the next murder victim.  Addie would have been better off hiring a lawyer to sue for harassment and go back to her bookshop.

Locked room murder mysteries are one of my favorite.  This one was well crafted with enjoyable characters.  Rescuing a rare book is another favorite story line and this one was very well done.

Proof of Murder:  A Beyond the Page Mystery
By Lauren Elliott
Kensington
June 2020

Review by Cynthia Chow

There are two things that Beyond the Page rare book and curio shop owner Addison Greyborne finds irresistible; mysteries and estate sales.  The auction being held at Hill Road House offers both of these, having not only a huge library collection up for sale but also its own myth of residing ghosts.  In 1945, new wife and mother Kathleen Gallagher fell down the stairs to her death, while her in-laws would commit suicide there five years later.  Addie doesn’t believe in ghosts though, and she has a very living relative from her past reappearing to complicate her life.  Kalea Hudson has whisked into Greyborne Harbor, New England ostensibly to visit the cousin she hasn’t seen in 10 years, but Addie suspects that the man-motivated flirt’s presence is motivated by reasons related to her still-married boss.  Nevertheless, both women are enlisted in helping catalog the enormous book collection up for sale when the Addie’s longtime family friend is unhappy with the pace of his auction house’s current insurance appraiser.  Charlotte McAdams reluctantly accepts their assistance, but when she becomes a part of a locked-room mystery she completely upends the auction and puts Addie in the hot seat.  Addie and Kalea have the horrific experience of finding Charlotte dead in the locked room of the library, but just as alarming as Charlotte’s frozen face of terror and Kalea soon going M.I.A.

Also missing from Addie’s life for months was Chief of Police Marc Chandler, who reappears at the most awkward time with a very unwelcoming addition.  FBI agent Ryley Brookes displays interest not just in Marc but in seeing Addie behind bars, gathering up evidence and interrogating her in such a way that leaves no question of whom the agent suspects of being a murderer.  Not about to allow herself to be railroaded into prison despite Marc’s warnings to stay uninvolved, Addie unravels the discrepancies in the library inventory, most specifically the missing collection of Sherlock Holmes books.  Worth over hundreds of thousands of dollars, Addie is the only one now present able to testify that the books were ever present in the first place.  With coroner – and suitor- Simon Emerson at her side, Addie and her superstitious friends must determine whether the lingering ghosts of the past may have somehow led to the book theft crimes of the present.

This fourth in the series is so successful at building up Addie as an admirable and likable lead character that every attack against her feels very personal.  Marc’s stubbornness and faith in Ryley is infuriating and unfair, especially considering Addie’s past record in finding clues and tracking down killers.  Her BFF and tenant Serena Chandler – also Marc’s sister – is as wary of Hill House ghosts as Addie’s bookstore employee Paige Stringer, but they are dependable allies and emotionally supportive.  Even more rewarding is the presence of the charming Simon, who proves his reliability by staunchly defending her against police accusations and Marc’s jealousy-driven intimidations.  Book lovers will delight in the mystery worthy of Sherlock Holmes’s attention, especially the drawn out reveal and confession by the culprit.  A dénouement tying up loose ends and serving up satisfying resolutions leaves readers more than satisfied and eager for Addie’s next adventure full of romance, books, and mysteries.