Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an electronic copy to read in exchange for an honest review.

I don't know why I slept on this series for so long! Although this is the 3rd book in the series, I never felt totally lost. There is definitely some background info to catch up on, but nothing that is crucial for the plot of this book. I don't know how I missed that this was set in the Thousand Island's area (on the American side). I grew up a couple hours from there and it was pretty cool to recognize some landmarks (Boldt Castle) and towns (Gananoque). I will definitely be going back for the first two books in the series.

A Castle Bookshop Mystery Book 3

Shelby Cox lives on a houseboat. One morning she wakes up to a thumping sound and discovers a dead body floating in the water. She calls the police. The victim’s daughter is a friend and they work together to uncover the mystery of what happened.

This was a slow-burn read. There wasn’t much to the story, but the characters were charming. The best part of the book was the plot twist at the end. I was hoping for more action and more interaction between the characters. This was the first book I’ve read in the series and is perfect to read as a stand-alone book. I would recommend this book to cozy mystery buffs!

Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

I liked the story and the characters were great, but so many characters! I was always getting the names mixed up. Maybe if I had read the first two books in the series it would have been easier.

Bookseller Shelby Cox lives on a houseboat and works in a castle on Blye Island. The perfect life, until she finds a body lodged between the side of her houseboat and the dock.

Shelby starts investigating despite Police Chief
Tekla Stone's instructions to leave it alone

Shelby had a lot of suspects to consider. All but one was resolved in one way or another, and she does identify the killer. What bothers me is that one of her suspects was never resolved. I won't say more here as to not spoil it for a new reader but I'm left wondering what happened to one of the suspects

Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for kindly providing me with a digital copy of this book for review.
This is the third book in the Castle Bookshop Mystery series, and although I am not familiar with the first 2 books, I still enjoyed this one very much. I’ll be honest, it did take me a little while to get into it but the pace certainly picked up and by the end of it the twists and turns were coming pretty fast. I like the unusual setting of this series and found it a lovely escape. I also felt invested in our main character’s relationships, so much so that I do want to pick up the next book and find out what happens next with a particular character, which I will not name as I do not want to make any spoilers.

I appreciate the publisher allowing me to read this book. I really like the setting for this series but feel the main characters aren't as appealing as the previous books.

A Deadly Chapter is the third book in the Castle Bookshop Mystery by Essie Lang in which Shelby Cox is enjoying living on on her houseboat until one morning she woke up to find a body floating in the water outside of her houseboat. The victim, Nathan Miller had been looking for woman that had moved to Alexandria Bay, New York about seven-years ago. Zack Griffin, Shelby's boyfriend is hoping that Shelby won't involve herself in this mystery.
Speaking of Zack, he drops a bomb shell on Shelby about taking a job and Boston and wants Shelby to move with him. On top of that Shelby mother is back in town!

I love this book and highly recommend the whole series to you! The characters are well developed, story line was great and I would read another book by Essie Lang. Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

Thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for my copy of A Deadly Chapter by Essie Lang in exchange for an honest review. It published March 9, 2021.
Wow, I really loved this one! Although I hadn’t read any in this series before, I felt like it did a great job catching me up. I adored the houseboat and the island life, what a gorgeous setting!
I found the mystery to be very intriguing, along with her personal life progressing. I would definitely recommend this to any cozy mystery fans!

What a wonderful setting for a cozy mystery! Who wouldn't love a bookshop set in a castle? The Castle Bookshop series is a delightful series and A Deadly Chapter is the 3rd installment. This book has Bayside Books co-owner Shelby Cox waking up on her houseboat to find a dead body floating in the water along side the boat. Unfortunately, Shelby is acquainted with the victim, as he has visited the castle bookshop twice and is murdered shortly after the second visit. The victim's daughter asks Shelby for help finding out what happened to her father. Shelby's curiosity gets the best of her, much to the consternation of boyfriend Zack and Shelby's aunt Edie.

This book, as well as the first two in the series, introduce you to a wonderful cast of characters - along with Shelby, Aunt Edie and Zack, the reader gets to know bookstore employees Trudy and Taylor, Blye Island caretaker Matthew, Shelby's friend and Alexandria Bay chocolate shop owner Erica, crotchety Chief Stone, the volunteers who work at Blye Castle and the many colorful Alexandria Bay locals. The setting is wonderful and the descriptions of the island and castle make you want to visit and spend time exploring!

The mystery is intriguing and leaves you scratching your head trying to figure out the identity of the murderer - needless to say, it was a surprise until the very end! Shelby continues to get herself into precarious situations, and her nosiness tends to not always work to her benefit or those whom she is 'investigating'. This book not only contains a murder to solve, but it puts Shelby into the position of having to make very difficult decisions about two of her relationships - these relationships add to the complexity of the story and at least one of them makes you anxious wondering what Shelby will decide!

This book is a great addition to the series and I highly recommend it as well as the first two books in the series. I will look forward to the next installment and hope that there are many more to come beyond book 3!

Shelby, houseboat owner and bookseller, finds a body. While she cannot name the victim, she has seen him before. Shelby decides to investigate and ends up causing problems as she dives into secrets best kept hidden. I enjoy the setting of this book, but I was a bit put off by the plot leaning heavily on Shelby's relationship with Zack. I did enjoy the book overall and look forward to the next.

This is the third book in the series but I didn't enjoy it as much as the previous two. Shelby had so much gong on with a murder, issues with her boyfriend and the reappearance of her mother that she was pretty unlikable for me this time around. Luckily there were positives to fall back on. Who doesn't want to live on a houseboat and run a bookstore in a castle?! And the setting is wonderful enough that I'll be looking forward to book 4.

2.5 stars, rounded up to 3

This cozy mystery was just okay. The mystery wasn’t very exciting and the main character, Shelby, was just plain nosy. Maybe I would have felt more charitable toward her if I had read the first two books in the series, but I hadn’t. The author filled in enough of the backstory so that I felt like I knew who was who and so forth. Too much of the book concentrated on Shelby’s personal life crises (her relationship with her current boyfriend and her non-existent relationship with her mother). It is set in a lovely part of the world, the Thousand Islands area of New York State, up by the Canadian border. But this mystery could have taken place pretty much anywhere.

Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for the opportunity to read an advance readers copy of this book. All opinions are my own

A Deadly Chapter by Essie Lang is such a great cozy mystery. I enjoyed I tremendously and can’t wait for the next book.

In this story Shelby living in a houseboat on the Alexandria Bay finds a body with the skull shattered. A seasoned sleuth needs to find out why someone who is not a local is dead by her boat. As she begins her investigation she realizes she has met him before.

Things become complicated when she realizes that the murder victim was killed elsewhere and dumped by her houseboat. This is not an easy case. Will she prevail?

Very well written with great characters. Highly recommend A Deadly Chapter.

A Deadly Chapter is the third book in the series and the first I read. While the mystery can easily be read on its own, I think reading the earlier books would help with a connection to the protagonist as there is a developing romance as well as family secrets. On first reading, I really didn't care for her.

There are two mysteries to be solved. Shelby, our protagonist discovers a body lodged between the pier and the houseboat where she lives. She recognizes the man as someone who has stopped by her bookstore inquiring about a woman who lived there.

The mysteries are who murdered the victim and who is the woman he is searching for and why. The woman was foreshadowed enough so it wasn't a surprise when Shelby discovered her identity but I was surprised at who the murderer was.

All in all, an enjoyable read.

I received an ARC from Netgalley but the opinion expressed is my own.

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!

Shelby had some tough decisions to make and a mystery murder to solve concerning the floating body at the side of her houseboat. With all this going on she must decide whether her relationship with Zack crash and burn or turn a new leaf filled with wonderful surprises along the way, and last the relationship concerning her missing in action mother. A gem of a puzzle for Shelby, I thought the Sheriff’s constant badgering of her boils down to her subtly gathering clues from Shelby, I’m just saying.

A Deadly Chapter by Essie Lang is the 3rd novel in A Castle Bookshop Mystery series. You can read A Deadly Chapter on its own if you are new to the series. I thought A Deadly Chapter was easy to read with developed characters. I enjoy the description of the castle bookshop and of Alexandria Bay. I love Shelby’s houseboat (if I did not own so many books, I would love to live on one). Shelby is happy in Alexandria Bay with house home, job, Aunt Edie, and her boyfriend, Zack Griffin. The whodunit is mixed bag for me. The mystery was thought out with subtle clues and several suspects. The problem for me was that I could identify the guilty party at the beginning of the book. I wish the mystery had been more of a challenge to solve. Shelby was originally going to stay out of the case (you knew that would not last long), but unanswered questions bothered her. Then the victim’s daughter comes town needing answers. Shelby is soon knee deep in the case. She does not even let an injury slow her down. A Deadly Chapter is a busy book. Shelby’s boyfriend, Zack Griffin gets a promotion, and it will mean big changes for him. What does it mean for Shelby? Shelby’s mother disappeared from her life when she was a child and now she is back in town. Can Shelby handle seeing Merrily? Plus, Shelby is busy helping to organize a mystery event with the library. What does the future hold for Shelby? You will need to read A Deadly Chapter to find out. I would have liked more focus on the whodunit and less on Shelby’s personal life. A Deadly Chapter is a lively cozy mystery with a chummy cat, a perturbed police chief, a crafty killer, a disturbed daughter, and a busy bookstore.

I enjoyed this third installment in the Castle Bookshop series and hope there are more to come. Bookstore/library cozies are among my favorites and I like how much of the action actually takes place there.

Solid plot, great characters, interesting setting.

Well recommended to cozy mystery fans!!

Overall I liked this book, I also enjoyed the first two in the series. This book was the least successful in my opinion due to numerous continuity issues that were very distracting. Example: SPOILER!! when the main character, Shelby first sees the stranger in the book store who turns out to be her mother, the stranger is described as having " dark hair with auburn highlights curling around her shoulders". Later, when Shelby meets her for coffee she is described as a " natural blonde with a sleek shiny bob". I had to go back to the first encounter and read it again to make sure I read it right. This is a pretty glaring difference! That said, I will probably buy the next installment.

A Deadly Chapter is the third installment in the “A Castle Bookshop Mystery” series. Shelby, a bookshop owner, and houseboat lover, has a knack for getting involved in murder investigations. Even when her family, friends, and the police tell her to stay out of it. She can’t help herself, she just happens to stumble across bodies, and there doesn’t appear to be any hope of her not getting into the thick of things.

Shelby is many things, a bookshop owner, a loyal friend, a compassionate niece, and a neighbor, but no matter how likable she may be, there are times when she is challenging to understand. I love her determination, the bookshop, her houseboat, all of which make her a unique character. But she is also a bit immature with a rebellious teenage nature. This character's greatest downfall is her inability to think before she acts, which significantly impacts the story.

A killer is not someone you want to mess with, invite to your place of work, or your houseboat. If they have killed once, there’s a good chance they will do it again if it means getting away with it. Shelby seems to invite trouble into her life, her business, and her romance. The victim is not someone she knows but has only spoken with twice, she doesn’t even know his name, yet she gets involved in investigating before the body is even cold. There are a few suspects, but none seem to have a valid motive for murdering a man. Evidence, although present, isn’t what it should be.

This series and A Deadly Chapter, in particular, has always had a few minor issues that are easily fixed. A few questions raised in this book were left unanswered, but none made a difference to the outcome. However, this can be a sticking point for some readers. Overall this book is enjoyable to read, has enough mystery to keep readers guessing, and a couple of twists that add value along the way. Shelby’s bookshop and houseboat are always a pleasure to visit, and her Aunt Edie is a wonderful character that many would like to spend more time with. The love interest is a bit rocky for a while, but in the end, it works out well. Readers will enjoy this book, but I highly suggest reading the other two in the series first.

I've often mentioned that one of the things I really like in a cozy mystery series is when there is enough focus on moving the characters forward as well as a solid mystery. This one felt a bit like it took on too many things for Shelby to focus on, in addition to the mystery, in one story. While I appreciate that there was a lot of character growth and development for her in this one, it definitely felt like the mystery got pushed a little too far off sometimes, and then wrapped up extremely quickly at the end.