Fun, beachy read for the waning days of summer in the NE. Easy to recommend to people who enjoy light, cozy mysteries.

Great new series with fun characters makes me miss my home town that was similar. Look forward to next in series.

Cozy mystery is a welcome variation from the standard mystery genre. The focus is on the story, the grim bits happen offscreen, and the setting is interesting enough to be captivating. Who doesn’t like small communities? Well, many people, but to me they’re charming. Alluring. I blame my big city life self here and that house in the countryside I still dream about.

Once Upon a Seaside Murder takes place on an island rather than in the country. The appeal remains.

**


As the holidays approach, bookstore owner Summer Merriwether learns a dark secret in this second volume of Maggie Blackburn’s Beach Reads mystery series.

There’s no place like home for the holidays, even if home is sleepy, beachside Brigid’s Island, NC. During this season for giving, the town wakes up to a welcome throng of shoppers–and Beach Reads is no exception. But bookseller Summer Merriwether’s Christmas cheer turns to cringing fear when she uncovers a deadly secret about her late mother–a secret someone will kill to keep.

When the local library hosts a cozy mystery panel discussion, Summer learns that one of the authors on the panel based her book on an actual murder that shook Brigid’s Island thirty-five years before. Worse, she soon learns that her dearly missed mother, Hildy, took a disturbingly deep interest in the case, going so far as to collect clippings and keep a journal of the dark doings. This doesn’t jibe with Summer’s memories of her usually cheery mother at all.

Tidings get worse when Summer learns of her long-lost biological family’s involvement in the crime…and still worse when the life of the book’s author is threatened. With the help of Hildy’s plucky book club, Summer puts her scholarly smarts to work on protecting the cozy author and solving the decades-old murder.

But this ghost from Christmas past may still be deadly in the present, and if she can’t find the killer, Summer’s future will be brief.

336 pages
Beach Reads Mystery #2 – may be read as standalone
Cozy mystery
Crooked Lane Books
Goodreads

**

Cover: Not my thing, not really. I blame the blue hue, it’s too much.

Yay!

- Once Upon a Seaside Murder, a novel written by Maggie Blackburn, follows the steps of Summer Merriwether. After her mom’s death—the backstory is featured in the previous book of this series—Summer is in charge of a bookstore called Beach Reads; between a panel discussion gone wrong and her newfound family, Summer has a lot on her plate.

- Summer is a sympathetic character. It’s easy to identify with her and root for her, for many reasons. The rest of the cast is well-written and full of variety too, spanning from likable Mia and Agatha to less than – see under: Rima. Some, like Cash and Sam, are hard to figure out – thumbs up!

- Style, structure, and grammar are good. This makes me happy because it’s not something I take for granted, not even in traditionally published books.

- Despite being the second book of a series and despite the many characters, it’s easy to follow along. Not once I got lost or I had to stop reading to figure out what was going on.

Nay!

- The plot is all over the place. The old murder to begin with, but the new mystery surrounding Mimi is a close second: try as I might, I can’t understand why banking everything on Summer’s willingness to sell the bookstore. She’s not related to Mimi, she doesn’t have any personal tie to her, bookish event aside. So? Would you sell your house because a new neighbor you know nothing about went missing or would you go to the police right away?

- As I said, the old murder reads off. It’s too far-fetched. I can suspend my disbelief to a point. Too much and the story becomes unrealistic.

- Peg and Lucy. There is a tie or two left hanging and a big question unanswered.

TL;DR

3 stars on GR.

I’m pleasantly surprised. I actually kind of liked this book. The first part of it, anyway.

It’s a few months after the events of the first book and it is Christmas time. Summer is still running the bookshop her mom has left her. Marilyn and Glads are still helping out all the time, despite having actual day jobs and organizing a Cozy Mystery Writers Meet-up. They’ve invited three cozy mystery writers to Brigid’s Island: Peg, Lucy and Mimi.

Mimi’s written a book that’s loosely based on unsolved murder that took place on Brigid’s Island 35 years ago. Before she’s even arrived on the island, she’s received a threat to stay away from the island. Which she doesn’t, but it’s decided - due to the threat - it’s better she’d stay at Summer’s house rather than at the B and B. Not entirely clear why.

Meanwhile, Summer receives a second box, this time from the storage room at the bookshop. This box has a scrapbook her mother kept with newspaper clippings from the old murder. Naturally, Summer is intrigued.

Then one of the boxes is stolen from Summer’s house and Mimi disappears. It seems someone wants the past to stay in the past.

Actually, it is up to this point I liked the story. Sure, the author is mostly writing for word count: thoughts are repeated too many times and there are unnecessarily long descriptions. But not actually all that much is happening in the sense of plot developments. Until, rather suddenly, there is a full confession of the guilty and an arrest by the police.

I’m sure this could have been a tighter story. There are too many characters hanging around the bookstore that serve no real purpose, and the characters of Peg and Lucy should have been fleshed out better for them to be hanging around for a few days extra.

Thank you NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. This book was my introduction to both rhe writing style of Maggie Blackburn and the Beach Reads Mystery series. Since I plan on reading the first book, I appreciate that there are not too many spoilers. However, it is clear that the Beach Reads Mystery books should be read in order. In Once Upon a Seaside Murder, the story is very interesting since there are many elements from the past that arise to the surface. A cold case has to be solved in order to understand a current disappearance. While the main character, Summer, manages to put some elements together (with the help of family members and friends), she is unfortunately not very likable. She struck me as being more juvenile than her teenage niece, Mia. In fact, Mia is the most likable character. While some parts of the storyline seemed a bit far stretched, it is a pleasant enough book, perfect for relaxing.

A beach read is perfect for this time of year, and this one improves from the first in the series. Faster pace with a good story lines and fun characters.

Once Upon a Seaside Murder is the 2nd book in the Beach Reads Cozy Mystery series. Summer Merriweather has returned to quiet Brigid's Island, NC, and is hosting a Christmas Cozy Mystery author event at her bookstore (owned for many years by her mother). When one of the authors goes missing, the mystery of a murder on the island thirty-five years ago is reopened. Summer puts her sleuthing skills to the test to figure out where this missing author is, figure out why her late mother seemed very interested in the old murder, and solve the old mystery.

This is the first book I've read in the Beach Reads series. I enjoyed the characters including Summer and her cousin Piper, niece Mia, and Aunt Agatha. The rekindled possible relationship with Cash was also well done.
The mystery itself was a good one, also..

I look forward to reading the next installment.

Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for an advance copy of this book. All opinions are mine.

I found Summer a bit more likable in this book, but still still pretty judgmental and arrogant.

Like the last book there were mistakes, a missing word here and there, but there were a couple storyline mistakes. Bashir is Summer's uncle and somewhere a long the line he becomes her cousin. There's so many characters, the author can't keep them straight either. A family member goes of the rails at Summer, and both Summer and I are like "What?!?" At no point was a problem with the other family member previously mentioned. Then the whole matter was instantly dropped until a quick reference towards the end of the book. The characters are all over the place emotionally and it's never developed or explained in a logical manner. "Oh, you didn't know there was heart disease?!?

Not a spoiler if you read the first book, doesn't actually spoil this book IMO:

<spoiler>Summer's relationships with her half siblings and still with her mother are off. I think she infers or even states her mother was wonderful, yet they had a difficult relationship where she literally walks away from her?<spoiler\>

I was able to finish the story and noted, but accepted, the inconsistencies which at other times may have made me not want to not finish.

I received my copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

Blackburn's second in her new series A Beach Reads Mystery is an excellent addition. I found the first to be slow to unfold at times and wasn't sure I would read more in the series. I'm glad I gave the second one a chance. It was much faster paced, had our familiar characters, as well as a few new ones. The mystery was well done with many twists and turns. A great cozy.

A intriguing cozy mystery that includes a book store owner of a small seaside town. (Summer Merriweather) who gets untangled in a decades old murder mystery involving her fathers family that she never knew.
Good storyline that holds the readers attention.
Well developed characters .
The main protagonists aversion to spiders was a bit repetitive .
A good read 4 stars
I received this ARC from Netgalley for a honest review.

This is second in the Beach Reads Mystery series ~ first is “Little Bookshop of Murder’.
Story takes place on Brigid’s Island, NC during the Christmas season.
Summer Merriweather is the owner of ‘Beach Reads’ a bookstore her inherited from her mother. She soon finds herself in a deep mystery regarding her father’s family.

This was a tad different than my typical ‘feel good” cozy~ have to admit the cover had me concerned!
I am sure I will read another of Ms. Blackburn stories but right now I still thinking about this one!

Want to thank NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for this early release granted to me for my honest professional opinion.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for October 12, 2021.

I liked the first book in this series better. This one was full of fits and starts. I found it hard to keep all the characters straight and the various story lines were jumbled as well. I did like the family history mystery and the references to the eighties. It was a decent read.

The setting is a bookstore and that is what drew me in. I do like bookstores. This one sounded cozy and fun. The whole mystery of the disappearing author was the background story. The family drama also added interest. I liked the group of friends that were also helpers and customers of the store. All the moving parts of the story made for good reading. I liked the book.

Okay. This book was much, much better than the first. There were still spelling errors, but nowhere near as bad as the first book. They didn’t use the wrong name for the aunt constantly. The main character was way less full of herself, and way less judgemental of everyone. It was an enjoyable and quick read. I was glad I gave it a chance. I liked the plot of this book better, it was really interesting.

Thank you Netgalley, and Crooked Lane books for the opportunity to read this.

The blurb of this book had me hooked and I was excited to jump right into reading it. Unfortunately, it took me a while to get into this book (I actually found myself skimming pages fairly often). The mystery was interesting, as was the island setting and the bookstore, but for some reason I had a hard time connecting with the main character, Summer. I haven't read the first book in this series and maybe I needed to before reading this one. I did enjoy the prologue. I plan on giving the next book a chance.

Thank you to Crooked Lane and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book. My thoughts and opinions are my own and without bias or favor or expectation.

#OnceUponaSeasideMurder #NetGalley

Twisted Beach Town Crimes
This book is the second of a series. The books should be read in order. I have not read the first book and I struggled with details through most of the story. Plus, there are so many characters with similar names; Mia, Marilyn, and Mimi, Peg, Poppy, and Piper. Even in the final denouement, I was having trouble figuring out who was who. It was the prologue that finally straightened it out in my head. The prologue is placed at the end of the book because, while it straightens out the details, it is full of spoilers and should be read last.
I did not care for the story and did not think it was well written. There are so many unnecessary details when that space should have been used to fill out the story instead of the background. If you have read the first book, you will enjoy the second book. I received this ARC book for free from Net Galley and this is my honest review.

Full disclosure: I received this ARC from netgalley and Crooked Lane in exchange for and unbiased review. Thank you for this opportunity.

Book 2 of Blackburn's A Beach Read Mystery Series finds a grieving Summer moving towards deciding which direction her life will take after her mother's death. This will be the first major holiday without her mom. It seems that the entire island is grieving along with her. Her mother's stalwart book club friends have decided to continue the plans to host a book store event featuring cozy mystery authors.
Mimi, one of the more 'colorful' authors is promoting a cozy mystery set on Brigid's Island. Based on a 35 year old cold case, the book throws Summer into confusion. Why was her mother so interested in the crime? Worse, were her newly discovered family involved?
When Mimi is kidnapped it is up to Summer, along with support from an unexpected ally to solve the crime. Will she succeed before she loses everything?

Blackburn is the author of several other cozy series under another pseudonym. She is skillful in setting the stage for further character development. Other books in her series have been voted in the 10 best Beach Read category. Even with the Christmas theme, Once Upon a Seaside Murder, could easily be coated with sun block.

Recommended

Let us start with a simple statement: Once Upon a Seaside Murder is a bad book.

Maggie Blackburn has not done her utmost in writing Once. There are gaping plot holes; for example, the island setting is small enough to have only two police officers, yet Summer, our protagonist, has never been to the other side of said island. And there are glaring factual errors; I defy Blackburn to explain to me how one can “see the lights of Raleigh sparkling in the distance” from any point in the Outer Banks of North Carolina when the nearest the Outer Banks come to Raleigh is around 150 miles.

Additionally, there are simple yet prominent editing errors, such as incorrect punctuation and an abundance of clichés, which are distracting enough to make me question the final product. But the biggest issue of all is that Summer frankly does not seem very intelligent.

In her entire life, she—a purported reader—has never learned anything about cozy mysteries, even through osmosis, and feels the need to comment on this throughout the novel; as much as I love a meta-narrative, it feels wildly out of place in this genre. And then there is the issue of her family.

Summer grew up on the same island as her half-siblings, the very place where her biological father lived. Presumably, they attended the same schools (but forgive me if I’m wrong; I never read the first book in this series, which may have contained this information). She, unlike her mother’s family, has olive skin, as do her siblings, who come from what seems to be the only Middle Eastern family on the island. They may share other features, such as eye shape or bone structure. Somehow, though, she never makes the connection. This is sloppy at best and downright dashed-off at worst. Blackburn should give her own characters more credit than this.

In the end, I learned that Maggie Blackburn is a pseudonym for Mollie Cox Bryan, at which point I realized why I was so frustrated with Once Upon a Seaside Murder: years ago, I made an attempt to read one of Bryan’s other cozies, and I made it only a quarter of the way through because the writing was bad. Therefore, at the 40% mark of Once, I gave up, assuming that things were unlikely to improve. Blackburn is welcome to try to prove me wrong.

I was delighted when I started reading this book that I recognized some of the characters. I had read Little Bookshop of Murder awhile back and remember really enjoying it. This book centers on a dark mystery surrounding Summer's father's family. She has just recently discovered them and some quite disturbing things turn up. The book is set near Christmas and Summer had a book panel come to the bookstore to discuss their cozy mysteries. One of the authors had been threatened over a book she had just written based on a murder that had happened some years ago in Mermaid Point so she's staying with Summer during her appearance at the bookstore. Then she just disappears.

This was an engaging mystery and I really enjoyed it. It kept my attention, and I wasn't sure until the end who was responsible for the bad things that were happening. The characters are quirky and fun.

Thanks to Crooked Lane Books through Netgalley for an advance copy. This book will be published on October 12, 2021.

After the first one in this series being a miss for me despite loving book set in bookstores and even beachside town settings. With the first book I didn't care for the mystery nor the characters. But I loved the writing style of the author. However with this one I enjoyed the mystery but it has been confirmed I did not like the characters.