I liked this book, but do feel that it lacked a little something. I enjoyed the storyline but felt in places that it dragged on a little and then all of a sudden we were at the end with a lot to cover which felt a little rushed.


As I said, the storyline itself was good and I think the fact that it was murder in the bookshop that really intrigued me. I hadn't worked out who was responsible for the murder or why and thought that this was done really well and loved the unfolding of it.


I do however love our main characters Hannah and Aunt Violet and I can honestly say that I' looking forward to the next one to see what they get up to next!

It's 1915. World War One is ongoing. Much to the dismay of her mother, Hannah Merrill lives in London. Her Aunt Violet comes to stay with her. The two have some things in common. Both are independent and not taking on the roles expected of women at that time. Violet has acquired a bookshop although no one knows how this came about. One day, after reports of some bombs nearby, Hannah goes to the bookshop to check on things. She discovers that the manager is gone for the day. he rarely spends any time in the shop and isn't fond of doing any work. When he returns, Hannah fires him and declares that she will run the bookshop herself. When she arrives the next morning, she is horrified to discover her best friend in the reading nook, with Hannah's own paper knife protruding from her chest. Hannah knows she is a suspect and she also wants to know who did this to her friend, so she starts to do some investigating herself. Soon, Aunt Violet decides to assist.

This is the first book in a new cozy series and I am eager to read on. I loved this book. Hannah and Aunt Violet are wonderful characters and I liked them from the start. The surrounding characters are well imagined. The setting is interesting. I enjoyed the references to literature and the way books were a part of the storyline. The solution was clever. In short, I loved everything about this book and I highly recommend it.

A promising start to a new series but it does need some work. The setting and character's were great and there was a lot going on with bombing's spies coded messages and the like. The mystery kept me guessing and I certainly didn't see the answer coming. However it felt a bit rushed and the ending didn't come together as well as it could have. Still looking forward to more with improvement I hope. . I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I have mixed opinions about this book. I loved the WWI setting and the characters. We also have German spies in the mix to give the story an extra dash of intrigue. The mystery kept me guessing till the end and the plot-to-story development was impressive. Having said that, this didn't feel like a historical mystery.

Coming to the plot-to-story development, we have war setting, spies, coded messages, rumor of bombings, women losing their loved ones at the war, young men enlisting in the army, and much more. In spite of all these, this book felt like just another cozy mystery - minus the historical element. Aunt Violet and Hannah are quite modern at time, and then there are times when the period-specific 'rules' apply to them.

Red herrings made it impossible for me to guess the killer's identity. Their identity was a surprise and unexpected, yes. But somehow, their role in the story and the reason for murder - I didn't like it as much as I wanted to.

This story had a lot of potential with interesting setting and likable characters. Niggles aside, I am looking forward to reading the next installment.

“Murder in the Bookshop” by Anita Davison
⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Thank you NetGalley, Anita Davison, and Boldwook Books for gifting me this title to review!

“Murder in the Bookshop” is about main character Hannah and her Aunt Violet. Aunt Violet owns a bookstore and Hannah was just recently put in charge of managing the store. This story takes place during the first year of WWI in the time of spies, men going off to war, and women’s rights campaigns. When Hannah finds a dead body in the bookstore one day after being appointed to run it, she is in shock - and has to know who did it.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. It was a super quick read and the characters were enjoyable. However, I guessed the murderer the second we were introduced to them, and I thought the plot twists weren’t “twisty” enough. I enjoyed the premise of this book, but thought it was drawn out and easy to make out the ending. Hence, 3 stars were given. I would read more titles by this author in the future!

If you’re interested in reading “Murder in the Bookshop” by Anita Davison, it will be released on August 22nd, 2023. Thanks again to NetGalley, Anita Davison, and Boldwook Books!
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Murder in the Bookshop looks to be the start of an engaging new cozy mystery series by Anita Davison.

The good:
The characters, they are interesting. I wanted to read what they were doing and learn more about them. They keep you engaged in the story.
The murder-mystery, the who, how, and potential why's for the murder are engaging. I genuinely wanted to know what was going on and why the character had been murdered.

The bad:
Almost everything else, the mystery is really interesting, the events surrounding the mystery unfold in intriguing and exciting ways, but around chapter 27 everything just sort of falls apart as the story rushes to an unearned and unexpected conclusion. I hope, given this is an ARC, we will see some editing in the future to bring more coherence and closure to the story and plot.

Overall, this was an engaging start to a Cozy series. I did like the characters A LOT. They were well-developed and I wanted to spend a bit more time exploring their world. However, because I did not like the conclusion to the story, this is one of those books/potential series, where I may come back and read another, but also may never revisit.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of Murder in the Bookshop by Anita Davison.