Summer

12 April 2010

MURDER IS BINDING: A Booktown Mystery - Lorna Barrett

From the back of the book: Stoneham, New Hampshire, was a dying town until community leaders invited booksellers to open up shop. Now, its streets are lined with booksellers--and paved with murder...
When she moved to Stoneham, city-slicker Tricia Miles was met with friendly faces. And when she opened her mystery bookstore, she was met with friendly competition. But when she finds Doris Gleason dead in her own cookbook store, killed with a kitchen knife, the atmosphere seems more cutthroat than cordial. Someone wanted to get their hands on the rare cookbook that Doris had recently purchased--and the locals think that someone is Tricia. To clear her name, Tricia will have to take a page out of one of her own mysteries---and hunt down someone who isn't killing by the book....
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What is not to love about a well written amateur sleuth mystery set in a town that centers around bookshops? There is a neatly crafted mystery with a good reason for the amateur sleuth, Tricia, to get involved in solving the murder. She makes for a really good suspect and she wants it known to the sheriff (who is acting like Tricia is the only suspect) that she didn't have anything to do with the victim except to discover her dead body.
And there's her seemingly irritating sister who looks like she is ready to move to Stoneham and be in Tricia's life forever, something Tricia isn't overly pleased about.
She just wants to have her shop and her life back and she is going to have to take matters in her own mystery loving hands.
I had a lot of fun reading this. I had it as my bedside book and it kept me up at night to read 'just one more page...' and up earlier in the AM and on the recumbent bike for a little while longer to find what Tricia was going to do or what Angelica was going to do lovingly irritate her sister again.
Oooooh! And there are super yummy recipes in the back!!
Five highly excellent just one more page beans....

9 comments:

Unknown said...

Thank you for the lovely review. I hope you'll try the other books in the series; Bookmarked for Death and Bookplate Special (the latter is up for an Agatha Award for best novel of 2009 at the end of the month). The 4th book, Chapter & Hearse, will be released on August 3rd, and I'm hard at work on #5 (Sentenced to Death) right now.

Sherri said...

Oh Vickie, I have this book on my to read mountain and now I can't wait to read it! I just moved it up towards the top!! Thanks for a great review!

Vickie said...

Lorna: Thank you for visiting my blog! I really enjoyed the first book and I have the next two in the series ready to go. Diggin' the titles on #4 and #5.

Sherri: You will definitely like this, good on ya for bumping it up. I highly encourage it. *grin*

WonderBunny said...

I'm glad you liked this so much Vickie. It was good and I'm looking forward to the others in the series.

Unknown said...

So glad you enjoyed this one! I read it last year and loved it, can't wait to get to the rest this year (hopefully).

Vickie said...

RuthAnn: I kind of thought I'd dig it due to the premise of the bookselling angle, but I liked it even more.

Kris: I am in cozy mode for whatever reason and I will be reading the next two very soon. Hope you get to them soon, too.

Becky said...

I read this book last month and really enjoyed it. I have the the other two books on my reading list and am anxious get to them.

Mickie said...

Yet again, another series you've tempted and sold me on!!!!

My mountain of Readme's teeters precariously!!

Thank you!

laurieleeblogspot said...

Vickie, I think I found ONE book that you read that I can read! The setting in New Hampshire might have something to do with it too.
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