Lauren Elliott

Books: Mystery

Murder by the Book (2018)

There was a lot happening in this story.

"The first incident was almost a year ago. My fiancé, David, was murdered in our apartment in Boston."

"About six months ago, my father was killed in a car crash, not far from here, actually. Pen Hollow, just down the coast."

Three months ago, I got a call from a lawyer, informing me my great-aunt had passed away. They'd done an extensive family search and discovered I was the only surviving relative, so I was to inherit her entire estate."

And, on her first day of opening her new store, someone tries to kill her, someone breaks into the store, and someone breaks into her house.

As I said, that is a lot.

My problems were several-fold.

First, she suffered two huge and unexpected losses in a year. I feel surprised that she wasn't seeing a counselor and that she would be able to function enough to make sound decisions.

Second, that her great-aunt didn't reach out to her after her father's death, and didn't name her specifically in her will.

Third, her aunt had been dead for three months, which meant the house was unoccupied for someone period of time, so why would someone want until the opening over her store to search for items (this might be a spoiler, but it's pretty obvious someone is searching for a specific object).

Fourth, her business neighbor, is written as an over-the-top terrible person. Excessively so, to the point I had trouble believing in her actions.

That's not to say the story and the mystery were bad, just that I had problems with the things mentioned above, as well as the romance sub plot. Just… ugh.

So I didn't hate it, but I don't feel inclined to search out the second book.

Publisher: Kensington Cozies

Rating: 5/10