Great Escapes Blog Tour, Review, and Giveaway: Little Bookshop of Murder by Maggie Blackburn

 

 

Today I’m participating in the Little Bookshop of Murder Great Escapes Blog Tour.  In this post you’ll find information about the book and author along with my review.  And be sure to enter the giveaway for a chance to win an eBook novella and a $10 Amazon gift card. 

 

About the book . . .

 

  

 

Little Bookshop of Murder

A Beach Reads Mystery

 

Cozy Mystery
1st in Series
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books (September 8, 2020)
Hardcover
ISBN-10: 1643854380
ISBN-13: 978-1643854380
Digital ASIN: B0818ZX2NY
 

 

 

Synopsis . . .  A Shakespearean scholar inherits a beachside bookshop—and a murder mystery—in this delightful new cozy series for fans of Kate Carlisle and Ellery Adams.

Summer Merriweather's career as a Shakespeare professor hangs by a bookbinder's thread. Academic life at her Virginia university is a viper's pit, so Summer spends her summer in England, researching a scholarly paper that, with any luck, will finally get her published, impress the Dean, and save her job. But her English idyll ends when her mother, Hildy, shuffles off her mortal coil from an apparent heart attack.

Returning to Brigid's Island, NC, for the funeral, Summer is impatient to settle the estate, sell her mom's embarrassingly romance-themed bookstore, Beach Reads, and go home. But as she drops by Beach Reads, Summer finds threatening notes addressed to Hildy: "Sell the bookstore or die."

Clearly, something is rotten on Brigid's Island. What method is behind the madness? Was Hildy murdered? The police insist there's not enough evidence to launch a murder investigation. Instead, Summer and her Aunt Agatha screw their courage to the sticking place and start sleuthing, with the help of Hildy's beloved book club. But there are more suspects on Brigid's Island than are dreamt of in the Bard's darkest philosophizing. And if Summer can't find the villain, the town will be littered with a Shakespearean tragedy's worth of corpses—including her own.

 

 

My review . . . Summer Merriweather is called back to her childhood home in Brigid’s Island off the coast of North Carolina for the funeral of her mother Hildy, owner of Beach Reads, a charming bookstore on the town’s boardwalk. Summer instinctively knows that the cause of her mother’s death—a heart attack—can’t be right.  After all, Hildy was an otherwise physically-fit woman with no apparent signs of heart disease who led a healthy lifestyle that included a vegan diet and yoga.  But if natural causes weren’t involved, what then?  The thought of foul play seems unthinkable.  Who would want to harm the free-spirited Hildy, the beloved bookstore owner, supporter of charitable causes, and pillar of the community?

 

As she awaits the results of Hildy’s autopsy, Summer and her family search for answers, despite the police chief’s assertion that there is no evidence of a crime.  Summer soon discovers that Hildy received several offers for her bookstore, as well as threats if she refused to sell.  And now Summer, the bookstore's heir apparent, is receiving similar threats.  Is this the key to unlocking the mystery of Hildy’s death?

 

Little Bookshop of Murder is an engaging read beyond the elements of the murder mystery it presents.  Its setting and characters add massive appeal factors.  Notably, there’s the relatable recounting of the mother-daughter relationship between Hildy, a single mother and Summer, who doesn’t know the identity of her father. Their bond has always been strong, even though their life choices have led them down different paths. They were always supportive of each other, although as a Shakespeare scholar and college professor, Summer is a bit of a book snob. She’s proud of her mother’s creation, yet embarrassed by its inventory. 

 

Hildy’s shop is the heart and soul of Little Bookshop of Murder, a popular tourist attraction and welcoming place just steps from the beach, and filled to the brim with romance and mystery novels, mermaid art, and author signatures on its walls and floors.  This is the hub for the book’s literally colorful cast of characters, including women of a certain age with pink hair, floral tattoos, and vibrant eyeglass frames. There’s also a congenial book group—the Mermaid Pie Book Club—populated by many of these same women, whose warmth and moral support help Summer through vulnerable moments as she seeks closure related to her mother’s death and confronts her current career crisis. They are also witnesses to her flair for running the bookshop and evolving appreciation of the popular fiction Summer formerly thought of as inferior to the literature of her educational background.

 

In this first book of a delightful new series, Author Maggie Blackburn has created an inviting environment in which she has planted promising seeds for future story development. One can’t help but wonder what the future holds for Professor Summer Merriweather, her family and friends, and the residents of Brigid’s Island.

 

 

Giveaway . . . Enter the Little Bookshop of Murder Giveaway for the chance to win an eBook novella and $10 Amazon gift card by clicking on this link. 

 

 

About the author . . .  Maggie Blackburn is the author of the Cora Crafts mysteries and the Cumberland Creek mysteries under another pen name. Her books have been selected as finalists for an Agatha Award and a Daphne du Maurier Award and as a Top 10 Beach Reads by Woman’s World. She has also been short-listed for the Virginia Library People’s Choice Award. 

 

 

 

She is the mother of two young women who are off following their dreams in the music business. She currently lives in Waynesboro, VA, and works at the University of Virginia as a development associate. 

 

 

Author links . . .

            Website:  http://www.molliecoxbryan.com     Twitter:  @molliecoxbryan

 

 

Purchase links . . . 

              Amazon         B&N         Kobo 

 

 

 

  

 

 

Tour Participants . . .

September 8 – Baroness’ Book Trove – REVIEW 

September 8 – Cozy Up With Kathy – REVIEW, AUTHOR INTERVIEW

September 8 – Ascroft, eh? – CHARACTER INTERVIEW

September 8 – Thoughts in Progress – SPOTLIGHT

September 9 – Hearts & Scribbles – SPOTLIGHT

September 9 – Books a Plenty Book Reviews – REVIEW

September 9 – Sapphyria’s Books – REVIEW

September 9 – Mystery Thrillers and Romantic Suspense Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

September 10 – I’m All About Books – SPOTLIGHT, RECIPE

September 10 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT

September 10 – The Pulp and Mystery Shelf – SPOTLIGHT

September 10 – Reading, Writing & Stitch-Metic – SPOTLIGHT

September 11 – Book Club Librarian – REVIEW

September 11 – Celticlady’s Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

September 11 – Brooke Blogs – CHARACTER GUEST POST

September 11 – Nadaness In Motion – SPOTLIGHT

September 12 – Here’s How It Happened – SPOTLIGHT

September 12 – Moonlight Rendezvous – REVIEW  

September 12 – Literary Gold – SPOTLIGHT

September 12 – The Avid Reader – REVIEW

September 13 – eBook addicts – REVIEW

September 13 – Melina’s Book Blog – REVIEW

September 13 – My Reading Journeys – REVIEW

September 13 – StoreyBook Reviews – GUEST POST

September 13 – Reading Is My SuperPower – REVIEW

 

 

Note . . . I received a complimentary copy of Little Bookshop of Murder from the publisher via #NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

 

This Blog Tour, Review, and Giveaway post was originally composed and/or compiled and published by Catherine for the Book Club Librarian blog.  It cannot be republished without attribution.