THE BOOK SELLER

4.5 stars out of 5

For openers, while it's not the most pressing issue in the world, I wish the various book sites would decide whether "bookseller" is one word or two (as a mostly retired journalist, I'm opting for the former). It would make locating this book on listings much, much easier.

That aside, only one thing took away a little enjoyment from this book: the star of the show, Helen Appleby, is overly paranoid; a little of that goes a really, really long way with me. But on the other hand, some of it is totally understandable; after all, she's just been released early from prison after a manslaughter conviction - and most of the folks around her are aware of that. So even an askance glance, I guess, could be enough to arouse her suspicions. Still...

Now that she's been sprung, she's determined to put her past behind her and start a new life. She's got a much-older brother and sister with whom she was never close, although the sister, Sarah Drew, is back in her life and for the most part trying to be helpful. Sarah is less than enthusiastic, though, when Helen buys a delapidated old building to refurbish as a used bookstore. She's an avid reader and doesn't need a ton of money to have a happy and productive life, so it's a chance she's willing to take.

Almost from the git-go, though, things go wrong; the building is closer to a money pit than a solid structure. Next door, she's got a pizza shop - handy  for lunches and such, but something about the twin owners gives Helen the creeps. As she starts the refurbishing and stocking process, other oddities crop up - like sounds that go bump in the night and outright break-ins that cost her double the prep work. As while she's happy to meet local people - hoping they're avid readers, of course - she always finds something that prevents her from trusting them fully. Amid all that, her start-up efforts are hindered a bit by an overly aggressive parole officer, Moira Manson, who fluctuates from threatening to send her back to prison to wanting to be her best friend.

For the most part, readers see everything through Helen's eyes, so it isn't till the end when the good guys and gals are separated from the bad and all's as right with the world as it can be. It's an enjoyable journey, though, with a couple of unexpected twists along the way. I'm happy I took the tour, and thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for the chance to read a pre-release copy.

The Book Seller by Valerie Keogh (Boldwood Books, March 2025); 287 pp.

ONE FOR THE HOOKS

4 stars out of 5

Fifty-ish widow Molly Pink returns home to find the back door wide open and her precious pets outside - clearly, someone's been inside. She's got a phone. Does she call the police? Does she go pound on her neighbor's door for help? Nope. She picks up a makeshift "weapon" and charges inside all alone. Right off the bat, nonsense typical of the heroine in a cozy novel - and the biggest reason I don't exactly cozy up to the genre. With a heavy sigh, I thought to myself this was the start of a pattern for disaster. 

But I love to crochet, which is what attracted me to the book in the first place - so I kept going. And I'm happy to say that in very short order, Molly, and an entertaining and clever plot, had me hooked. Not only is she the organizer of the Tarzana Hookers crochet group, she's developed a bit of a reputation for sleuthing (honed, no doubt, in the 13 previous books in this series). When a friend tells her that a local homeowner wants to get rid of an enormous amount of yarn, she consults with the owners of the California bookstore at which she works (in part managing the yarn shop inside), and off she goes for a looksee. The owner, who inherited the property, wants to turn part of the house into rental units - and the first thing Molly learns is that the neighbors are in a snit about it. 

But then, the woman who is helping the owner get the rooms ready to let gets bombarded by a drone - first by hitting her on the head and, as she falls, dropping a huge pile of smelly garbage on her. To the rescue comes Molly's former BFF, homicide detective Barry Greenberg. Since their breakup, he's been keeping his distance, but there are hints that the old flame could rise from the ashes at any given minute even though Molly has a new main squeeze named Mason, lawyer to the stars. He's hot to trot toward marriage, but so far she's holding steady at a canter.

Meantime, the older of Molly's two sons has unexpectedly returned home to quite literally take over her house, complete with a pregnant significant other and an attitude that would guarantee I'd kick him to the curb (if Molly has a fault, it's that she can't seem to say no to anybody). But since she spends a lot of time at work, sharing stories with her crocheting buddies and out following clues on behalf of her once-loved detective, she seems content to let her son have the run of her place. 

I was bothered a bit by some repetition - descriptions and utterings by characters in one chapter that had appeared in earlier chapters. But all's well that ends well, bringing a few gasps and a twist that most likely will get the attention of series readers (as for me, I was just happy that she finally said yes to something). The end also brought a couple of nice surprises, one in the form of a tasty-sounding recipe and the other the pattern for the "Serendipity scarf" that was featured in the story. Overall, I'm very happy to have read it - and yes, I'll be watching for No. 16. Thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read and review a pre-release copy. Good job!

One for the Hooks by Betty Hechtman (Crooked Lane Books, August 2021); 320 pp.

LITTLE BOOKSHOP OF MURDER

3 stars out of 5

I started this book with very positive expectations, simply because I could so well relate to main character Summer Merriweather. She's a woman who, like me, hates romance novels, dislikes cozy mysteries, has a history of working in higher education and is terrified of eight-legged critters. Wow, I thought; any or all of these threads will make for an interesting plot.

Woulda, coulda, shoulda - but didn't; the best I can say now that I've finished is that it's 20% substance and 80% speculation. The only one of those threads that was fully developed is her hatred of romance novels - which ironically, strung out over many pages, ended up being a tribute to how great they really are. Then there's higher education, in which I spent several enjoyable years as a university administrator; turns out Summer hates her experience. And in her mind, it hates her despite the fact that she has a Ph.D. in Shakespearean literature (which she's fond of throwing in the faces of those around her every time something doesn't go her way). Cozy mysteries, too, somehow become more friend than foe. And my angst at almost every page that some kind of confrontation with those aforementioned creepy crawlers would happen? Well, let's just say I worried for nothing.

The substance comes when Summer's mother, free-wheeling Hildy, owner of Beach Reads bookstore, drops dead of an apparent heart attack and Summer returns to Brigid's Island for the funeral. She reluctantly comes from her self-imposed exile in England (she escaped there after a classroom video she thinks maligned her dignity went viral online; after all, she has a Ph.D., don't you know). Now that she's back on the beach where she grew up, readers learn she never liked it there, didn't get along with her late mother and hates her mother's bookstore because it stocks "trashy" beach novels and not a single work of what she and her Ph.D. consider serious literature. If that weren't enough, when she left home years earlier, she left a sour taste in the mouth of several island residents.

Summer hasn't seen her mother for ages, but she somehow concludes she couldn't possibly have had a heart attack (the argument seemingly being that she ate healthy foods and practiced Yoga and witchcraft). The rest of the book mostly centers on never-ending speculation: Is it really murder? Did he do it? Did she? Will I get my teaching job back? Should I call to find out? Do I really want it back? Did my mother really love me? Do her friends love me? Why don't people understand that my Ph.D. makes me smarter than everybody else on this godforsaken island?

Besides that, while I realize the copy I read is a pre-release version, courtesy of the publisher via NeGalley, the book could stand a bit more editing. Glitches like Summer's telling one character that she'd finished a novel only to tell another just a few pages later that no, she had not, really put a damper on any enjoyment I was feeling at the moment. And I'm still flummoxed as to how a bird described as very large could perch comfortably on a single human finger. Oh wait; maybe that's because I don't have a Ph.D.

I'm going to assume (yes, I know what happens when you do) that the author is trying to lay a ton of fodder for the next book - this is supposed to be the first of a series, I believe - as well as familiarize readers with characters and settings. As far as the settings go, she was successful; I loved the bookstore and life on the island and and would be very interested in reading about them again. The characters, not so much; most were rather nondescript, and the snobby Summer can take her precious Ph.D. to England. Or Canada. Or anywhere except the next book. As she speculates about herself somewhere in the pages, "Summer was aware she wasn't easily liked...but she wasn't completely unlikable, was she?"

You already know my answer to that question. Sorry, but for me this series ends here. I'm PhinishD. 

Little Bookshop of Murder by Maggie Blackburn (Crooked Lane Books, July 2020); no page length listed.

THE CAT OF THE BASKERVILLES

5 stars out of 5

This is the third book in this highly entertaining Sherlock Holmes Bookshop Mystery series; I've read one other and enjoyed it, so when I was lucky enough to be approved by the publisher to read and review an advance copy in exchange for an honest review, I was a happy camper. When it turned out to be even better than that other one, well, my smile widened.

The cozy mysteries follow the amateur sleuthing of Gemma Doyle, co-owner of the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop and Emporium in West London, Massachusetts. Another of the three owners is Jayne Wilson, who also owns and operates a tea shop/bakery that's attached to the bookstore. Originally from England, Gemma has a nose for details and, it seems, loves nothing better than sticking it into the business of the local police (sometimes unintentionally, sometimes not). That both annoys and pleases police detective, Ryan - a former lover who "dumped" her and left the area for another job. Now he's back and the attraction is there, but they've since been holding each other at arms' lengths.

As this begins, the community is excited to learn that a well-known but aging stage actor, Sir Nigel Bellingham, will be in town to star in a local theater production of Holmes's The Hound of the Baskervilles. As rehearsals begin, organizers decide to hold a fund-raising English tea at the home of one of the well-heeled theater-loving ladies - and Jayne convinces Gemma that their shops should handle the catering. Gemma is less enthusiastic, but she agrees. After all, it's a private event for about a hundred local hoity-toits - what could possibly go wrong?

Make that plenty - starting with the fact that Sir Nigel turns out to be a nasty old drunk. Still, everyone expects that his professionalism will surface long enough for him to get through the play; that is, until he's found quite dead at the bottom of a cliff on the property. To make matters even worse, if that's possible, the primary suspect is Jayne's mother Leslie.

Gemma is certain Leslie is innocent, and of course, she sets out to prove it while trying to keep her poking nose out of the sight of law enforcement. That proves next to impossible most of the time, which strains the already fragile relationship between Gemma and Ryan (as well as with Ryan's partner, who has butted heads with Gemma on more than one occasion and isn't fond of her meddling).

More details I must necessarily leave for other readers to discover, but I will say that anyone who enjoys an occasional respite from heavier reading (as I do) or simply the more lighthearted approach of an interesting cozy mystery won't go wrong by picking this one. Thoroughly enjoyable!

The Cat of the Baskervilles: A Sherlock Holmes Bookshop Mystery by Vicki Delany (Crooked Lane Books, February 2018); 304 pp.

PLAID AND PLAGIARISM

3 stars out of 5


The checklist I use when I'm composing a book review includes how reluctant I am to shut down my Kindle when other duties call - and on the other end, how eager I am to start reading it again. On that score, this one falls a bit short. It's certainly not a bad story, but I just couldn't work up much enthusiasm for it.

Honestly, I'm not sure why. Admittedly I'll never be a huge fan of "cozy" mysteries, but I do enjoy them now and again. I love books and bookstores (one of my favorite series is Lawrence Block's The Burgler Who, with Barnegat Books owner Bernie Rhodenbarr), and this book focuses on the four new owners of Yon Bonnie Books. The setting is the smallish Scotland community of Inversgail, a country of interest to me thanks to a wonderful daughter-in-law who was born and raised in the United Kingdom. There are even wee touches of humor here and there and it's the first of a series, all coming together to make the book a seemingly ideal choice for me - hence my quick acceptance of an advance copy (via NetGalley) in exchange for an honest review.

Janet Marsh is one of the four bookstore owners who has returned from Illinois to Scotland, where she lived with her now ex-husband (a.k.a. The Rat) until about five years ago. She starts off in something of a confused state when she learns her former house won't be ready to move into as planned. Then, she learns it'll be even longer because it's been vandalized for the second time. As if that weren't enough, there's still another delay when the body of local advice columnist (a.k.a. "Agony Aunt") Una Graham (a.k.a. "Ug") is found in the shed behind Janet's house - the shed The Rat built that Janet always hated anyway.

The other owners include Janet's 38-year-old daughter Tallie (short for Natalie), a lawyer back in the states, Janet's old friend Christine Robertson and journalist Summer Jacobs, Tallie's former college roommate. They begin the transition to full-time owners with the help of former owners Kenneth and Pamela Lawrie as well as pursue plans to create a tea room and small bed-and-breakfast in the space next to the bookstore. Janet learns that the neighbor next door to her not-yet-ready-to-move-in house is an illusive but well-known author, and the bookstore itself becomes a haven for a mysterious old woman who sits in the shop for hours tending to her knitting and not once uttering a word. Meanwhile, there's an upcoming annual Inversgail Literature Festival, and two of the bookstore owners take on even more work by agreeing to serve as judges for what seemed to me to be an astounding number of entries given the size of the community.

Whew! Wound in and around all this is the four women's unflagging determination to find the murderer; in between all their other activities they keep notes on their investigation in the Cloud and bug the heck out of the local police detective (himself a curious and not particularly likable person, BTW).

All in good fun, right? It should be, but to me, not so much. There are a few too many characters for me to keep straight, a few too many Gaelic words and phrases that kept me a bit confused, and the banter among the four store owners never really clicked in my [non-Scottish] brain. By about the three-quarter mark, I really didn't care who the culprit was (but that said, yes, it was a surprise, and that's a plus). All things considered, I'm sure this book will have appeal to many readers, and there's plenty of potential for the series as a whole. But wheesht - it didn't quite do it for me.

Plaid and Plagiarism: The Highland Bookshop Mystery Series Book 1 by Molly MacRae (Pegasus Books, December 2016); 336 pp.

DEATH BY TEA

4 stars out of 5

As an avid reader with special interest in the mystery/thriller genre, I'm always on the lookout for a good series. In particular, I like books I can turn to when I've had my fill of blood and guts, mayhem and hard-boiled heroes who can kill five villains with their bare hands despite a broken leg and two gunshot wounds. I still want  books in the mystery category, mind you - I just want them a bit on the lighter side. As such, I count The Cat Who series by Lilian Jackson Braun, The Burgler Who series by Lawrence Block and the Chet and Bernie mysteries by Spencer Quinn among my go-to favorites (all of which, unfortunately, I've read by now).

Happily, this book, which I received at no cost from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a review, fills the bill nicely. The heroine, Krissy Hancock, is the owner of Death by Coffee - a combination coffee shop and bookstore. She made her debut, if I read correctly, in Death by Coffee, which I have not read. This one stands on its own quite well, but little references here and there to incidents I assume happened in the predecessor suggest that I'd have preferred, as is my custom, to read the first one first.

Her little shop has been chosen as a meeting place by a book club, which is prepping for participation in (and winning) a book club competition. Yep, you read that right - I've never heard of such a thing either. They picked the place in part because the book they'll be reading was written by Krissy's father, even though by his own admission it's not one of his best. One night after all the club members and employees have gone, a man - one of the club members - is murdered. He was, it seems, bashed in the head by a teapot.

Krissy, a likable but downright nosy sort, begins to investigate despite warnings from the local police to butt out. Although she apparently helped police solve a different murder earlier - presumably the subject of the first book - this time out she's managed to become a prime suspect herself. Undaunted, she perseveres, putting personal relationships and even her life in jeopardy along the way. 

As for Krissy, I flip-flopped from relating to her as a person to, well, not so much. She insists no man looks good in a Speedo (right on), but she abhors all country music (whoa, Nelly)! My biggest turn-off came early on: Her favorite sweet treat is a cup of coffee with a chocolate chip cookie at the bottom of the cup. Gross! Also, some of the situations in which she puts herself even though she's a suspect made me think she's either incredibly naive or impossibly stupid, but hey - if I'm honest, I must admit that nosy me probably have done exactly what she did. More to the point here, though, is that it all works - making the whole thing quite an enjoyable read.

As for me, I've put this series on my to-read list and now await publication of the next one.

Death By Tea by Alex Erickson (Amazon Digital Services, November 2015); 320 pp.

THE BURGLAR WHO COUNTED THE SPOONS

4 stars out of 5

It's no secret that I read a lot of books (on my Kindle Fire, thank you very much - I think the only books with real pages I've read in the past eight years or so had Harry Potter in the title). It's also no secret that I love a good bargain. And when those two passions come together, well, I'm a happy woman.

In this case, make that deliriously happy. You see, I fell in love with the Lawrence Block series featuring Manhattan bookstore owner and part-time burglar Bernie Rhodenbarr from the very first; they're funny, a delight to read and offer a wonderful respite in between heavier tomes (another series I love and turn to when I'm tired of blood and guts, BTW, is Spencer Quin's Chet and Bernie series).

But with Block's series, there's been a teeny problem; I've now read them all. In fact, I finished The Burglar on the Prowl, written in 2005, this past August (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1015328840). On no, said I, whatever shall I do for comic relief now?

And then to my wondering eyes came a list of books on sale, as it turned out, for just one day. And would you believe that list contained the most recent, and new-to-me Rhodenbarr Book No. 11? And at just $1.99, no less? Needless to say, it was mine as fast as I could i-click it to my Kindle (for the record, it's priced at $3.99 as I write this). For a fleeting moment, I vowed to put it aside until I'd finished a book or two that messed with my head - but alas (or happily, in this case), I didn't listen to my inner voice, opened it up and got right down to it.

And while I know I'll be kicking myself later when I'm in need of something breezy, I'm too delighted to have found (and enjoyed) this one that for now, I'll worry about tomorrow, well, tomorrow.

I will say, though, that although this one is very good, it's not quite the Bernie Rhodenbarr of old. The standard formula - Bernie breaks into someone's home or apartment to steal something, finds a dead body (or one turns up shortly thereafter) and Bernie gets accused of the murder, usually by his nemesis, NYPD officer Ray Kirschbaum, really doesn't happen here. Oh yes, there is a body - that of a wealthy elderly widow who returns home early from a Metropolitan Opera concert and collapses after seeing what apparently was a robbery. But Bernie was nowhere near the place; instead, he was busy breaking in elsewhere, to steal an object for a client who has a button fetish and is willing to shell out big bucks to add to his collection.

Also in a bit of a plot twist, rather than being somewhat at odds, Bernie and Officer Ray actually team up to solve the widow's murder - culminating, as usual, with a gathering of all the suspects (and Bernie's pet-groomer lesbian sidekick, Carolyn) at the bookstore, where the culprit will be revealed.

As one reviewer pointed out, it's not known whether Bernie and friends will make more appearances between pages - Block self-published this one and
apparently isn't talking. I do know, however, that my fingers are crossed. I've got a big list of heavy-duty thrillers vying for my attention, and I'll be needing a respite soon.

The Burglar Who Counted the Spoons by Lawrence Block (Amazon Digital Services Inc., December 2013); 250 pp.