Bookclubbed to Death

November 14, 2022
In Agatha finalist Burns’s disappointing eighth Mystery Bookshop mystery (after 2021’s Killer Words), Market Street Mysteries bookstore owner Samantha “Sam” Washington finds herself in trouble with the police when book club leader and prominent book reviewer Delia Marshall turns up dead in her shop in North Harbor, Mich., after the two had arranged a meeting regarding a book purchase. As Sam learns, Delia was a prolific blackmailer, so the list of potential suspects is a considerable one, including book club members and other locals wronged by Delia. Sam is aided in her quest to stay out of jail by her lawyer sister, Jenna; her fiancé, Frank Patterson; and her grandmother Nana Jo. Repetition, a clunky revelation of the perpetrator that comes without sufficient interaction with the character, and lack of facility with British idiom in an intrusive subplot fail to convince. Hopefully, Burns returns to form next time. Agent: Dawn Dowdle, Blue Ridge Literary.

January 1, 2023
A Michigan bookstore owner and budding mystery writer polishes off a novel while probing the death of a nuisance client. When a tornado flattens the North Harbor public library, aspiring author Samantha Washington is happy to help librarian Charlotte Simmons by relocating the library's book clubs to Samantha's mystery bookstore. Unfortunately, Delia Marshall, the syndicated book critic in charge of the Mystery Mavens Book Club, wants more than just space. Imperious Delia lets Sam know that she doesn't "need to go overboard to impress the group. A light lunch and cocktails will be fine with coffee and dessert." She also expects Sam to lock up her ferocious 7-pound toy poodles, Snickers and Oreo, during the club's meetings. Unfortunately, the dogs get loose, and one of them lunges at Delia, causing her to fall. Sam's initial concern over a potential lawsuit is outweighed when Delia is found dead in the bookstore, bashed in the bean by a single-volume The Complete Works of Agatha Christie--which certainly must be heavy, since it includes 66 novels and dozens of short stories and plays--that Delia had special ordered from Sam several weeks earlier. Sam's fears get an upgrade because the police regard her as their chief suspect. Fortunately, Delia's enemies are legion, so it isn't hard for Sam to come up with alternatives. Nor is it hard for her to complete her latest novel, a 1930s British thriller set in Windsor Castle and starring King George IV, large chunks of which appear in between the chapters recounting Sam's investigations. Inserting palace intrigue into a shopkeeper cozy may sound like a bargain, but sometimes you get what you pay for. The dark side of buy one, get one free.

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April 14, 2023
Samantha Washington, owner of the Market Street Mysteries bookstore in North Harbor, Michigan, writes mysteries--and solves them. The mystery of the title, the one in the present day, is the identity of the person who killed influential book reviewer Delia Marshall in Sam's bookstore with a volume from Agatha Christie's complete works. The mystery Sam is writing in her series set among royalty in pre-WWII England is, Who killed the newspaperwoman whose body was found with papers from an infamous red box? The main story begins when Sam hosts Delia's Mystery Mavens book club. With her first book due to come out and hoping for a good review, Sam acquiesces to Delia's many demands, but the meeting ends up a disaster when Sam's poodles get in Delia's way. The next morning, Sam's grandmother, Nana Jo, arrives at the bookstore to find Delia's body. When the police peg Sam as their prime suspect, Nana Jo convenes her friends from the retirement home to learn who wanted Delia dead. For Sam, continued work on her next book offers both solace and clues. Cozy fans seeking bookstore settings, endearing poodles, and a British historical mystery all rolled together will appreciate the eighth in this series from a prolific African American author.

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