A Page Marked for Murder is the fifth book in Lauren Elliott’s Beyond the Page Bookstore Mystery series and features one of my favourite amateur sleuths, Addison “Addie” Greyborne.
Title: A Page Marked for Murder
Author: Lauren Elliott
Series: Beyond the Page Bookstore Mystery #5
First Published: October 27, 2020
Publisher: Kensington Books
Genres: Mystery,
Acquired: from the publisher via Netgalley
*** Thank you to the publisher, Kensington Books, for providing me with an advanced e-copy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review. ***
January isn’t the season for the seaside, but the big Fire and Ice festival is keeping bookstore owner Addie Greyborne busy. Amid the plans for a fireworks display and an ice-carving competition, she’s also dog sitting for a friend in the hospital. When Addie goes to her friend’s house to gather supplies, she notices an interesting item on the nightstand which belongs to her shop assistant, Paige: a very valuable copy of the beloved children’s book The Secret Garden.
But Addie’s blood runs cold when she finds something else: a dead body behind the bakery next door to her shop. Martha, the bakery owner, has no alibi–and has been seen in a heated argument with the victim. And the next thing Addie knows, that first edition has gone missing. Is there a connection between the body and the treasured tome? If there is, it’s up to Addie to find a killer with a motive as hidden as Frances Hodgson Burnett’s famous garden…
Addie Greyborne helps out her frenemy
Since the start of the series, Addie has always had a cold relationship with neighbouring bakery owner Martha. Not that Addie hasn’t tried to be nice, but it seems that no matter how friendly Addie tries to be, Martha always responds in a nasty and bitter manner. However, over the last couple of books, it seems like Martha is finally warming up to Addie. It helps that Martha’s daughter, Paige, works for Addie.
In this instalment, Addie has to help clear Martha from being murder suspect number one when a dead body shows up on Martha’s doorstep. The victim just happens to be Paige’s ex-boyfriend and he was seen arguing with Martha, so she has lots of motive for wanting him dead.
I really enjoyed the murder mystery in this story. The solution was a bit unexpected and the “reveal” was quite different than most cozy mysteries, which was a nice surprise.
Alongside the murder, the rare copy of The Secret Garden that Paige owns is worth around $25,000 and it’s now missing. The search for the book and it’s possible relevancy to the murder case plays nicely alongside the murder. The solution to the missing book mystery also had a surprising ending and was also solved in a very satisfying way.
A couple of characters I could do without
I have been reading the Beyond the Page Bookstore Mystery series for awhile now and it’s always been an enjoyable read. Addie continues to be one of my favourite amateur cozy sleuths. I also really like Addie’s boyfriend, Simon. Simon is a solid, supporting influence on her and I really like them as a couple.
However, there are a couple of characters that have been added to the series that have proven to be extremely annoying. They were introduced in the last book and have an increased presence in this story.
First is Addie’s cousin, Kalea. This freeloading moocher is beyond annoying and I just really need Addie to put her foot down and kick her out. I knew she was trouble when she first came into Addie’s life and she’s definitely proving to be as much trouble as I expected.
However, Kalea is nothing compared to Police Chief Marc (Addie’s ex-boyfriend) and his new “relationship.” The “retired’ FBI agent, Ryley Brookes, who is now a police detective, is ten times more annoying than Kalea. When she was introduced in the last book, I mentioned in my review (which you can read here) that I thought it might be a conflict of interest that she was working with Marc and romancing him at the same time. I guess things like this are overlooked in a small town.
If you’re a frequent reader of my cozy mystery reviews, then you’ll know I absolutely hate stories where the police and the protagonist don’t get along. I understand that in real life, the police wouldn’t appreciate “extra help” from civilians. But in my cozy mysteries, I prefer that they have a civil relationship. I’m extra annoyed when the police officer is a woman and her main (or only) reason to be rude to the main character is that she’s jealous (yes, it comes up a lot in these books). And this is exactly what seems to be happening here. I absolutely can’t stand Ryley Brookes.
Are these annoying characters enough to make me skip the next book? Probably not. Like I said, I really like Addie. But I do hope that one or the other of these new “additions” either leaves or at least gets less annoying. If they don’t, then the next book may be the final one I read.
Read A Page Marked for Murder for yourself
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