A Deadly Chapter is the 3rd book in the charming Castle Bookshop Mystery series by Essie Lang. I just love the idea of a bookshop inside a castle on an island!
Title: A Deadly Chapter
Author: Essie Lang
Series: A Castle Bookshop Mystery #3
First Published: March 9, 2021
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
Genres: Mystery
Acquired: from the publisher via Netgalley
*** Thank you to Crooked Lane Books, for providing me with an advanced e-copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review. ***
Wake up on a houseboat, moored in scenic Alexandria Bay, New York. Just another glorious morning for bookseller Shelby Cox. Until she goes outside to discover a body lodged between the side of her houseboat and the dock, his skull shattered.
The victim isn’t a local, but Shelby can’t shake the feeling she’s seen him before. Twice, in fact–that’s how many times he’s dropped into Bayside Books asking about an enigmatic woman who lived on Blye Island many years before. The last time? The day before he was found. But the poor man obviously was killed elsewhere, so who brought him down to the bay, and why?
When the victim’s daughter arrives demanding answers, Shelby takes the case, despite Police Chief Tekla Stone’s usual reservations. But Shelby uncovers more suspects than there are pages in War and Peace, and Shelby can expect no peace–except the peace of the grave–unless she can turn the page on this grisly mystery.
A cast of charming and interesting characters
I really enjoyed the previous books in this series so I jumped at the chance to review A Deadly Chapter and revisit Alexandria Bay again. I love the description of this place and the fact that Shelby lives on a houseboat gives the book a unique setting.
But ‘environment’ can only get you so far. You need some interesting characters to live in that environment. And this is something this series really has in spades.
The main character, Shelby is fantastic. After returning to Alexandra Bay for good, she has really settled into her new life, including running the two bookstores she co-owns with her Aunt Edie and enjoying her steady relationship with Coast Guard agent Zack Griffin. She is level-headed and reliable and I find her more relatable than many cozy mystery sleuths that are more reckless or unbelievable.
Another fairly unique character to this series is a mature, female police chief, Chief Tekla Stone. She’s no-nonsense and competent without being rude or obnoxious (a trait I find many female police officers have in cozy mysteries). She appreciates Shelby’s help, but does spend quite a bit of time warning her off the case. It’s so refreshing to read a cozy mystery where the detective involved isn’t either a love interest or a jealous rival!
Along with the wonderful returning cast of characters, there are also a few new faces on the scene, including the victim’s daughter, Hilary, who is a local artist and is determined to catch her father’s killer – with Shelby’s help, of course.
There’s much to enjoy in the Castle Bookshop Mysteries
Along with the murder mystery, there is another mystery to wrap our heads around – Shelby’s mother. In the last book, we learn that Shelby moved to Boston with her dad when she was three after her mother had died. Or so she was told. Shelby recently learned the truth – her mom had run off and left Shelby and Shelby’s father. In A Deadly Chapter, Shelby learns even more about her wayward mother – maybe more than she wants to know – and it proves to be another thing that Shelby must deal with alongside solving the murder.
And if solving a murder AND learning the truth about her mother wasn’t enough, Shelby is forced to take a serious look at her relationship with Zack as he has some changes of his own to announce. Whew! Lots of drama going on in this small-town caper!
If it sounds like that’s a lot to pack into one book, it never felt like it when I was reading the book. It’s very well paced and moved along quite quickly, although I sometimes it did feel like there was more emotional things going on than mystery-solving things. However, a lot of those ’emotional things’ helped to push some great character development forward and I think it bodes well for future books in the series.
Read A Deadly Chapter for yourself
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