Murder at the Bookshop (Miss Merrill & Aunt Violet Mysteries #1) by Anita Davison
Genre: Historical mysteries, Cosy mystery
Read: 14th August 2023
Published: 22nd August 2023
★★★★ 4 stars
DESCRIPTION:
1915, London: Working in the dusty bookshop that her Aunt Violet mysteriously inherited, Hannah Merrill is accustomed to finding twists in every tale. But discovering her beloved best friend Lily-Anne – with a paperknife through her heart – in the middle of the bookshop, is not a plotline she saw coming.
The case is anything but textbook. With the discovery of a coded German message, and Hannah’s instinct that Lily-Anne’s husband is keeping secrets, she determines to get to the bottom of it.
She can’t do it alone though. To crack this case, Hannah will need the enlist the help of her outrageous, opinionated, only-occasionally-objectionable Aunt Violet.
They think they’re making progress until one of their chief suspects is found dead. And Hannah realises that she is herself now in the murderer’s sights. Will the final chapter be the ending of a killer… or just a killer ending?
A totally addictive, WW1-set cozy mystery, perfect for fans of Verity Bright, T.E. Kinsey, and Agatha Christie
MY THOUGHTS:
What a delightfully fun read this was! Filled with German spies, suffragettes, bombings, nefarious employees, family secrets and a murder or two, well, what more can you want? I loved both Hannah and her Aunt Violet.
London 1915: War is raging in Europe while Zeppelin raids over London leave the city in tatters, much to the dismay of Hannah's mother who wishes her daughter would return to the safety of Surrey. On the morning after a raid, Hannah hurriedly heads to the bookshop her Aunt Violet owns in Covent Garden and is relieved to find it undamaged. Their apprentice Archie is instilled behind the counter but their manager is nowhere to be found. Hannah casts her eye over the bookshop and is horrified to see the state it is in. It seems manager Monty Carstairs has been somewhat lackadaisical in keeping shop. It seems he is never there and leaves the running of the shop to their apprentice.
Hannah begins the task of tidying up and comes across what appears to be a deck of cards but upon closer inspection reveals they are postcards of scantilly clad girls that Archie informs her Monty has been selling on the side. Stuffing them into her handbag when she hears the bell over the shop door ring out and turns to find their absentee manager. But it seems he is not stopping. He only wanted to make sure Archie was doing his job before he headed off to lunch. Hannah fires him on the spot and declares that she will manage the shop herself. Monty threatens that this won't be the last she hears from him. After he storms out, Hannah realises she neglected to ask for his keys back.
The next morning when she arrives bright and early to continue with the work she and Archie made a start on the day before, she is horrified to discover her best friend Lily-Anne in her reading nook...with a paper knife protruding from her chest. She has Archie run for a policeman, who calls for his superior Inspector Farrell, who then investigates the murder.
Despite knowing she is a suspect, Hannah wants to know who killed her friend and so she and Aunt Violet stealthily do their own sleuthing.
There is so much more to this cosy little fun read but I won't spoil it for you. Let's just say there are red herrings aplenty and a little bit of romance along the way. There are no sex scenes and this is just good clean fun, in the form of Agatha Christie. But with more witty humour added.
I will be interested to see where things head next for the sleuthing duo as well as with Darius. Overall, an entertaining fun read that whiled away a few hours I read in one sitting.
I would like to thank #AnitaDavison, #Netgalley, #BoldwoodBooks and #RachelsRandomResources for an ARC of #MurderInTheBookshop in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Anita now lives in the beautiful Cotswolds, the backdrop for her Flora Maquire mysteries.
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