It all starts with a tornado.
Sam(antha) Washington opens up her bookstore to the Mystery Mavens Book Club after their usual meeting place, the library, is damaged by the tornado. The club leader, Delia Marshall, is anything but friendly, however, and soon has Sam sputtering as Deila exits the first meeting there after threatening to sue her and have her beloved dogs put down for attacking her. Never mind that she kicked one of them first and the other was merely acting to protect. Sam's friends and family rally around her, however, and a phone call from Delia reassures her that all will be well, Delia has bigger fish to fry, so to speak, but she wants the special order Agatha Christie book she ordered delivered immediately if not sooner. Sam drives the book to Delia's home, only to find it empty. Imagine her surprise to later discover Delia's body in her bookshop. Even worse, she's the prime suspect.
I have to admit, Sam's stunned reaction to events seems much more realistic than some in mysteries. Instead of immediately turning into Miss Marple reborn, her reaction is more human. It pretty much amounted to wanting to just go home, go to bed and pull the covers over her head and go into ignore mode. Somehow, I'm inclined to think that would be more what most readers would do than the transformation into sleuth.
The group of friends about her is amazing. Although I've read another book or two in the series, I was still a bit amazed but confused at who these people are and how they became so adept at working as a team to solve a mystery. Even Sam's sister, Jenna, a first class lawyer, is involved, as is Frank, the restaurant owner boyfriend who seems to have ties to "someone who knows" how to do, well, just about anything. While this didn't stop me from seriously enjoying the book, which included Sam's book-within-the-book set in the time of King George VI, I did think that reading previous books in the series might have kept me from wasting time wondering how this crack investigative team came about. Also, I'll note that given that I'm typing this just as Queen Elizabeth has been laid to rest, that literary setting seemed rather timely, albeit coincidental. I won't detail the plot further except to say don't skip those inserts.
Thanks #NetGalley and #KensingtonBooks for inviting me over to visit Sam's bookshop, browse the bookshelves, and try my hand at figuring out who did it. This one kept me guessing until the end.
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