Whanganuilibrary.com
Syndetics cover image
Image from Syndetics

The plot is murder / V.M. Burns.

By: Material type: TextTextLanguage: English Series: Burns, V. M., Mystery bookshop mystery ; 1.Publisher: New York, New York : Kensington Books, [2017]Copyright date: ©2017Description: 248 pages ; 21 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9781496711816
  • 1496711815
Subject(s): Genre/Form: LOC classification:
  • PS3602.U76753 P67 2017
Summary: When a shady realtor turns up dead in her backyard, bookshop owner Samantha Washington investigates with the help of her feisty grandmother and an enthusiastic ensemble of colorful retirees.Summary: Samantha Washington is opening a mystery bookstore in North Harbor, Michigan, on the shores of Lake Michigan. She's also penning a cozy mystery set in England. When a shady realtor turns up dead in her backyard, the police suspect Samantha. Aided by her feisty grandmother and an enthusiastic ensemble of colorful retirees, Samantha is determined to close the case before she opens her store.
Fiction notes: Click to open in new window
Holdings
Item type Current library Collection Call number Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Fiction Davis (Central) Library Fiction Collection Fiction Collection BURN Checked out 18/04/2024 T00837213
Fiction Davis (Central) Library Fiction Collection Fiction Collection BURN Available T00804311
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

The small town of North Harbor on the shores of Lake Michigan is about to have a new mystery bookstore. But before the first customer can browse its shelves, the store's owner is suspected of her own murder plot . . .

Samantha Washington has dreamed of owning her own mystery bookstore for as long as she can remember. And as she prepares for the store's grand opening, she's also realizing another dream--penning a cozy mystery set in England between the wars. While Samantha hires employees and fills the shelves with the latest mysteries, quick-witted Lady Penelope Marsh, long-overshadowed by her beautiful sister Daphne, refuses to lose the besotted Victor Carlston to her sibling's charms. When one of Daphne's suitors is murdered in a maze, Penelope steps in to solve the labyrinthine puzzle and win Victor.

But as Samantha indulges her imagination, the unimaginable happens in real life. A shady realtor turns up dead in her backyard, and the police suspect her--after all, the owner of a mystery bookstore might know a thing or two about murder. Aided by her feisty grandmother and an enthusiastic ensemble of colorful retirees, Samantha is determined to close the case before she opens her store. But will she live to conclude her own story when the killer has a revised ending in mind for her?

"You'll love this delightful debut mystery with its charming and wacky cast of characters and a mystery within a mystery just to keep things interesting."
--Victoria Thompson, bestselling author of Murder in Morningside Heights

"A charming read--with murder, romance and lots of mouthwatering desserts."
--Laura Levine, author of Death of a Bachelorette

When a shady realtor turns up dead in her backyard, bookshop owner Samantha Washington investigates with the help of her feisty grandmother and an enthusiastic ensemble of colorful retirees.

Samantha Washington is opening a mystery bookstore in North Harbor, Michigan, on the shores of Lake Michigan. She's also penning a cozy mystery set in England. When a shady realtor turns up dead in her backyard, the police suspect Samantha. Aided by her feisty grandmother and an enthusiastic ensemble of colorful retirees, Samantha is determined to close the case before she opens her store.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

DEBUT Samantha Washington's late husband always dreamed of opening a mystery bookstore in North Harbor, MI, but she really wanted to write a British cozy mystery. Now Samantha is doing both, writing at night and preparing to open Market Street Mysteries in the brownstone she bought after a legal battle with the shady realtor Clayton Parker. Her problems with Clayton come to a head when she finds his body in her backyard. Police believe Samantha had reasons to kill him, but her grandmother Nana Jo has other ideas. She and "the girls" from the retirement village team up with Samantha to uncover the truth. In alternating chapters, the plot of Samantha's 1930s mystery unfolds. VERDICT This debut cleverly integrates a historical cozy within a contemporary mystery. In both story lines, the elder characters shine; they are refreshingly witty and robust, with formidable connections and investigative skills. Readers of Carolyn Hart and Vicki Delany will appreciate the lively seniors, the humor, and the bookstore environment.-LH © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publishers Weekly Review

Set in North Harbor, Mich., Burns's promising debut and series launch introduces mystery book lover and aspiring writer Samantha Washington. Sam and her late husband always wanted to own a mystery bookstore, and now she has one. When crooked realtor Clayton Parker shows up one day outside the bookstore, which is not yet open for business, and asks to speak with Sam, she sticks out her tongue at him through the window. Clayton leaves, but later he turns up dead in Sam's backyard. Sam becomes a suspect in Clayton's murder, though that doesn't stop her from getting the bookstore up and running, aided by a slew of family members. Meanwhile, Sam's grandmother, Nana Jo, and Nana Jo's retirement village friends help with the amateur sleuthing, though Burns paints their personalities with a bit too heavy a brush. Extracts from the cozy Sam is writing, set in England in 1938, add spice. Sam and the seniors do a heap of drinking and gambling en route to the satisfying solution. Agent: Dawn Dowdle, Blue Ridge Literary Agency. (Dec.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Powered by Koha