Review: Epilogue of an Epitaph by A.C.F. Bookens

Epilogue of an Epitaph (St. Marin’s Cozy Mystery #8)
by A.C.F. Bookens

My Rating:

Genre: Cozy Mystery
Age Category: Adult
Type of romance: m/f

Blurb:
Everyone loves getting mail—just not when it’s clutched in cold, dead hands.

Harvey Beckett has heard the rumors about the postmistress steaming open envelopes to entertain her nosy customers. But when she is murdered, Harvey discovers the town’s mail carrier may have been doing more than sharing idle gossip.

Now, along with her father, Harvey must navigate a web of secrets and deception to uncover the truth behind the murder—a truth that might just send her dad into cardiac arrest.

Can they untangle fact from fiction before they become footnotes in their own mystery?

With heart, humor, and intrigue, Epilogue of Epitaph is another charming installment in the St. Marin’s Cozy Mystery series—where small-town life, quirky characters, and baffling murders collide in delightful, page-turning fun.

My Review

I really like this series and when I was in the mood for a comforting read I knew it was time to pick up the next book in this series. It was nice to be back in this small town and spend time reading about Harvey and her friends and family. It’s such a fun group of characters to read about and it was a joy to be back in this series.

There is a lot going on in this book. There another mystery ofcourse, although Harvey mostly tries to stay away from investigating, but still get’s involved in some way. Then there is a big recycling event that Harvey is helping with. And she has some new plans for the shop, which was exciting to see it all play out. Harvey also has a new romance developing in this book and I liked seeing that progress and them doing their first dates. I like Harvey and Jared together so far. I really liked reading about all the daily life scenes and seeing what Harvey got up to in this book.

The mystery however didn’t really work for me. The murdered women was the post office lady who was known to be a big gossip and opened people’s mail. Harvey tried to stay out of this mystery, after brainstorming a bit with her friends about who are possible suspects. I felt the mystery took a bit of a backseat till later in the book, which was fine by me as I liked the other elements, but the mystery just felt a bit rushed due to that. Then at the end there is suddenly all this danger and suspense despite everyone trying to be careful. And it just didn’t really work for me. The reveal wasn’t too surprising either as there weren’t really many suspects and it felt kinda obvious and anti-climactic.

To summarize: I enjoyed being back in this small town and reading about Harvey and her friends. There is something so fun and comforting about this series. I really liked reading about Harvey and her friends and family seeing what they get up to in this book. There is a recycling event, as well as some new shop plans and Harvey starts dating Jared, which were all fun things to read about. The mystery didn’t fully work for me tough, it wasn’t as interesting to me and it took a backseat for most of the book. Harvey wasn’t as involved this time, but then there is a bunch of danger and suspense toward the end and I didn’t really like that vibe. And the reveal just felt kinda obvious. I still had a good time with this book, just the mystery and later part of this book was less good for me.

Links:
– Goodreads
– Bookbub
– Amazon
– B&N

You can also read my review on Goodreads and Bookbub.