Review: Counted Corpse by A.C.F Bookens

Counted Corpse (Stitches In Crime #4)
by A.C.F. Bookens

My Rating: 4 stars

Genre: Cozy Mystery
Age Category: Adult
Type of romance: MF

Blurb:
The truth shall set her free, but not if someone wants her dead first.

Business has been good for historian Paisley Sutton, but when she goes into her own church parish house to salvage some of the early 20th century fixtures before the building is demolished, she uncovers far more than vintage cabinets. Once the women from church hear about the secrets Paisley is uncovering, they are bound and determined to reveal the truth and unmask a murderer in the process.

Will Paisley and her friends uncover the truth before the cover-up kills them all?

My Review

I received a free copy of this book from the author and voluntarily reviewed it.

This is such a good cozy mystery series and I excitedly dived into this latest book. Counted Corpse is another great read in this series. I liked how this is mystery is strongly tied in the past and there is a lot that the main character has to uncover. I also like reading about the daily life things. Something about this series just really works for me. This one kept me reading and eager to discover more.

When Paisley is salvaging an old church building she finds the diary of a women who lived there. In the diaries they read that something is buried underneath the church. What follows is an interesting mystery about what happened to the women whose diaries she found, as well as what’s buried under the church. Next to that Paisley dives into some research about the past of some families who live there. I liked the mystery, there are plenty if discoveries along the way and I liked feeling like we got a better understanding of what happened and the people who lived here in the past the further I got in the book. I also like how respectfully Paisley handles everything she comes across. This has been a theme over the course of the series. There are some difficult truths and secrets she unearths in this book.

I did struggle a few times keeping track of who is who. There are new characters Paisley meets and then there is the research she’s doing about their family which involves four different families and their family members that are by now dead. And it was hard to keep everything straight, especially when all these families are tied together in some ways and some speculations turn to truths and other things change based on what they discover. It was really interesting and I liked how this mystery was so strongly tied in the past, but it could be a tad hard to follow at times. I felt the ending was a bit weak and I wasn’t quite sure what to think of it. I felt that the motive for the past and the current events felt a bit off and the last part felt a bit rushed. I also was left with some questions, but maybe I missed something as it was at times hard to keep track of everything.

I really like Paisley as a character. From the way she handles these mysteries to how she interacts with other people. How she’s always willing to help to her love for research and stories. I also like how she interacts with her son and the other characters close to her. They really form a tight group and I like how her friends and family are always willing to help. It really is a joy reading about her. I also like her romance with the detective and seeing how it keeps progressing even though they’re a couple now.

To summarize: This was another great read in this series. I like how fresh these mysteries feel and the way they often tie in with the past is fascinating. I liked following Paisley along as she gets involved into another mystery. There is quite a lot of research and digging into the past in this one, it was very interesting to follow along and see what they discover. Although at times I had trouble remember who was who as there are a lot of characters both in the present and those in the past and the way they are all tied together. I really liked how this mystery progressed and the way frequently new pieces of information got discovered, it felt like the mystery was constantly moving forward. I did think the ending was a bit abrupt and I didn’t really understand why some characters did certain things. Paisley is a great main character and I like reading about her and seeing the way she interacts with those around her and treats everyone with respect. This continues to be an awesome series and is one of my favorite cozie series by now.

Links:
– Goodreads
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You can also read my review on Goodreads and Bookbub.