Review: Deckles and Death by A.C.F. Bookens

Deckles and Death (Poe Baxter Books Series #6)
by A.C.F. Bookens

My Rating: 4 stars

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

Blurb:
Poe Baxter: book expert, travel enthusiast, and amateur sleuth with a knack for trouble.

A rare, signed edition of Midnight’s Children should have been the highlight of Poe’s trip to Mumbai. But when the auction house owner is murdered, and the police point the finger at her, book collecting takes a deadly turn.

With a cryptic code hidden in an old book of Marathi folktales, Poe and her friends must unravel a mystery that spans centuries. But someone is willing to kill to keep the past buried—can Poe crack the case before she becomes the next chapter in a deadly story?

Deckles and Death is a clever and fast-paced cozy mystery perfect for fans of bookish sleuths and international intrigue.

My Review

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

Deckles and Death is the sixth and final book in the Poe Baxter series. This series has more of a spy mystery vibe than a more typical cozy mystery vibes, but it still has the cozy vibes as well. This series has been a fun one and I enjoyed this last adventure of Poe’s and was sad to see the series end. The ending is well done and I liked how much of the last part of the story is focused on showing what Poe’s life will look like going forward.

Poe and the crew travel to India in this book to acquire a book at auction, except the book is gone and the auctioneer is murder. They have to find out who murdered him and hopefully get the book back as well. This book has a bit of a riddle/ puzzle thing going on and less focus on the actual murder, but it is all part of the same plot, with them trying to figure out the whole mystery of what’s going on. I have to admit the mystery kinda lost me at times, with the riddles and not having all the exact clues it was kinda hard to follow everything exactly, but I was still engaged and enjoyed seeing it play out. I was delighted when I figured something out shortly before Poe did. The conclusion felt a bit rushed, but it was good to see it all get resolved and the resolution to the riddle puzzle was interesting.

I liked reading more about Poe and especially liked how much she has grown into herself. Between the last book and this one she figured some things out and I felt she had grown a lot and was more sure of herself in this book. I liked seeing her stand up for what she wanted and needed in this book. And have her figure out what she wanted from her life and how to get there was great too. I like how realistic this author’s characters always are. Poe gets tired and overwhelmed at times and this just felt so real. I also liked how she realizes the importance of rest and recuperating before tackling the mystery again. I also appreciate the found family theme with Poe having such a great close knit group of friends around her who are there for her.

To summarize: This is the last book in the series and while I was sad to see the series end I liked this last book and the way it wrapped up the series. This mystery starts with a missing book and a murder, but it all gets more complicated and involves a riddle puzzle thing they have to figure out. I have to admit the mystery lost me a few times as it was hard to keep track of what exactly they were doing, but I liked seeing it all play out and get resolved. One of my favorite parts of this book is reading about Poe, she has figured some things out about herself and I felt she had grown a lot and better knew what she wanted and needed in this book. She’s such a realistic and relatable character and I liked seeing her figure out what she wanted her life to look like and figure out how to get there. the found family theme is great too. The ending wraps things up well and gives a good idea of what Poe’s life will look like after this.

Links:
– Goodreads
– Bookbub
– Amazon

You can also read my review on Goodreads and Bookbub.