Publishable By Death (St. Marin’s Cozy Mystery #1)
by A.C.F. Bookens
My Rating: 4 stars
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Age Category: Adult
Type of romance: MF
Blurb:
Change is hard in a small Southern town, especially when it brings a side of murder.All Harvey Beckett wants to do is help the residents of St. Marin’s find the perfect book for that moment, snuggle with her hound dog Mayhem, and be ignored by her cat Aslan. But when the small, waterside town’s newest resident discovers the body of the community’s persnickety reporter in her bookshop storeroom just before her grand opening, Harvey can’t help trying to solve the crime, even when it might cost her business and her life. The more questions Harvey asks, the more secrets she uncovers.
Will Harvey and her friends be able to solve the murder of the town reporter without her becoming a victim herself?
My Review
I am really enjoying this author’s Stitches In Crime series, so I bought this one and kept wanting to get around to read it. When I was in this busy and stressful week and I only felt like reading comforting reads by authors I already knew, I realized it was the perfect time to pick this up. And it was the perfect time to read this one.
I really enjoyed Publishable by Death. The story follows Harvey who is starting her own bookstore in the small town of St. Marin. This book starts as she is about to open her store for the first day and ofcourse not everything goes smoothly when she finds a dead body in her store on opening day.
Publishable by Death was such a fun and comforting cozy mystery. The focus was more of the every day life of Harvey, but I didn’t mind that as I really enjoyed reading about Harvey. It was easy to relate to Harvey with her love for books. I thought she was a likable character and I liked how she was curious, which ofcourse gets her involved in the mystery. I also liked how kind she was, she is very respectful of other people and I like how she helps others out when she can. She also has a great group of friends around her.
It was at times a bit hard to remember everyone as there are a lot of side characters in this book, but luckily most had a distinctive personality and made appearances often enough to make it easier to remember. I liked Harvey’s friendship with Mart and Rocky. And how she makes some new friends in Cate and Lucas. Then there is the bit of building romance with Daniel, which I liked. I also liked all the doggos and cat that were part of this book. I just loved the cozie and comforting vibe this book had and I look forward to spending more time with these characters.
The mystery didn’t grip me as much as Harvey’s daily life. There were three possible suspects from the start and it took a long time before I felt like the mystery really went somewhere. Luckily there was enough going on that I didn’t minded that the mystery gripped me less. I was curious to see how it al played out and how Harvey uncovered some clues and I actually liked how they figured out who did it. I wasn’t surprised at the murderer, but was surprised by the motive as I hadn’t thought of that motive for this person.
To summarize: Publishable by Death is a great start to this series. Harvey runs her own bookstore and I really enjoyed reading about her and her friends. There is a lot of daily life stuff next to the murder. I actually enjoyed the daily life parts more than the actual mystery. The mystery didn’t grip me as much, but still kept me curious about who had done it. The reveal wasn’t a big surprise, but I was surprised by the motive. This book felt very cozie and comforting. I liked the small town feel and the tight groups of friends around Harvey. I really enjoyed reading this one and look forward to the next book!
That does make it better when the character and their daily life is as interesting as the mystery part. Glad this new series is a good one, too.
It really was fun to read about her daily life. I am glad this series seems like a win so far as well.