Member Reviews
Murder in the Bookshop is a cosy historical fiction story set in 1915 in London, England.
Well grounded in the events of the day - the Great War hasn't been as easy to win as all believed - there are fears of bombs being dropped by the Germans via Zeppelin - the realities of the war are starting to make themselves known with food shortages - this is a really well envisioned study of the period. Added to which, we have a Murder in the Bookshop.
Our main character is Hannah, who having lost her fiance during the war, now lives with her aunt and helps her run a bookshop. She's a fiesty character, very much a woman of her day. Aunt Violet is a suffragette and that's just the beginning of the scandals that surround her. Hannah's mother wants her to marry, but Hannah isn't at all interested in doing what her mother wants, and indeed, her mother never actually makes an appearance in the story - which is probably for the best.
Instead, Hannah finds herself determined to discover the culprit behind the murder, and this forces her to come to terms with some truths she's never known about her friends.
What follows is a really well-constructed story of murder, conspiracy, suspicion and indeed, some peril for our main characters as well.
I read this book in about 2 sittings. I thoroughly enjoyed the setting, the mystery and the resolution, which I didn't guess at all.
A fabulous war-time mystery sure to thrill fans of the historical mystery genre.
My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for my review copy.
Murder in the Bookshop was a good read with a good twist. The characters were interesting, and the ones who were supposed to be unlikable, were truly unlikable. Made trying to suss out the villain very fun. I look forward to future installments!
Thanks to Netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an unbiased opinion.
This was a fun new entry for what I hope will be a long mystery series. It’s set during WWI in 1915. I learned something I hadn’t known before - that the Germans bombed London and other English cities from Zeppelins during WWI and that several hundred people died during those bombings. So I learned something from the book. I was also wondering about the tone of life in Londin a year into the war with so many young men were still at home and going out dancing and to other entertainments. It seemed as if the war was far away for many of the characters in the book, at least for the wealthy ones.
I liked the characters in the book and seeing the roles of the various female characters as they struggled for women’s rights and the independence to work and live on their own in this era. The heroine, Hannah, seems a bit passive at the beginning even though she owns her own house and works in her aunt’s bookstore. But she starts to come into her own as the events unfold in the book. And her aunt is just a delightful and amusing character.
I look forward to reading more in this series.
I voluntarily reviewed an advanced reader copy of this book that I received from Netgalley; however, the opinions are my own and I did not receive any compensation for my review
"Murder in the Bookshop" is a mystery set in 1915 in London. The actual detective is smart and does his job well (yay!), but Hannah considered him the enemy because he asked her questions. She found the body, it was her knife, and she has a key for the bookshop, so it's reasonable for him to ask her questions, but she held a grudge because of it. He's a nice guy, and her aunt likes him, but Hannah criticized his every move.
Hannah had a temper, so she often got mad at people. She often thought how she'd like to slap a man for being mildly condescending. She had a talent for stumbling across clues, but not for putting them together. By the end, the detective had clearly strongly suspected a certain person for a while and managed to get a full confession out of that person. Hannah was completely surprised by it.
There were no sex scenes. There was a very minor amount of bad language. The historical details about London at the beginning of WWI were interesting. If the story was the detective and Violet solving things, I'd read the next book, but I didn't care for Hannah (who dominated the story) and prefer smart amateur detectives.
1915, new-series, first-in-series, England, suffragism, historical-novel, historical-places-events, historical-figures, historical-research, relationships, murder-investigation, local-law-enforcement, friends, friendship, drugs-issues, amateur-sleuth****
The publisher's blurb is a good hook, so no need to repeat. The characters are engaging, the background information clear, the plot is full of red herrings, and a twist or three. The pacing is a bit irregular, but unlike TV/films, books always get better with succeeding stories in series, so I am looking forward to the next and more.
I requested and received an EARC fro Boldwood Books via NetGalley. Thank you!
World War I, German spies, obnoxious employees, suffragettes, bombings, hidden identities, family secrets, and, well, more abound. Being a history buff, I was drawn to the historical aspects of it. Although I ultimately liked the characters and found the mystery intriguing, like all first-in-a-series books, it seemed to take its time unfolding. Unfortunately, while it had its moments, the pace rarely picked up, even in the wake of bombings and wreckage. I do see a great deal of potential here, however, given the era and characters, so wound up rounding up my 3.5 to a 4 star rating.
Hannah seems a mild-mannered sort initially, simply trying to help out her much flashier Aunt Violet. Aunt Violet has secrets of her own, but is quite well-known in suffragette circles and her unconventional life style, which Hannah learns more about as the book progresses. All is not as it seems, let's just say. Hannah, of course, has her own troubles, some romantic, some not, but seems to be growing in confidence as the story progresses, hence my hope for future books. There's also a potential romantic interest, albeit with major complications. And, let's not forget Bartleby, the bookshop cat. Ivy may not like him but he's doing marvels at reducing the mice population at the bookshop.
So, who killed Hannah's friend Lily-Anne? Why had Lily-Anne urgently wanted to talk to Hannah? Should Hannah be worried when Monty tells her she'll be sorry for firing him? He does seem awfully confident. And, Darius? Is he a good guy or not? Why is Hannah (among many) so reluctant to believe bombings have actually happened? How do the Germans get their info on where to bomb anyway? Why is Hannah so determined to....oh, never mind. Enough teasers. While this one didn't quite capture my reader's heart, it has the potential do so, I believe, and I'll be on the lookout for the next offering. Thanks. #NetGalley and #BoldwoodBooks for introducing me to Hannah. I've read a bunch of books set in England in WWII but found it intriguing to get a glimpse of the WWI, 1915 life in England.
I liked this book, but do feel that it lacked a little something. I enjoyed the storyline but felt in places that it dragged on a little and then all of a sudden we were at the end with a lot to cover which felt a little rushed.
As I said, the storyline itself was good and I think the fact that it was murder in the bookshop that really intrigued me. I hadn't worked out who was responsible for the murder or why and thought that this was done really well and loved the unfolding of it.
I do however love our main characters Hannah and Aunt Violet and I can honestly say that I' looking forward to the next one to see what they get up to next!
It's 1915. World War One is ongoing. Much to the dismay of her mother, Hannah Merrill lives in London. Her Aunt Violet comes to stay with her. The two have some things in common. Both are independent and not taking on the roles expected of women at that time. Violet has acquired a bookshop although no one knows how this came about. One day, after reports of some bombs nearby, Hannah goes to the bookshop to check on things. She discovers that the manager is gone for the day. he rarely spends any time in the shop and isn't fond of doing any work. When he returns, Hannah fires him and declares that she will run the bookshop herself. When she arrives the next morning, she is horrified to discover her best friend in the reading nook, with Hannah's own paper knife protruding from her chest. Hannah knows she is a suspect and she also wants to know who did this to her friend, so she starts to do some investigating herself. Soon, Aunt Violet decides to assist.
This is the first book in a new cozy series and I am eager to read on. I loved this book. Hannah and Aunt Violet are wonderful characters and I liked them from the start. The surrounding characters are well imagined. The setting is interesting. I enjoyed the references to literature and the way books were a part of the storyline. The solution was clever. In short, I loved everything about this book and I highly recommend it.
A promising start to a new series but it does need some work. The setting and character's were great and there was a lot going on with bombing's spies coded messages and the like. The mystery kept me guessing and I certainly didn't see the answer coming. However it felt a bit rushed and the ending didn't come together as well as it could have. Still looking forward to more with improvement I hope. . I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
I have mixed opinions about this book. I loved the WWI setting and the characters. We also have German spies in the mix to give the story an extra dash of intrigue. The mystery kept me guessing till the end and the plot-to-story development was impressive. Having said that, this didn't feel like a historical mystery.
Coming to the plot-to-story development, we have war setting, spies, coded messages, rumor of bombings, women losing their loved ones at the war, young men enlisting in the army, and much more. In spite of all these, this book felt like just another cozy mystery - minus the historical element. Aunt Violet and Hannah are quite modern at time, and then there are times when the period-specific 'rules' apply to them.
Red herrings made it impossible for me to guess the killer's identity. Their identity was a surprise and unexpected, yes. But somehow, their role in the story and the reason for murder - I didn't like it as much as I wanted to.
This story had a lot of potential with interesting setting and likable characters. Niggles aside, I am looking forward to reading the next installment.
“Murder in the Bookshop” by Anita Davison
⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
Thank you NetGalley, Anita Davison, and Boldwook Books for gifting me this title to review!
“Murder in the Bookshop” is about main character Hannah and her Aunt Violet. Aunt Violet owns a bookstore and Hannah was just recently put in charge of managing the store. This story takes place during the first year of WWI in the time of spies, men going off to war, and women’s rights campaigns. When Hannah finds a dead body in the bookstore one day after being appointed to run it, she is in shock - and has to know who did it.
Overall, I enjoyed this book. It was a super quick read and the characters were enjoyable. However, I guessed the murderer the second we were introduced to them, and I thought the plot twists weren’t “twisty” enough. I enjoyed the premise of this book, but thought it was drawn out and easy to make out the ending. Hence, 3 stars were given. I would read more titles by this author in the future!
If you’re interested in reading “Murder in the Bookshop” by Anita Davison, it will be released on August 22nd, 2023. Thanks again to NetGalley, Anita Davison, and Boldwook Books!
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Murder in the Bookshop looks to be the start of an engaging new cozy mystery series by Anita Davison.
The good:
The characters, they are interesting. I wanted to read what they were doing and learn more about them. They keep you engaged in the story.
The murder-mystery, the who, how, and potential why's for the murder are engaging. I genuinely wanted to know what was going on and why the character had been murdered.
The bad:
Almost everything else, the mystery is really interesting, the events surrounding the mystery unfold in intriguing and exciting ways, but around chapter 27 everything just sort of falls apart as the story rushes to an unearned and unexpected conclusion. I hope, given this is an ARC, we will see some editing in the future to bring more coherence and closure to the story and plot.
Overall, this was an engaging start to a Cozy series. I did like the characters A LOT. They were well-developed and I wanted to spend a bit more time exploring their world. However, because I did not like the conclusion to the story, this is one of those books/potential series, where I may come back and read another, but also may never revisit.
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of Murder in the Bookshop by Anita Davison.