I'm SO happy, this was brilliant! I'm a huge fan of Ellie Alexander's Bakeshop Mysteries series (it's my favourite cosy mystery series!) and when I noticed this book on NetGalley, I couldn't believe my eyes. She has a new series! Praise the literary gods!

This is about Annie, who works in a bookshop and has a degree in criminology. She's haunted by the unsolved murder of her best friend Scarlet when her high school nemesis, Kayla, is also murdered during the mystery festival Annie is organising to bring customers to the bookshop.

This takes place in California in a mystery bookshop and if you've read anything by Ellie Alexander, you know that she's incredible at packing a book with sigh-worthy things that immediately transport you to a place where you want to live. This is no exception! The Secret Bookcase, Annie's bookshop, is described in gorgeously cosy details (it's got several themed rooms and a hidden reading nook that's revealed when you touch the right book), there are lots of Golden Age mystery references (Annie's boss, Hal, who owns the bookshop, is a huge Agatha Christie fan and may claim another Christie connection, I don't want to spoil anything!) and this is just a cosy mystery reader's dream - there's even a whole defense of the genre at one point which I found deeply touching. All I wanted to do when I finished this book was curl up with a Miss Marple (I'm about to reread The Body in the Library, I finished rereading The Murder at the Vicarage a few weeks ago and it's one of the funniest books ever) and forget about the world for a bit.

This was wonderful and I couldn't put it down. I really wanted to stay with those characters for much longer. Redwood Grove, Annie's town, is just lovely and oozes with charm and every small business feels like a dream, with boutique service and delicious Marple Mochas calling you in.

I'm SO happy this is the first in a new series, this was wonderful and exactly what I want in a cosy. Again, I love Ellie Alexander - she writes wonderful books but she also has a writing course on her website, she has regular lives on YouTube and she created a mystery festival in Ashland that's now a yearly event. I love that she's giving so much back to the cosy mystery community, she seems just as generous as her writing, her scenes are always so lush and always make me feel wrapped in a cocoon with lovely people and lovely things - delicious morsels (the Bakeshop series) or delicious books (this series!). I highly, highly recommend her stuff!

My endless thanks to NetGalley and Storm Publishing for this ARC. Ellie Alexander has no idea I exist, I promise this review comes from the heart! I was SHOCKED to be approved for this since I barely have an online presence anymore but thank you thank you for making me think about SOMETHING other than Polin's carriage scene for 4 hours (screaming!! Polin is everything!!)