Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the arc of this book. This book is the third book in A Secret Bookcase Mystery series. I love this cozy mystery series. As the title gives away there is a death at a dinner party and the female main character is there to help investigate. This book has more will they wont they between Annie and Liam. As with the other two books in this series, I did not want to put this book down. I cannot wait to read the next book in this series.

I enjoyed this book. I think it’s my favorite in the series. The characters are well developed, believable, and unique in their individual personalities. I love the settings in this story: the Secret Bookcase, the house decorated for the murder mystery dinner, the town all dressed in fall/ Halloween finery. The plot was clever. I didn’t guess the murderer. I’m ready to read another book by the great Ellie Alexander.

Annie Murray is organizing a murder mystery dinner party to help a restore an historic home – one that possibly has a curse on it. Angry neighbors and crazy local theater peeps barely get started on the soup provided by the local hot chef when someone drops dead. Annie is immediately on the case.
I am loving this fun, fast-paced series, especially the romance between Annie and the hot chef. Thanks for moving it along!

Thank you to NetGalley and Storm Publishing for this DRC.
#DeathattheDinnerParty #NetGalley

This was a cute cozy mystery

I am thankful to have gotten the eARC for free from Netgalley and Storm Publishing so I can leave my voluntary and honest review.

This is the third book in a series called “A Secret Bookcase Mystery ” which I have not read the first two books. However this book can easily be read as a standalone. They reference some things in other books but you aren’t left wondering about info. It did make me want to go back and read the first two as this was a very light and fluffy mystery. Hallmark Movies and Mystery Channel-esque.

It wasn’t a very fast read however and I can’t pinpoint why. I happened to figure out the culprit very early on but I don’t think it particularly stands out. Some of the dialogue falls into the cheesy category at times and it reminds me of more of a YA book. While the protagonists are not teenagers, they very well could be with how they were written.

I gave it 4 stars simply because I enjoyed the ride very much. I didn’t care to knit pick the prose itself like ai usually do.
The book drops on September 30,2024. It’s just in time to break out the Pumpkin Spiced hot beverage and cozy up with the fun mystery.
My rating system since GoodReads doesn’t have partial stars and I rarely round up.

⭐️ Hated it
⭐️⭐️ Had a lot of trouble, prose issues, really not my cup of tea (potentially DNF’d or thought about it)
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Meh, it was an ok read but nothing special
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Really enjoyed it! Would recommend to others
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Outstanding! Will circle back and read again

Absolutely love this series. It's been a delight to watch Annie's growth as a sleuth while getting to know her and the side characters better. Liam Donovan is definitely a keeper...at least if Annie doesn't give him a heart attack with some of the situations she finds herself in. I also love best friend Pri(ya) Kapoor, whose sense of humor seems to shine through even during some seriously tense situations. I'm so glad she and Double Americano, her original nickname for now romantic partner Penny Shurr, have found each other, too.

Even though it didn't go according to the script Annie had penned, I loved the vibe of the Clue styled dinner party. The addition of a torrential rain with lightning storm, not to mention the power outage and flickering lights and candles in the rumored cursed Wentworth farm, the setting of the crime, was perfect. It didn't hurt that chef Liam was on hand to distract Annie from only thoughts of murder, either.

Of course, the real murder quickly is on everyone's mind. One of Ophelia's acting troupe, Jeff, is a suspect. But, why would he have killed Curtis Wright? It soon becomes apparent that Jeff isn't the only one on the suspect list. Nope, not going to detail the plot, that's what blurbs are for, but will say it includes not just thunder and lightning but mysterious footprints, locked doors, hidden treasure, hidden passageways, spiders, condescending males, missing items, money worries, bookish references, and, well, lots more explosive events, including romance. It's interesting being inside Annie's head as she pulls up bits of crime solving tidbits, such as don't act on impulse. Needless to say, Annie doesn't always follow her own (and Dr. Caldwell's) advice. Impulsive, thou name is Annie.

Bottom line. loving this relatively young series and thoroughly enjoyed this episode, even if I did fret about Pri's status briefly as Annie is caught up in her knight in shining armor's actions once again. Author Alexander is also top-notch at not just giving us well fleshed out characters that are interesting in their own right but describing the town of Redwood Grove and the buildings involved themselves. It sounds like a delightful place and I'm looking forward to more time with bookshop owner Hall Christie and Annie's coworker Fletcher, too. Thanks #NetGalley and #StormPublishing for allowing me an early entry into Annie's world. It's definitely never a dull one.

Annie Murray is excited to host a murder mystery–themed dinner party, but soon the evening takes a deadly turn… Good book! This book was a cozy mystery with a bit of a dark side with some really crazy twists! The storyline was very interesting! It had suspense, intrigue, murder, mystery, and a great who done it! I definitely recommend reading this book! Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for sharing this book with me!

After reading the first two books in Ellie Alexander's new series, A Secret Bookcase Mystery, I was completely hooked! Death at the Dinner Party is the third installment, and I am convinced Ellie will never disappoint when it comes to delivering a small-town cozy mystery.

This book takes us right back to Annie Murry and her small, quaint town of Redwood Grove. A few things have changed since the first book, one being Annie's best friend Priya is now dating "Double Americano". Penny (aka "Double Americano") has purchased the historic Wentworth manor, and unfortunately, it's not in the best condition. It needs to undergo a lot of restoration, and Annie comes up with a brilliant plan to host a dinner party. Annie and her friends agree to work together to host a Clue-style dinner party, where one guest will be "murdered" and the other guests will have to collect clues to solve the mystery. But of course, Redwood Grove wouldn't be Redwood Grove if a real murder didn't go down! When the neigboring (and highly despised) landowner, Curtis Wright, drops dead at the party, several people become suspect. This was not part of the plan, and now it is up to Annie to put her detective skills to use and find out who killed Curtis Wright.

After reading the first two books in this series, this one automatically made it to the top of my TBR list! I am 100% invested in Annie Murray and the Redwood Grove crew, and I wholeheartedly enjoy snuggling up on my couch and reading about their next adventure. I appreciate how the author gives us small recaps throughout the book but also introduces new characters at a steady, even pace. She allows us to get a feel of the characters, a bit of background, and possible motive, which all ties in nicely while reading. It really gets the reader's mind going, and I found myself easily trying to solve this mystery along with our MC, Annie. I also loved how this book, although set in the same small town, is different from the others. Yes, we have a mystery murder with many of the same characters, but each murder is different. I loved how this book incorporated a dinner party, Clue (the game) vibes, underground tunnels, secret hiding spots, missing fortunes, and a family's tragic history/ curse. It was great and different from the first two books, however not too far off to where the lovers of this series would find it hard to appreciate it. I also like how the author seems to give us a victim who is despised by the community in each book- it really adds to the whole whodunit theme. Lastly, I love how Annie and Liam slowly progress from enemies to lovers by the end of each read. Unfortunately, there were a few things that I was disappointed by, with the first being Scarlet. I wish we had touched more on Scarlet's murder. It feels like each book leaves us with a Scarlet cliffhanger that is never addressed in the following book. Next, I felt like the killer was practically revealed to us fairly early on, which made a lot of the following events predictable. I also didn't like how Annie kept mentally reviewing her detective training in the second half- it seemed a tad bit excessive. However, I can appreciate how, with each book, Annie dives deeper into her detective skills and begins to accept and hone it again. Overall, this was another great cozy mystery by Ellie Alexander! 4 stars!

Thank you NetGalley, Storm Publishing, and Ellie Alexander for another wonderful ARC!