Samara Yew

Scarlett is abandoned by her boyfriend who is also her business partner when he gets a better offer for a new job. She struggles to make a go of her new business, and it is just taking off when she discovers a body on the beach. And that isn’t her biggest surprise. I really enjoyed this first book in a new series. Scarlett is a fun character. She fancies herself a sleuth, when she really isn’t good at detecting at all. But she is so cute as she goes about snooping that her wild ideas about who the murderer is are really entertaining. Scarlett has a good motive to find the real killer, since the cops are looking at her as a prime suspect. The writing is quite good and the characters are believable. After all, what bookshop owner would be really good at being a detective?! This is a great start for what promises to be an entertaining new series.… (más)

Scarlett Gardner Has a dream of opening a bookstore at the beach and she thinks her dreams are coming true when she and her boyfriend open Palm Trees and Page Turners. The boyfriend quickly leaves her high and try but Scarlett is determined to keep her dream alive. Not so easy when she finds a dead body near her shop at the beach and she becomes the prime suspect because this stranger left a large sum of money to her in her will. Who is she and how did this happen?

Great start for a new series, interested to see what the future hols for Scarlett.… (más)

How could I resist a cozy mystery set in a bookstore by the ocean? Scarlet Garner's plan was to open the Oceanside bookstore with her boyfriend, but he pulled out of the business--and her life--at the last minute. She did not give up her dream, however, and is now the proud owner of her own bookstore, Palm Trees and and Page Turners. She's made a life for herself in Oceanside, sharing a townhouse with her attorney roommate.

One sunny morning she comes across a dead body under the pier--and suddenly finds herself the prime suspect. The body belongs to a one time customer who she met the night before. It comes as quite the surprise when Scarlet is told by a visiting attorney that she's the heir to the dead woman's fortune. How could that be? Who is this woman? And who would want to kill her? Scarlet, with the help of her roommate, decides she needs to get to the bottom of these questions and clear her name.

Having spent two years of my childhood in Oceanside and visited since, I was curious if I would recognize the city in Samara Yew's novel. While Yew's Oceanside doesn't quite match the reality, I still really like the version the author has created--it is fiction after all.

I thoroughly enjoyed this cozy mystery, and its wonderful cast of characters. Scarlet isn't sure who she can trust, even among her friends. And to make it worse, her ex is back in town. There are plenty of suspects and twists, and while I guessed almost immediately who the likely culprit was, that did not stop me from enjoying seeing Scarlett discover the truth for herself. This was such an entertaining read.… (más)

Murder By The Seashore is the first book in the A California Bookshop Mystery series by Samara Yew.

Scarlett thought she had the perfect plan for her bookshop Palm Trees and Page Turners. Her boyfriend, Connor, would provide the business knowledge, and she, loving books, would handle the sales area. But then Connor left to take a different job. Scarlett hired Evelyn Maxwell, who is quite helpful in the store and can keep Scarlett grounded while she gains self-confidence in being a shop owner.

Having arrived at work, Scarlett decides to walk along the beach. When she comes to the pier, she finds the body of an older lady. She will recognize the body of the last customer of the previous day at the bookshop. Scarlett and the detective on the case are surprised to see each other at the crime scene; Maxwell is Evelyn’s husband. A couple of days later, Scarlett receives a call from Jeffrey Cooper. Cooper informs that the body is that of Lorelai Knight, and he is representing her estate. He tells Scarlet that she is to inherit a substantial amount of money. Scarlett has no idea who Lorelai Knight is, nor does she remember either remember meeting her.

When the police learn of Scarlett's inheritance from Lorelai, she immediately becomes the prime suspect. Fortunately, Scarlett shares a townhouse with Lucia, a lawyer with a firm in town, and Lucia goes with Scarlett when she is brought in for questioning. Lucia is instrumental in keeping Scarlett from being jailed while the investigation continues. Lucia becomes concerned when her nemesis at the same legal firm, Martin Russell, will represent Lorelai’s family, who want to contest the will.

I really enjoyed this book. I found the book to be well-written and plotted. The characters are interesting and believable. I didn’t particularly like Evelyn; I felt she was too pushy. Maybe she will change over time. The book moves at a nice, even pace. There were enough twists and turns that I kept guessing until the final reveal about who the killer was.

This book is an excellent start to a new series, and I will be watching for the next book.… (más)