I liked the setting. But I found the mystery farfetched and the dialogue repetitious. Jack was sort of colorless and Flora was a bit overbearing. I also thought the very ending was rushed. The secondary characters were pretty interesting though. ( )

Flora Steele is the young proprietress of All’s Well, a bookshop in the Sussex village of Abbeymead, taking over for her aunt in 1955, after nursing the latter through her last illness. She is shocked when a reclusive writer in the area, Jack Carrington, visits her store to pick up some books he had ordered - usually he has a village boy do the chore for him, but the boy is quarantined with the mumps and Jack needs the reference materials for the book he is currently writing. Both are surprised when instead, he stumbles upon the body of a young man in a corner of the shop, apparently dead of a heart attack despite his youth and healthy appearance. When the villagers begin shunning the bookshop as housing bad luck and tourist-ghouls start arriving to stare at the shop but not to buy, Flora decides that the only way to save her store is to find out exactly how the young man came to die in All’s Well, but the answer is not easy to find….This is the first of a cozy series featuring Flora Steele, and as such is a nice introduction to the character and her surroundings. I don’t believe for a moment that an English village in 1955 would suddenly shun the store of one of their own because of a sudden death there, but this is a quick read and a comfortable one, with an engaging and feisty young heroine, which is all a body needs in a cozy; mildly recommended. ( )

An enjoyable read but not a page turner.

I really enjoy switching off with a cosy crime and any with the theme of bookshops, books, antiques... well I'm drawn to those like a magnet!!

Set post war with a likeable main character, Flora. There are several implausible moments - mainly concerning antiquarian books (disclosure I'm an antiquarian bookseller!). Otherwise good overall. ( )

The Bookshop Murder is the first book in a historical cozy fiction series. In this book we meet Flora Steele a young bookshop owner who dreams of being somewhere else other than in Abbeymead running the book shop that was her Aunt's she''s barely getting through the days until one day, to her surprise, not only does she meet the Famous but reclusive crime writer Jack Carrington but Jack stumbles upon a dead body laying on the floor of her bookshop. When the medical examiner gives the official cause of death it doesn't quite sit right with Flora; Worse than that her shop is going down hill fast as the community catches wind of the murder. Desperate to uncover the truth of how this young man died she enlists the help of the hesitant crime writer, dragging him along as she investigates with the goal of clearing her shops negative image.

The beginning is cute, though the prose is at times a bit clunky the majority of the story is a smooth ride. The plot unfolds at a decent pace, the characters evolving as the story progresses, becoming more loveable as the pages flip by. Though it's not completely historically accurate it is a sweet, cozy, and entertaining read.

In the past I have avoided cozy mysteries such as these in favor of the more hard crime horror cases, mistakenly believing that I'd quickly become bored with a book like this. While I can't honestly say I now prefer this sweet literary trend, I can say without a doubt I have changed my mind and will certainly be waiting for the next book in Merryn Allingham's series.

If cozy mysteries are your thing, this book rates around a 4 out of 5. You won't be disappointed in The Bookshop Murder, of that I am positive.

Thank you to netgalley, publishers, and Merryn Allingham for an advance e-copy of this book for me to read and provide my honest, unprompted opinion's. I'm happy to say this was another good book hitting shelves very soon! ( )

The Bookshop Murder is the first book in a historical cozy fiction series. In this book we meet Flora Steele a young bookshop owner who dreams of being somewhere else other than in Abbeymead running the book shop that was her Aunt's she''s barely getting through the days until one day, to her surprise, not only does she meet the Famous but reclusive crime writer Jack Carrington but Jack stumbles upon a dead body laying on the floor of her bookshop. When the medical examiner gives the official cause of death it doesn't quite sit right with Flora; Worse than that her shop is going down hill fast as the community catches wind of the murder. Desperate to uncover the truth of how this young man died she enlists the help of the hesitant crime writer, dragging him along as she investigates with the goal of clearing her shops negative image.

The beginning is cute, though the prose is at times a bit clunky the majority of the story is a smooth ride. The plot unfolds at a decent pace, the characters evolving as the story progresses, becoming more loveable as the pages flip by. Though it's not completely historically accurate it is a sweet, cozy, and entertaining read.

In the past I have avoided cozy mysteries such as these in favor of the more hard crime horror cases, mistakenly believing that I'd quickly become bored with a book like this. While I can't honestly say I now prefer this sweet literary trend, I can say without a doubt I have changed my mind and will certainly be waiting for the next book in Merryn Allingham's series.

If cozy mysteries are your thing, this book rates around a 4 out of 5. You won't be disappointed in The Bookshop Murder, of that I am positive.

Thank you to netgalley, publishers, and Merryn Allingham for an advance e-copy of this book for me to read and provide my honest, unprompted opinion's. I'm happy to say this was another good book hitting shelves very soon! ( )