When the new Chamber of Commerce Director, Wagner Lavoie, is found dead in the Book Nook, pinned under a huge bookshelf, it looks like another case for Mac's book group, the Cozy Capers. Wagner had quite a few enemies. so there are plenty of suspects for the group to investigate. This was a perfect whodunit with lots of red herrings and likeable main characters. Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the ARC to read and review. ( )

Murder At A Cape Bookstore is the fifth book in the A Cozy Capers Book Group Mystery series by Maddie Day.

It’s March 21st in Wexham, and Spring is officially here, even though the weather is hardly like Spring. The new director of the Chamber of Commerce, Wagner Lavoie, says the outdoor Spring festival is still on even though snow is in the forecast. Lavoie is getting off to a bad start with most business owners as he is strong-arming them into providing freebies to the residents. Most residents want the festival postponed so everyone, especially the children, can enjoy the bicycle parade downtown. As the parade is finishing, Norland Gifford, former police chief, goes back in the bookstore he manages during the off-season. As he enters the store, he notices that a shelving unit has fallen over. Upon closer examination, he finds that the unit has fallen on Lavoie, and he is dead. The police will determine that he was murdered.

Mackenzie(Mac), fearing that Gifford will become a prime suspect, will begin her investigation. Mac will call upon the Cozy Caper Book Group members to help search for possible suspects. They soon find that there are many suspects to interview. There’s Kassandra, who had hopes of becoming the director. Her father, a selectman in Wexham, possibly did it to gain revenge for his daughter not becoming the director. Mac also needs to look into her bicycle mechanic’s sister, Sandy. Mac has recently hired Sandy and often disappears with no explanation, and she did so around the time that Lavoie was killed. They will also be checking those business owners who had been most vocal about handling the festival.

I love this series. The books are well-written, plotted, and descriptively written. Ms. Day does a beautiful job of describing the residents and also the community. The story moves at a good pace and was hard to put down. There were enough twists and turns that I kept guessing until the end as to who was the murderer.

The book also contains some delicious-sounding recipes.

I am looking forward to the next book in the series. ( )

A relatively fun cozy mystery, this novel is the fifth book in a series, but the first I've read in it or by this author. It's a quick and easy read and the supporting characters are eclectic and entertaining. The setting is described well and is lovely. The plot is a little predictable but it is not without some surprises and I applaud the author for her diverse character depictions. It took most of the book to care about the MC though, which brought the star rating down a bit. I think it was her judgy attitude about people who chose different lifestyles from her own while making fun of other characters who did the same in a couple of instances. I read other reviews that the MC is much more likeable in the earlier books, so I'll try one more out just in case it evens out the rough edges in this one because, besides that, I rather enjoyed the novel.

Net Galley Feedback ( )

Mackenzie "Mac" Almeida owns a bike shop in town, and her new husband, Tim Brunelle, owns the local bakery. They're just settling into married life, and all is good. At least, it was. The new Chamber of Commerce director, Wagner Lavoie, wants this year's Spring equinox festival to go over well, and he's requesting that all business owners give away "freebies" to locals and tourists. Not all business owners are happy about this, and Mac does see a couple of them arguing with Wagner. But the festival goes on as planned, and everything seems to be going well.

At least until Mac visits her friend Norland, ex-police chief in town, at the bookstore he's watching for the owners. They hear a noise inside, and unfortunately find the body of Wagner under a bookcase that's tipped over. When they find it's a suspicious death, Norland is one of the suspects, and Mac isn't letting it go. She's determined to find out who killed the man and why. What she does discover is that Wagner wasn't well liked by anyone, and the person who killed him just might be someone she knows...

This is the fifth book in the series and I have read all of them. I have to say that the series has improved with each book, and that's a good thing. This time out, Mac wonders if one of the other business owners in town is a killer, and if so, how she can prove it. Or it could be her new employee Sandy, who disappears without notice whenever she wants and seems to have a history with Lavoie. But Sandy's sister Orlean, another of Mac's employees, isn't giving anything out. She'll have to figure this one out on her own, since the rest of her book group isn't garnering much themselves.

When the ending comes it isn't as much of a surprise as it should be, but it is definitely worth reading about. It shows that Mac keeps her wits about her and manages once again to get herself as much out of danger as in it. It's a good book that will keep you reading in one session. Recommended.

I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher and NetGalley but in no way did this influence my honest review. ( )

recipes, amateur-sleuth, cozy-mystery, small-business, small-town, Massachusetts, pet-parrot, murder, murder-investigation, family, friends, local-politics, friction*****

“Mac” Almeida had a high-powered employment history but now owns a bicycle rent/repair shop, lived in a Tiny House, has a father who is a minister, a mother who is an astrologer, has a verbose African Grey parrot, a baker for a recent bridegroom, and is essential to the Cozy Capers Book Group.
Great characters and town, vivid descriptions, interesting suspects, and a fast moving plot. Another winner in a solid series.
I requested and received a free ebook copy from Kensington Books via NetGalley. Thank you! ( )