So as you know by now, Stormi and I pick a book to read each month together as a buddy read. Truth be told we usually end up reading several of the same books but we always target at least one. Sometimes they're new releases we both have ARCs for or somethings we try to dig something off our older shelves. This month we chose a sequel to a cozy mystery we read together earlier this year. Neither of us were sold on the first one but we both also have the third one already so read on to see how this one fared. And when you are done, cruise over to Stormi's blog @ Books, Movies, Reviews! Oh My! and if we were on the same page.
TITLE: Read Herring Hunt (Mystery Bookshop #2)
AUTHOR: V.M. Burns
PUBLISHER: Kensington
PUBLISHING DATE: April 24, 2018
FROM GOODREADS: To the town of North Harbor, Michigan, MISU quarterback Dawson Alexander is a local hero. To Samantha Washington, owner of the Market Street Mysteries Bookstore, Dawson is more than a tenant—he’s like an adopted son. But to the police, he is their prime suspect after his ex-girlfriend is found murdered. It’s more than enough real-life drama for Sam to tackle, but her role as a mystery writer also calls. Returning to the English countryside between the wars, she finds Lady Daphne Marsh in quite the quandary. Someone has tried to murder the scandalous American divorcée Wallis Simpson, for whom Edward VIII so recently abdicated his throne. It seems finding a suspect is no small challenge when most of England has a motive . . .
While Sam’s lawyer sister Jenna rushes in to build Dawson's defense, Sam and her lively grandmother, Nana Jo, huddle up to solve the mystery and blow the whistle on the real killer. With the tenacious members of the Sleuthing Senior Book Club eager to come off the sidelines, Sam and her team just might stop a killer from completing another deadly play . . .
MY THOUGHTS: So as I mentioned, there was an element in the first installment that really bothered me. Sam is recently widowed and has bought a mystery bookshop. She is also attempting to become a budding author of British Mysteries. So the first book was set up as a book within a book. Well, that trend continued and while I managed to make it through the British part of the first one, I wasn't so lucky this time around.
The young man who Sam has basically adopted now lives in the garage apartment and has become a local college football star. However, when his girlfriend ends up dead, he becomes the prime suspect and Sam, her sister and her Grandmother, decide it's up to them to clear Dawson's name. Now I do have to admit I really like the characters in this cozy. Sam is making her way in the world without her best friend since her husband died and she really relies on her family. Also, Dawson is a great young man who clearly loves baking as much as he does football. But the best part of the book is Sam's Nana Jo and her friends at the retirement home. These ladies are a hoot and I always chuckle during their scenes.
The mystery itself was pretty good and kept me engaged. I figured it out but not until near the end so that was fine. However, the British novel that Sam is working on in this installment completely lost me and after the first few forays into it, I just started skipping it altogether. So my rating is based on the cozy aspect of the book and not "the book within the book."
Since I already have book #3, I will likely continue on but I don't know that I'll go much further. However, the author also has a cozy dog centered series she just started and I do enjoy her writing enough to know that I will definitely be giving those books a go. Overall a decent mystery with a few issues.
RATING: 3 PAWS
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