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1915, London. Hannah Merrill opens the bookshop on the first day after sacking her manager. She discovers her friend Lily-Anne dead on the premises with a knife through her heart. Later she makes a discovery that there could be a traitor in their midst…

Murder in the Bookshop is a cosy murder mystery set during WW1.

Hannah is in charge of her suffragette aunt’s bookshop and is peeved to find the manager had been taking advantage of her aunt’s absence. She sacks him and is determined to make a success of the business. But the very next day she walks in to find her friend dead in a chair in the shop. The she finds a coded message among the possessions of the former manager. Could the two incidents be linked?

I really liked Hannah’s character but LOVED her aunt Violet who defies convention at every turn. Both women are trying to find a role in Edwardian society during the war and are constrained by social norms. The author has researched the era well and I thought the historical element underpinned the plot effectively.

The style of writing is easy to read and there is a light hearted tone to soften the murder and war content. There is a personal element to the book as Hannah wants to move on from her grief at her fiance’s death and her desire to find her friend’s killer. We are offered a few red herrings along the way to keep us guessing until the final reveal.

Murder in the Bookshop is an enjoyable murder mystery and I look forward to reading future books in this series.

Murder in the Bookshop

Someone’s been read their last rites…

1915, London: Working in the dusty bookshop that her Aunt Violet mysteriously inherited, Hannah Merrill is accustomed to finding twists in every tale. But discovering her beloved best friend Lily-Anne – with a paperknife through her heart – in the middle of the bookshop, is not a plotline she saw coming.

The case is anything but textbook. With the discovery of a coded German message, and Hannah’s instinct that Lily-Anne’s husband is keeping secrets, she determines to get to the bottom of it.

She can’t do it alone though. To crack this case, Hannah will need the enlist the help of her outrageous, opinionated, only-occasionally-objectionable Aunt Violet.

They think they’re making progress until one of their chief suspects is found dead. And Hannah realises that she is herself now in the murderer’s sights. Will the final chapter be the ending of a killer… or just a killer ending?

A totally addictive, WW1-set cozy mystery, perfect for fans of Verity Bright, T.E. Kinsey, and Agatha Christie

Purchase Link – https://mybook.to/Murderbookshopsocial

Author Bio –

Anita Davison is the author of the successful Flora Maguire historical mystery series. Previously published by Aria, she is writing a new cosy mystery series for Boldwood, the first title of which, Murder in the Bookshop, will be published in August 2023.

Social Media Links –

Twitter https://twitter.com/anitasdavison?lang=en

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/Anitadavison3740