The Bookshop Murder: An absolutely gripping cozy mystery (A Flora Steele Mystery) Paperback – 23 July 2021

Set in the mid 1950s, the story is full of charm with two very likeable characters in bookshop-owner Flora and reclusive crime author Jack, the unlikely duo finding themselves thrown together and solving a murder.Thoroughly enjoyed the read - I'm so pleased I found this series and look forward to reading the next.

The setting for ‘The Bookshop Murders’ is a village in Sussex in 1995, and in telling a murder mystery story author Merryn Allingham makes reference to post-war austerity and she uses this to add substance to her characters, developing their personalities and making them credible. This augers well for the future as publicity blurb predicts a series with main protagonist Flora Steele.Flora is the owner of a bookshop which hints as to ‘The Bookshop Murders’ being of a ‘cozy’ genre with a female amateur sleuth as a major feature. Other expected features are the police being unwilling to fully investigate the cause of death of the body found in Flora’s shop, and for a handsome bachelor to help Flora find the truth, plus a wealth of characters drawn from the cast of villagers with another body found, and with readily identified ‘goodies’ and ‘baddies’ amongst villagers, and with Flora being at personal risk.There is plenty to make a delightful and refreshing read with narrative well-written, with an absence of brutality and gore, and without bad language or overt sex. Perhaps the story of ‘The Bookshop Murders’ is a little tame but with excellent dialogue it is sufficient to be continually entertaining. Worthy of at least a 4-star rating.

A beautiful story woven around a book shop, a posh house and some characters from the 50s Enid eat your heart out

The Bookshop Murder is a 'cozy' murder mystery set in a fictional Sussex village (Abbeymead) in 1955. It is an undemanding read with a cast of characters who are very easy to visualise.For a murder mystery however it has hardly any twists in the plot nor any red herrings to lead us astray; as such any budding armchair detective will probably be able to identify the killer before the end of the story, however they may struggle initially to figure out the underlying reasons for the various crimes that occur.I enjoyed that the story wasn't just a simple 'who dunnit' but also gave almost equal prominence to the reason why the crimes were taking place. However, rather surprisingly for a murder mystery, the police do not seem to care about investigating any of the crimes, leaving it up to the two main characters (a young bookshop owner and a writer of fictional crime novels) to solve the case.Two other aspects I enjoyed about the story were its historical dimension (even if elements of it are a little implausible) and the hint of romance bubbling under the surface between the two lead characters.So if you are looking for an undemanding cozy murder mystery to read, then this book should appeal, but if you prefer your murder mysteries to be full of gritty and gruesome content, then I would suggest you perhaps look elsewhere.

It was an enjoyable read from start to finish.All loose ends tied nicely.The leading characters were well-defined and believable .It's a book to read on a winter afternoon

This is the first book in a new cosy mystery and I will definitely be buying the next one.Flora is intelligent and observant. Well-liked intelligent the village of Abbeymead, she is running a bookshop she has inherited from her aunt. The bookshop barely makes a profit and Flora’s dreams if travelling around Europe have been put on hold.There’s little excitement in her life until one morning she finds a dead body in the bookshop. She finds an unlikely crime fighting partner in reclusive writer, Jack Carrington.There is a lot of humour in this book – Flora is witty and charming and wins Jack over. There is a definitely a spark if attraction between them and it will be intersection to see how it develops.The mystery that unfolds is clever and well-paced to keep the reader interested with a satisfying conclusion.The writer also sets up the potential for further mysteries as Jack begins researching new a new crime series that will take him traveling around the country.I’m so glad Twitter made me buy this book! And I can’t wait to see what happens with the characters in the future.If you like cosy mysteries with a vintage twist then I recommend you give Flora Steele a try.

What an enjoyable read! The story is set in the 1950’s where we are introduced to the protagonist, Flora Steele, who finds the body of a young man in the bookshop she owns. The police don’t suspect foul play but Flora thinks differently, and when rumour and conjecture about his death start to circulate in the village, affecting her business, she knows she needs to discover the truth about what happened if she is to have any chance at all of saving her beloved bookshop.Enter Jack Carrington, a reclusive crime author in the village, who makes the mistake of being first on the scene when Flora discovers the body. Before he knows it, Jack has been reluctantly roped in as Flora’s accomplice, and as the two of them set out to solve the mystery, and the body count rises, they find themselves caught up in a situation more dangerous than they ever could have imagined.This book is an absorbing blend of mystery, crime and suspense, with just a hint of romance that may or may not develop between Flora and Jack as the series progresses. A great read for cozy mystery lovers in what looks set to be a highly enjoyable and gripping new series

I have reason many books in this genre that I thought I must have used up the really good ones. How wrong I was! This is the very best. It has the exact right balance of mystery, romance and characters. I'm excited to read the rest of this series.

A challenging read for some of the vocabulary but never a dull chapter even in the wee hours of the morning. Looking forward to the next book. I have found another great author. Thanks Amazon.

Un cosy mystery ambientato negli anni '50, dove la vita tranquilla di Flora Steele, proprietaria di un negozio di libri, viene sconvolta da un cadavere trovato nella sua bottega. I clienti scappano e Flora deve salvare il suo lavoro e la sua casa dal fallimento. La storia di evolve con colpi di scena e spunti originali

I was really bored when reading it and never saw a mystery because not many people were suspects .....

Arrived on time as expected.