Lorna Barrett – Chapter & Hearse

The fourth book in the Booktown Mystery series, published August 3, 2010.
Genre: cozy mystery



According to the gossip around Stoneham, New Hampshire, Tricia Miles cannot put down a real murder mystery. After all, the owner of the mystery bookstore Haven’t Got a Clue has been spending more time solving whodunits than reading them …
Tricia’s sister, Angelica, considers herself to be the next celebrity chef. To celebrate her first cookbook, Angelica hosts a launch party, but sadly the only guest is an oversized cutout of herself. Worse than the lack of fans is a nearby gas explosion that injures her boyfriend, Bob Kelly, the head of the Chamber of Commerce.
Tricia’s never been a fan of Bob, but when she reads that Bob is being tight-lipped about the accident and how it killed the owner of the town’s history bookstore, it’s time to take action. As the incriminating details emerge, Tricia gets wrapped up in a murder that proves to be as spine-tingling as the books that line her shelves…


Finally the day is there, Angelica’s cookbook has been published! She is eagerly awaiting the horde of customers to come to her cookbook shop, The Cookery, to buy their copy and have her sign it. Unfortunately, no one shows up, not even her boyfriend Bob. Tricia is mad on her sisters behalf, and decides to go get him. His car has been parked on the street for a while, so she is sure he is in one of the other bookshops along the street.
But first, she makes her own employees buy her sisters cookbook and have her sign it, while she promises to refund them for it. Then she sneaks out of the shop to hunt down Bob Kelly. But before she gets a few feet outside, she is blown over by a big explosion, which totally demolishes the history book shop across the street! The owner is dead and vaporized, and Bob Kelly, who was inside, is hurt and burned badly. But he will make it, and they take him to the hospital. Angelica is ready to quit her book tour, but Bob will not have it. He also refuses to talk to them, or to the sheriff about what happened. And so Angelica sets out on the road to promote her new book, making Tricia promise to take care of Bob. Tricia doesn’t really like Bob all that much, and has no idea what her sister sees in him, but she promises. Still, Bob is not at all grateful for her help and doesn’t even want to talk for her. And why is he having a security system installed at his home?

The downside of Angelica leaving on her book tour is, Tricia will have to look after Angelica’s two businesses besides her own, and she really doesn’t like the two employees in her sisters’ diner. She cannot understand how Angelica could have hired an ex-con. But her sister swears by Jake. And she really needs Darcy now to serve the customers. Still, Tricia doesn’t like how things are handled, especially not if the receipts of the day that Darcy brings her, don’t add up. While on the road, nasty things keep happening to Angelica, but she doesn’t want to believe she has an enemy. Franny, Angelica’s manager for The Cookery, had a secret relationship with Jim, the owner of the history book shop who was blown up, and she is really grieving. She blames his old mother for the reason why they did not live together, or marry, but Tricia thinks otherwise. She likes the old English lady, even though she disliked her son. She could not have killed him. So, who did? Frannie, his mother, or Bob? Suspects galore, but the truth was not something I could have ever guessed.


Again, I really enjoyed reading this book. I only have one book left in this series to read, and I am trying to decide whether to jump right into it, or safe it for a day when I need a guaranteed good book. Tricia’s love interests are almost non-existing at the moment, and I really hope Grant will come through for her. I do like the evolving of the relationship between Tricia and Angelica, they have been estranged for many years, but they are finally becoming friends now. I really dislike what I read about their parents: they dote on Angelica, and kind of forget Tricia. For no apparent reason at all. Mr. Everett is not married to his Grace, and he is not comfortable with the fact that she is rich and has paid of his debts for him. In his oldfashioned ways, it is the man who is the provider. So when she wants to go out to a fancy restaurant, he says it is not in the budget. Luckily, this problem is solved by the end of the book as well.

A great mystery I could not solve, means this is a well written mystery, and I like that. Twists and turns all over the book. I really like the main characters, and I hope there will be many more books in this series. I can recommend it to all you cozy mystery fans. After all, who would not want to visit a town filled with all kinds of bookshops?

9 stars.

© 2012 Reviews by Aurian