Ellery Adams – Murder in the paperback parlor

The second book in the Book Retreat Mystery series, published August 4, 2015.
Genre: cozy mystery
Cover: strange that with a title like that, there is not one paperback in sight on the cover.



With Valentine's Day just around the corner, Jane Steward is organizing a week of activities for fans of love stories at her book-themed resort. But her Regency readers barely have time to brush up on their Jane Austen before tragedy strikes Storyton Hall. Rosamund York, one of the most celebrated authors in attendance, is killed.
Rosamund had as many enemies as she did admirers, including envious fellow novelists, a jealous former lover, and dozens of angry fans. It's up to Jane, with the help of her book club, the Cover Girls, to catalogue the list of suspects and find a heartless killer quickly - before the murderer writes someone else off.


After that very surprising first book in the series, I could not wait to dive into this one as soon as it fell on my doormat. I really liked Jane from the first book, she is a single mother, with a very demanding job she loves, but she does take enough time each day to spend with her twin sons. And they sure are a handful. She works at the family resort, a book retreat, where technology is mostly banned, and reading is central. The mansion, rebuild stone for stone after it was imported from England by an ancestor, is a real readers haven. I sure wish I could visit!

But the upkeep of the mansion is expensive, as is paying for all the necessary staff. And so Jane has come up with themed weeks, and this time, the romance reader is at the center of it. They have invited some big names in the regency romance genre, and lots of fans are attending. Not only to catch a glimpse of their favourite authors and mingle with them, but also for all the workshops and other fun activities set up for them.

So when the extremely demanding beloved and hated author ends up murdered on the estate’s grounds, Jane and her staff will have to do whatever is needed to protect the resort’s good name and find the killer. There sure are some likely suspects, especially since her new novel is reviled by her fans who love her strong female heroine in her regency series. And now she has written a book where females are used and discarded and looked upon with contempt by the hero. It was fun trying to figure out who it was after all. And the story sure surprised me a few times.

Jane is our heroine, but she has help from the great ladies of her book club, and her trusted staff. And there is still that special secret they are guarding. And is her love interest really interested in Jane, or only in what she is guarding in the attic? I do like all the many secondary characters, Jane’s aunt and uncle, her book club friends, her staff. Jane loves her job and she is good at it, and it shows on the page. It all feels so real.

With this ending on the romantic aspect, I can’t wait to read the next book! But first, new books in the other two series Ellery Adams writes and that I love. Ellery Adams certainly is one of my favourite cozy mystery authors. She writes strong mature female heroines, and engaging and surprising mysteries. I haven’t read a book by her that I did not love.

10 stars.

© 2015 Reviews by Aurian