Murder by the Book

Beyond the Page Bookstore Mystery, Book 1

By: Lauren Elliott

Narrated by: Karen White

Length: 8 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's summary

Addie Greyborne loved working with rare books at the Boston Public Library - she even got to play detective, tracking down clues about mysterious old volumes. But she didn't expect her sleuthing skills to come in so handy in a little seaside town....

Addie left some painful memories behind in the big city, including the unsolved murder of her fiance and her father's fatal car accident. After an unexpected inheritance from a great aunt, she's moved to a small New England town founded by her ancestors back in colonial times - and living in spacious Greyborne Manor, on a hilltop overlooking the harbor. Best of all, her aunt also left her countless first editions and other treasures - providing an inventory to start her own store.

But there's trouble from day one, and not just from the grumpy woman who runs the bakery next door. A car nearly runs Addie down. Someone steals a copy of Alice in Wonderland. Then, Addie's friend Serena, who owns a nearby tea shop, is arrested - for killing another local merchant. The police seem pretty sure they've got the story in hand, but Addie's not going to let them close the book on this case without a fight....

©2018 Lauren Elliot (P)2018 Tantor

So-so

I had trouble with the narration and with too much “tell” and not enough “show” moving the story along.

The Narrator

Gosh I like the story but the narrator is really giving me a headache unfortunately.

Delightful

A wonderfully cozy mystery! And an excellent narrator. I look forward to getting the rest in this series. This mystery definitely kept me on my toes the whole time.

Fun Murder mystery

Addy and Mark make a great crime solving him while trying not to like each other too much. Fun listen and a good mystery.

Started out interesting

The premise was good for a series. Starting out, I thought it would be great. But I am getting so tired of books where various completely random characters end up being connected with no real reason (“maybe they met when they were both in London”) and all end up killing a bunch of people in a small town. Disappointing.

Overall Story good, narrator was irritating.

The overall story was fine but the narrator will keep me from listening to other books by the Sam narrator. There was hardly any difference in the sounds of the voices, the cadence or anything. It sounded so robotic and whiny…

I wanted to like it

I love mysteries, but I’m not convinced the writer wants Addison to come across as shrill and hysterical. The main character is pushy, makes foolish choices, but I think is meant to be a stronger woman than the reader conveyed.

A stray strand of hair

If I had more time to waste I would listen to this book again and count the number of times someone “tucked a stray strand of hair behind Addie’s ear.”

Not the Best

This book was fine. The narrative was a little Whitney, and the writing was simple. However, it held my attention well enough, but I wouldn’t buy another in a series.

Good story, awful narration

I thought the story was well paced and had enough twists to keep it interesting. I’m going to just read the next books though. The narration just didn’t fit. It makes the main character sound childish and whiny when her actions convey that she is a rather strong young woman going through grief.