Book Review: The Body in the Bookstore by Ellie Alexander

 


The Body in the Bookstore by Ellie Alexander - 3.5 
Book 1 in A Secret Bookcase Mystery series

This is the start to a new bookish cozy mystery series. This had some really great bookish elements. We had a great bookstore and Agatha Christie vibes, details about publishing and author, events, and a fun mystery festival that the bookstore was going to start in an effort to get more business and help the bookstore financially. I thought this was an excellent way to portray support for local bookstores, I really enjoyed the details surrounding the book elements in the book vibes, however, the mystery itself was lackluster. 

We start off with Bookseller Annie Murray, who is super excited to work on the mystery-themed book festival she sets up to help revive the bookstore financially and in its author events, marketing, etc. Things take a turn when a body is discovered hidden behind the shelves that wasn't meant to be a part of the festivities....even worse, it's Annie's old college friend. So, we continue on in this story of college friend drama with lots of jealousy, bitterness etc.

Things go on from here. While there were things about this I enjoyed, we have this cold case murder of their friend from many years ago, thrown in there as a mystery subplot and I didn’t really care for that. The characters were very dramatic throughout the story some were holding onto grudges or other traumatic things that felt a bit overdramatic for me personally. I will admit, I rolled my eyes several times. The ending ends on a cliffhanger also, and it wasn’t my favorite.

It’s not a bad cozy mystery, the more that I read the more difficult it is to become a new favorite cozy mystery for me. I have just become more picky when it comes to my cozy mystery books. 🤭💛 So I guess I am being a bit picky on this one, many of you would probably enjoy it if you can look past the character work here.


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