Blurb
Ditching her fiancé at the altar, Alice Hartford bolts to her childhood hometown to reconnect with the last, happy remnant of her past: her mom’s old bookstore.
But the bookstore is falling apart. And when a handyman working there falls to his death, the local chief of police insists it’s an accident. Alice knows better and must put her detective skills to the test — before a determined developer destroys her last chance at a new beginning.
Join Alice in book 1 of the Wonderland Books Cozy Mystery Series for a twisty, feel-good cozy mystery that celebrates books, friendship, and the courage to start anew.
My Review
A bride runs into a bookshop, finds the magic cupboard, reads a book, sees a murderer running away, meets the owners of a diner and an inn, solvers a murder while falling in love with a town.
Back in the city, Alice was working as a bookshop manager and about to marry the owner, Richard. She calls him Rich, probably because that’s what he’s there to be, the rich boyfriend, but he’s awfully clingy, one of the over attentive type that would drive me nuts. And apparently, Alice finally work up to the same reaction, so she ran. She ran all the way back to the bookshop her late mother used to own, where she goes and hides in the ‘magic cupboard’ her mother built her to read in as a child.
Then she hears the hunky handyman fall from the scaffolding, and sees a figure running past as she tries to get back out of the cupboard, something quite difficult given that it was built for a child not a full-grown adult, and she’s wearing a massive-skirted wedding dress.
Kind of sounds like a joke, but it’s not. It’s a cosy mystery, and quite a sweet little one at that. There is some falling in love, but it’s falling in love with both oneself and with friends.
There are a surprising number of characters in the novel, but they are all distinguishable, and fun. They all have a purpose in the prose. The bad guys are a touch on the stereotypical, but they work in this scenario. The Major is described as Mark Twain but read a little Colonel Saunders.
One of the things that made me smile is that there’s a book shop in this book and a lot of the places are book themed, from the diner called “What the Dickens Dinner” to the “Pemberley Inn”. So, Austen and Dicken fans can have fun with the references. Then there are the books in the books store which are referenced and it’s a bit of a crowd pleaser here, because writers from all over the world are mentioned, a fair few of whom I’ve read and one I’ve actually met!
I read this in a day, it’s sweet, it’s easy to read, and the mystery has enough substance and sufficient suspects to keep it interesting. It wasn’t the most difficult crime in the world to solve, but it wasn’t patently obvious from the start either, which some cosies fall into the trap of. Not to hard and not to easy, so just right as Goldilocks might say.
This is the first of five in the series, the Wonderland Books Cozy Mystery series and I might read some more of them in the future, but not in a rush, you know? I would recommend this as a holiday read or a palate cleanser, or just a brain wipe. It’s a bit of fun and readers should enjoy it as such.
GB Williams Crime Blog 