Review: Murder in the Bookshop by Anita Davison

I'm delighted to share my review of Murder in the Bookshop, an intriguing murder mystery by Anita Davison. It is the first in a new series. Have a look!

Murder in the Bookshop is currently on blog tour with Rachel's Random Resources. Make sure to check out all the other fabulous tour stops.

Murder in the Bookshop

Anita Davison

I was excited about this cosy mystery immediately when I saw the title – and what a fabulous setting for a murder Aunt Violet's dusty bookshop is!

Returning from a brief summer visit at her well-off parents in the countryside, Hannah Merrill is happy to be back at her Aunt Violet's where she's been staying. With her fiancé killed in the war, her parents and elder married sister want her home, as it's unseemly for young ladies to live by themselves. So Violet's place offers Hannah a safe, independent place, though her aunt's outspoken Suffragette views are not universally liked. 

Visiting Violet's bookshop which she's started to manage with the help of family friend, Monty (for it must be a man who is in charge!), she realises that Monty had let the place slip in. Books in array, dust everywhere, and mice crawling over the shelves. Then she discovers a set of saucy image cards – with a dark secret hidden inside one card. A message in German!

Irritated, she sacks Monty on the spot and thinks nothing more of it. But when she returns the next morning, she finds her best friend Lily-Anne dead in the locked bookshop. Lily-Anne had been looking for her, but why come to the shop after hours when she must've known Hannah was on her way home? 

When dashing Inspector Farrell makes it sound like she is a suspect, and Lily-Anne's husband accused her, Hannah decides she must do her own digging to exonerate herself and find out what really happened to Lily-Anne. But she doesn't expect the surprises she uncovers in her best friend's life...

When she finds herself under attack in the bookshop, and she knows time is of the essence. Unbeknown to the inspector, Hannah and Aunt Violet begin to look into Lily-Anne's past – something that has a profound effect on those Hannah has considered friends.

Murder in the Bookshop is a fabulous whodunit. Clever, fast-paced, and with plenty of suspects. Hannah is a very likeable heroine, and Aunt Violet is simply adorable. Outspoken, direct, unfazed. 

Hannah's friends are also an interesting bunch, and as her suspicions grow, she's in for a surprise. Their circle is typical upper class of the time, with the matching views. Hannah's and Violet's own views reflect a changing society that struggles to accommodate women in independent positions. 

I thoroughly enjoyed Murder in the Bookshop, reading well into the early morning hours. It pulls you into the intricate plot and doesn't let you go. If I could have read it in one sitting, I would have done. A brilliant plot with some clever twists!

I think I've found a new favourite series. I can't wait for the next instalment. Highly recommended!

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Blurb: 

Someone’s been read their last rites…

1915, London: Working in the dusty bookshop that her Aunt Violet mysteriously inherited, Hannah Merrill is accustomed to finding twists in every tale. But discovering her beloved best friend Lily-Anne – with a paperknife through her heart – in the middle of the bookshop, is not a plotline she saw coming.

The case is anything but textbook. With the discovery of a coded German message, and Hannah’s instinct that Lily-Anne’s husband is keeping secrets, she determines to get to the bottom of it.

She can’t do it alone though. To crack this case, Hannah will need the enlist the help of her outrageous, opinionated, only-occasionally-objectionable Aunt Violet.

They think they’re making progress until one of their chief suspects is found dead. And Hannah realises that she is herself now in the murderer’s sights. Will the final chapter be the ending of a killer… or just a killer ending?

A totally addictive, WW1-set cozy mystery, perfect for fans of Verity Bright, T.E. Kinsey, and Agatha Christie

Buy Link: https://mybook.to/Murderbookshopsocial

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About the Author:

Anita Davison



Anita Davison is the author of the successful Flora Maguire historical mystery series. Previously published by Aria, she is writing a new cosy mystery series for Boldwood, the first title of which, Murder in the Bookshop, will be published in August 2023.

Connect with Anita:

Twitter https://twitter.com/anitasdavison

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/Anitadavison3740