4 Fun Stars for this book that checked off all my boxes for a perfect Cozy Mystery 🌟🌟🌟🌟
I pick this book up thinking it would be a little more about an advice columnist, because I think I’d be really good at that job, just ask my kids😉 even though there wasn’t much or as much as I would’ve liked about advice columnists this still was a really good cozy mystery… my full review is below: hope you enjoy!
The Advice Column Murders by Leslie Nagel
Synopsis
What’s the couple next door really hiding? Vintage fashionista and amateur sleuth Charley Carpenter finds out in this engrossing cozy mystery from the USA Today bestselling author of The Book Club Murders.
In a small town like Oakwood, Ohio, everyone knows everyone else’s business—except for Charley Carpenter’s standoffish new neighbors, who tend to keep to themselves. But behind closed doors, Paxton Sharpe’s habit of screaming bloody murder at all hours of the day keeps Charley awake all night. Coupled with the stress of the increasingly delayed expansion of her shop, Old Hat Vintage Fashions, the insomnia is driving Charley crazy. Her only distraction? The local paper’s irreverent new advice column, “Ask Jackie.”
Jackie’s biting commentary usually leaves Charley and her employees rolling on the floor, but her latest column is no laughing matter. An oddly phrased query hinting at a child in peril immediately puts Charley on high alert. After arriving home to a bloodcurdling scream next door, she follows the noise into the basement and makes a grisly discovery: the body of Judith Sharpe’s adult daughter.
With Detective Marcus Trenault off in Chicago, Charley decides to take matters into her own hands. Convinced that the murder is connected to the desperate plea for help in “Ask Jackie,” she embarks on a twisted investigation that has her keeping up with the Sharpes—before a killer strikes again.
Review
4 Fun Stars with a Mystery Machine on the side 🌟🌟🌟🌟
This was a very well-done cozy mystery…. this is the third book in the series and admittedly I did miss out on a bit of character development not having read the previous two books…. so while you could read this as a standalone I would encourage you to read the previous books 1st, just for a little more background on these characters….
Charley was a great female protagonist…. Charley is a shop owner and it was a good thing her shop was going under renovation so she had time to drive around in her Mystery Machine and solve murders…. as in all good cozy mystery series people seem to get murdered around Charley… this time it is her next-door neighbors adult daughter who just returned home, Sarah… of course not only is Charlie the person who finds the body, she is also dating a police officer, and the medical examiner seems pretty keen to have her help with the case…. unfortunately not everybody feels this way….
It was fun trying to solve the crime along with Charley, her father, his caretaker, her BFF, along with many others…. this was a much more complex mystery then you find in a lot of cozy mysteries….. there were quite a few twists and turns and unexpected reveals……… and the book definitely had an ending I did not see coming!
This book checked off all the boxes for what I love in a cozy mystery… fabulous characters… quaint setting… great who done it… plenty of suspects… and a touch of humor…. this book also had the bonus of some romance…..
Strongly recommend to fans of cozy mysteries and fabulous whodunits!
*** thank you to the publisher and Net Galley for a copy of this book ***
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