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Originally posted on my blog Nonstop Reader.
A Murder at the Movies is the 2nd Secret Bookcase shopfront cozy by Ellie Alexander. Released 19th June 2024 by Storm publishing, it's 262 pages and is available in paperback, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. For Kindle Unlimited subscribers, this book is currently included in the KU subscription library to borrow and read for free. The first book in the series is also currently available on KU. A third series book is due out from the same publisher at the end of Sept. 2024.
This is a well written light cozy with a MC who owns and runs a bookshop in a small tourist town destination. The background is well interwoven in the book, and it works as a standalone without needing to have read the previous book. This time, MC Annie is arranging a film festival event in Redwood Grove. She's again drawn into amateur investigation with the untimely death of a nasty film critic during a film premiere.
The author is prolific and quite experienced, the plotting is fairly tight and it doesn't drag. The book is very clean, with only a sprinkling of light cursing and nothing more objectionable in the book than off-page murder, and the requisite threatened violence in the denouement and solution to the murder. Definitely safe for reading at work or on the bus.
Four stars, a fun light cozy mystery. The series will be a hit with fans of "Jessica Fletcher", Cleo Coyle, and Jenn McKinlay and other small town storefront cozies.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.