Short review: potential with room for improvement.
Longer review: The beginning of the book didn't start off auspiciously for me, as the first scene is Violent rushing home because she believes her grandmother is gravely ill, only to find that she's in perfect health and faked her illness over the phone to get Violent to come home. That's a shit thing to do and I can't believe anyone would find it anything else.
But the bookshop is the ultimate: an old Victorian home with a birch tree growing through the middle of it, a talking raven adding commentary and the perfect book for you flies off the shelf. Literally.
I'm a bit ambivalent about Violet as an MC, she's likeable but a bit melodramatic too; I got heartily tired of hearing about her trauma drama from adolescence. The repetitious hints sapped the impact of the revelation once it was finally made. A few TSTL moments too.
But I do have a serious insta crush on the police chief, Chief Rainwater. The author has a real opportunity to incorporate Native American myths and culture, and I hope she takes advantage of it. Sadly it looks like she's going to create some kind of love triangle so that's a strike against the series already.
The mystery itself was pretty good; well-plotted and a little bit unexpected in who the killer really is. Lots of little details too that made the whole story pretty interesting, although a bit too drawn out.
Overall, a decent start and I'll read the next one to see if it goes anywhere I want to follow.