annieb123's Review of Murder Off the Books (By the Book Mysteries, #3)

by Tamara Berry

Author Tess Harrow and her daughter, Gertrude, are starting to get a bad reputation due to their involvement in recent murder cases, so Tess has come up with the perfect plan to drum up some positive press. She'll combine her new book release and her bookstore opening into one big event, giving her a chance to wine and dine the locals and some big press contacts. But the night before the party, Tess is greeted by a surprise: her mother has come for a visit, with her much-younger new boyfriend in tow...a boyfriend Gertrude recognizes as the notorious Levi Parker, a man recently connected to the deaths of three elderly widows.

Tess immediately alerts Sheriff Boyd about the visitor, but it's already too late. Levi Parker is found dead and Tess's mother is starting to look like the prime suspect. Bernadette swears she didn't murder Levi, and Tess is doing her best to maintain her mother's innocence, but too many coincidences keep stacking up. With the whole town seemingly against her family, it's up to Tess to get to the bottom of the story before it's too late.

Originally posted on my blog Nonstop Reader.

Murder Off the Books is the third book in the By the Book cozy series by Tamara Berry. Released 30th May 2023 by Poisoned Pen Press, it's 336 pages and is available in mass market 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 throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.

This is a fun ever-so-slightly gritty small town cozy with an intelligent female protagonist it's easy to identify with and root for. There are the requisite small town eccentric characters aplenty, and protagonist Tess' plan for trying to improve her reputation with the local townies by -not- getting involved with murder and crime for a while goes badly awry when Tess' mom shows up with her new boyfriend in tow, and he winds up murdered in short order (oops!).

I love small-town mysteries and bookish mysteries and this one combines both. The plot is often over the top, believability-wise, but still well within the constraints of the genre, and won't break readers' suspension of disbelief. The author is adept with description and dialogue and I loved Tess' interactions with her teenaged daughter a lot.

Four stars. Definitely worth a look for fans of bookish small-town cozies. It works well enough as a standalone, but with three books out it would also be a good candidate for a weekend mini-binge/buddy read.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

Reading updates

29 October, 2023: Started reading

29 October, 2023: Finished reading

29 October, 2023: Reviewed