Description (from cover):'The New York Times bestselling Book Retreat mysteries feature Storyton Hall, the perfect getaway for literature lovers--except when a guest tries to get away with murder...
With Valentine's Day just around the corner, Jane Steward is organizing a week of activities for fans of love stories at her book-themed resort. But her Regency readers barely have time to brush up on their Jane Austen before tragedy strikes Storyton Hall. Rosamund York, one of the most celebrated authors in attendance, is killed.
Rosamund had as many enemies as she did admirers, including envious fellow novelists, a jealous former lover, and dozens of angry fans. It's up to Jane, with the help of her book club, the Cover Girls, to catalog the list of suspects and find a heartless killer quickly--before the murderer writes someone else off...'
My thoughts:
It seems that I really enjoyed this book's predecessor, Murder in the Mystery Suite, as I gave it a high rating. This book didn't quite live up to the other one. I did figure out the mystery pretty early on and that is always a big disappointment for me. I do, however, love the setting. This series takes place at Storyton Hall, which is a book-themed resort. Everything is book related and catered to the book lover. Who wouldn't want to be at a place like that. It sounds like heaven for this bibliophile. While I simply cannot get enough of the setting and Storyton Hall, the mystery fell flat in this one.
Jane Steward is planing a romance literary themed week for Storyton Hall. She has some of the biggest names in the genre presenting and appearing at the event. Rosamund York is famous for her Regency romance novels and she is a huge focus for this event. Rosamund arrives in her diva-like style and almost immediately there is trouble. Other authors attending the event are sick of her always being on top and getting all of the awards, her readers are angry that her latest book is so different than her others and a journalist keeps popping up around Rosamund. So when Rosamund turns up dead, Jane has a long list of suspects who had motive to kill the renowned author. It's up to Jane to seek out a murderer and save the day for Storyton Hall.
At times I felt that this book wasn't as good as the first book in this series. The mystery was too easily solved and I just couldn't get into it as much as I did before. The setting made up for a lot of the downfalls in this book and is really the reason why I gave it as high of a rating as I did. The ending hopefully sets up the next book to take over and it looks promising. I am hoping that the next book is better than this one. This series does have a lot of potential and I hate to see it go to waste. I have my fingers crossed that the next installment will revive this series to its glory. I can only hope that that is true.
Overall Rating: 3.5
Title: Murder in the Paperback Parlor
Author: Ellery Adams
Series: Book Retreat Mystery #2
Publisher: Berkley
Publication Date: August 4, 2015
Pages: 304
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Get It: Amazon; Barnes & Noble
Disclaimer: This book was purchased by myself and I reviewed this book without compensation of any kind. All thoughts and opinions are solely mine.
