Ellie and Meg Christie, sisters and co-owners of the Book Chalet, have been winkled into testing out their cousin’s new matchmaking service. Ellie’s date is odious, but Meg hits it off with hers – until it seems like he’s stood her up for brunch the next day. Except it turns out that Joe Darcy is actually dead, and Meg is at the top of the suspect list.
This is the second book in the Christie Bookshop Mystery series, a new cozy mystery series. I read the first book, Dead and Gondola, a while back and really enjoyed it. This one continues in the same lively, light-hearted theme, though I ended up liking it a little less than its prequel.
I firmly believe that the small-town setting can make or break a cozy mystery series. We run into so many of the same characters repeatedly that it can wear if you don’t like them. Luckily, Last Word is a charmingly bookish place, and I continued to enjoy reading about its residents. The central Christie family is close-knit and funny, and I would love to visit their bookshop. I even enjoyed the obligatory budding romance with the local police officer Sam!
However, a couple of things kept me from enjoying this book as much as I did the first. I thought a couple of characters, namely Lorna and Dr. Waldon, tipped sadly over the line dividing amusingly eccentric and truly irritating, which was annoying because they do surface rather often throughout the story. I liked the twists and turns of the mystery and how we were led up to the conclusion, but after all was said and done I found the murderer’s motive to be a really weak one – and their actions therefore maddeningly illogical.
Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review.
