ARC Review: A Killer Romance by Maggie Blackburn

A Killer Romance
Author: Maggie Blackburn
Series: Beach Reads Mysteries (Book 3)
Publication: Crooked Lane Books (February 6, 2024)

Description: Love and murder are in the air this Valentine’s day in Maggie Blackburn’s third Beach Reads mystery, perfect for fans of Eva Gates and Miranda James.

When Beach Reads bookshop hosts a Valentine’s Day event, “Romance by the Sea,” bookseller Summer Merriweather has no idea that the guest author is under investigation for her own husband’s murder. When that same author is found dead at the local bed and breakfast, nobody assumes it’s natural causes–there were plenty of people who wanted her dead.

As Summer searches for the truth about the author’s stranger-than-fiction life, Summer finds suspicious indications of shady behavior in the author’s belongings. But the casual sleuthing is quickly derailed when Summer’s friend Glads gets hauled in for the murder, and they launch a full-blown investigation to clear her name.

As Summer and company pick through the scant clues to solve the case, they may find more treachery and heartbreak than they bargained for.

My Thoughts: The third in the Beach reads cozy mystery series is set around Valentine's Day. Summer Merriweather, former college professor and Shakespeare scholar, is back home running her mother's romance bookstore after her mother's tragic death. She isn't a big fan of romance or a big fan of Valentine's Day. 

A Valentine's Day event at the bookstore brings author Lana Livingston to the store for an author event. Summer is disgusted that Lana has written a new version of Romeo and Juliet but with a happy ending which Summer feels means that Lana has missed the whole point of the play. But a badly sprained ankle is keeping Summer away from the event. She can only watch the video.

When it is learned that Lana has died at the B & B where she is staying and that the death was caused by poison, Lana needs to find the killer since one of her friends who innocently offered her a cup of tea is under investigation for the crime. 

Then a PI comes to town. He's been watching Lana since she had already been a suspect in the death of her husband. He's quick to pile on accusations that Summer's friend Glads was Lana's killer. But when Lana's belongings are mistakenly sent to Summer, a new picture begins to emerge. Her journal indicates her love for her terminally ill husband and her foray into drug running to pay off her husband's enormous medical debts. It also relates her troubled relationship with her stepdaughter Mary Laura who was seen hanging around the bookstore with a book about poisons in her backpack before Lana's poisoning. 

Summer calls on her old friend lawyer Cash to help Glads. Their relationship is just rebuilding after she left him at the altar when they were very young. Between her conflicted feelings for Cash and a PI who looks to want a romance with her, Summer has a lot on her plate for a woman who is confined to her couch and taking lots of pain pills for her ankle. 

The plot of the story was engaging. The writing was not. I had trouble getting lost in the story because I kept being jolted out of it by the prose style. There was a bit too much telling rather than showing to make the story engaging for me. I also got tired of so many characters being described as "smarter than the average bear."

Fans of cozy mysteries and particularly fans of the earlier books in this series will likely enjoy it more than I did. 

Favorite Quote:

"Okay. What kind of information do we want?"

"Anything."

"That's helpful."

"I mean it. You often don't know what you don't know until you need to know it."

Summer grinned. "Say that three times."

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.