Murder Off the Books

May 1, 2023

Thriller writer Tess Harrow fictionalized murders in Winthrop, WA, in her last couple of books. Now she's combining the launch party for her latest with the opening of her new bookstore in town. But the night before the grand opening, Tess's mother shows up, bringing along her much younger boyfriend. Tess's teen daughter Gertrude recognizes him as Levi Parker, a notorious suspect in the murder of three elderly widows. Before Tess can notify Sheriff Boyd, Levi is found dead in his hotel room. Boyd doesn't want Tess near his case and insults her by allowing a true-crime podcaster to access the crime scene and to stay at his house while in town. Her feelings are further hurt when townspeople would rather follow the podcaster than show up at her bookstore, but Tess is determined to find the killer and to prove her mother's innocence. VERDICT Fans of quirky casts and funny cozies will enjoy Berry's third "By the Book" mystery (after On Spine of Death), with its eccentric characters and outrageous scenes.--Lesa Holstine

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May 15, 2023
Murder disrupts a bookstore's grand opening in Winthrop, Washington. Tess Harrow is going all out for the launch of Paper Trail, the painstakingly renovated bookshop on the site of her father's old hardware store. Not only has she scheduled her latest novel, Fury Under the Floorboards, for release the night of the store's launch party, but she's allowed her daughter, 15-year-old Gertie, to plan a menu of tasty treats, including sushi-grade tuna flown in fresh that morning from Seattle. So she's less than thrilled when her mother, mega-diva Bernadette Springer, shows up even earlier than the fish with her boyfriend, Levi Parker, in tow. Parker is famous all over Instagram, accused of murdering two women in New York and one in Detroit, although no one's been able to make the charges stick. But this time, he's the one who ends up in the morgue. Relieved as Tess is that her mother won't be Parker's next victim, his death derails the plans for her gala reopening big-time. First, journalist Mumford Umberto ditches his plans for an extended interview with Tess in favor of covering the crime. Next, podcaster Neptune Jones sets up shop down the street, drawing away the huge crowds that Tess expected at Paper Trail. Worst of all, Sheriff Boyd, who Tess keeps hoping will declare his feelings for her, invites Neptune to stay at his house and help him crack the case. Tess spends so much energy grieving the injustice of it all that she barely has time to solve the mystery, even when it looks as if her mom is a prime suspect. Although Berry's dialogue is crisp and funny, her scattershot plotting may leave some readers wishing for a bit less. A little humor, a little romance, a little detection, but no solid takeaway.

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