A Fatal Booking
Booklover Charlotte is delighted to welcome an eclectic group of guests to Chapters B&B for a book club retreat focused on fairy tales, classic children’s literature, and jewelry created by a few of the members of the club. But when one of the guests is poisoned at a Mad Hatter tea party, Charlotte realizes she’s fallen down a rather unpleasant rabbit hole.
The victim, an opinionated busybody whose jewelry store sold original designs, along with some possibly “hot” merchandise, had plenty of enemies, spurring Charlotte and Ellen to offer their well-honed investigative skills to assist the local police. But as they delve deeper into each of the guest’s stories, they realize all of them had a motive, and the means, to close the book on the unfortunate victim.
Enlisting the aid of a few local residents, as well as their new ally, agent Gavin Howard, Charlotte and Ellen vow to reveal the truth, even if the path to any sort of happy ending is strewn with deadly danger.
The Details
Series: A Booklover’s B&B Mystery – Book #3
Author: Victoria Gilbert
Genre/Category: Cozy – B&B/Business
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
ISBN: 1643859145
Page Count: 304
Rating: 
The Review
I have enjoyed the “A Booklover’s B&B Mystery” series since it started, and it just keeps getting better. In A Fatal Booking, Charlotte has her hands full at the B&B with a group of classic fairy tale enthusiasts and jewelry designers. But, when a mad hatter tea party turns fatal, Charlotte finds herself down a rabbit hole she may not be able to climb out of.
Chapter’s B&B has new guests that are varied in almost every except that they enjoy classic fairy tales, tea, and jewelry. Charlotte can’t blame them; what’s not to like. But something is off with one of the guests. Stacy seems to have stolen some jewelry designs from other guests, and no one is speaking up or confronting her with their suspicions or accusations. So, of course, that might be why Stacy is found murdered in the garden turning the mad hatter tea party into a homicide scene. It doesn’t take long for Charlotte and Ellen to find a house full of suspects and plenty of trouble to go along with it.
The suspects seem to just line up in this story without much work to find them or their motives. If you follow it closely, the evidence will lead readers straight to the killer, but that doesn’t mean it is easy to figure out the who-dun-it aspect of this mystery. However, everything is not what it seems, and no amount of tea or beautiful jewelry will change the fact that someone is hiding a terrible crime and rifling through Charlotte’s things in the attic and stealing photos.
I enjoyed the idea of a mad hatter tea party for adults. The jewelry designs sound divine; I would love to have one of those beautiful pieces. I love the B&B, I think it is absolutely delightful, and I would love to visit such a fun place. However, I did not like the constant harping about Charlotte returning to teaching; it was mentioned too often for my tastes. I also feel it would ruin the series if she suddenly returns to teaching and puts the B&B in a stranger’s hands. The story is a bit slow to start but jumps into nonstop action as you get closer to revealing the killer. Of course, no story in this series id complete without Charlotte and Ellen putting their lives at risk. A Fatal Booking is an engaging read that will have readers speculating and worrying but ultimately happy.
The Author
Victoria Gilbert was raised in a historic small town in the shadow of the Blue Ridge Mountains; she turned her early obsession with books into a dual career as an author and librarian. She has worked as a reference librarian and library director for public, museum, and academic libraries. An avid reader who appreciates good writing in all genres, Victoria has been known to read seven books in as many days. When not writing or reading, she likes to watch films, listen to music, garden, or travel. Victoria is a member of Mystery Writers of America, International Thriller Writers, and Sisters in Crime. She lives in North Carolina with her husband, son, and some very spoiled cats.
A couple of other recommendations from this author include Booked for Death from the “A Booklover’s B&B Mystery” series or the “Blue Ridge Library Mystery” series, A Deadly Edition.
Represented by: Literary Counsel
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