Dedication to Murder
Wedding bells are about to ring again in Greyborne Harbor, and as Addie slips into her white dress, her thoughts are focused on a bright future with Dr. Simon Emerson. But a discovery in her great-aunt’s attic leads her to startling revelations about the past. As the owner of Beyond the Page Books and Curios and a lifelong bibliophile, Addie is delighted to find a rare collection of classic children’s books gathering dust in a secret room beneath the rafters, including a first edition of The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams. To her surprise, a handwritten inscription on the title page provides a clue to unraveling a complex mystery in Addie’s family.
But that’s only the first surprise in a series of shocking twists that will turn Addie’s vision of where her life is going and where she’s come from upside down, including a suspicious death in the present that suggests foul play.
The Details
Series: A Beyond the Page Bookstore Mystery – Book #9
Author: Lauren Elliott
Genre/Category: Cozy – Amateur Sleuth/Wedding
Publisher: Kensington Cozies
ISBN: 1496735145
Page Count: 320
Rating: 
The Review
I have been a fan of the Beyond the Page Bookstore Mystery series since it began. However, I will say upfront that I struggled with Dedication to Murder. Unfortunately, it was simply too difficult to enjoy because it was far too depressing. I enjoyed Addie’s revelation about her great-aunt, and I even liked the references to classic literature, such as The Velveteen Rabbit, but that is the limit of my enjoyment.
Addie discovers that her great-aunt had secrets while going through some of her old trunks in the attic. She comes across a first edition of The Velveteen Rabbit, which her great-aunt inscribes. But the inscription makes no sense and sends Addie down the path of a cold case murder investigation and changes her life forever. But her life has already been changed by her fiance, who neglected to tell her he had been married previously and that he was still married. Something she doesn’t find out until she is walking down the aisle. To top it off, the woman who told her about her fiance’s marriage is murdered, and it looks like Addie is the only one in town who isn’t on the suspect list! It is all just too much for her to take in and sends her spiraling into depression and fear.
Suspects are around, and although Addie is not one, everyone else seems to be. I would have thought Addie would be prime suspect number one as she had the most significant motive at the time, but the author chose not to go in that direction. Evidence is scarce, but Addie finds that the little things point the way. Like the investigation into Addie’s great-aunt’s past, readers need to pay attention to the details. Once revealed, the killer will surprise many readers but is not totally unexpected. The Velveteen Rabbit, I felt, should have played a more prominent role in finding clues to the cold case, passages in the text of the book could have been used as clues, but none were used or hinted at. The fact that Addie takes so long to come to a conclusion most people would have come to right from the start surprised me, and unfortunately, I found the character very unlikeable this time around. She was too wishy-washy as far as I was concerned and showed none of the strong, independent, spirited woman we as fans have come to know. All in all, most fans will enjoy this book.
The Author
Lauren Elliott is the USA Today bestselling author of the Beyond the Page Bookstore Mystery Series. She grew up devouring Nancy Drew, graduated to Agatha Christie, and then began writing her own mysteries and bringing her passion for storytelling to careers in professional theater and journalism. She can be found on social media or her website.
https://www.laurenelliottauthor.com/
More books in the “Beyond the Page Bookstore Mystery” series readers will enjoy are A Margin For Murder and To The Tome Of Murder.
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