Under The Cover Of Murder
The Blurb
It promises to be Greyborne Harbor’s wedding of the year. The impending nuptials of Serena Chandler and Zach Ludlow will take place aboard his family’s luxurious super-yacht, currently moored in the harbor and the talk of the town. But on the day of the wedding, a man’s body washes up on the beach with no ID, only a torn page from a book in his pocket. As the owner of Beyond the Page Books and Curios, bibliophile Addie is called in to identify the book, but she cannot.
The morning following the extravagant ceremony, a second body washes ashore, and Addie has a sinking feeling that the two deaths are connected. While the guests are held on the yacht as the police investigate, at least Addie can peruse Zach’s father’s rare books library on board. A copy of Agatha Christie’s first Hercule Poirot novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, provides a clue that the killer may still be on the ship but narrowing down the suspects without becoming the next victim may prove a truly Herculean task.
The Details
Series: A Beyond the Page Bookstore Mystery – Book #6
Author: Lauren Elliott
Genre/Category: Cozy – Amateur Sleuth/Bookshop
Publisher: Kensington Books
ISBN: 1496727134
Page Count: 320
Rating: 
The Review
It’s the wedding of the year in Under The Cover Of Murder, or is it the murder of the year? Book enthusiast and shop owner Addie isn’t sure when she ends up being held onboard a yacht after a body is found what to do with her time. She has friends to spend the days with, but it’s the rare book collection the owner has amassed that holds her primary focus, and of course, solving a murder and then a second murder.
Addie is a fun and interesting character; she keeps things exciting and never fails to amuse the reader and entertain. The two main men in her life, Simon and Marc, are questionable. Even when she says that she has made her decision, in the end, has she really? I can see where this romance is going, and I am not sure I will like the way it turns out. Other characters are enjoyable, add depth to the story and help Addie resolve issues, even if it is by accident. I love any setting that involves books, and I can’t think of a more enjoyable way to spend time than reading and handling rare books, so I envy Addie being cooped up on a luxury yacht with all those old books, real or fake! Even the wedding has an element of intrigue.
There are plenty of suspects, a boatload of them in fact. Each has a different reason for wanting the victim(s) dead; secrets, lies, fraud, relationships, all forms of motive can be found. There are some excellent twists and turns, as well as a few surprises. It tickled me that an Agatha Christie book holds clues to help solve the murders. The description of the wedding, the guests, and the yacht all sound delightful. I did have an issue with Serena allowing her future mother-in-law to ride roughshod over her wedding and her family. No bride worth her salt would allow her future in-laws to dictate their big day, no matter how wealthy they might be.
In the finale, Addie finds the culprit, pretty much by accident, which isn’t uncommon for her way of “investigating.” The detective on the case comes to accept that she can and is helpful at times, even if it is just eavesdropping on conversations at a wedding. Books play a massive part in Under The Cover Of Murder and this makes me happy as a reader and an author. There isn’t a great deal of action; it’s hard to have chase scenes or other activities when your setting is a boat, no matter how big it is, but there is enough to give the book some tense moments. This book has all the elements needed to give readers an enjoyable few hours of escape, and I am happy to see the series continue.
The Author
Lauren Elliott grew up devouring the entire Nancy Drew series and then graduated to Victoria Holt, Agatha Christie, Barbara Erskine, Lynn Kurland, and Michael Crichton, to name a few of her favorite authors. When it came time for post-secondary education, journalism seemed like the logical choice as she had written for as long as she could remember. Soon after graduation, while working for a small publication, she discovered that reporting wasn’t what fueled her writing passions. As someone with an additionally strong background in professional theatre who had the love of storytelling and captivating and holding an audience, her fiction-writing career began to take center stage.
Lauren’s imagination is boundless. All of her books, whether they explore different aspects of the paranormal with a dab of romance, fantasy, or is a suspense-filled cozy murder mystery. Her writing never fails to take her readers on a gripping, page-turning adventure.
More books from Lauren Elliott readers will love include Murder in the First Edition or A Page Marked For Murder from the “A Beyond the Page Bookstore Mystery” series.
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