Blog tour: Murder in the Bookshop

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Welcome to the blog tour for Murder in the Bookshop by Anita Davison!

More about the book…

1915, London: Working in the dusty bookshop that her Aunt Violet mysteriously inherited, Hannah Merrill is accustomed to finding twists in every tale. But discovering her beloved best friend Lily-Anne – with a paperknife through her heart – in the middle of the bookshop, is not a plotline she saw coming.

The case is anything but textbook. With the discovery of a coded German message, and Hannah’s instinct that Lily-Anne’s husband is keeping secrets, she determines to get to the bottom of it.

She can’t do it alone though. To crack this case, Hannah will need the enlist the help of her outrageous, opinionated, only-occasionally-objectionable Aunt Violet.

They think they’re making progress until one of their chief suspects is found dead. And Hannah realises that she is herself now in the murderer’s sights. Will the final chapter be the ending of a killer… or just a killer ending?

More about the author…

Anita Davison is the author of the successful Flora Maguire historical mystery series. Previously published by Aria, she is writing a new cosy mystery series for Boldwood, the first title of which, Murder in the Bookshop, will be published in August 2023.

My impressions…

This is the first book in the Miss Merrill and Aunt Violet mysteries series and I’m already a convert. More, please!

It is a cozy mystery set in London during World War I. Not only that, it is a murder mystery set in a bookshop (yes, a bookshop… I know you’ll understand my enthusiasm!). And there’s more: our unofficial sleuths are two feisty women, one of whom is a suffragette.

If all of this hasn’t made you run to the nearest bookshop, I will also add that I don’t remember a cozy mystery that has made me laugh so much. Hannah, aka Miss Merrill, and her aunt Violet are funny, sassy, independent and smart women, and I wouldn’t want to be on their bad books!

I loved other minor characters toosuch as Archie, Inspector Farrell and Bartleby the cat. The novel also feels well-researched and I thoroughly enjoyed the details that made the historical setting all the more realistic, like the appearance of a ‘white feather girl’, and the mention of real historical figures such as Mrs Pankhurst, Flora Murray and Louisa Garrett Anderson.

A gem of a book, whichever way you look at it!

Three words to describe it. Funny. Smart. Intriguing.

Do I like the cover? I love it! Together with the title, it is what first attracted me to the book.

Have I read any other books by the same author? Not yet, but I’m intrigued by the Flora Maguire mysteries series, and I obviously can’t wait to read more books starring Miss Merrill and Aunt Violet.

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