A Staged Murder (Back Room Bookstore Cozy Mystery Book 3)

Back Room Bookstore Series:
I have read other series by Ms. Harper and they were more substantial than this series. The writing style is juvenile, simplistic, predictable and too much liberties taken with actually investigative procedures. A simpleton cop wanting a civilian to help him with murder investigations, sorry can’t run with that theme. There’s a lot of repetition which is probably for word count because I know the author doesn’t consider her readers to be simpletons that forget what was just said.

My impression is that books 2 – 3 were written by a preteen for the children’s genre. The storylines aren’t well thought out but Hollywood to fit the outcome without logic. While the author likes to rant about not being prejudice against others, she repeatedly has Monica berate her familiar Abigail for her past and demean her by ignoring Abi’s request not to call her kitty cat, cat, etc. Some of the word choices used are not correct: ghoulish and clamoring, for examples (books 2 and 3). With ghoulish and others, why label anyway the reader can tell the difference, unless we’re simpletons? Assorted ratings for the first four books of this series and I contacted Fairfield to do reviews.

Books And Brews #1- The cute cover caught my eye, even though I like this author, having read several of her books already. This well written quick read is full of naivety, humor and interesting characters. Monica and Abigail have a rocky relationship but there are reasons. The bookstore is actually two, human and magical. A good introductory story about the sisters and their magic, which is well done. There’s a developing friendship between the witch and the simpleton policeman, which may blossom into a romance. The murder part of the story is rather silly, Monica is investigating alongside Brian? The murderer is easy to figure out early in the investigation. This part of the book didn’t work too well and I was disappointed with the farce of an investigation. I contacted Fairfield to do reviews. 3.5*

A Guilty Party #2 – This book starts a week after Books and Brews end. Holly gets a more active part and she has an unknown to all secret. This story has a lot of preaching about stereotypes and prejudice, yet Monica still treats Abi disrespectfully. Practice what you preach, witch. The ghoulish label is incorrectly used, unless all mystics are evil. This book is heavy with the unrealistic, plastic and juvenile dialog; there is a heavy impression of a preteen writer. I love Holly and Abi’s characters, not counting Monica, the others are OK but not developed or used enough. This is a stereotypical cozy with no substance and certainly not written for adults. Simplistic. 2 stars.

A Staged Murder #3 – The timeframe for this book is in the same month. There’s a bit of a cliffhanger with the Council not releasing the truth for the fear of the consequences. Finally something original and worthy of reading, the last part of the book. The is a lot of unprofessionalism on the part of Officer Brian: Monica helping with interviews; calling for an ambulance too late (done while he’s rushing); and the way he spoke to a woman, “Chill, lady, we’re…” (location 246).

Monica oversteps herself, in my opinion, with equating what was done in Abi’s past by forcing A to a play based on what happened to A over 300 years ago, which is factually incorrect. Then M decides not to read fake mystic books, yet she goes to The Crucible and loves it and ignores A? There’s a lot of redundancy with M berating A; gee, is that a prejudicial and judgmental attitude happening here? M does one nice thing for A, but still keeps up berating her. For an interesting, unexpected twist: why build a new murder weapon when the old could have been modified? Spoiler if I explain how to modify. For the interesting, few pages of the ending, this book gets 3 stars.

A Gruesome Goal #4 – Picks up where A Staged Murder ended. Since ASM ended on an interesting note, I depended on this book to overcome the problems with the previous two books. The writing style had changed back to Ms. Harper’s usual style, I was relieved to find Goal interesting. The storylines actually made sense and were thought out. The characters added to the depth of the story. I was glad the murder was in the mystic realm, so no stupidity with Monica and Officer Bryan working together. There’s a bit of a cliffhanger with the name of Holly’s father, but I’m interested in the next book. Hopefully, Susan will be the writer instead of the preteen idiot that wrote books #2 and #3. 4 stars.
Back Room Bookstore Series end.

Monica, Holly and Abigail go to a play, The Crucible, it is about Abigail’s life when she was a young witch living in Salem during the witch trials. Just as the play ends one of the actors is killed. Can Monica and Officer Brian find the killer and why? There is also the Sorcerers’ Council meeting. Monica is trying to get Abigail’s sentence shortened or revoked all together. Holly wants to know if they can find out exactly what kind of mystic she is. Will they do anything about Abigail’s punishment and help Holly? The answers are in all in the book to find. I voluntarily read a free ARC of this book from Fairfield Publishing.