Amateur sleuth Samantha Washington’s shopping trip to Chicago takes a deadly detour when a man is murdered on her bus . . . After some post-Christmas retail therapy in the Windy City, mystery bookshop owner and historical whodunit novelist Sam Washington is returning home to North Harbor, Michigan, on a chartered bus. With Nana Jo and her gal pals Irma, Dorothy, and Ruby Mae from Shady Acres … Mae from Shady Acres Retirement Village along for the ride, it’s a lively trip. But one passenger is not so lively—a gentleman Irma befriended is found dead in his seat after an unscheduled stop. The ladies immediately shift gears to find out who punched his ticket, while Sam slips into the driver’s seat to make sure Nana Jo and her crew steer clear of fatal conclusions . . .
Praise for V.M. Burns and The Plot is Murder
“A promising debut with a satisfying conclusion.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Cozy mystery readers and historical novel aficionados will adore this warm-hearted,
cleverly plotted new series.”
—Kings River Life
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Mystery bookshop owner Samantha takes a shopping excursion bus trip to Chicago with family and friends. The trip is organized by Shady Acres, the retirement community where Sam’s grandma Nana Jo lives. It was a great vacation but after hours on the bus slogging through traffic trying to get home to Michigan they have to pull over at a rest stop for a bathroom break. When they re-board they find one of the passengers has been murdered, right in the seat they left him in. Nana Jo and her friends from Shady Acres are convinced the killer is one of their fellow passengers and they convince Samantha to investigate with their help.
I loved that the story was set in Chicago and Michigan; the Midwest in winter is not everyone’s idea of comfortable, but to me freezing temps and snow are perfect for the December/January time period when this book is set. The characters are funny, quirky and likable, exactly what you want in a cozy mystery. I loved reading about Sam’s two toy poodles and their cute antics. The plot was engaging and there were several potential suspects. Sam is an unpublished historical mystery writer so the historical mystery she is presently writing is woven throughout Bookmarked for Murder. Following along with that second mystery was fun. You get two mysteries in one novel because the historical mystery is also resolved.
Although this book can be read as a standalone I believe it would be best to read the series in order to understand the character relationships and the emotional story arcs. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys cozy mysteries.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC. The opinions in this review are honest and my own. #BookmarkedForMurder #mystery #cozymystery
Love these ladies of Shady Acres. To say they will entertain you is an understatement. You actually are getting 2 for 1 in the story department. We get to follow along as Sam writes her book. The characters in this book are wonderful. You can feel the love of family and friends even if they make each other crazy at times. The story line is great, but remember you will be reading Sam’s book also. See if you can come up with the culprits. I hope you enjoy hanging with these folks as much as I did. I can’t wait till we meet again. I received this book from NetGalley, but my opinion is my own.
V.M. Burns could write a grocery list and I would enjoy reading it. No matter which series – The Dog Club series or the Mystery Bookshop – her books are great escapes for this reader. Bookmarked for Murder brings a fun, updated version of the classic locked room murder. What a great twist.
Samantha, Nana Jo and the lively ladies from the Shady Acres Retirement Village are returning from Chicago after enjoying some after Christmas shopping. Traveling along the wintery highway on their chartered bus, on the way home to North Harbor, Michigan, they have to pull over at a rest stop to answer the call of nature. When they get back on the bus, a killer has struck. Now they have a corpse as a fellow traveler. What to do? Given that Sam and Nana Jo and the ladies are on the scene, of course it follows that they will also be on the case.
The extras that really make this series stand out are the chapters of Sam’s work in progress that we get to enjoy – two mysteries in one and her two sweet poodles. I have a soft spot for poodles and they are major characters in both series. I’ll say no more because I don’t want to give anything away but believe it when I say this series should be on every cozy mystery reader’s TBR list.
Bookmarked For Murder is the fifth book in the Mystery Bookshop series.
Samantha (Sam) Washington, NanaJo and gal pals from Shady Acres Retirement Village have just spent an exciting four days of shopping Christmas shopping in Chicago. As they are loading luggage on their bus, Sam notices that Irma, being Irma, has met a gentleman, Max, who seems to join the group for their trip home. They soon learn that Max is a celebrated author whose next book will reveal more information on assignation Robert Kennedy. On the trip back, a traffic accident has them stopped for an hour or two and many of the people on the bus are clamoring for a rest area stop. Finally, they convince the driver to stop at the next area. When they return to the bus, they find Max, who had stayed on the bus, in his seat dead. After their interrogation by the local police, they can complete their trip. The next day, with a little cajoling from NanaJo, Sam agrees to help NanaJo and her posse in learning who the killer was. They soon find that there are many suspects to consider, including a couple of residents of Shady Acres.
I love this series. The stories are all well-plotted and written. The series has a wonderful cast of believable characters. NanaJo and her posse of gal pals are truly enjoyable and provide a little humor to the story. Sam is an aspiring author, and she finds that working on her manuscript helps her to solve the mystery they work on. The manuscript is set in the 1930s in the countryside of England providing the reader a story within a story.
I’m anxiously awaiting the next book in this wonderful series.
Series; Mystery Bookshop – Book 5
Author: V.M. Burns
Genre: Cozy Mystery/ Amateur Sleuth/ Bookstore
Publisher: Kensington Books
Page Count: 256
The incredible new addition to the bookstore cozy series “Mystery Bookshop” comes Bookmarked for Murder from author V.M. Burns and Kensington Books.
Sam and Nana Jo are highly entertaining characters in this bookstore cozy. Nana Jo is a no-nonsense, feisty kind of gal, and Sam can keep up with her with no problem. Other characters are interesting, spunky, and would be a blast to hang around with in real life. Of course, you can never go wrong with a series with a bookstore as the main focus, and this series keeps readers busy and happy.
The victim isn’t well known, and most of the people involved in the investigation aren’t grieving all that much. Those who did know the victim aren’t any better. The killer will come as a surprise to many readers, but it isn’t burdensome to put all the clues together and come out with the right person. The setting of a retirement village is always fun, seniors aren’t out to impress anyone, and they are willing to try many things and get into many situations that younger people fear. My one complaint, if there is one, is that even though this is a bookstore cozy, the store itself is not the center of the action.
In the end, Bookmarked for Murder is a fantastic bookstore cozy murder book and the “Mystery Bookshop” series is an enthralling read that makes me smile and has me hoping my retirement will be just like Nana Jo’s and the other characters. This book is beyond entertaining. It’s a page-turner that is filled with remarkable characters that have readers coming back for more.
The Shady Acres Retirement Village residents are on the road but trouble follows.
A four day shopping and sightseeing trip to the Windy City ends up deadly when an extra passenger or two jump on the bus for a ride back home to Michigan.
When the victim turns out to be someone of importance and it seems the murderer must be someone who was on the bus, Murder Mystery bookstore owner Sam Washington is convinced she must identify the killer. The murder took place outside of their home jurisdiction, so Sam’s usual conspirators in crime solving are not directly involved, meaning Sam and her Nana Jo have less access to information discovered by official sources. Will this slow them down or make them craftier than usual in their pursuit for justice?
Once again I am equally interested and invested in the historical mystery Samantha herself is writing.
I look forward to those segments in each of the books in this series.
Characters you feel as close to as your own best friends, with probably more laughs than you expect in a murder scenario, this is a series to add to the top of your must enjoy list.
Thank you to Kensington and Netgalley for allowing me a review copy.
family-dynamics, friendship, murder-investigation, murder, situational-humor, verbal-humor, 1930s, contemporary, senior-citizens, cozy-mystery
An older, lauded, self involved journalist is murdered while on a charter bus from Chicago to Michigan in current day. The bookseller is heading up the investigation with her Nana Jo and her cronies at the retirement village while using the writing of a mystery novel set in 1938 England to relax and clarify her thoughts. Both mysteries are entirely too engaging! Loved it!
I requested and received a free ebook copy from Kensington Books via NetGalley. Thank you!