The small town of North Harbor on the shores of Lake Michigan is about to have a new mystery bookshop. But before the first customer can browse, the owner becomes a real-life murder suspect . . . Samantha Washington has long dreamed of owning a mystery bookstore. And as she prepares for the grand opening, she’s realizing another dream—penning a cozy mystery set in England between the wars. … in England between the wars. While Samantha hires employees and stocks her shelves, her imagination also gets to work as her heroine, Lady Penelope Marsh, long-overshadowed by her beautiful sister Daphne, refuses to lose the besotted Victor Carlston to her sibling’s charms. When one of Daphne’s suitors is murdered in a maze, Penelope steps in to solve the labyrinthine puzzle and win Victor.
In the meantime, however, the unimaginable happens in real life. A shady realtor turns up dead in Samantha’s backyard, and the police suspect her—after all, she might know a thing or two about murder. Aided by her feisty grandmother and an ensemble of enthusiastic retirees, Samantha is determined to close the case before she opens her store. But will she live to conclude her own story when the killer has a revised ending in mind?
“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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What a darling book!! I really enjoyed the story and the characters are such fun. Sam is starting a new life after the death of her beloved husband. She is going to live their dream and open a mystery book store. Her Nana and nephews are there to help. However, there is a bump in the road when a shady real-estate agent (from whom she bought her building) is killed in her backyard.
I love the characters, and that’s what they are. Nana has lots of friends that are ready to sleuth. There is the one who flirts and swears like a sailor, another who has family wherever they go and can impart information, one who knows everyone and chats in the bathroom, and then there is Nana and her gun. Sam is also a want-to-be writer and throughout the book there are bits of her novel. So you get two mysteries for the price of one! This is a delightful story and I would definitely read another by this author.
I received this book from NetGalley form my review.
An engaging, delightful, and well-written mystery with entertaining characters.
What a clever idea to have a mystery inside a mystery. And VM have a great cast of characters to fall in love with.
When Samantha Washington opens her new bookstore, she doesn’t anticipate that she’ll have to solve a murder. But when nasty broker Clayton Parker is murdered in her backyard and the police try to pin the ghastly deed on her, she’s forced to take matters into her own hands and root out the real culprit. Fortunately, her Nana Jo and the sleuthing seniors provide her with plenty of intel and backup. The sleuths are loads of fun, and I enjoyed every scene that described their exploits.
But Sam isn’t only a kind, caring, and resourceful bookstore owner–she’s an aspiring mystery writer as well. An aficionado of the British cozies I craved when I was young, Sam is penning her own mystery at the same time she’s trying to solve a real one. The two scenarios meld together in a perfectly delicious ending. I can’t wait to read Read Herring Hunt, the next installment in this charming new series.
I really liked this book. The main character is someone I would like to be friends with. She is so nice and has a great family. She helps people who are in trouble. She used to be a teacher but when her husband died she opened a mystery bookstore like they had always dreamed of. She’s also secretly writing her own mystery which I thought was fun. She has two darling poodles who try to keep her safe.
This was a very intriguing book by a new to me author. Samantha Washington opens a new mystery book store in her town of North Harbor, Michigan. Just before the grand opening, a man is murdered in her backyard. Sam becomes a suspect after the detective on the case finds the book she has been writing, which sounds similar to the current murder. Now Sam and her grandmother along with her grandmother’s friends set out to help clear her name and find the true killer. Loved that this book has a mystery bookstore and really enjoyed the story within a story. Can’t wait to read more of this series!
Loved everything about it!!!This was such a delightful surprise and I’m so anxious for the next book. At first I thought I would be confused with the story within a story but I quickly became hooked on both and stayed up through the night to read. Loved the characters in both stories. Great mysteries in both stories. Such a pleasure to find this author and can’t wait to read more.
A great two for one cozy with fantastic characters. The main story is a contemporary mystery but in it, the main characters is writing a 1938 mystery that is just as good. I have to admit that after this book, I decided that for the next one I would mark the parts of the historical cozy and read them separately that that is just what I did with Read Herring Hunt. I was drawn to the book because the main characters is an English teacher who retires to run a mystery bookstore and she has two poodles. That combination hits so many of my favorites that the book was sure to be a hit and it was! I loved it The characters will keep me coming back and coming back!
The Plot Is Murder by V. M. Burns is a great start to a new cozy series. I was so wrapped in the story that I hated when I had to put it down.
Ms. Burns’ plot is smoothly paced and the twists and turns kept me guessing. Ms. Burns has developed quite a cast of characters. Samantha is a widow who is just now allowing herself to begin her life again after the loss of her husband. She is opening a mystery bookstore to fulfill a dream of hers and her husbands. Unfortunately, a murder victim is found in the small backyard behind her bookstore before she can open the store. Her grandmother, Nana Jo, and her grandmother’s friends from the retirement village where she lives are more than ready to help Sam solve the murder case. In fact, with their contacts, they gathered the most clues; but it was Sam that put it all together. I laughed a lot while reading this one and I really want to meet the Senior Sleuths. Plus, Sam is writing a British cozy mystery that is included within the story so you get two books within one. I’m looking forward to the next one in this series.
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book from Kensington via NetGalley. All of the above opinions are my own.
It amazes me how many times I find books I absolutely love in Barnes and Noble’s book annex, but that’s exactly where I found the first book in V.M. Burns series A Mystery Bookshop Mystery.
The Plot is Murder features recently widowed Samantha “Sam” Washington opening a mystery bookstore which had been a dream she and her husband Leon had shared. This story has everything that makes up a great cozy mystery. There are literally laugh out loud moments as you meet the cast of characters.
I look forward to reading all the rest of the books in this series. I absolutely loved this first book.
Samantha Washington is pursuing not one but two lifelong dreams. She’s opening a mystery bookstore in the town of North Harbor, Michigan. But just days before the store is supposed to open, she finds the dead body of Clayton Parker behind the store. Clayton sold her the building, but he almost sabotaged the sale. Meanwhile, she starts writing a mystery of her own set in England in 1938. Will she solve the murder? How will the real-life murder influence the fictional murder?
I’ve been intrigued by this series with the story inside the story idea for a while, and I’ve heard good things about it from many others. Sadly, it didn’t completely work for me. With two stories and two sets of characters to develop, I felt like both were a bit underdeveloped. The ending of the historical mystery was weak, and it featured some abrupt character growth. Meanwhile, the modern mystery featured lots of summaries that were told to us, keeping me outside. On the other hand, I loved both sets of characters, and I did feel the modern mystery came to a good resolution. I had no trouble keeping the different sets of characters straight once I realized how close both murder victims’ names were, and there was also an obvious break between the two stories each time we switched. I can understand why others love this series as much as they do, but I wish it had focused on one story and developed that one story better.
I picked this book up at the library on a Monday. On Tuesday I finished it. It was sooo good! Sam is so fun to be around, and Nana is so cool! Would totally recommend to friends and family. Already recommended it to my friend who is an avid reader.
I listened to this book on audio, which I would recommend. It had a truly excellent narrator, and while she wasn’t the best with accents, she did a great job voicing a large array of characters and doing pretty good women’s AND men’s voices. Because of the format of this book (more on this below), I think it really helped to have it on audio to differentiate between the two stories.
My favorite, favorite thing about this book was that it was two stories in one. Samantha, our heroine, owns a mystery bookshop, and she’s writing a historical English cozy mystery in her spare time. When someone is murdered in Sam’s backyard and Sam is a suspect, she and her grandmother begin to hunt for the real killer. Meanwhile, Sam’s fictional English murder gets worked out alongside the “real” one. I loved basically getting a twofer, and almost became more involved with the historical story than the present-day one. It was wonderful to listen to on audio, even if the narrator didn’t do a great English accent, the characters sounded DIFFERENT, and it was easy to keep the two stories straight.
My second favorite part was Sam’s grandmother and her grandmother’s friends. They were a wild bunch, and at first I was worried I wouldn’t be able to keep track of the whole gang, but they had such distinct, fun personalities–I want to be at THEIR old folks’ home when I’m their age! They really added a lot of pizazz to the story and I hope we get them in later books, too.
Now, as far as the mysteries go (both of them), they were HIGHLY predictable. I called the killer for both of them about halfway through the book, maybe sooner. They were fairly original, detail-wise, but the ending was just too easy to spot.
Regardless, I love this book and will definitely continue with this series, probably on audio!
5 stars – 9/10
Badly written and edited.
This book is a great cozy mystery. It has a great puzzle, but no gore, or truly scary parts. It was a perfect book and a great start to a great series.
A good cozy. A pleasant read but nothing memorable.
I’ve actually read this book twice. I got this book in 2017 from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review, read it all, but forgot to do the review. Just finished half of the book today. My informal page count leads me to believe that the mystery Sam, the main character, is writing is actually higher than the main story. One section was 23 epages long. While these supplemental additions can be done well and may tie in to the main story line (Kathleen Ernst’s books for example), I’m just tired of them so while I have a dim memory of the historical romance within the story as being OK, I skipped it.
I liked the main story. The characters were pleasant and I didn’t mind the slightly eccentric seniors or the fact that they almost took over the story from Sam. Given that she’s a recent widow, I’ll give the author that, but hope in the stories after Sam steps up to the plate more. This was also the first in a series and the author may have wanted to give the secondary characters all a chance to get introduced.
I liked the book and felt that the main mystery was complete despite being quite short.
Samantha Washington’s husband has passed and she has taken on the task of opening a bookstore which was a shared dream of theirs. While turning the recently purchased building into a home and the future Market Street Mysteries bookstore a body is found in her backyard…a body of the man who listed the building she purchased and was a person she despised. Who killed Clayton Parker and why was he left in her backyard?
Samantha is not only opening her own bookstore but she is also an aspiring cozy mystery author. In the midst of an actual mystery, she is writing one.
This definitely made for an interesting read as you delve into 2 separate mysteries in one book. It took me a little bit to get used to reading a book within a book but once I got into the flow I really enjoyed it.
The characters are heartwarming and very down-to-earth. Nana Jo and her sidekicks had me laughing. This is going to be a fun series to continue.
Samantha Washington is beginning a new season in life. The young widow is retiring from teaching to open a mystery bookstore, a dream she shared with her husband, and she is jumping in with both feet. In her free time Samantha writes a cozy mystery that takes place in England.
As Samantha is creating a comfortable shopping experience for mystery lovers in her small Michigan hometown, her characters are moving through a maze of romance and murder. Lady Penelope Marsh must help find a killer after her sister’s American suiter is killed at their home. And just as Samantha prepares to open her store she has her own murder to solve.
Things in her small town are about to get interesting. With the help of her Grandma Jo and her team of senior sleuths, Samantha searches for the killer of a local realtor. Suspects are plenty and even the police have trouble narrowing down the lot of them.
I chose this book to read because I knew the author Valerie Burns was local to my area. What I didn’t know is that I would be able to place the fictional setting to two nearby towns. This is the first book in the Mystery Bookshop series. It was a terrific introduction to the characters. There are several and the author did a fabulous job developing their personalities. Some provide comic relief throughout the story. The plot moves steadily and is engaging. I was listening to the audio version and I did miss an important detail at the beginning, but it was easy to figure out what I missed. The setting is two neighboring towns split by a river and located near Lake Michigan. Descriptions of the area convinced me that the inspiration for these towns is about 30 minutes from me which was interesting. I enjoyed this book and look forward to the next in the series. I recommend this book.
The Plot is Murder is a great start to V.M. Burns’ new Michigan-based cozy mystery series. As a Michigander, I love reading books set in my home state.
The setting involves Samantha, a recent widow, fulfilling her dream of owning her own bookshop. She packs up, sells the house she shared with her late husband, and starts anew in North Harbor, Michigan. As Samantha gets settled and begins penning her own novel, life take a nasty turn. A sketchy realtor is found dead shortly after his desperate attempt to talk to Samantha, and the worst part? He was found in the backyard of the shop. Now, Samantha must continue to move forward with the bookshop, stay on track with her novel, and clear her name.
I enjoyed the book’s mystery within a mystery as Samantha writes a fiction novel we get passages from, while being the protagonist dealing with her own mystery in The Plot is Murder. The dual mystery solving kept me engaged throughout the stories. The character development, those within the main story and those within Samantha’s story, is done well. Samantha’s character is down-to-earth with realistic bouts of sadness as she’s still mourning the loss of her husband. The world constructed by the author allowed me to envision the stories in my mind.
I was not disappointed in book one in the Mystery Bookshop series and look forward to the next one.