Cover Story
An Ashton Corners Book Club Mystery #3
By Erika Chase
ISBN: 9780425252116
Website: www.lindawiken.com
Brought to you by OBS reviewer Andra
Summary:
Murder is nothing novel for the Ashton Corners Mystery Readers and Cheese Straws Society—but this time the police want to throw the book at one of their own…
It’s time to celebrate when club member Molly Mathews’s childhood friend, Teensy Coldicutt, moves back to town—complete with a published book. But as the club plans Teensy’s book launch, Molly is attacked and Teensy’s books are stolen. Who would be so desperate for 150 copies of a sexy novel written by an elderly widow? Then Ashton Corners is hit with another shock when Teensy’s publisher turns up dead—and fellow club member and former police chief Bob Miller is taken into custody.
Convinced that Teensy’s missing books hold the key to the murder, Lizzie Turner and her band of readers are determined to hunt them down. But the plot thickens when their search leads them straight into a counterfeiting ring. Now they must unravel this surprise twist before the killer gets the chance to write someone else off… (Goodreads)
Review:
Cover Story is a delightful addition to the Ashton Corners Book Club Mystery series by Erika Chase. We join the Ashton Corners Mystery Readers and Cheese Straws Society (now isn’t that a mouthful!) as they welcome back to town Teensy Coldicutt, a friend of Molly Mathews.
The crux of the story is that Teensy (a published author now) brings to town 150 copies of her novel and then the books are stolen! What the heck is that about? And then Teensy’s publisher turns up dead. To top it all off, the person charged with the crime is fellow book club member Bob Miller, a retired police chief. This is not good, but the club is on it.
I loved the word plays – for example: Lizzie to Mark:
”Time for a quickie? Espresso, I mean.” He grinned. “Yeah”.
Always friction between Lizzie and Mark with respect to her involvement in solving murder cases: 🙂
“…There always is a reason for violence and that’s why I don’t want you going poking around in all this. Okay?”
Lizzie shook her head. “I can’t promise that, Mark. Molly is family. Someone tried to hurt her. That’s more important than the books. But the books are the reason. Maybe there’s a way the book club can help” …
“We don’t know what we’re dealing with here and I don’t want you becoming a target again. So no nosing around.”
Lizzie leaned forward and kissed him. “Understood. But…”
The story is filled with a good amount of sleuthing (and some of it did bring chuckles to the surface as I consumed the book). Such delightfully quirky characters in the book club! And their sleuthing was humourous at times as well. As always – I shall leave the final “whodunit” reveal to each reader to enjoy – but I really was not sure until the end, which is a good sign for a mystery read.
I love how the author, Erika Chase, included the reading lists of the members of the Ashton Corners Mystery Readers and Cheese Straw Society. I certainly will explore some of those books in the future. As this series continues, so does my enjoyment of this series. I may be biased as I have read many, many titles by this author (both under this pen name and under the name of Linda Wiken) but my suggestion is that if you want to read a well crafted cozy mystery with all the critical components (amateur sleuth, small town feel, and of course a murder – but not too gruesome) and a “whodunit” that really does make you think until the very end of the tale… then I would pick up this book and set aside a few hours (or days – depending upon your reading speed J) and get lost into the world that Erika Chase has created. Great entertainment.
