Murder of an Open Book
A Scumble River Mystery #18
Author: Denise Swanson
ISBN13: 9780451472113
Author website: http://www.deniseswanson.com/
Brought to you by OBS reviewer Kayt
Synopsis: 
New York Times Bestselling Scumble River Series
A nasty faculty feud leaves one Scumble River teacher belly-up.
Her honeymoon may have been less than relaxing, but Skye Boyd née Denison is still high on marital bliss with her new husband, Wally. The fact that their family is about to get bigger is even more exciting, even if Skye is dealing with morning sickness—and trying to hide the news from her ever-meddling mother, May.
But Skye quickly comes crashing down from cloud nine when the body of one of her coworkers, science teacher and volleyball coach Blair Hucksford, is found in the school swimming pool. The troublesome trainer was on the bad side of almost everyone on staff and many of the girls on her team, leaving Skye to sort through a huge roster of suspects. Now she must figure out which wronged party was mad enough to kill, and quickly—before someone else in town gets bumped off. .
Review:
I love visiting Scumble River and hanging out with Skye and her husband Police Chief Wally Boyd and the whole gang. This is a long running mystery and author Denise Swanson has kept it continuously fresh. Murder of an Open Book is not different. Skye and her husband are just back from their wild adventure honeymoon on a cruise and they are trying to keep her pregnancy a secret for a bit. Both she and her husband are back at work. Skye is trying to keep in shape and takes a morning swim at the high school. One morning she has a run in with Blair Hucksford who is the science teacher and volleyball coach. She finds out that Blair may do a wonderful job getting a winning season out of the girls, but she is not a popular coworker. Unfortunately it seems that someone has more than a passing dislike for the coach when Skye finds her dead in the swimming pool.
Skye is not just your regular main character/amateur detective that is in a lot of cozy mysteries. She is the school psychologist and also an official Police Consultant. She assists her husband and his force to ferret out the criminals. So she really is more than the normal amateur. I love this series and even though this is the 18th in it, I think anyone would be able to start on any book and follow the characters. I actually did that many, many books ago. The characters are fun, intelligent, well developed, and hilarious at times. Author Denise Swanson writes with such flair and the mysteries are always well thought out and intriguing. Scumble River is small town at its best.
Murder of an Open Book is another wonderful book in this fantastic cozy mystery series. Author Denise Swanson’s writing is enjoyable, entertaining and full of wit and wonderful plotting. You can definitely read this one (and all of them) as stand alone, but I recommend reading all of the installments of Scumble River Mysteries. I think this cozy will appeal to a large assortment of readers. Any cozy lover will enjoy it, as well as anyone that likes a well written, wonderfully plotted mystery. Denise Swanson’s other cozy series Devereaux’s Dime Store Mystery is another hit series. If you enjoy a bit of romance in your cozy, you have come to the right place. This author has a winning formula that never gets old, boring or passé. Don’t just dip your toe in the water, dive all the way in and settle down with another fabulous read.
