5-Star Review of "Crime and Poetry"

Review of Crime and Poetry

(Magical Bookshop #1)

by Amanda Flower 

From Amanda Flower—who writes the national bestselling Amish Quilt Shop Mysteries as Isabella Alan—comes the first in the new Magical Bookshop Mystery series.

Rushing home to sit by her ailing grandmother’s bedside, Violet Waverly is shocked to find Grandma Daisy the picture of perfect health. Violet doesn’t need to read between the lines: her grandma wants Violet back home and working in her magical store, Charming Books. It’s where the perfect book tends to fly off the shelf and pick you...

Violet has every intention to hightail it back to Chicago, but then a dead man is discovered clutching a volume of Emily Dickinson’s poems from Grandma Daisy’s shop. The victim is Benedict Raisin, who recently put Grandma Daisy in his will, making her a prime suspect. Now, with the help of a tuxedo cat named Emerson, Violet will have to find a killer to keep Grandma from getting booked for good...

MY REVIEW:   

I wrapped my arms around her, and she buried her face in my shoulder.  We had stood that way so many years ago when my mother had died.  Back then, the roles had been reversed, and I had been the one crying in her arms.   " I knew this would happen," she mumbled.  "I hoped that I was wrong.  I hoped that the book was wrong, but I knew this would happen."   

What a fun book!  This book had me guessing til the very last moment when the killer was revealed at last.  I am usually very good at guessing "who did it" but not this time.    I love it when an author stumps me in a mystery.   Grandma Daisy's book shop is very unique as the books are known to "pick the reader" and not the other way around.   Violet is not happy to be back in the little town since her last experience there was very traumatic.   But her grandma Daisy called and said that she was dying and needed her and so she dropped everything and came from Chicago.   Now she just wants to leave, but maybe the handsome Chief of Police will change her mind.   

I really enjoyed reading the history of Niagara Falls also and even though I've never been to visit there, Amanda Flower made me feel like I was there with the spray of the water hitting my face.   Readers will love helping Violet solve the crime to keep Grandma Daisy from going to prison!   

I rated this book 5 stars and highly recommend it.  

I received a kindle version of this book from netgalley in exchange for my honest review.  

About the Author:

Amanda Flower, an Agatha-nominated mystery author, started her writing career in elementary school when she read a story she wrote to her sixth grade class and had the class in stitches with her description of being stuck on the top of a Ferris wheel.   She knew at that moment she’d found her calling of making people laugh with her words.   Her debut mystery, Maid of Murder, was an Agatha Award Nominee for Best First Novel.   Amanda is an adult services librarian for a public library near Cleveland.   She also writes mysteries as USA Today bestselling author Isabella Alan.

Connect with her at:  http://www.amandaflower.com/