CRIME AND POETRY by Amanda Flower

Publisher:     NAL   

Published:     April 5, 2016

ISBN:        978-0451477446

Genre:      Cozy Mystery

Format:     Print  

Obtained via:  Publisher

Reviewed by name and email address:  Gina  Ginalrmreviews@gmail.com

FOUR HEARTS

 

When Violet Waverly is told her beloved Grandma Daisy is about to head or the great bookstore in the sky, she rushes home to do what she can.  When she arrives in Cascade Falls though, she quickly learns her grandmother is just fine.  Not only fine, but apparently in love with a charming gentleman named Benjamin Raisin. Determined to return to Chicago and her Ph.D. program, Violet just does not want to hear it when her grandmother tells her she is the new caretaker for the birch tree that grows in the center of the family bookstore, Charming Books.

Before Violet can get on her way back to her home Benjamin is killed.  Not only is he killed, it looks like Grandma Daisy is the most likely suspect. Determined to prove her grandmother did not kill the kindly old gent Violet agrees to stay in Cascade Falls a little longer. As the days go by Violet begins to learn a little more about that birch tree and that the water in the Cascade River may not be just regular water.  And then there are the books that seem to keep falling or appearing in the least likely places at the least likely times.  Grandma Daisy insists the books have a message for Violet while Violet is sure that there is nothing so odd about the books opening to pages that have just the words she needs to see.  Even as she makes some new friends, friends and secrets from the past keep her from wanting to stay a day longer than she absolutely has to.

There is so much to like in Amanda Flower’s CRIME AND POETRY, book 1 of her new Magical Bookshop series.  From the setting in Cascade Falls – situated near Niagara Falls, to the characters including Emerson the cat, to the setting in the Charming Bookshop CRIME AND POETRY is a fun read. Flower weaves a solid mystery with some great twists centered around the history of the area as well as the weaving of not one but two old crimes into the current story. 

While the lure to get Violet back to Cascade Falls (the ill grandparent) has been done before, Flower has a unique twist with Grandma Daisy’s book store.  When Flower describes the interior you can easily visualize the curving staircase, the children’s reading area and the ancient birch tree.  The author paints a wonderful picture with her words. 

And she has some great hidden twists…such as the Police Chief’s name and his relationship to the town.  The connection to a historical event from the late 1800s fleshes out the story.

Amanda Flower’s CRIME AND POETRY is definitely one to check out.

This is an objective review and not an endorsement of this book.