Murder? Book festival? An alluring combination and, of course, I was going to read this!
The small village of Merrywell in the UK is hosting its first book festival, organised by Eric Nash, the owner of the local bookshop. He’s organised a full agenda of talks and workshops, with Leonie Stanwick, author of best-selling raunchy romance novels, as the star attraction. Leonie grew up in Merrywell but left abruptly when she was 18 years old so Eric was thrilled when she agreed to return to her birthplace.
Local Violet Brewster, with her experience of interviewing, was asked to converse with the star author in the first guest session. It was packed, as lovers of Leonie’s books flocked to hear the discussion. But soon after, the festival took a dark turn when Leonie was found murdered.
As Violet begins to investigate, secrets about Leonie’s past are revealed and shock the villagers. Will these secrets help uncover the murderer?
I love a good cosy mystery and this book held my attention all the way through. The location is perfect, with enough interesting characters to get to know, and Violet is a sensible yet curious investigator.
Murder at the Book Festival is the second in the Violet Brewster series so, after reading it, I immediately purchased the first e-book in order to learn more about Violet. I hope Jane Bettany has already started writing the third!
Four stars from me.
To read more about Murder at the Book Festival, visit Goodreads.
Thanks to NetGalley and HQ Digital for an ARC of this book in return for an honest review.