How to Book a Murder by Cynthia Kuhn
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How to Book a Murder
Perfect for fans of Jenn McKinlay and Kate Carlisle, in award-winning author Cynthia Kuhn’s series debut, small-town bookseller and literary event planner Emma Starrs is out to close the book on a killer intent on crashing the party.
To help save her family’s floundering Colorado bookstore, Starlit Bookshop, newly minted Ph.D. Emma Starrs agrees to plan a mystery-themed dinner party for her wealthy, well-connected high school classmate Tabitha Baxter.
It’s a delightful evening of cocktails and conjecture until Tabitha’s husband, Tip—hosting the affair in the guise of Edgar Allan Poe’s detective C. Auguste Dupin—winds up murdered.
In a heartbeat, Emma and her aunt Nora, a famous mystery writer, become suspects. Emma is sure the party’s over for Starlit events, until celebrated author Calliope Nightfall, whose gothic sensibilities are intrigued by the circumstances, implores the bookseller to create a Poe-themed launch event for her latest tome.
Throwing a bash to die for while searching for additional clues is already enough to drive Emma stark raven mad, but another shocking crime soon reveals that Silvercrest has not yet reached the final chapter of the puzzling case.
Someone in this charming artistic community has murder on the mind, and if Emma cannot outwit the killer, she and her beloved aunt will land behind bars, to walk free nevermore.
To purchase How to Book a Murder, click on any of the following links: Amazon – B&N – Kobo – Google Play – IndieBound
How to Book a Murder (A Starlit Bookshop Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
1st in Series
Publisher : Crooked Lane Books (December 7, 2021)
Hardcover : 336 pages
ISBN-10 : 1643858599
ISBN-13 : 978-1643858593
Digital ASIN : B08QVJFZZK
My Thoughts on How To Book a Murder by Cynthia Kuhn
How to Book a Murder is a delightful start to what I hope is a long and successful series.
“‘To be surrounded by books is an exceptional joy,’ Lucy said.”
So starts Cynthia Kuhn’s latest cozy mystery. Readers will be instantly drawn into Emma Starrs’ world. Running a bookstore with her sister Lucy wasn’t what Emma expected out of life. Fresh from earning her PhD, she anticipated a more academic road, but family responsibilities and the draw of her hometown brought Emma back to Silvercrest, Colorado, and the family business.
It should be heaven, running a beloved bookstore, but Emma soon finds herself facing trouble at every turn. Faltering sales, falling income, a rude drama queen from the past . . .
Emma knows she has to make sacrifices for the greater good, so she takes on a job for mean girl Tabitha—now a mean adult—and ends up assisting at a murder mystery dinner party, only to witness an actual murder.
Things go downhill from there. Emma and their Aunt Nora are front and center as potential suspects, not to mention they may have targets on their own backs. It doesn’t help when the local detective turns out to be Jake Hollister. A man who has “always thrown [Emma] for a loop.”
As with all good amateur sleuths, Emma puts on her detective hat and starts chasing clues, and the killer, through Silvercrest. Colliding with faculty at the local college, where Emma would like to teach, and stung by the haughty rejection of what passes for the upper class in her town, our heroine puts her future on the line to solve the case. Secondary characters like Calliope Nightfall round out the terrific cast of a community that readers would likely enjoy visiting in the real world, except for the part about a killer of course!
To be surrounded by wonderful books is an exceptional joy, and mystery readers can add How To Book a Murder to that list!
Don’t miss my recent interview with Cynthia Kuhn! Click the link here.
Cynthia Kuhn
Cynthia Kuhn is an English professor and author of the Starlit Bookshop Mysteries and the Lila Maclean Academic Mysteries. Her work has also appeared in Mystery Most Edible, McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern, Copper Nickel, Prick of the Spindle, Mama PhD, and other publications.
Honors include an Agatha Award, a William F. Deeck-Malice Domestic Grant, and Lefty Award nominations. Originally from upstate New York, she lives in Colorado with her family. For more information, please visit cynthiakuhn.net.
To learn more about Cynthia, click on her name, photo or any of the following links:
Twitter, Facebook, Bookbub, Goodreads, Blog: chicksonthecase.com & Newsletter
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Silver Falchion Award Finalist, Best Investigator 2020
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Thank you so much, Elena, for the lovely review!
Loved the book!