Author Denise Swanson is renown for her Scumble River
Mystery series, and her latest book, MURDER OF A BOOKSTORE
BABE, is a highlight of this beloved series.
The Tales and Treats bookstore/gourmet tea and coffee room
opens to the dismay of many locals. The owner, Rise Vaughn,
has a dispute with Better Than New Autos owner Hugo
Leofanti who illegally parks his merchandise in front of
her store. The town librarian fears people will go to the
bookstore making the library obsolete. The insurance agent
bills the new store owner for a much higher premium than
originally quoted. A teacher and her friends picket the
store because Tales and Treats sell romances and YA fantasy
and sci-fi.
So when Skye Denison enters the store and finds a woman
lying face down on the floor with a bookcase on top of her,
she is positive the victim is Rise. When she learns the
deceased is popular employee Kayla Hines, Skye is shocked.
Police chief Wally Boyd and Skye hypothesize that the
intended victim was supposed to be Rise as anyone looking
at the pair from behind could mistake them. However with so
many angry at Rise, who murdered Kayla remains unknown.
So many are irate with Rise but that same angry mob
genuinely likes Kayla; thus the notion that the wrong
person was killed, but there is no evidence to eliminate
anyone in the crowd. Skye is determined to find evidence to
eliminate the suspect as she is related to so many of the
suspects.
Swanson once again thrills her readers with another trip
back to Scumble River and the huge cast of characters who
populate her novels. The 13th book in the series, MURDER OF
A BOOKSTORE BABE is still as fresh and fun to read as the
first book, and that's quite a tribute to the skills of an
author to keep it so.
The lucky 13th Scumble River Mystery delivers a crush of
excitement.
Who could be driven to kill by books and sweets? While
school psychologist Skye Denison eagerly anticipates the
grand opening of a new bookstore called Tales & Treats,
many of Scumble River's most outspoken citizens want to
shut down the owners before they even open — and one is
angry enough to commit murder...
Dropping off some books at Tales & Treats, Skye trips over
a toppled bookscase, which has crushed a woman beneath its
weight. While police search for motives, Skye sees the
messy aftermatch of a half-baked plot to murder somebody
else. Skye is juggling her own busy life, but when all the
clues lead to dead ends, she turns up the heat on her own
investigation ... and stumbles upon the deadly secret that
got this bookstore babe done in. And if Skye isn't
careful, the killer just might make her the sequel...