Summary
Charli Rae and her dad own the Book Barn Princess in Texas. Charli has recently returned to her home town, reconciled with her dad, and joined him in the family business. And she’s thrilled to receive the latest Midnight Poet Society release from her favorite mystery author, Lucy Barton to sell at the Barn. But Charli is about to get a whole lot more connected to Lucy Barton.
Charli’s cousin, Jamal, has developed an app called Book Seekers. It’s a game that leads players to collect books. And it’s branded to the Book Barn Princess. It’s a brilliant way to get people talking about books and to get them into the store. Jamal has even worked out a tie-in author signing with none other than Lucy Barton! People love the concept and run off to play the game and collect books and prizes.
When the first body is discovered, set up to look like the cover of a Midnight Poet Society book, everything changes. Someone runs Jamal off the road and shoots out the front of the Book Barn Princess. The town council and the mayor think the app is dangerous and needs to be shut down. Could Book Seekers be connected to a murder and these other acts of violence?
Review
While this is my first time reading a Book Barn mystery, this is the third book in the series. The cover art has always caught my eye with the gorgeous, bright pink barn and the pet armadillo on every cover.
I enjoyed the mystery and the characters in this book. I’d like to read the first two books and get some of the back story filled in, but I feel like I was able to keep up with everything. There are a lot of characters to track in this one, so I’d like more of the details to help keep everyone straight. Like other cozies, there’s something of a love triangle going on. In my experience those can get tiring for readers. I hope Charli makes her choice soon! It seems like an obvious one to me.
The mystery is solid. In fact, I had NO guess on a culprit as I read. The victims were not typical for cozies. Usually it is a universally despised person. This felt more random until all the details were revealed. I’m eager to see if Book Seekers continues to be a factor in future books in this series.
Thanks to the folks at Kennsington/Lyrical Underground and Netgalley for the opportunity to read an early electronic copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.