Crimes and covers

Amanda Flower

eBook - 2022

Violet Waverly sleuths a Thoreau-ly puzzling Christmastime murder in Agatha Award-winning, USA Today bestselling author Amanda Flower's fifth Magical Bookshop mystery. Christmas is coming to the Western New York village of Cascade Springs, and so is the long-awaited wedding of Charming Books proprietor Violet Waverly and police chief David Rainwater. Grandma Daisy and Violet's best friend, Sadie, go all out to make the nuptials the event of the season--whether Violet likes it or not. But the reception becomes memorable for all the wrong reasons when a woman's dead body floats by on the frigid Niagara River. Violet is shocked to recognize the deceased as a mysterious woman who visited Charming Books two days before the weddi...ng, toting a rare first edition of Henry David Thoreau's Walden. Well aware that a mint condition copy could be worth more than $14,000, Violet told the woman she would have to have the book appraised before she could consider buying it. Most displeased, the woman tucked the precious tome under her arm and stormed out of the shop. Now she's dead, and an enigmatic message scrawled in pen upon her palm reads, "They stole my book." It's a confounding case, indeed. But fortunately, Violet can draw on the resources of her bookshop's magical consciousness, which communicates clues to Violet via quotes from Walden. With Emerson the tuxedo cat and Faulkner the crow at her side, Violet sets out to recover the priceless book by solving a murder most transcendental.

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Subjects
Genres
Mystery fiction
Published
[United States] : Crooked Lane Books 2022.
Language
English
Corporate Author
hoopla digital
Main Author
Amanda Flower (author)
Corporate Author
hoopla digital (-)
Online Access
Instantly available on hoopla.
Cover image
Physical Description
1 online resource
Format
Mode of access: World Wide Web.
ISBN
9781643855967
Access
AVAILABLE FOR USE ONLY BY IOWA CITY AND RESIDENTS OF THE CONTRACTING GOVERNMENTS OF JOHNSON COUNTY, UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, HILLS, AND LONE TREE (IA).
Contents unavailable.
Review by Booklist Review

Violet Waverly is the proprietor of Charming Books, a magical bookstore in western New York whose magic comes from a birch tree growing in the shop. Violet, aided by the tree's magic, always knows the proper book a customer needs, and lately--this is the fifth in the series--she has used passages in books, supplied magically, to help in her investigations. When a woman comes to her shop a little too eager to sell a signed first edition of Thoreau's Walden, Violet is suspicious. Then the woman is found dead outside the venue where Violet has just married Police Chief David Rainwater. The death is ruled accidental, and Violet, a Thoreau scholar, not accepting the verdict, becomes determined to find the now-missing book. Soon another murder and an attempted murder occur, ultimately leaving Violet at the mercy of the killer. With details of Thoreau's life and the bibliohistory of Walden intertwined with the magic of the bookstore, this satisfying mystical cozy will appeal to fans of Esme Addison's Enchanted Bay mysteries.

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

In Agatha-winner Flower's whimsical fifth Magical Bookshop mystery (after 2019's Verse and Vengeance), an obnoxious customer who won't give her name tries to sell Violet Waverly, the owner of Charming Books in Cascade Springs, N.Y., a signed first edition of Henry David Thoreau's Walden. Thoreau expert Violet, who suspects the book is stolen, turns the woman down. Two days later, just after Violet's wedding to police chief David Rainwater, David fishes the drowned body of the customer out of a river. With their honeymoon on hold, Violet and David try to solve the mystery of the woman's death and check out the claims of Imogene Thoreau, who says she's a descendant of Thoreau and the book's rightful owner. Violet, aided by a mystical essence that inhabits her bookstore, strives to interpret the spirit's quotes from Walden that will lead her to the truth. The murder of an antiquarian bookseller raises the stakes. This is perfect reading for a winter's night when a bit of magic mixes well with a strong dose of murder most literary. Agent: Nicole Resciniti, Seymour Agency. (Jan.)

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Kirkus Book Review

The denizens of a magical bookshop solve yet another murder. Violet Waverly is the latest family member caring for Charming Books and the birch tree that grows inside, fed by a magic spring in the woods. The magic bookshop, located near Niagara Falls in Cascade Springs, New York, knows just what books a customer might like, and when Violet needs to close sales and solve murders, she gets help from Faulkner the crow and Emerson, her tuxedo cat. Violet's wedding to police chief David Rainwater, an extravaganza completely planned by Grandma Daisy and Violet's best friend, Sadie Cunningham, is fast approaching when a woman arrives at the shop seeking to sell a first edition of Walden signed by Thoreau. After Violet demurs until she can get an appraisal, the seller leaves and is soon found floating in the frigid Niagara River. Her death is ruled an accident, but the book has vanished, and Violet and David have their doubts about the verdict. Violet, an adjunct professor and expert on Thoreau, quickly discovers that the dead woman did not own the volume, which belongs to a woman who's convinced that she's a direct descendent of the reportedly childless Thoreau. Her obsession has alienated her son and anyone who might help prove her claim, but nevertheless she persists. So Violet and David postpone their honeymoon to investigate a case that spawns another murder, with plenty of candidates willing to kill for the valuable book. A charming combination of mystery and magic, with relatable characters and pets smart enough to spot a killer. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.