Murder by Page One is the first book in a new small-town librarian cozy mystery series (with cat), by Olivia Matthews. Released 23rd March 2021 by Hallmark, it's 336 pages and available in paperback, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.
This is a Hallmark series. It's comfy, cozy, well written, and delivers exactly as expected. The language is squeaky clean, nary a curse word to be seen. The violence is all off scene and without explicit gore. There's a light romance element but it's not a big focus of the book. The only public displays of physical affection are between the librarian (Marvey) and the top of her grumpy-but-lovable cat's fuzzy head.
The writing is fine, the plotting and narrative arc are well controlled and the denouement and resolution are satisfying. The book's ending foreshadows the continuation of the series. I would recommend this one to readers of the subgenre (there's even a recipe for peach cobbler at the end of the book). I'm looking forward to the next book(s) in the series.
Three and a half stars.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
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