Murder Out of Character is the second book in the Peach Coast Library 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 product. It's comfy, cozy, well written, and delivers
exactly what it promises. 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. Main character Marvey also has an adorable and irascible cat called Phoenix.
The
writing is fine, the plotting and narrative arc are well controlled and
the denouement and resolution are satisfying. I like that the main character is an intelligent and well written woman of color and that it's not a big deal in the book. She's a smart, competent, intelligent, honest, resourceful librarian who also happens to be black. I would recommend this one
to readers of the subgenre (there's even a recipe for southern pralines at
the end of the book). I'm looking forward to the next book(s) in the
series. Although this is the second book, the mystery is self contained in this volume and it works perfectly well as a standalone.
The unabridged audiobook has a run time of 8 hours 13 minutes and is capably narrated by Janina Edwards. She has a rich alto voice which is soothing and not intrusive and she does a very good job with the large cast of characters. Many of the characters are from the southern US and regional accents can be quite painful to listen to, but Ms. Edwards does a very good job.
Four stars.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
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