Murder Most Owl is the first book in a new light paranormal cozy mystery series by Sarah Fox. Released 2nd April 2024 by Severn House, it's 224 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. Paperback format due out in Dec 2024 from the same publisher. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout.
This is a very light easy to read cozy romance mystery with significant paranormal elements. There are tie-ins to a long ago unsolved cold case, a current poisoning murder, and lots of animals on MC Georgie's aunt's animal sanctuary (which naturally comes equipped with a handsome mysterious ranch hand as a love interest).
It's written in first person PoV which is challenging, and there's quite a lot of "telling" instead of "showing" in the writing, but altogether, it's diverting, very light, easy to read, and fun. The language is squeaky clean with one tiny exception) and the violence mostly occurs off the page.
The unabridged audiobook has a run time of 7 hours 54 minutes and is capably read by Hallie Bee Bard. She has a well modulated, slightly breathy alto, and for this read, a sort of generic midwest American accent. There are some points where the more rapid dialogue exchanges get a bit confused as far as character delineation goes, but it's not egregious, and it is easy enough to tell them apart that it never becomes confusing.
Three and a half stars. It's a promising start to a new paranormal/magical realism mystery series. There is a strong element of insta-love between the MC and another character, but as long as that's not a deal-breaker, it's a fun read.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
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