Booked for Murder is the first Old Juniper Bookstore cozy shopfront mystery by P.J. Nelson. Released 10th Dec 2024 by Macmillan on their Minotaur imprint, it's 336 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. Paperback due out from the same publisher in 4th quarter 2025. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout.
Despite being a debut effort, this is a well constructed small town cozy with the requisite eccentric secondary characters, and an indelible Southern USA (Georgia) flavor. It's a trifle longer than the average small town shopfront cozy, and consequently the pacing is a trifle uneven and slow in places. That being said, the author manages to put all the working parts in the right places, and the mystery, denouement, and resolution are fair play and (mostly) satisfying. Some of the motivations for the crimes in the book are a little over the top and unrealistic, but not egregiously so for the genre.
The unabridged audiobook has a run time of 9 hours 20 minutes and is capably read by Hallie Bee Bard. She has a well modulated, slightly breathy alto, and for this read, a syrupy deep south Georgian 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 stars. There's a second book in the series due out in 4th quarter 2025, so it would potentially make a good choice for public library acquisition, or a buddy read.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
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