MURDER BY THE BOOKEND

A North Carolina bookshop becomes a magnet for murder.

Having cleared her name in the killing of her uncle, Paul Baxter, in For Whom the Book Tolls (2020), Jenna Quinn turns her attention to his shop, which she of course has inherited. First the name. To her ear, “Baxter’s Book Emporium” lacks pizzazz. So she rechristens Hokes Folly’s premier source of antique books “Twice Upon a Time.” Then the clientele. She invites the cream of local society to her grand reopening party, hoping to entice them with her rare and well-preserved wares. Of course many of Hokes Folly's glitterati turn out to be pains in the parchment. Snooty Selina March makes snide comments about the food and tosses the fragile merchandise on the floor. Linus Talbot insists that the invitation’s plus-one entitles him to bring his dog, Eddy, decked out in a bow tie that matches his own. Thank goodness the crowd includes handsome Detective Keith Logan. Not only does Jenna take his presence as a sign that their budding romance is going well, but she’s able to call on his professional skills when Talbot turns up dead in the parking lot. Still, much as she’d like to sit back and wait for the police to solve the crime, Jenna can’t—not after a local reporter runs a story pointing out that this is now the third death tied to her shop. So along with her store manager, Mason Craig, and her best friend, Rita Wallace, she does what any small-town shopkeeper would do: hunts down the killer on her own.

A plot as well-thumbed as the heroine’s volumes and as likely to bring joy to true fans.