P. J. Nelson’s Booked for Murder has one of the most impulsive amateur sleuths I’ve ever read about. Madeline Brimley ignores all attempts to rein her in, which will drive some readers nuts. On the other hand, the book has some of the most beautiful writing and phrases I’ve read. Despite Madeline’s behavior, I loved the book from start to finish. And, it’s appearing on several lists for Best Mystery or Best Debut.

Madeline Brimley left Enigma, Georgia when she was seventeen and never looked back. She yearned for a career in theater, but, after college, she found New York City overwhelming and turned to Atlanta. Although she loved her Aunt Rose, her best friend and inspiration in Enigma, she didn’t return for almost twenty years, until her aunt was dead and left her the Victorian home that housed the Old Juniper Bookstore. But, fifteen minutes after her arrival, when the gazebo in the back burned down, and she received a threatening phone call, Madeline wasn’t sure she wanted to stay.

When a second phone call was followed by a fire in the bookstore and a murder, Madeline knew she didn’t want to keep the property. Only then did she learn about the codicil in her aunt’s will. She had to live in the house for six months or lose the property. Since she didn’t trust the small town police force to find a killer, Madeline formed a small team including her aunt’s best friend, Dr. Philomena Waldrop, and Gloria Coleman, the new Episcopal priest in town. She knew they could find the killer and the person who was threatening her.

As I said, at times Madeline was all over the place, saying first one person and then another was the killer and arsonist. She was rash in her actions and her accusations. But, as Gloria pointed out, Madeline felt guilty about the death in the bookstore, thinking it could have been her. And, Madeline’s only vision of home was threatened. Gloria was the voice of reason in the book, a wonderful character.

But, I was hooked on the writing in Booked for Murder with the first paragraph. “October can be a summer month in South Georgia. Temperatures in the nineties, leaves still green and locked onto the trees; humidity so thick that a small fish could swim in it.” Here are my favorite lines. “I’ll have to take a moment to say a word about her biscuits. If you could scoop a handful of cloud, mix it with just-churned butter, put wildflower honey on it, teach it to sing, and have an angel kiss it, it wouldn’t have been as good as those biscuits.”

Your decision. Are you willing to deal with a needy amateur sleuth who is out of control at times? In return, you’ll get some other great characters, some jazz, and some lines that will make your heart sing.

Booked for Murder by P.J. Nelson. Minotaur Books, 2024. ISBN 9781250909954 (hardcover), 336p.

FTC Full Disclosure – I received an ARC from the publisher with no expectation of a review.