Cynthia Kuhn launches a new series with How to Book a Murder, the first Starlit Bookshop Mystery. Readers who enjoy cozy mysteries featuring bookstores might want to check this one out.

Although Emma Starrs just finished her PhD, she turns down a tenure-tracked position at a university to return home to Silvercrest, Colorado where her sister runs the family bookstore, Starlit Bookshop. Lucy took it over when their parents retired, but the work has proven to be overwhelming. The store is in danger of closing by Halloween if the sisters can’t find a way to bring in more money.

When Tabitha Baxter barges into the shop complaining her events coordinator for a murder mystery dinner just quit, Emma has a wild idea. She and Tabitha have been enemies since they were in school. Tabitha and her clique of mean girls ruled the school, and made everyone else’s existence miserable. Despite that, Emma offers to take over the event coordination, hoping a successful event will lead to more event planning that she can do in conjunction with Starlit Bookshop.

How successful is an event in which the host is found dead? Emma is helping to clean up afterwards when she finds the body of Tabitha’s husband, Tip. And, it doesn’t take long for Tabitha to blame Emma’s aunt, Nora. Like Tip, she was a professor at Silvercrest College. Tip was Dean of Arts and Humanities, while Nora served on a committee, and had been clashing with Tip for a year. Now, Tabitha announces to anyone who will listen that Nora and Emma murdered her husband.

Of course, Emma turns amateur sleuth to prove that she and Nora are not killers. At least one person in the community has faith in them. Celebrated author and fellow faculty member at Silvercrest, Calliope Nightfall asks Emma to plan an elaborate Poe-related release party for her new book. Who knew that someone would plan another murder for the same time?

In many ways, How to Book a Murder is a formulaic introduction to a new cozy series. There’s the savior, the amateur sleuth who returns home to a small town to save the family business. Tabitha is the typical enemy from school days who still threatens the happiness of the heroine. A police detective has also been known since school, but eventually may prove to be a love interest. In the case of this book, it’s one of the supporting cast members who stands out. Calliope Nightfall is so over-the-top that she’s delightful.

Fan of cozy mysteries featuring bookstores? You might want to try How to Book a Murder.

Cynthia Kuhn’s website is http://cynthiakuhn.net

How to Book a Murder by Cynthia Kuhn. Crooked Lane Books, 2021. ISBN 9781643858591 (hardcover), 304p.

FTC Full Disclosure – The publisher sent me an advanced copy of the book, hoping I would review it.