In Murder by the Book by Lauren Elliott, Addison Greyborne has moved from Boston, where she was assistant to the curator of acquisitions at the Boston Library, to the small New England town of Greyborne Harbor after inheriting the property of a great- aunt she never knew she had. Upon discovering a plethora of old and valuable books in her great- aunt’s attic, Addie gets inspired to open Beyond the Page-Books & Curios, in which she sells used books and collectables. On her first day opening up the store, Addie meets her store’s neighbors, the antagonistic Martha and the helpful Serena Chandler, who soon becomes Addie’s good friend.
But it quickly becomes apparent that someone is after something of Addie’s, as the store gets broken into more than once, with only an inexpensive copy of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland getting stolen. Further, someone in a black car keeps trying to run over Addie, and then the 21- room Greyborne Manor Addie inherited from her aunt starts getting intruders break in as well. In reporting these crimes, Addie meets Serena’s brother, Mark, who has just become police chief of Greyborne Harbor. Then things escalate when Blaine Fielding, owner of the local department store, gets murdered, and Serena is found standing over the body, getting arrested for the crime. Determined to free her new best friend, Addie insinuates herself into Mark’s investigation, finding new pieces of evidence and discovering secrets from those in the community.
Overall I enjoyed listening to Murder by the Book, which had an interesting plot to it. I arn especially intrigued by the job of Addie’s father, who served as an investigator into art and book thefts after retiring from being a Boston Police Department detective. Addie has learned about investigations from her knowledge of his career and gets offered a position doing the same types of work by her former boss from a 6- month job exchange she took part in at the British Museum
I did find a few details less than fully credible. Addie demands that Mark include her in the investigation into Blaine Fielding’s death, and he gives in. He isn’t even supposed to be connected to this case because of his sister’s involvement, yet he takes this order from a woman he only recently met. For the police chief to submit to such demands did not seem realistic. Further, Addie spots all the significant clues, all of which the police overlook in their investigations. I didn’t like the way the police are painted as being full of incompetence, needing an amateur to do their work for them.
The audiobook is performed ably by Karen White. I have loved her role as narrator in previous books, and she does as effective a job as always in this book. White draws effective pictures of all the characters and illustrates the actions with good energy and depictions of each character.
As a whole, I appreciated getting to listen to Murder by the Book. It kept me interested and drew my focus. Though parts, as described above, seemed unreal, Elliott manages to sell these details in the book, making them appear more natural than the face value. I fully intend to listen to the next book in the series should one come out on audio. I give this book four stars.
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