A Fatal Chapter: 04/04/18

A Fatal Chapter by Lorna Barrett is the ninth book in the Booktown Mystery series. It's also the one where Stoneham comes apart at the seams.

Tricia is working for her sister at the Chamber of Commerce while she waits for the insurance money to come through for the fire (Book Clubbed (2014). She out walking Angela's dog, Sarge, when she comes across the president of the historical society, suffering from an apparent heart attack. When he dies, Tricia ends up in the middle of another murder mystery.

There are things about Stoneham to the observant should be obvious. All (or at least a sizable chunk of them) come out in the open in this book for one reason or another. With Tricia not running her store she has more time to look at other problems. I see some of these big revelations as head nods to long time readers who have probably figured out these side mysteries, or have made predictions as to who will be the next volume's murderer.

Thematically, A Fatal Chapter reminds me of Double Shot by Diane Mott Davidson. Both come well into their respective series. They are the points where the series turns a sharp corner by eliminating the original impetus for the protagonist to have begun a side career as an amateur sleuth.

For the Goldie Bear series, this change of direction came two thirds of the way through the series. For Booktown, it would be four-fifths of the way through, but with a new book planned for next year, perhaps that means there are more books coming. Going though for the numerous thematic wrap ups in A Fatal Chapter and the fact that we're ten books into a series, I predict that the series will end in 2018 or 2019. That said, I don't want it to, and I will continue to follow it for as long as it continues.

Four stars

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