Murders and Metaphors: 04/24/19

Murders and Metaphors by Amanda Flower is the third book in the Magical Bookshop mystery series. Between books two and three, the series' publisher changed from Berkeley Mysteries to Crooked Lane. I have a feeling that the publishing of book three was rushed. I"ll get to that later.

Book three opens with Violet and Daisy getting ready for an offsite book signing. A local sommelier has a new book out and the signing is being hosted at the winery that belongs to the mayor's parents. They specialize in ice wine and the event will include a night picking of grapes.

There's a row at the event between the author and her estranged sister. Violet would pay more attentions but she's distracted by Emerson as he has stowed away to the event. When he gets loose, he leads Violet the author's body.

The mystery of the author's death is commented on by the bookshop via hints dropped in the form of Little Women. The author was one of four sisters. Now Violet's friend, her estranged sister, is the prime suspect.

I'm not a fan of Little Women. I tried and failed to read it as a teen. But I like the way it is used here to examine the family dynamics of the author and her other three sisters.

But the book suffers from a lack of copyediting. Or, as I said before, rushed. There are at least a dozen basic errors in the text. You for your, your for you're, missing prepositions, and similar small by glaring errors. None of the other Crooked Lane books I've read have had these problems. I can say the same of the other two Amanda Flower mysteries in this series. That's why I'm guessing that the publication of book three was rushed when Crooked Lane bought the series from Berkeley.

The fourth book is scheduled for November. It's currently listed as Verse and Vengeance but it also has been listed as Spoke and Word. Regardless, I'm looking forward to book four.

Four stars

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