Death on the Page: 03/25/20

Death on the Page by Essie Lang (pseudonym of Linda Wiken) is the second of the Castle Bookshop mysteries. Shelby Cox is expecting to be busy with an author signing at both Bayside Books locations. To further complicate things, the author will be staying overnight at the castle on Blye Island, and Shelby's aunt, Edie, is laid up with a knee injury.

The next morning after a successful book signing, the author is found dead at the bottom of a secret stairwell. Shelby doesn't want to investigate but she has questions. Did the fiancé do it? Did her agent? Was it another author?

Along with the author's death, the castle docents have noticed some items have gone missing. Mostly they are small things, and a sign that security isn't close to what it should be. But then there are also some important things missing — plans to the castle.

In the first book, Trouble on the Books there was a definite sense of place. The Thousand Islands were well established as were Alexandria Bay (the mainland) and Blye Island. This time little was done to further expand either fictional location. Shelby's going between mainland to island and to locations in both places was left to the reader's imagination and I feel that opportunities to world build were missed.

The nuts and bolts of the mystery though were well thought out. It is possible to discover the murderer before Shelby if one pays attention. It reminded me a little bit of Sticks & Scones by Diane Mott Davidson (2001).

As of writing this review, there is no word if a third book is planned. If there is, I will definitely read it.

Four stars

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