Murders and Metaphors: A Magical Bookshop Mystery by Amanda Flower

Image provided by Crooked Lane Books.

             I was so excited when I was able to pick Murders and Metaphors up from the library.  The first two books of the Magical Bookshop Mysteries I really enjoyed, so when I saw there would be a third, I eagerly awaited its arrival.  I started reading the book one afternoon, and kept reading (with some breaks in between), and finished by midnight.  The whole time I was reading, all I wanted to do was see what happened next.  I may have been a little tired the next morning staying up so late, but it was worth it.          

                Violet Waverly is still getting used to being the caretaker of the birch tree growing in her family’s bookshop.  She is also the caretaker of the bookshop itself, Charming Books, a shop that always seems to find the exact book you need.  Literally.  Books fly across the shop or change into something other than what it started as.  

              Violet has gotten used to this behavior, which is why when a copy of Little Women appears to her before a book signing, she knows the shop is trying to tell her something.  When not long later, author and wine expert Belinda Perkins is killed, Violet knows the book will have the answer to who killed her.  The problem is, the book won’t tell her directly.  Violet must figure it out for herself.

                While Violet has helped with other cases in town before, this one is even more important to her because the main suspect is Violet’s friend Lacey.  A kind, gentle woman, it is very hard for Lacey to be seen as a murderer.  Unfortunately, circumstances make it look this way.  Not only was Belinda Lacey’s estranged sister, they were seen arguing at the book signing.  Since Lacey was still in the building when Belinda was killed not long later, Lacey becomes the obvious suspect.  It is certainly what Belinda’s fiancé Sebastian thinks, which is why he hires a private investigator to prove Lacey’s guilt, pushing Violet to prove her innocence.

                Fortunately, the town of Cascade Springs has a reasonable police chief, David Rainwater.  He is also the love interest of Violet, although they are not quite together yet.  Violet’s past and the secret about the shop are keeping her from getting as close to Rainwater as she would like to.  Thankfully, Rainwater is a patient man and will wait until Violet is ready.

             Just as with the first two books in the series, this book was full of good characters.  It’s really only the Mortons, the family who owns Morton Vineyards, who are horrible.  They definitely think they are above everyone else in the town, especially the matriarch of the family.  Her behavior got to be so bad in this book, I started hoping she would become the next murder victim.  At the very least have her get a much-deserved comeuppance.  Not that I think the others in her family should walk away without any repercussions for their behavior.  They need some comeuppance as well.

                Everyone else is either a good character at the start, or comes around to being a good one in the end.  Lacey’s husband Adrien is really sweet.  All the members of the Red Inkers, a writing group that meets at the bookshop, are kind and supportive, including the two new members.  Violet’s grandmother Daisy is always fun.  You never know what she is going to get into. 

Speaking of Daisy, I am curious to see what happens between her and Charles Hancock.  Charles is a man interested in Daisy.  While he does come on too strong, I think he may end up being a very sweet man.  Even if he does keep ownership of artifacts he shouldn’t.

                Two other characters in the series are Faulkner the crow and Emerson the cat.  Faulkner can speak, and Emerson has the tendency to appear in places he shouldn’t be able to get to.  Violet is starting to think there is something different about these two animals, and that they can understand more than they should and is expected.  I think she is right.