September’s Featured Cozy Mystery

The Body in the Bookstore is the first book in bestselling author Ellie Alexander's Secret Bookcase Mystery series. The story is set in The Secret Bookcase, an Agatha Christie-themed bookstore in Redwoodgrove, California. The series protagonist is Annie Murray, a mystery lover who studied criminology in college but became a bookseller after her best friend Scarlet was murdered during their final school days. 

Annie is struggling with the death of her best friend and has never stopped trying to solve the crime. The bookstore and the town it resides in are a safe haven for her. But the bookshop doesn’t see as many customers as it used to, and the owner isn’t sure how much longer he’ll be able to stay afloat. To save the store, Annie comes up with the idea of a town-wide mystery festival.

Unfortunately, the festival attracts a villain with murderous intentions. When a dead body turns up in the bookstore, Annie is plunged into a real-life murder mystery. She dusts off that criminology degree and gets to work. 

Reasons to Read The Body in the Bookstore

The Body in the Bookstore has all the elements of a good cozy mystery: an amateur sleuth, a fun mystery bookshop setting, and a community of quirky characters, including an eccentric bookstore owner who claims to be a lost descendant of Agatha Christie and a bookstore employee who is a Sherlock Holmes scholar.

The story was clearly crafted with bookish cozy mystery lovers in mind. It’s loaded with mystery references and delightful descriptions of the story's settings, food, and characters. The plot and mystery are well-crafted and keep you turning the pages to see what happens next. Annie is a likable, bookish sleuth who’s easy to root for.

This book contains two mysteries: one mystery with a beginning, middle, and end and a cold case mystery that was introduced but not solved. It will be interesting to see how the cold case is developed and continued in later books.

Readers Love The Body in the Bookstore

The Body in the Bookstore was published on June 19, 2024, and quickly climbed the bestseller charts on Amazon, where it settled in at #1 in multiple mystery categories. Readers have been leaving glowing reviews for The Body in the Bookstore all over the internet. Here are just a few of the things being said:

Ellie Alexander never fails to write a great mystery with engaging, strong characters, and The Body in the Bookstore is no different.

- Amazon Reviewer

The setting of the bookstore is a bibliophile's dream. Alexander creates a cozy, atmospheric environment that draws readers into the story.

- Goodreads.com Reviewer

Cozies are my favorite genre to read, and this series debut encompasses everything I love about the genre: Small towns, close-knit communities, themed storyline, BFF, cats, etc.

- Barnes and Noble Reviewer

Ellie Alexander’s Real-Life Mystery Festival

The Body in the Bookstore plot features a town-wide mystery festival. If you’d like to experience something similar, you can attend the Ashland Mystery Festival, a real-life mystery festival organized by author Ellie Alexander and Travel Ashland. This fun Oregon festival took place for the first time in 2023 and was held again in 2024. It featured panels of authors, bookish activities, and an interactive mystery that could be solved by following the clues around town.

Reading Kit for The Body in the Bookstore

If you want to get more out of reading the book, check out this free Cozy Crime Reads Reading Kit for The Body in the Bookstore.

The reading kit contains discussion questions that you can use for a book club or as reflection questions to answer independently after reading. It also includes a Cozy Crime Reads interview with author Ellie Alexander, a recipe from A Holiday Homicide (Book four in the Secret Bookcase Mystery series), and book recommendations inspired by The Body in the Bookstore. 

Other Books in the Secret Bookcase Mystery Series

Other books in the Secret Bookcase Mystery include Murder at the Movies (Book 2), Death at the Dinner Party (Book 3), and A Holiday Homicide. A Murder at the Movies was released on June 19, 2024. Death at the Dinner Party was published on September 30, 2024. The fourth book in the Secret Bookcase Mystery series, A Holiday Homicide, is scheduled for release on November 20, 2024. The fourth book is available for pre-order. The fifth book in the series is scheduled for release in February 2025.