{"id":471,"date":"2024-09-24T10:54:00","date_gmt":"2024-09-24T10:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=471"},"modified":"2024-09-24T10:54:00","modified_gmt":"2024-09-24T10:54:00","slug":"book-review-a-bitter-pill-the-bookshop-mysteries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=471","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: A Bitter Pill (The Bookshop Mysteries)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A Bitter Pill (The Bookshop Mysteries)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

by S.A. Reeves<\/p>\n

Genre:<\/strong> Mystery \/ Cozy<\/p>\n

ISBN: <\/strong>9781068720932<\/p>\n

Print Length:<\/strong> 306 pages<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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<\/span>Buy from Amazon<\/span>\n <\/div>\n

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Reviewed by Andrea Marks-Joseph<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

A charming, bookish modern mystery<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Gemma\u2019s bookshop, Bookworm, isn\u2019t in a dire situation exactly, but they could be doing better. She\u2019s going to need some fresh ideas to bring in more income for the shop, so she turns to her team.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Together, the Bookworm staff decides to host a reading for Dominic Westley, a local author whose buzzy book has been flying off the shelves. The author\u2019s name on the event\u2019s invite does indeed bring in a crowd of people, but he shows up late, flustered and looking unwell.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Even in the brief encounters the Bookworm staff has with Dominic when he arrives, it\u2019s clear this man is arrogant to the point of annoyance, refusing their offer of coffee to help liven him up, because he\u2019s brought his own flask filled with \u201ca specific Columbian bean, farmed exclusively on a special, organic farm.\u201d<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n

He rather rudely goes on to explain that \u201cthis run-of-the-mill stuff\u201d<\/em><\/strong> he assumes the Bookworm\u2019s caf\u00e9 brews \u201cjust doesn\u2019t work to get [his] creative juices flowing.\u201d <\/em><\/strong>Moments later, he rushes to the bathroom where he collapses and has a suspected heart attack. Unfortunately, the Bookworm\u2019s first step toward success becomes the scene of Dominic\u2019s sudden death.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s a solemn shock to the local community, and Gemma and her staff attend the funeral out of respect. Out of nowhere, Donna, Dominic\u2019s widow\/ex (they were separated) approaches Gemma to confess that she believes Ellie, the other woman who was hiding in the back at Dominic\u2019s funeral, killed him. The police established that he died by overdose of his heart medication, she says. They ruled it a suicide, but it\u2019s something he never would have done. Donna also claims she and Dominic were about to get back together. This confession, coupled with one of her bookseller\u2019s \u00a0 instincts that something curious was going on, prompts the team to begin an amateur investigation into Donna\u2019s claims.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When Mavis, Gemma\u2019s elderly bookseller, meets with Ellie, she is crushed by the weight of losing Dominic, who broke up with her when he reunited with Donna, under really distressing circumstances. \u201dShe was clearly devastated by the entire ordeal.\u201d <\/em><\/strong>Mavis tells Gemma of her conversation with Ellie. \u201cDevastated enough to fabricate a story?\u201d Gemma pointed out.\u201d <\/em><\/strong>Ellie\u2019s desperation inspires an even more powerful curiosity in the booksellers, who can\u2019t resist the adventure into something that mirrors the books they read.<\/p>\n

We spend the next few weeks with the two Bookworm employees as they chase leads and question potential suspects\u2014while still trying to brim up sales for the bookshop. I really appreciated that these two amateur investigators never trusted someone without investigating themselves\u2014and, gloriously, they never let their suspects see how strongly they may not trust them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

These are bookish detectives with a sharp instinct, and an impressively clever clarity of context. Bitter Pill<\/em> is a captivating and compassionate story, welcoming the despicable depths the murdered man stooped to and the truths of the women who loved him despite this: \u201cHe loved, hurt and discarded women as he saw fit, yet both of those women still mourned him, and bore the consequences of his actions.\u201d<\/em> <\/strong>That said, Bitter Pill<\/em> never loses focus from its charming setting and instantly adorable leading ladies, who are investigating from a place of equal concern and curiosity.<\/p>\n

While Bitter Pill<\/em> is very much steeped in the Bookworm\u2019s cozy, bookish energy, this is very much a murder mystery and its authors and protagonists know the importance of the mystery\u2019s pull. Each surprising reveal is exciting, each twist thrilling. I appreciated that Gemma has a near-reckless desire to chase the mystery, but she and Mavis do not lose their level-headed approach. Gemma contacts her ex-fiancee and possible future-boyfriend, a detective with the local police, to share their findings. That doesn\u2019t mean they abandon her personal sleuthing, though! Mavis admits when she was \u201crattled\u201d <\/em><\/strong>by their close-call with the killer, but she tells Gemma it\u2019s \u201cnothing a spot of Earl Grey and a few chapters of a comfy book couldn\u2019t mend.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

S. A. Reeves drops breadcrumbs (or pastry crumbs) of possibility along the way. The person I suspected most was overlooked for a long while, and then it felt like everyone was onto their trail along with me. Later, when they weren\u2019t caught in the moment I thought they would be, it felt like their name had been cleared, opening the list of potential suspects wide again. But then I suddenly started to suspect them again! This kind of playful pacing is mirrored in the very meta discussions of the local Murder Mystery Club, who argue over relatable things like \u201cWhy, her presence at the garden party in Chapter 5 is clearly significant!\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I love that Bitter Pill<\/em> serves up some wonderful book-inside-a-book conversations with local book clubs passionately declaring their favorite tropes about mystery novels. Reeves somehow wrote them to feel universal and <\/em>dazzlingly relevant to the mystery of Dominic\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

One particularly important scene depends on a random, convenient coincidence, but most of the twists make me glad to recommend this book to those who like sweet and smart cozy mysteries. Occasionally, too, Mavis or Gemma recount what just happened on the page to another character, despite us just learning and reading about it, so some pages can feel repetitive.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Readers should note that the story includes extensive descriptions of a woman being pressured to terminate a pregnancy, discussion about poisoning by overdose, discussions relating to depression and anxiety as a result of devastating debt, and discussion about suicidal behavior, as Dominic\u2019s death is assumed to be a suicide by overdosing on his prescription medicine.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d highly recommend you\u2019re armed with a sweet baked treat and your favorite hot beverage, because the only thing that will tempt you to put down this book is the descriptions of the Bookworm caf\u00e9\u2019s offerings, which may just drive you to visit your nearest bakery.<\/p>\n

\u201cA murder had been committed, and the method was as easy as shopping online!\u201d<\/em><\/strong> The quality that shines brightest in Bitter Pill<\/em> is the way we get a delightful mix of modern technology with timeless mystery traits. Fans of Hulu\u2019s Only Murders in the Building<\/em> are a PERFECT match for this novel, brewed with an intergenerational detective duo and a balanced blend of time-honored wisdom and considered insight from its older characters. I love that the story entangles everyday things like the shop\u2019s point of sale system getting an upgrade to the ladies of the Bookworm learning about bitcoin and how one might purchase illegal items on the dark web.<\/p>\n

Bitter Pill<\/em> is difficult to put down, and its cozy spirit will linger with you long after you\u2019re finished reading it. I feel as though I\u2019ve found my new favorite bookshop. Only caveat is that I\u2019ll have to open Bitter Pill<\/em> to visit it again and again.<\/p>\n

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Thank you for reading Andrea Marks-Joseph\u2019s book review of A Bitter Pill <\/em>by S.A. Reeves! If you liked what you read, please spend some more time with us at the links below.<\/p>\n

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The post Book Review: A Bitter Pill (The Bookshop Mysteries)<\/a> appeared first on Independent Book Review<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Bitter Pill (The Bookshop Mysteries) by S.A. Reeves Genre: Mystery \/ Cozy ISBN: 9781068720932 Print Length: 306 pages Buy from Amazon Reviewed by Andrea Marks-Joseph A charming, bookish modern mystery Gemma\u2019s bookshop, Bookworm, isn\u2019t in a dire situation exactly, but they could be doing better. She\u2019s going to need some fresh ideas to bring […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":472,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bookreviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}