What’s a book that you’ve checked out many times, but never read? My latest was Buried in a Good Book, book 1 in the By the Book Mystery series by Tamara Berry. When I realized that this book won The Lilian Jackson Braun Memorial Award in 2023, given to the best full-length contemporary cozy mystery with a current-day setting and story emphasis on solving a crime, I knew I needed to actually read it!
Desperate to escape the fallout from her recent divorce, thriller writer Tess Harrow has packed up her teenage daughter and headed to her grandfather’s rustic cabin in the woods. Time away from Seattle and her no-good ex-husband is just what they need. Tess is hopeful that the lack of running water and internet will allow them both to relax and reconnect with nature and each other. Nature, however, has other plans. Not long after they walk into the cabin, explosions shake their world. After going to investigate, the two are soon deluged in fish guts falling from the sky. At least they hope it’s only fish guts. Some of those parts look suspiciously human-like though….
The peaceful vacation Tess was hoping for is gone, replaced with a murder investigation that she can’t help poking around in. The murder victim was found on her land! Add in suspected Bigfoot sightings through the area, a spunky bookmobile librarian, and the local sheriff bearing an uncanny resemblance to Detective Gabriel Gonzales, the main character in her thriller series, and Tess knows she has to help. When people close to her start getting in trouble, Tess has to step up her game and solve this case before someone she loves gets hurt.
This book was amazing. Buried in a Good Book is a wild adventure mixed with slapstick comedy and quirky characters. Even though this is a cozy mystery, meaning the actual murders happen off-page, that doesn’t stop there being some messy gore on page (that is presented in a funny, slightly horrifying way – hard to explain, but just read it). This book is a bit weird and isn’t afraid to go off down some seemingly wild directions. Most importantly, this book held my interest from start to finish with its well plotted mystery!
By the Book Mystery series
- Buried in a Good Book (2022)
- On Spine of Death (2022)
- Murder Off the Books (2023)