Prose and Cons by Amanda Flower

Kerry Hammond is here to tell us about the latest book by Amanda Flower in the author’s Magical Bookshop series. Amanda has written twenty books and we're super excited about this series. 

Prose and Cons is the 2^nd book in the Magical Bookshop Mystery series by Amanda Flower, author of the popular Amish Quilt Shop Mystery series. It releases in Paperback from Berkley on December 6. I reviewed the first in the series, Crime & Poetry, on Mystery Playground and enjoyed it immensely. I’ve been waiting for the second book to be released in order to visit with the residents of Cascade Springs, New York.

In this book, Violet Waverly has settled into her role as Caretaker of the bookshop and the birch tree that grows inside it. She works there with her Grandma Daisy and watches as customers browse the books—watches as the books choose the customers rather than the other way around. It’s just one of the mysterious aspects of her new life as Caretaker that she’s come to accept.

The Cascade Springs Food and Wine Festival is in full swing and Grandma Daisy has enlisted the Red Inkers writing group to help with her Poe-try reading, which highlights the writing of Edgar Allen Poe. The Red Inkers have agreed to read from Poe’s works while dressed in period costume. When one of the members falls to her death in the bookshop, Violet is drawn into what turns out to be murder. To top it off, one of her good friends is the prime suspect and this causes Violet to clash yet again with the handsome policeman, David Rainwater.

I really like the characters that Flower has created as well as the idyllic setting of the fictional Cascade Springs. These two aspects are what keep readers coming back—although a murder or two doesn’t hurt.

Much like Violet, I did not know the identity of the killer until the very end. I suspected everyone, of course, both the townspeople and the unsavory visitors who arrived after the murder. I enjoyed the slow unraveling of the clues and loved the fact that I never quite pieced them together. Surprise endings are my favorite and I was not disappointed. 

In the spirit of giving, Amanda Flower will donate $1 for every copy of PROSE AND CONS sold by December 20th 2016, to a local food pantry, The Landing, in Akron, Ohio. Go to her Website to see a video about the food pantry.

This book was provided to Mystery Playground by the publisher. The review is fair and independent.