Book Review: Book Fair and Foul

Author: Erika Chase

Publication Date: August 5, 2014

Publisher: Berkely

Series: Ashton Corners Book Club # 4

For the mystery book lovers of Ashton Corners,
burial plots tell the most intriguing stories.

The members of the Ashton Corners Mystery Readers and Cheese Straws Society are all chipping in as Molly Mathews, now owner of the bookstore the Book Nook, prepares the first annual Mystery Book Fair. While gossip circulates about the guest authors, club member Lizzie Turner is unpleasantly surprised to see a certain book publicist make an appearance. It seems Lizzie has a history with Ashley Dixon—a chapter of her life she’d rather leave closed.

But when someone gives Ashley a death sentence, Lizzie becomes the prime suspect in a murder mystery she can’t put down. Now Lizzie and her fellow book buffs have to read between the lines of the publicist’s past and catch the real killer before Lizzie is written off for good.

“In fact, all of you enjoy today because come next Thursday, we are headed for a weekend of mystery and mayhem.”

Another glorious day about to begin. It felt more like spring than fall if there was a discernable difference beyond the hours the sun rose and set, and the colors of the flowers.

“In other words, she wasn’t a happy camper.”

In the fourth book in this series, Molly Matthews has just purchased the local bookstore and she is steadily working to prepare for the first annual Mystery Book Fair. Molly, along with the Cheese Straws Society, have worked really hard to make this event become reality. She has invited four well-known mystery authors to share in the book fair, but she quickly learns that each of these authors have secrets of their own. All is well until an unexpected guest shows up, Ashley Dixon, a book publicist and former college roommate of Lizzie, one of the authors that was invited to the book fair. Everyone quickly learns that these two girls have a past that was left unresolved and Lizzie becomes the prime suspect when Ashely’s body is found at White Haven Funeral Home and Lizzie’s cell phone is found at the scene as well.

The southern setting and the coziness of this book really make the entire series what it is and these two things are two of the reasons why I think this series has become so popular. It actually feels like you are watching a loveable television show instead of reading a book because of the great descriptions and the exquisite character development. While I love Molly Matthews, it was so nice watching this group of women work together to free their friend Lizzie of a charge that is obviously false. They each brought such different personalities to this story and to the murder investigation as a whole. It is always nice when the main sleuth has help solving a mystery and this is always something that I look for when looking for a new cozy mystery to read!

***A free copy of this book was provided to me by the publishers at Berkley in exchange for my honest review***