Thank you Netgalley and Kensington Books for providing me with an advance copy of the book for review! For anyone looking for a good cozy mystery book, this is the second in the series, and while you can read it without the first one, go check out her first one too!

Prologue to Murder

by Lauren Elliott

Published Date: April 30, 2019
Read Date: April 2019
Format: ebook ARC
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Number of Pages: 304 Pages

Rating:  5/5 Moose

Synopsis

Addie Greyborne is trying to settle into her ancestor’s hometown, but the new gossip columnist seems to be dead set on making sure she’s not comfortable. She’s accused of having something to do with the missing librarian, who unfortunately ends up dead. Add in some major love life complications, and life is never too simple in Greyborne Harbor!

Main Characters 

Addie Greyborne – Addison, the owner of Beyond the Page, a bookstore in Greyborne Harbor. She’s new to town, but her family is one of the founding families. Formerly a research librarian in Boston.

Serena Chandler- Addie’s best friend and the owner of the tea shop near Addie’s shop.

Marc Chandler- Serena’s brother, the police chief, and Addie’s kind of beau. They’re at least dating. Kind of.

June Winslow – the missing librarian who turns up murdered. She also wrote a book about the history of the town.

Simon Emerson – half time trauma surgeon, half time forensic pathologist/medical examiner. Recently moved from New York City for small town life and a love of forensic pathology.

Rants, Raves, and Thoughts

I had to force myself to put down Middlegame to read this book, as it’s release date was sooner. After reading The Hummingbird Dagger and some of Locke and Key, I was in a mix of book hangover and dreading anything that wasn’t exactly what I wanted to read.

Thus, the first few chapters of Prologue to Murder I definitely did not give enough of a fair chance. It is definitely more overt about the cozy mystery tropes it uses, which after reading April Fools, I was quick to roll my eyes at. Addie is clumsy, she’s dating the chief of police, she’s a bit of an outsider but definitely comes from old money that relates to the town… it is definitely a recipe for a boring cozy mystery book. However, Elliott proved to me quickly that I was being too hard on the book and that she definitely has everything under control.

This book has a little bit of everything I enjoy with cozy mysteries: a little bit of town history repeating itself, not one but TWO love triangle potentials, backstabbing drama, a death, and a cozy reader. It also does somethings I’m not used to, but greatly appreciated. Usually the “detective” of the story is getting in the way of the local law enforcement, and the reader of the story has to suspend belief that she isn’t ruining all the evidence or causing so much liability for the police. This book solved that quickly by having the commissioner ask for Addie to be a consultant for the case. Perfecto! My anxiety level drops a bit.

I also really like the way the love triangles are handled in this book. Addie might be dating Marc – who knows! But it gets even more complicated when his ex-fiance Lacey shows back up in town. Lacey, who is California gorgeous and definitely out to get Marc back. And, after a weird interaction between Addie and Marc, Lacey might be actually winning. Lucky for Addie, new guy Simon is in town, and also seems to enjoy solving mysteries!

Final Moments

If you like cozy mysteries, especially ones that have pirate histories, family drama that goes back for decades, and seems to have both tropes of cozy mysteries but also something new for a long time fan, then check out Lauren Elliott’s series. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.