Under the Cover of Murder - the sixth Beyond the Page Bookstore Mystery

Six books in, and author Lauren Elliott still has me hooked with her Beyond the Page Bookstore mystery series!  I have so been enjoying the antics of Addie Greyborne and her friends - Serena, Simon, Catherine, Paige (get it? Paige? Books?), Zach, Jerry, and yes, even Marc!  Elliott has created such a well-rounded cast of characters, and each time I pick up a book, it's like visiting with old friends again.  And each mystery is so well-crafted, somehow connected to a different book each time - Sherlock Holmes, The Secret Garden, Charles Dickens, Alice in Wonderland ... I'm still holding out hope that one of these days, Addie is going to solve a mystery involving a first edition, first printing of the first Nancy Drew book, The Secret of the Old Clock!  I mean, after all, the author's biography in the back of the book says that Elliott grew up "devouring" Nancy Drew!  But, while I wait, I'll continue to enjoy each of these fantastically plotted whodunnits...

Under the Cover of Murder deals with an Agatha Christie book - The Mysterious Affair, which happens to be the first Hercule Poirot novel.  It's the wedding of her best friend, Serena, and Addie is the maid of honor.  The wedding is to take place on the very opulent yacht owned by the groom's parents, and from the moment Addie first set foot on the yacht, she couldn't wait to get into that library of what is clearly some very valuable first printings!  Little does she realize that it will take not one, but two!, murders before she is able to get in there and examine the books.  First, a body turns up on the beach the morning of Serena's wedding; and then, another body washes ashore that same night, after Serena and Zach have left on their honeymoon.  The first body has no identification; the second body, though, is Lacey Davenport!  Marc's high school sweetheart and Serena's former best friend - before she stole from Serena and wreaked havoc in Greyborne Harbor (as told in Prologue to Murder).  The murders appear to unrelated - except for the fact that the mystery man was holding a torn piece from a page of a book in his hand when he was found, and traces of Lacey's blood are found in a book in the yacht's library - the very same book that has a piece torn from one of its pages!

Addie has quite a mystery on her hands this time and a very limited time within which to solve it.  Locked on the boat with all of the other wedding guests, she (with the help of Paige and Catherine) create a new clue board to list suspects, write up motives, and put down all of the clues they find.  And while many people had a reason to dislike Lacey - after all, she managed to tick off a lot of people at the wedding reception! - who hated her enough to killer her?  And how does she connect to the man found on the beach that morning?  Was the motive personal, or had Lacey uncovered something that someone would kill to keep secret?  And talk about secrets!  Elliott certainly fills this book with tons of them!  From spouses cheating on their better halves, to unscheduled and untraceable stops by the yacht, to false copies of first editions of some very valuable books - this mystery has it all.  But that simply means Addie and friends have so much more to sift through in order to find the true motive and real killer before he or she strikes again.

I truly enjoy the fact that Elliott provides opportunities for some of the supporting cast to shine in each book.  Sometimes it is Serena, sometimes it is Simon, and in this one, Paige and Catherine get their turn.  I also enjoy the ongoing subplot of Addie's love life - first it was with Marc, then he left her and ended up with the former FBI agent, Ryley; then she fell for Simon, and it seems to be going well - however, events in this book could change that dynamic, and honestly, I'm not sure how I feel about that.  I mean, when the series started, I was rooting for Marc and Addie to get together.  But after Ryley came along and the way Marc treated Addie, I kind of adjusted to her being with Simon.  What will happen next?  I guess only future books will tell...

Now, something in this book that immediately caught my attention while reading it.  In the scene, the captain of the yacht comes up to the group, and Addie realized from his good looks "why the normally meek Ida Biggs, a book club member, and the usually prickly Martha had both schemed to get closer to him during this past week's festivities" (p. 18).  The thing that immediately stood out was "Ida Biggs."  Quite an unusual name - unless you happen to have read The Dana Girls Mystery Stories (a children's mystery series in the vein of Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys, where sisters Jean and Louise Dana solve mysteries at a boarding school).  In that series, the Dana sisters have a nemesis by the name of Lettie Briggs, who has a cohort in crime named Ina Mason.  No, it's not exact, but it is rather close enough - Ida/Ina and Biggs/Briggs.  Left me to wonder if perhaps Elliott had grown up reading more than just Nancy Drew, and the names inspired this book club member's name.  A mystery for another day, I suppose.

Another reference in the book that caught my eye (and delighted my geek side!) was in the scene where Addie has joined Serena and the other bride's maids to get their hair done.  Serena finally relents that a braided coil may not have been the best, to which Ellie replies, "...that wasn't until Paige pointed out that you'd look like Princess Leia" (p. 30).  To which, Serena snickers and replies, "...then I decided taking on the Dragon Lady [referring to her future mother-in-law] this week has been bad enough, I really didn't want a go-around with Darth Vader, too" (p. 30).  Let's face it - any book that no only references the greatest sci-fi film of all time (uhm, Star Wars! Duh!), but also has that possible homage to the Dana Girls - well, no way around it, it's a huge hit in my book (pun fully intended!)!

The climactic confrontation of Addie with the killer in this book was definitely something to look forward to, as there were certain scenes earlier that set up that climax, and which I could not wait to see happen.  It was also fun to figure out with Addie just who was involved in the murders, in the cover-up, and in the book forgeries, as there were so many possibilities - it's nice to read a murder mystery where the killer turns out to be a true surprise!

This series is a definite must read for cozy-mystery fans, non-cozy-mystery fans, and, well, just about anyone who loves a really good murder mystery!

RATING:  10 slices of mile-high chocolate cake with gold flakes sprinkled across the icing out of 10 for one heck of a superbly written murder mystery!