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Past Reading and Challenges

Saturday, April 24, 2021

A Tourist's Guide to Murder

 This is the latest installment in the Mystery Bookshop series (#6) by V.M. Burns.  I always enjoy how she has given such a diverse set of personalities to the seniors in her series.  Sam, is the granddaughter of Nana Jo and the two are on a vacation with Nana Jo's friends- Irma, Dorothy and Ruby Mae.  The dynamics among these women is comical and realistic.  It is easy to visualize the ease with which they interact especially when you consider their ages and the frankness with which many older people speak.

The ladies are on a Mystery tour in England when they encounter several real life mysteries of their own.   The book is loaded with geographical and biographical references to many other mystery writers and their series.  These feature is intertwined well into the plot of this story.   

The mystery itself is well written and full of twists and turns.  My favorite part of this series is the inclusion of the 2nd cozy mystery story within the book.  Sam is writing a cozy set in England in the 1930s.  This secondary story adds a unique feature to this series that I really enjoy.  Sometimes that sub mystery is what sticks with me more than the main story.   

I look forward to any future installments in this series.

A Tourist's Guide to MurderA Tourist's Guide to Murder by V.M. Burns
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I always enjoy reading about the ladies from Shady Acres. Nana Jo is a hoot and her relationship with her granddaughter, is a good mix of bantering and respect. This particular installment was based on a mystery tour in England so it had lots of references to other mystery authors and series. The actual mystery was well written and had plenty of twists to keep the reader engaged. The cozy written within the book is always a fun aspect to this series and adds another level of enjoyment and mystery solving. I hope there are more books to come in this series

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Challenge Prompts

The Challenge Prompts I will use this for are:  


  1. Library Love  #LibraryLoveChallenge  Book #47
  2. Finishing the Series   #FinishingTheSeries2021 Mystery Bookshop #6 caught up on series
  3. Virtual Mount TBR #VirtualMountTBR2021   Book #57
  4. Back List Reader  #Backlistreader  Book #67
  5. Calendar of Crime  #CalendarOfCrime2021   
  6. Cozy Mysteries   #11 author of color
  7. Cruisin thru Cozies  free choice 27
  8. Cloak & Dagger  #CloakDaggerChal  Book #50
  9. Craving for Cozies  Book #43
  10. What's in a Name   #4 Possessive noun (ex. The Zookeeper’s Wife)
  11. Medical Examiner Challenge  4 Toe Tags
  12. Beachcomber Challenge  
    • Crime Scenes 
      • Row 4
        • Hotel room
      • Weapons
        • Row 4
          • Animal attack or bite
        • Row 5
          • Medicine or drugs
      • Detectives- Sam/Nana Jo
      • Victims- Horace Peabody/Prudence Haversham
    • Six Shooter Challenge  Target #14  Shot #6

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