Trisha Miles, owner of the Haven't Got a Clue mystery bookshop, has promoted Pixie to Assistant Manager which gives her more time for other things, but what are they? She has been trying to get appointed to the Board of Pets-A-Plenty, a local animal shelter but that's not going well, so she decides to enter the local baking contest. While trying to gather home-grown herbs from another bookseller, she finds a body in the bookseller's backyard. Was she killed because of neighbor relations or was it something else?

It was fun to see Tricia stretching herself into other activities but I did miss the interaction at the bookstore. ( )

I have to say that I enjoyed this much more then the last two books in the series. It was more focused on the mystery and less on family drama. Trish also spent some time actually taking care of her store by actively seeking out book stock. ( )

Not the strongest book in this series, but still, Tricia and Angelica are worth a visit. In this one, Trisha, having given her Assistant Manager Pixie more responsibility, has tried to join the board of the local animal shelter, no no avail. At loose ends, she decides to enter a local cupcake baking competition. Once again, she finds a body, this time in the backyard of fellow bookseller, Joyce, who's neighbor, Vera Olson, has a pitchfork in her back. The women had argued earlier that day, making Joyce a suspect. The mystery takes her back to the animal shelter. It took longer to get into this one, in part, I think, because Tricia is so wishy washy this time around. Let's hope next time she gets her groove back (and a new love interest!) ( )

With her assistant manager Pixie Poe doing such a good job of running “Haven’t Got a Clue”, the mystery bookstore owned by Tricia Miles, Tricia finds herself with lots of time on her hands. She wants to join the board of a local animal shelter but there seems to be insurmountable obstacles in her way so she throws herself into preparing for a local bake-off. When she and a fellow store owner stumble across a dead body, Tricia can’t help but investigate the murder. But will her investigating put her in danger – again?

“A Killer Edition” is the nicely done thirteenth book in Lorna Barrett’s Booktown cozy mystery series. After so many books the characters – Tricia, her sister Angelica, her store employees Mr. Everett and Pixie, Mr. Everett’s wife Grace, Antonio, Ginny and more – seem like old friends that you are visiting. Tricia is an interesting change for a heroine – far from perfect, she can be a bit rough around the edges, prone to make a few enemies, and insecure at times. Still that is why I like her – she is a very realistic character. A few pages into the book, I was completely wrapped up in her story as she struggled to find something to do outside the store. I enjoyed reading as she tried various cupcake recipes. Truthfully, while the mystery itself is well done and I was completely surprised to find out who the killer was, I was so caught up in Tricia’s life that I completely forgot about the mystery for long periods of time.

“A Killer Edition” is a nicely done cozy mystery. ( )

An interesting cozy mystery. I thought I'd read something from this series before, but now I am not sure. At first, I thought it was odd that with physical bookstores in such decline, especially independent ones, that the town had two--though each has its own genre. Then, I was charmed by the store names with book themes (and started thinking there were lots of bookstores but soon realized that wasn't the case)--until I realized that was part of the series name--and apparently the brainchild of someone to try to drive tourism. Though then it was weird that the series is named Booktown but the town is named Stoneham.

I was a bit confused by how everyone is related--especially as Angelica and Tricia call their Sunday dinners "family dinners"--I wondered if there really was a blood relation or if they are just making their own "family".

Then again, there seems to be a lot of contention between various town residents. Tricia has an ex-boyfriend who's not her biggest fan. This boyfriend then married someone else (but they're now getting a divorce) but the wife is not Tricia's biggest fan either. Tricia doesn't have a big fan in the Pets-A-Plenty director, and she ends up making an enemy of the other bookseller in town. Angelica has a bad history with 2 of the 3 Bake Off judges. Vera Olson seemed to have a bone to pick with many people.

I liked Pixie and Mr. Everett, though I could understand Tricia feeling a bit superfluous at her own store after promoting Pixie. Angelica has her fingers in lots of pies. It's a bit amazing that they both manage to find really good, reliable employees. I'll be interested to see if Pixie ends up working for them both in future installments.

I didn't guess "who done it" before it was revealed. That's not unusual for me, so other readers may have a different experience. ( )