Thank You Net Galley! A Cryptic Clue by Victoria Gilbert

 Because I enjoy Victoria Gilbert's Booklovers B & B Cozy Series, I requested her new mystery A Cryptic Clue from Net Galley. I'm not sure if this book is categorized as a Cozy, but it does have cozy elements, including an amateur sleuth, and no swearing. 

 I think it is more in Agatha Cristie's or Sherlock Holmes's style.  Cam Clewe is a thirty-something second-generation multi-millionaire (maybe even a billionaire?). He hires Jane Hunter, a former college librarian, to catalog his extensive collection of books, memorabilia, art, and more on his sprawling estate.   Cam is a handsome introvert with anxiety issues and perhaps OCD or ADHD.  Jane has a past that involved domestic violence.  Of course, not too much time passes before someone stumbles across a body, and Cam asks Jane to help him investigate who's the killer--since he is a prime suspect.

Victoria Gilbert gives us a large, but manageable, cast of suspects and some nice red herrings.  This first book solves the main mystery of who killed the person who died at Cam's estate, and in the end, Hunter and Clewe decide to work together to solve cold cases. I enjoyed the mystery and the pairing of 30-something Cam and 60-something Jane--something a little different in the main characters. If you enjoy mysteries, give this book a try, you'll enjoy it! 

A Fatal Booking By Victoria Gilbert Thank You #NetGalley!

 Here is the description of this book from the publisher: 

"Victoria Gilbert’s third Booklover’s B&B Mystery, a treat for fans of Mary Daheim and Kate Carlisle, finds owner Charlotte Reed and her former spy neighbor, Ellen Montgomery, pitted against a tea-party poisoner.

Booklover Charlotte is delighted to welcome an eclectic group of guests to Chapters Bed and Breakfast for a book club retreat focused on fairy tales and classic children’s literature. But when one of the guests is poisoned at a Mad Hatter tea party, Charlotte realizes she’s fallen down a rather unpleasant rabbit hole
 
The victim – an opinionated busybody whose jewelry store sold original designs, along with some possibly “hot” merchandise – had plenty of enemies, spurring Charlotte and Ellen to offer their well-honed investigative skills to assist the local police. But as they delve deeper into each of the guest’s stories, they realize all of them had a motive, and the means, to close the book on the unfortunate victim.
 
Enlisting the aid of a few local residents, as well as their new ally, agent Gavin Howard, Charlotte, and Ellen vow to reveal the truth, even if the path to any sort of happy ending is strewn with deadly danger."

First of all, to answer the question, yes you can read this book without having read the first two. The main mystery of this book is who killed the victim and then there are subplots involving the background of the victim as well as some of the suspects.  I think it would be fair to say that this book is almost a closed-room mystery. The suspects except one are all guests at the BnB. I wasn't sure who the killer was until our sleuth was sure, so this book kept me guessing.

I enjoyed the literature discussions in the book, Victoria Gilbert interweaves the right amount of book talk in the story, and who doesn't love a good (method of killing --you have to read to know, I'm not going to spoil you) murder. 

Charlotte is also thinking about going back to school to teach, so that makes you wonder how the next book in the series will go.  As with the first two books, Charlotte works with the town detective and Ellen the retired spy next door. The climax in this one is some action hero stuff, which is fun. It reminded me of some of Lucy Stone's adventures in Maine. (Leslie Meier cozy series) 

Four Stars to A Fatal Booking by Victoria Gilbert!

Thanks to Net Galley for the digital ARC of this book, all the opinions are mine!