Boarding with Murder by Kathryn Long
I am delighted to join the blog tour for Boarding With Murder by Kathryn Long today! My thanks to Lori at Great Escapes Book Tours for the chance to join and the review copy!
About Boarding With Murder
Boarding with Murder (A Sierra Pines B&B Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
1st in Series
Publisher: Camel Press (March 9, 2021)
Paperback: 220 pages
ISBN-10: 1603817301
ISBN-13: 978-1603817301
Digital ASIN : B08SHLHD2D
Take one quaint B&B, two kind but quirky caretakers, a dead aunt, a murdered friend, and you have mystery. Ali Winston finds she’s inherited trouble along with her aunt’s B&B, but can she reveal the killer before the curtain closes?
I Thought…
I love embarking on a new series from the very start, and this one certainly intrigued me enough to do just that.
Alexis Winston (Ali to those who know her) has lost her job. She’s from a family of actors and theatre people and with some time on her hands, she returns to Sierra Pines to visit her Great-Aunt Julia who owns a B & B, a quaint Victoria structure with three storeys and numerous bedrooms. Sierra Pines is a town nestled in the California Sierra Nevada mountains and on her arrival, Ali is met by Julia’s dearest friend, Gladys Bellwether who delivers some shocking news… Great-Aunt Julia is dead. Gladys firmly believes that Julia’s death is suspicious and that someone else is involved, that someone being Thaddeus Beale and she manages to convince Ali to investigate further.
Kathryn Long has created and fleshed out some marvellous characters in this compelling cozy. Twenty-eight-year-old Ali has lost her job twice now – once, as a screenwriter, and again, a few years later, when she was an assistant researcher for a TV show that needed a ratings boost and decided to reduce the number of researchers they had. Her Great-Aunt Julia was a volunteer on the set of a movie being filmed near the B & B. Ali knows a thing or two about prop design as she dual majored in the subject at university and demonstrates her helpfulness when she offers to volunteer in place of Julia on the set of the movie. I loved Ali’s determination to get to the bottom of what happened to her great aunt, and her self-doubt she displayed about whether or not she has was it takes to run the B & B made her realistic and endearing.
Other memorable characters were Gladys, Ollie, Quint and Blackbeard the parrot. The spirited Gladys added a great deal to this intriguing tale and I loved her relationship with her food-loving brother Ollie. Quint Sterling, the town’s sheriff, had a habit of popping up all over the place but came across as an amenable, gentlemanly guy and Ali certainly, seemed keen on him, in spite of his repeated warnings to stay out of his investigation and to let the police do their stuff and follow procedures. Their repartee had me chuckling away and I liked Great-Aunt Julia’s apple-eating parrot, Blackbeard.
The mystery itself was fairly complex in the beginning as a horde of characters were introduced made up of B & B guests, cast members, residents of Sierra Pines and others, resulting in a wide choice of suspects and motives. Initially, it was difficult to keep everyone straight but as the story develops, the characters become more defined. Most had their secrets, big or small and I was kept guessing until close to the end. All told, Boarding with Murder is a well-plotted, drama-filled, compulsive start to the Sierra Pines B & B Mystery series and I’m eagerly awaiting my return to Ali’s B & B and catching up with the folk in Sierra Pines.
Thanks to Great Escapes Book Tours, Kathryn Long and Camel Press for a complimentary copy of Boarding with Murder at my request. This review is my unbiased opinion.
Brianne’s Book Reviews Rating | Five Stars
About Kathryn Long
Retired teacher, Kathryn Long now spends her days plotting and writing mysteries. Her most recent credits are romantic suspense novel, A DEADLY DEED GROWS and mystery, BURIED IN SIN. She’s a member of Sisters in Crime as well as of International Thriller Writers. Under the pen name, Bailee Abbott this author writes the Paint by Murder cozy series, starting with A BRUSH WITH MURDER soon to be released. Kathryn lives with her husband and furry friend Max in the quiet suburbs of Green, Ohio.
Author Links
Author website: https://www.kathrynlongauthor.com
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/KathrynLong.Books
Twitter: https://twitter.com/klongauthor
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4203129.Kathryn_Long
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kathylong7487/
Product Links:
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TOUR PARTICIPANTS
March 22 – Diane Reviews Books – GUEST POST
March 22 – Maureen’s Musings – SPOTLIGHT
March 23 – Reading, Writing & Stitch-Metic – SPOTLIGHT
March 24 – Brooke Blogs – SPOTLIGHT
March 24 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – SPOTLIGHT WITH RECIPE
March 25 – Here’s How It Happened – SPOTLIGHT
March 25 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – REVIEW
March 26 – I’m All About Books – SPOTLIGHT
March 26 – Tea Book Blanket – CHARACTER GUEST POST
March 27 – Lisa Ks Book Reviews – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
March 28 – The Book’s the Thing – SPOTLIGHT
March 28 – Books a Plenty Book Reviews – REVIEW, CHARACTER INTERVIEW
March 29 – Novels Alive – SPOTLIGHT
March 29 – A Wytch’s Book Review Blog – REVIEW
March 30 – Cozy Up With Kathy – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
March 30 – Literary Gold – REVIEW
March 31 – My Reading Journeys – REVIEW
March 31 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT
April 1 –The Avid Reader – REVIEW
April 1 – Ruff Drafts – SPOTLIGHT
April 1 – Brianne’s Book Reviews – REVIEW
April 2 – Christa Reads and Writes – REVIEW
April 2 – MJB Reviewers – SPOTLIGHT
April 2 – Celticlady’s Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
April 3 – Reading Is My SuperPower – REVIEW
April 4 – I Read What You Write – SPOTLIGHT
April 4 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
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Until Next Time,
, 
, and 
. In her previous life she was CEO/Creative Director of her own marketing firm and authored several screenplays. She is married to a professor of Chinese art history, loves to travel, rides horses, enjoys fundraising for various non-profits, and has two Chinese Shar-Pei dogs.
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