Title: A Dark and Stormy Murder
Author: Julia Buckley
Publisher: Berkley
Release Date: July 5, 2016
Pages: 304
Book Source: eBook
Camilla Graham’s bestselling suspense novels inspired Lena London to become a writer, so when she lands a job as Camilla’s new assistant, she can’t believe her luck. Not only will she help her idol craft an enchanting new mystery, she’ll get to live rent-free in Camilla’s gorgeous Victorian home in the quaint town of Blue Lake, Indiana.
But Lena’s fortune soon changes for the worse. First, she lands in the center of small town gossip for befriending the local recluse. Then, she stumbles across one thing that a Camilla Graham novel is never without—a dead body, found on her new boss’s lakefront property.
Now Lena must take a page out of one of Camilla’s books to hunt down clues in a real crime that seems to be connected to the novelist’s mysterious estate—before the killer writes them both out of the story for good…
My Review:
I love finding new authors, and if they happen to write Cozies (or Urban Fantasy), I’m even more ecstatic. A Dark and Stormy Murder is the first book in A Writer’s Apprentice Mystery series, and I’m looking forward to the next one. Especially since Buckley left us with a huge cliffhanger at the end of this one. There are actually two mysteries in the book, and while we find out who the bad guys are for one mystery, the second one will hopefully be revealed in the next book. Although the way Buckley wrote it, I could see this mystery going on for a few books.
I know that’s really vague, but it would be a huge spoiler if I said anything more.
The premise for this series is awesome! I’m sure many fellow readers (who are often writers too), would love to be an assistant to one of their writing idols, I know I would. Besides the great pay that Lena receives, she also gets to live in a gorgeous home, eat meals prepared by a professional, and enjoy the company of two dogs (along with her cat). If I wasn’t married, this would be my ideal situation.
The way Buckley weaves the two mysteries together is done expertly, and so is her character building. I felt so much emotion from each character that I felt as if I knew the secondary characters as well as the main ones. And her description of the town’s architecture (inside and outside of the buildings) is done with a master’s hand.
Just an excellent book all the way around, and I will be the next in the series to my list, so I make sure to keep an eye out for it’s release date.