Best cozy I have read in a while! I think part of it is because it had a lot of differences from other cozies I have been reading . It was like a breath of fresh air. The biggest difference was a male protagonist. I haven’t read a cozy with a male protagonist since The Cat Who…series. Charlie is great and he is a fully developed character. You hear his inner thoughts and his doubts and insecurities regarding his relationship with his son as well as his thoughts on the mystery. The second difference is that there was no romance element, some cozies get so caught up in the love triangles that it takes away from the mystery. Love triangles are fine to a point, but I want the focus to be on the mystery. Finally, it is a book based cozy which have always been my favorites and I have been reading other themes lately.
The mystery plot was well crafted. I had the mystery solved early, but not really due to any clues in the book, it was just a gut feeling. This did not detract from my enjoyment of the story. I am going to read more in this series, in fact I have Out of Circulation checked out from the library already.
If I’m ever to overcome my cowardice about mysteries, it’ll have to be with a book like this one that is a book-based cozy!
Cozies are a nice intro to mysteries and there are ones to suit almost anyone’s interests or hobbies as well.