Murder Among Books

"Murder Among Books" — a cozy detective story with a romantic line and a bookish atmosphere. The story is about how a corpse in the basement, a black cat, and a charming detective suddenly change life plans. The first book in the series "Murder Club. Mysteries of the Bookstore".
Writer Charlotte James, known to friends as Charlie, arrives in a quiet town to start anew: the creative crisis is behind her, ahead is a cozy bookstore and a measured life. But dreams are shattered: a series of exciting events, a terrifying discovery in the basement — and a tranquil life goes awry.

Charlie will have to not only get used to her role as the owner of a bookstore but also conduct an investigation. She will be aided by the black cat Poe, the shop's talisman, and the charismatic detective Grant from Philadelphia, who strikingly resembles Mr. Darcy. He is not particularly fond of this story. Well, except for Charlie herself.


For those who love cozy mysteries in the spirit of Richard Osman.
For fans of stories about bookstores and small towns and villages.
For everyone looking for light, engaging reading.
For fans of mysteries and puzzles, but with a cat and a happy ending.
For fans of the book "Murder and Cupcakes" and the series "Murder, She Wrote".

From the author:
I am often asked how I come up with stories, where I get my characters from. Honestly, I don’t know. At ten years old, I opened the first book about Nancy Drew and since then I can't stop. I wrote horror, then novels about vampires, until I realized that the world lacks warm, cozy reading. That's how my detective stories were born.
Ideas come from everywhere: old movies, random news, conversations with friends, life with cats. My Rocco, for example, sometimes looks as if he knows something about this life that is inaccessible to me. Perhaps that's why animals appear in almost every one of my books.
Charlie James is a bit of me. A writer in crisis, who has fled from the noisy city and accidentally found herself in the center of a real investigation. Welcome to my cozy, but sometimes unsafe world.


The author of the book, Toni LoTempio, is a passionate cat lover. One of her pets, the cat Rocco, is even considered a co-author of some books.
The bookstore, the bakery next door — cozy settings for a murder investigation.
Intrigue from the first pages: the main character hides her identity. Everyone knows her as Charlotte James, but in the literary world, she is the famous writer C.J. Barrett.
Cozy, even when it's scary. The detective events are just a reason to accentuate the atmosphere of the narrative.