A Deadly Chapter: A Castle Bookshop Mystery

Lang’s pleasant third Castle Bookshop mystery (after 2020’s Death on the Page) opens with Shelby Cox, co-owner of Bayside Books in Alexandria Bay, N.Y., and a bookshop in a historic castle-cum-museum on nearby Blye Island, discovering a dead body wedged between her houseboat and the dock. The victim’s identity is unknown, but Shelby recognizes him as a man who recently visited one of her bookshops in search of a woman who moved to town seven years earlier. He didn’t know the name the woman might be using, but he did know that she loved books and reading. Shelby once again turns sleuth, but she does little investigating, being too busy helping out at a mystery book event and mulling over her relationship with boyfriend Zack Griffin, a Coast Guard Investigative Service agent. Diehard romantics will look forward to returning to this idyllic cozy setting; those who expect some serious detecting may prefer to pass. [em]Agent: Kim Lionetti, BookEnds Literary. (Mar.) [/em]