3 out of 5 stars for both

Purchase Links for Murder Is Binding: Amazon – B&N – Kobo

Purchase Links for Bookmarked for Death: Amazon – B&N – Kobo

Synopsis for Murder is Binding

The streets of Stoneham, New Hampshire, are lined with bookstores…and paved with murder.

When she moved to Stoneham, city slicker Tricia Miles met nothing but friendly faces. And when she opened her mystery bookstore, she met friendly competition. But when she finds Doris Gleason dead in her own cookbook store, killed by a carving knife, the atmosphere seems more cutthroat than cordial. Someone wanted to get their hands on the rare cookbook that Doris had recently purchased-and the locals think that someone is Tricia. To clear her name, Tricia will have to take a page out of one of her own mysteries-and hunt down someone who isn’t killing by the book.

Synopsis for Bookmarked for Death

What do a stone book and a stabbed cake have to do with Zoë Carter’s death?

Once a struggling town, Stoneham, New Hampshire is now enjoying a renaissance–thanks to booksellers like Tricia Miles, proprietor of Haven’t Got a Clue. It’s a great place to find a good mystery to read–or to solve ….

To celebrate her bookstore’s anniversary, Tricia Miles hosts a book signing for bestselling author Zoë Carter. But the event takes a terrible turn when the author is found dead in the washroom. Before long, both police and reporters are demanding the real story. So far, the author’s obnoxious assistant/niece is the only suspect. And with a sheriff who provides more obstacles than answers, Tricia will have to take matters into her own hands–and read between the lines to solve this mystery….

Review for both books

Murder is Binding & Bookmarked for Death both by Lorna Barrett are the first and second books in her Booktown Mystery series.  I’m doing them both together because I felt much the same about both so I figured I’d save people reading two posts with the same basic review.

These two books were okay. I really enjoy the main character of the series, but some of the characters are really annoying. The plots are not very complex and I figured out the villain fairly easily in both books.

I don’t know how I really feel about the series. I do like some of the characters, including the main character, but the plot line being so easy to figure out detracts from the enjoyment. I think I’ll keep reading the series for now and hope that they get better than these two.