Cozy mysteries are my favorite genre! I loved the storyline for this book but the way it was written wasn't my favorite and I found it hard to relate with Susie and Jess. I did, however, enjoy the romantic tension that spiced up the story. I recieved a free copy of the book from LibraryThing and am leaving a review voluntarily. ( )

A Book Club’s Guide to Murder and Mayhem by Bethany Barker is the debut of A Suzie Tuft Mysteries. I found the story to be easy to read. We get to meet Suzie Tuft along with her best friend, Jess, and her close circle of friends. I liked Suzie’s dog, Hunter. He is protective of Suzie as well as a sweetheart. The characters needed to be fleshed out more, especially Suzie. The mystery begins early in the story with Suzy discovering the victim on a walk with Hunter. The gruff lead detective (Detective Whiteford) was annoying and his partner (Detective Pagarelli), naturally, was handsome (it was obvious that Suzie was attracted to him). I wish the whodunit had been more complex. It was evident early on who was the guilty party along with the motive. Suzie and her book club work together to discover the killer’s identity along with why Suzie’s ex-boyfriend left her the sizeable inheritance. There is flirtation between Suzie and Detective Pagarelli and Suzy spends time thinking about the kind (and handsome) detective. There is a repetition of key details (that Detective Pagarelli is handsome is mentioned fourteen times and that the other detective is gruff sixteen times). A Book Club’s Guide to Murder and Mayhem is a nice story, but it did not hold my attention. ( )

The start of a cozy mystery series set in Pennsylvania, near one of the best named towns in the state: Punxsutawney. It features an author of nonfiction/educational/instructional books and the colorful ladies of her local book club. There's a handsome cop in there, too, who will probably become the love interest in the next book.

Thanks to LibraryThing's early readers program and the publisher for sending me my copy. ( )

After a Meeting of the Bearfoot Book Club Suzie flies to meet with her agent. When she arrives home she goes for a walk in the woods and finds a dead body. This sets off a chain of events starting with her meeting Detective Pagarelli and amateur sleuthing into the murder and her inheritance from her ex. Cute storyline , really liked Suzie and Jess. A book worth reading. ( )

A Book Club’s Guide to Murder and Mayhem by Bethany Barker is a first-in-series cozy mystery. Suzie Tufts, the main character, has just inherited an estate from her ex-boyfriend who she hasn’t seen in years. A number of unsavory characters then show up, and Suzie turns to her best friend Jess and Jess’ husband to help her figure out what is going on.
In general, this started pretty strong; I liked the ideas and the main characters. The rural setting was great and the place Suzy inherited sounds amazing. The bad guys are suitably mean and scary. The biggest issue may be that the dialog is not great. It is often very awkward when it is not intended to be. When she is talking to 911 about finding a body, there is back and forth repartee that is supposed to be funny but is not. It continues through several pages as she talks to the police that show up. There are also a lot of “laying her hand on her cheek” or “tapping her chin with her finger” and other things that people don’t really do most of the time.
Another issue is that there needs to be some added editing. There are several instances where a particular character will find something out, and then a couple of chapters later, Suzi will state that fact and wonder how they will react to just now finding that thing out. Both annoying and hard to keep track of who knows what.
I did like the relationship with Suzie and her best friend and husband. Suzie is a strong personality, although sometimes stubborn to the point of idiocy, and I found her profession as a text book writer interesting.
This is a quick and easy read with some good parts, but I won’t likely seek out any others in the series.
Thank you to the author and LibraryThing for providing the digital ARC. ( )