Book Review (and a Giveaway!): A Tourist’s Guide to Murder by V.M. Burns

Posted January 22, 2021 by meezcarrie in contemporary, cozy mystery, giveaway, mystery/suspense, V.M. Burns / 5 Comments

A TOURIST’S GUIDE TO MURDER
SERIES: Mystery Bookshop #6
GENRE: Cozy Mystery
PUBLISHER: Kensington
RELEASE DATE: January 26, 2021
PAGES: 256

While visiting the land of Miss Marple and Sherlock Holmes, bookstore owner and amateur sleuth Samantha Washington finds herself on a tragical mystery tour . . .
Sam joins Nana Jo and her Shady Acres Retirement Village friends Irma, Dorothy, and Ruby Mae on a weeklong trip to London, England, to experience the Peabody Mystery Lovers Tour. The chance to see the sights and walk the streets that inspired Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan Doyle is a dream come true for Sam—and a perfect way to celebrate her new publishing contract as a mystery author.
But between visits to Jack the Ripper’s Whitechapel district and 221B Baker Street, Major Horace Peabody is found dead, supposedly of natural causes. Despite his employer’s unfortunate demise, the tour guide insists on keeping calm and carrying on—until another tourist on their trip also dies under mysterious circumstances. Now it’s up to Sam and the Shady Acres ladies to mix and mingle among their fellow mystery lovers, find a motive, and turn up a murderer . . .

Other Books In This Series

“What could possibly go wrong?”

A Tourist’s Guide to Murder is full of humor and heart, with a clever mystery in the coziest of cozy settings – a mystery lovers’ tour of England.

There is much that I love about this series by V.M. Burns, and all of these elements shine in A Tourist’s Guide to Murder. Sam is a wonderful & relatable heroine who is following her dreams, with a great wit and a sharp mind ideal for solving mysteries. But while Sam may be the star of the series, Nana Jo & her Shady Acres gang steal the spotlight often (sorta like the Golden Girls, if the Golden Girls were diverse & knew martial arts lol). This group, along with Sam’s witty narrative, kept me giggling throughout the story.

The mystery was well-done and full of several misdirections and classic red herrings, made all the more cozy by the fact that it’s set on this tour of England, covering authorly locations related to Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, etc. There’s one particular nod to classic mysteries that totally made my day, but I don’t want to say more for fear of ruining your discovery of it when you read this book for yourself 🙂 My first suspicions of whodunit proved true but Burns nearly had me convinced of a couple of other suspects before all was said and done.

Bottom Line: I really enjoy this Mystery Bookshop series by V. M. Burns, and A Tourist’s Guide To Murder is my favorite installment so far! The writing voice (also Sam’s 1st person narrative) is witty and engaging, and readers will easily love the characters and the setting. The case is full of twists and turns to keep you guessing, ideal since it’s set on a mystery lovers’ tour of England. I also appreciated that it was free from bad language, which is sadly becoming rarer in the cozy mystery genre. Loved this book & can’t wait for more adventures with this group of ladies!

(I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book which I received from the publisher. All views expressed are only my honest opinion.)

My Rating: 4.5 stars / Loved it!

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V.M. (Valerie) Burns was born and raised in the Midwestern United States. She currently resides in the warmer region of the country in East Tennessee with her two poodles. Valerie is a member of Mystery Writers of America, Dog Writers of America, Crime Writers of Color, International Thriller Writers, and Sisters in Crime. Valerie is the author of the RJ Franklin Mysteries, the Dog Club Mysteries, and the Agatha Award-nominated Mystery Bookshop Mystery series.