A review by underwater_reader
Fillet of Murder by Linda Reilly
4.0
So I picked this book, or rather this book was picked for me based on the adorable cover. While browsing in the library one evening, my husband saw this book on a display of cozy mystery books and brought it to me asking if I'd read it. I told him I'd never even heard of it, but I asked him to take a picture of the book and send it to me so I'd remember to read it! One of the prompts during 24K Resolutions Bingo was "Read a cozy where the cover makes you happy". Well, this one certainly does. The fact that my husband knew immediately based on that sweet calico baby on the cover that this was one for me sealed the deal, and he was right, I loved it!
Talia has returned to her small hometown in the Berkshires after a nasty breakup and leaving a very unfulfilling job. She is living in her deceased Nana's house and working at Lambert's Fish and Chips just like she did in high school. Talia loves it there and she loves her boss, Bea, an ex-pat from England. When another shopkeeper in the arcade who has been badgering everyone to sign a petition to keep out a new comic book store is found murdered, suspicion falls onto Bea. Talia sets out to prove her friend innocent.
I really enjoyed this book very much. I love Talia and I love her interactions with her friends and how caring she is towards others. I loved the small town and the arcade where the shops are. I love how sweet Talia was towards her new kitty Bojangles! The book was well-paced and plotted and I felt like we get a great introduction to the characters and the town without a lot of info-dump passages. The murder was very well crafted and I could not solve it for the life of me, and it didn't help that there were so many red herrings and twists and turns! The only thing that stopped me from giving this book a full five stars was a slight, probably only me thing. I am verysensitive to animal stuff. Like, it really bothers me and gets under my skin and sticks there. There was a back story of a character who had a pet rabbit that was not treated super well by her brothers and the scene where we learn about Bojangle's back story both got to me. I know, I know it's minor stuff, but it bothered me enough to take a half-star off. Other than that, though, this book was great and I'm so glad my husband spotted it for me! 4.5 stars!
Talia has returned to her small hometown in the Berkshires after a nasty breakup and leaving a very unfulfilling job. She is living in her deceased Nana's house and working at Lambert's Fish and Chips just like she did in high school. Talia loves it there and she loves her boss, Bea, an ex-pat from England. When another shopkeeper in the arcade who has been badgering everyone to sign a petition to keep out a new comic book store is found murdered, suspicion falls onto Bea. Talia sets out to prove her friend innocent.
I really enjoyed this book very much. I love Talia and I love her interactions with her friends and how caring she is towards others. I loved the small town and the arcade where the shops are. I love how sweet Talia was towards her new kitty Bojangles! The book was well-paced and plotted and I felt like we get a great introduction to the characters and the town without a lot of info-dump passages. The murder was very well crafted and I could not solve it for the life of me, and it didn't help that there were so many red herrings and twists and turns! The only thing that stopped me from giving this book a full five stars was a slight, probably only me thing. I am verysensitive to animal stuff. Like, it really bothers me and gets under my skin and sticks there. There was a back story of a character who had a pet rabbit that was not treated super well by her brothers and the scene where we learn about Bojangle's back story both got to me. I know, I know it's minor stuff, but it bothered me enough to take a half-star off. Other than that, though, this book was great and I'm so glad my husband spotted it for me! 4.5 stars!