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When rare book dealer Lincoln Delamont is stabbed to death at a book event in Chapters B&B, fingers are pointed at owner Charlotte Reed, accusing her of the murder. With the help of her neighbor Charlotte sets out to find the real killer and clear her name, whilst trying to stay out of danger.

Booked for Death (Booklovers B&B Mysteries #1) by Victoria Gilbert is about Charlotte Reid whose great-aunt Isabella left her Chapters B&B, which is set in a converted stately waterfront home. A mystery seems to be connected to how she acquired the very large sum of money to buy it. Some of this information has made it into the hands of rare book’s dealer and shady business man Lincoln Delamont who threatens to use it to ruin Chapter’s reputation. Charlotte now has motive for murder. This twist becomes an important part of the plot which I enjoyed a lot.

Main character Charlotte Reed is the ex high school teacher, now B&B owner. I’m quite impressed by the way she handles situations where tempers get heated in a large group of people. Her socially confident manner and no-nonsense attitude comes in handy when her establishment suddenly becomes a crime scene. She is easily my favorite character of this story.

Ellen Montgomery is ex film location scout, neighbor and friend who is assisting with the amateur sleuthing as well as helping with business matters. I find her a very important secondary character that seems very well developed and true to life. She stands out positively and I think the plot would not function without her.

Damien Carr is part time cook at Chapters who has a volatile temper which leads to difficult relationships to other people. He seems a rather unsympathetic character with plenty of tantrums that plenty of people can imagine capable of murder. He is my least favorite character of this story. However, he seems to function a bit better as the story progresses.

The part of the plot concerning the mystery of great-aunt Isabella’s life was my favorite part of this plot. Throughout the story there were interesting clues, but no definite answers until the end, so I kept wondering and waiting to know more. The mystery part definitely added extra excitement to the story for me.
When it came to solving the murder, quite a number of guests seemed to have motives, so it seemed hard for Charlotte to sift through it all to solve the case. I really enjoyed that the identity of the killer and the motive took me so completely by surprise.

Booked for Death (Booklovers B&B Mysteries #1) is the first work I have read by Victoria Gilbert. I look forward to installment #2 in the series.
Reading Booked for Death (Booklovers B&B Mysteries #1) by Victoria Gilbert was a new plot setting for me which made for an entertaining and thrilling as well as quick reading experience.
Fans of Victoria Gilbert will love this work, as will readers of crime fiction.

Thank you to Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley for this eARC, which gave me the opportunity to share my honest review. All opinions are completely my own.