Secrets Between the Shelves: 4 Cozy Bookshop Mysteries by Cynthia Hickey, Linda Baten Johnson, Teresa Ives Lilly, and Marilyn Turk Review

 Good Morning Sweet Friends and Happy Monday!

I pray your week is off to a great start, and I want to thank you all for joining me (Kirby) here on The Preppy Book Princess for another book review.

I'm feeling grateful that I was able to have some reading time this past weekend amidst all the craziness that's found its way into my life as of late, and because of that, I have a few new reviews to share with you all in the upcoming days.

Today's review is going to be for an upcoming title that actually releases pretty soon. So if this one ends up sounding like something you'd be interested in, you don't even have to wait that long to be able to go ahead and pick it up.

I hope you'll all keep on reading, and join me today for another fun book review here on my little bookish corner of the internet.

Secrets Between the Shelves: 4 Cozy Bookshop Mysteries by Cynthia Hickey, Linda Baten Johnson, Teresa Ives Lilly, and Marilyn Turk:

Source: Publisher via NetGalley

Publisher: Barbour Fiction

Publication Date: February 1st, 2025

Genre: Christian Fiction/Cozy Mystery/Novella Collection

Synopsis:

Mysteries Leap Off the Page
 
Murder and mayhem haunt four newly-opened bookstores.
 
The mysteries enjoyed in books come to life, threatening four businesses. Amber’s new bookshop and tearoom draws rare book collectors, but when one ends up dead in the mystery section, the shop’s future is questionable. Lilly’s pirate themed bookshop fits right into Harbor Inn, Maine, but she never expected to find a young pirate dead on her shop’s floor. Abby opens Secret Passages Bookshop in a Wyoming mountain town, not realizing her historic building held a real secret passage and a missing teenager. Kelly moves to Florida and frequents the Bayside Books and Reading Room, where she is strangely attracted to the owner—who is suspected of killing his wife. Can the store owners and their patrons solve the mysteries before their businesses go under?

(synopsis from goodreads)

My Review:

I expected to enjoy this one more than I did, as usually I love when books have bookstore settings, and was excited to see how this would fit into the cozy mystery genre. However, I found the majority of these stories were a bit lacking, and the mysteries ended up being rushed and not plotted out as well as I was hoping for.

That being said, my favorite of the four was By Hook or By Book, and I pretty much breezed right through it. The mystery was compelling, the characters were interesting, and the plot moved at a quick pace, while still making sure everything was explained along the way. I'd probably give this particular title 4.5/5.

Overall, this was still a fun collection, and I enjoyed how each author was able to take the same plot starting point and still pen a story completely different from any of the others. I personally enjoyed last year's Barbour cozy mystery novella collection release (Death By Food Truck) more than I did this one, but it was still a cute collection with a faith foundation and sweet romances that added to the story rather than taking away from it.

If you're a fan of cozy mysteries that are clean and heartwarming, then this collection may be something you want to go ahead and give a try.

Final Rating: 3/5.

Thanks so much to Barbour for allowing me to advance read and review this title!

I voluntarily read and reviewed a complimentary advance reader copy of this novel from the publisher (Barbour) via NetGalley. I was not required to give a positive review. All thoughts and opinions are my own, and this is my honest review.

Thanks so much for reading guys! Have a great rest of your day :)