Review and Giveaway: Lethal Letters

Lethal Letters (Books By the Bay Mystery - Book 6) by Ellery Adams

Publication Date: 11/04/2014
Publisher: Penguin Group
Imprint: Berkley Prime Crime
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Pages: 304
ISBN-10: 0425270831
ISBN-13: 978-0425270837

(Received for an honest review from Berkley Prime Crime)

Purchase: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, Indiebound

Ellery Adams on the WEB: website, blog, twitter, facebook, goodreads

Books in the series: 

Books By the Bay Mysteries

1. A Killer Plot
2. A Deadly Cliche
3. The Last Word
4. Written in Stone
5. Poisoned Prose
6. Lethal Letters

Coverart: Click the Image for a larger, clearer view of the covers in this series.

Excerpt from, Lethal Letters, courtesy of Amazon's Look Inside feature.

Synopsis:

Restaurant owner and aspiring novelist Olivia Limoges is busy planning a delicious menu for Oyster Bay’s biggest soiree of the spring. But she’ll need to serve some justice as well after one resident gets eighty-sixed…
 
Everyone’s got their hands full in Oyster Bay, North Carolina. Aside from two upcoming weddings, there’s also the historical society’s annual fund-raiser: the Secret Garden Party and Candlelit Ball. Adding to the excitement, Olivia witnesses the discovery of a time capsule in the foundation of a local church. The historical society president hopes to display its contents at their party, but when the items are finally revealed to the public, Olivia notices one of them has vanished.
 
After a frightening find beneath the pier—the body of Ruthie Holcomb—Olivia is certain there’s a connection between the young woman’s death and the missing piece from the time capsule. With the help of her fellow Bayside Book Writers, Olivia sets out to uncover some clues and ensure a killer has no reason to celebrate…

Thoughts:

Ellery Adams fans will be thrilled with the latest Books by the Bay novel, Lethal Letters. The fun and murder center around a 100 year old time capsule found in the walls of a church. This book is a great blend of history and mystery and Adams does a fantastic job with both attention to detail and character development. Readers looking for a story that bring with it a bit of nostalgia and a good whodunit will love this one.

What I liked:

This is one of those series' that has kind of been hit or miss for me. Olivia is a very good heroine but she has been a bit hard to get to know. I feel like Adams has done a great job of showing her changes and growth and has softened her somewhat from the onset of the series. In Lethal Letters she is preparing for her upcoming nuptials with Rawlings, as well as, helping Michel with his wedding. She has become a lot easier to relate to and has really come full circle in many ways. I like her much better now and we get to see a lot of her personal life in this one, which was nice.

As always, Oyster Bay is such a wonderful setting. The coast of North Carolina has always fascinated me. There are so many small coastal towns that have a certain air about them, an atmosphere that is unmistakable and Adams is great about bringing that through in her writing. The people that live in this area are a different breed and the things they get involved in and the things that happen around them are not always predictable. I love that about this series. 

The time capsule was a great part of this book. I thought that was an ingenious idea for the theme of the book. I have always thought it would be a lot of fun to be involved in something like this. A way to leave a piece of the past behind for the next generation. Using the time capsule as a the catalyst for murder worked well in this book. The capsule contained a lot more than just memories from the past apparently and it ends up getting someone killed. Secrets, secrets and more secrets. The mystery was so much fun to unravel in this one. 

Bottom Line:

There is a lot more than just a mystery to solve in this one, as everyday life in Oyster Bay is quite busy. With two weddings in the offing and the Historical Society fundraiser. It all added together to give this book a great blend of the past and the present and Adams did a fantastic job of bringing it all to life. Loved the time capsule idea and thought it really gave this book a nice theme.

Lethal Letter is available NOW from your favorite bookseller.

I'm giving this one 5 out of 5 apples from my book bag!

About the Author:

New York Times bestselling author Ellery Adams grew up on a beach near the Long Island Sound. She is the author of the Books by the Bay Mysteries, the Charmed Pie Shoppe Mysteries, and the Book Retreat Mysteries. Having spent her adult life in a series of landlocked towns, she cherishes her memories of open water, violent storms, and the smell of the sea. Ms. Adams has held many jobs, including caterer, retail clerk, car salesperson, teacher, tutor, and tech writer, all the while penning poems, children’s books, and novels. She now writes full time from her home in Virginia.

Giveaway Details:

The publisher is sponsoring a giveaway for one copy of Lethal Letters by Ellery Adams.

~ You must be an email subscriber to participate.
~ US addresses only.
~ The deadline to enter this giveaway is Midnight EST, December 4th.

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