Can't Judge a Book By Its Murder is the first book in the Main Street Book Club series by Amy Lillard. It is currently scheduled for release on October 29 2019.
As Sugar Springs gears up for its all-class high school reunion, Mississippi bookstore owner Arlo Stanley prepares to launch her largest event: a book-signing with the town’s legendary alum and bestselling author, Wally Harrison. That’s when Wally is discovered dead outside of Arlo’s front door and her best friend is questioned for the crime. When the elderly ladies of Arlo’s Friday Night Book Club start to investigate, Arlo has no choice but to follow behind to keep them out of trouble. Yet with Wally’s reputation, the suspect list only grows longer—his betrayed wife, his disgruntled assistant, even the local man who holds a grudge from a long-ago accident. Between running interference with the book club and otherwise keeping it all together, Arlo anxiously works to get Chloe out of jail. And amidst it all, her one-time boyfriend-turned-private-eye returns to town, just another distraction while she digs to uncover the truth around Wally’s death and just what Sugar Springs secret could have led to his murder.
Can't Judge a Book By Its Murder is a murder mystery that had a lot going on. Arlo joined the town community in high school, so knows all the major players but still feels a bit like an outsider. She has some serious history with the town, and is smart enough to understand what she does not know and who to ask for help.Her loyalty to Chloe and navigating of small town relationships was well done. Her book club group has just the right mixture of spunk and compassion to keep things on track, and interesting.I could have done just fine without the set of for possible future romantic interests for Arlo, but that was better handled that I feared when I saw it start develop. I did enjoy the complexity of the actual mystery- and how every time I thought I had it a new twist or idea would pop up and make me question myself a little more. There was an awful lot to unpack in Wally's personal life- and I feel like while we got to the bottom of the important parts there was likely even more in the author's headcanon about what he was up to when out of his wife's sight. I liked the secondary characters, and thought that the small town was well developed- maybe too well developed with the amount of other important information. I have to admit that I had trouble getting into this one, and after putting it down for things like cooking meals I had to remind myself to pick it up rather than being eager to. Part of this could be because of the amount of background information that was needed to start of a small town mystery series, and that did fade a bit as the story progressed, but not as much as I hoped.
Can't Judge a Book By Its Murder is a small town murder mystery with plenty of twists and turns. It kept me guessing through the entire read.
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