VINYL RESTING PLACE - Olivia Blacke


 Juni Jessup and her two sister, Tansy and Maggie, have gone into business together in their hometown of Cedar River, Texas, opening a combination record store and coffee shop. Vinyl LPs are making a comeback after all, despite critics thinking the medium was dead. 

But speaking of 'dead' ... finding a dead body in the supply closet just as they are looking to have a grand opening is not part of the plan. 

Juni's life gets more complicated when their uncle, Calvin, already a suspect in the murder, disappears. And the police officer leading the investigation is Juni's EX-boyfriend (who passive-aggressively keeps putting himself back into her life).

Convinced that her uncle would never murder anyone, Juni sets out to prove his innocence - which isn't easy since he's making himself look guilty - because Calvin is family and family is EVERYthing to Juni.

As readers of my blog know, I'm not a big fan of most cozy mysteries, but the setting caught my eye and my interest and so I thought I'd give this a read.

This reads like ... well, like most cozy mysteries.  Meaning it's perfectly fine, there's nothing here that should offend a sensitive reader. Our main protagonist is a friendly, bouncy, people-person who doth protest too much about her 'ex' and for whom, solving the mystery comes relatively easily.

This was a quick read and generally enjoyable, but the two things that stood out were not positive moments.

First, I really didn't like that Juni's ex-boyfriend kept referring to her as "Junebug" ... after she asked him not to call her that. He seemed to think it was funny to keep calling her that when she asked him to stop.  At first I thought this was just setting him up to really be a jerk and would be the deciding factor in their split. But it continues and she takes it, which then spoke more to the weakness in her character. It wasn't fun, it wasn't cute, it was psychological abuse.

Then, remembering that this is both a record/music store and a coffee shop, the different blends of coffee drinks all have cute little music-themed names (such as "All The Single Lattes" and "Got My Mind Set on Brew" or "Friends in Mocha Places"). At first this was kind of cute, but as got further into the book these drink names felt more and more like the author trying to be clever rather than the Jessup sisters trying to sell drinks.

I typically find cozy mysteries to be lightweight reading. Good if you're looking for something fast and that doesn't take a lot of brain energy to read and this fits the bill.  Being in a record shop, I'd like to see records and/or music play more of a role in the story other than having coffee drinks names based on songs.  But I would read another in the series when the time comes.

Looking for a good book? Vinyl Resting Place is a cozy mystery by Olivia Blacke. It is slightly above average for a cozy mystery. Take it along with you to the beach or read it on your morning commute.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

3-1/2 stars

* * * * * *

Vinyl Resting Place

author: Olivia Blacke

series: Record Shop Mystery #1

publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks

ISBN: 9781250860088

paperback, 304 pages

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