Death on the Page: A Castle Bookshop Mystery

Death on the Page by Essie Lang is the second novel in A Castle Bookshop Mystery series. It can be a standalone if you have not read Trouble on the Books. Shelby Cox co-owns Bayside Books in Alexandria Bay, New York with her aunt, Edie Cox. They have an auxiliary location in Blye Castle on Blye Island which is one of the Thousand Islands. It is the 35th anniversary of their bookstore and Savannah Page has agreed to do a signing of her latest true crime novel. Savannah also got the board of directors of Blye Castle to allow her to stay at the castle over the weekend. The author plans on researching Joe Cabana, a prohibition mobster, whose murder was never solved. Shelby arrives to open the bookstore on Sunday to learn that Savannah is dead at the bottom of a staircase in a secret passage. Shelby is curious about the secret passages and the author's death, so she begins asking questions. There are a variety of suspects from the castle's caretaker to the author's fiancé. Shelby asks questions of people involved in the case despite being told by her aunt, boyfriend and Chief Stone to stop being a nosey parker. The mystery is straightforward, and readers will have no problem solving the whodunit before the solution is revealed. When Shelby is not sleuthing, she is working at the bookstore, visiting friends or her aunt, spending time with Zach Griffin (the Coast Guard agent she is dating), or indulging in coffee at Chocomania. I wish the story had contained more action. I found the pace to be on the slow side (for me). I would like to see Shelby become more mature especially with regards to her relationship with Zach. It would be nice is the author fleshed out the main characters (Erica, Matthew, Aunt Edie, Zach). I also wanted more sleuthing at the castle. I felt the author lost out on an opportunity to make this an intriguing mystery with Shelby sneaking around the castle and finding clues in the secret passages. The ending seemed abrupt and lacking in a solid conclusion to the mystery (I have questions). Those readers who prefer more cozy than mystery will enjoy reading Death on the Page. Death on the Page has secret stairs, chocolate coffee, pocketed objects, injured individuals, tricky thieves, and a cagey killer.