Thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review

Goodreads: To Kill A Mocking Girl (A Bookbinding Mystery #1)
Publish date: 12 May 2020
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
Genre: Cosy Mystery

Panda Rating:

Bookbinder Quinn finds herself in trouble when her ex’s fiance turns up dead and if she’s not careful, her days might be numbered in this debut perfect for fans of Kate Carlisle and Eva Gates.

Quinn Victoria Caine is back in her quirky town of Vienna, Virginia, starting her new life as a bookbinder in her family-owned, charm-for-days bookshop, Prose & Scones. With her trusty German Shephard RBG-‘Ruff Barker’ Ginsburg by her side, what can go wrong? Okay, sure, bumping into her ex, Scott, or her former high school nemesis, Tricia, is a drag. It certainly doesn’t help they have acquired the new hobby of shoving their recent engagement in her face every chance they get. But that doesn’t mean Quinn wanted to find Tricia dead in the road. So why does half the town think she may have done it?

Quinn is determined to find Tricia’s killer, even if it means partnering with her cousin-turned-nun, Sister Daria, and Detective Aiden Harrington, her older brother’s too-movie-star-handsome-for-his-own good, best friend. They believe she’s innocent, but of course that doesn’t influence the police, who peg her as their prime suspect. Or, at least until she’s poisoned.

But there is no way Quinn is going to stop now. Vienna is her town and-for better or worse-Tricia was one of their own. Someone may have killed the mocking girl, but no one’s going to stop the notorious QVC.

This is my first cozy mystery and I’m wondering why I’ve never read one of these before because what didn’t I like about it?! Right now I’m coming up blank because I enjoyed every single moment of this fast-paced murder mystery set in the small close-knit community of Vienna, Virginia. I can’t believe this is Kincaid’s first cosy mystery because she had me reeled in from the first page! Is it too early to be chanting for more when this book hasn’t even been published yet?

We’ve got a small town community that quickly feels like home. We’ve got fierce and adorable doggos with awesome names! We’ve got a quirky and lovable family that owns and runs the bookstore in town. We’ve got terribly awesome dad-jokes and wonderful familial relationships that are absolute goals. We’ve also got some brewing romances that don’t take center stage but are present enough for you to feel really invested in. There were also bookish references liberally sprinkled throughout the story and I was here for it! I mean, it’s literally everything that I want in a book and I didn’t want to put this down for a second.

The story is told through Quinn’s perspective and I loved her character. Having lived overseas for several years, she’s finally returned home to set down roots with her new dog baby, Ruff Barker Ginsburg (can we pause for a second to appreciate the awesomeness of the name?)! Quinn is a quirky, lovable and intellectual bookworm that has an encyclopaedic knowledge of random facts. She teams up closely with her best friend and cousin, Sister Daria (a novitiate nun) and together they are quite a force to reckon with! Honestly though, I fell in love with all the characters in this book. They were all so well-rounded and fleshed out that it wasn’t hard to feel as if I’d known them forever as well. Aiden was a swoon-worthy “hero” and I really wanted to see more of him! Quinn’s parents and brother, Bash, were also really lovable and adorable characters! The banter between all of them was perfection–talk about a nerdy family in the best possible way! So many bookish and movie references that were so brilliantly thrown in and I kept wanting more of them.

The murder mystery itself was also light and kept me on my toes until the very end. I was so close to guessing the right killer but in the end I was proven wrong–and looking back now, it should’ve been really obvious who the killer was! LOL

Clearly, I really enjoyed this book and I could go on gushing about it because I did not expect to genuinely enjoy the story as much as I did. The characters and their interactions were what really made this for me. It was a well-written mystery that had plenty of enjoyable elements to it, and in my opinion, was a great introduction to this sub-genre. I loved this town, community and family and I can’t wait to continue reading this “Bookbinding Mystery” series!

Have you read To Kill A Mocking Girl or is it on your TBR?
What’s your favourite cosy mystery?