A Body at the Book Fair is Book 6 (and the final book) in the Secret Bookcase mystery series by Ellie Alexander featuring bookshop employee and almost-licensed private detective Annie Murray.
Title: A Body at the Book Fair
Author: Ellie Alexander
Series: Secret Bookcase Mystery book 6
First Published: June 2, 2025
Publisher: Storm Publishing
Genres: mystery
Acquired: from the publisher via Netgalley
*** Thank you to the publisher, Storm Publishing for providing me with an ebook via Netgalley for review purposes. ***
Life is good for Annie Murray: she’s found healing at the Secret Bookcase, her beloved Agatha Christie-themed mystery bookstore in the cozy town of Redwood Grove, and is on the brink of launching her very own detective agency. But she’s still haunted by one unsolved case: the murder of her best friend Scarlet ten years ago.
When Annie heads to Santa Clara for their annual book fair, she’s looking forward to meeting fellow booklovers. And she’s also got a secret mission: she’ll be close to Silicon Summit Partners, the powerful investment firm she just knows had a hand in Scarlet’s death. But when an industry colleague is murdered at the book fair, Annie is first on the scene to investigate. The suspect list reads like a book lover’s who’s who: a celebrity author with a suspicious agenda, a rival with a grudge, and even a kindly grandmother pursuing her lifelong dream of owning a bookstore.
With her fellow bookseller and crime-fighting partner Fletcher playing Watson to her Holmes, can Annie catch the killer before they strike again? And will it distract her from her mission to finally bring her best friend Scarlet’s murderer to justice?
A gripping adventure with Annie and her friends
As a huge fan of Ellie Alexander’s other mystery series I was beyond excited when the Secret Bookcase series launched & I absolutely breezed through all the books – they’re incredible page turners! So I was both excited and sad to learn that this was the FINAL instalment in the series.
Over the course of six books, we have come to know Annie and her circle of friends so well. They are wonderful characters and I love how distinct their personalities are. This is exactly why I love reading cozy mysteries – the towns and people become so familiar and each new book is like hanging out with friends.
Redwood Grove is no exception. It’s a warm place with interesting shops and businesses, including Annie’s place of work – an Agatha Christie-themed bookshop (how perfect is that). But alongside her responsibilities as bookseller and event planner, we watch Annie work towards her goal of becoming a licensed private detective and opening her own agency with her coworker, Fletcher.
In fact, I love that all of Annie’s friends are not just supportive, but actively part of, Annie’s detecting skills. They know that what she does can be dangerous, but they’re behind her and will do whatever it takes to help her and keep her safe. It’s very rare that the “amateur” detective graduates to a full detective in cozy mysteries and I really liked that aspect of this series.
A perfect ending and the start of something new?
I love the description and feel of the book fair in this book – it felt realistic and an event that I would want to attend and the murder and subsequent chase felt urgent without being rushed. It also didn’t feel like a “side-story” when you consider that the Scarlet-storyline that has been going since Book 1 was the main driver of the action.
Of all the books in the Secret Bookcase series, this one was definitely the most high adrenaline and it was exciting enough to keep me turning the pages. While each book in this series reads fine as a stand-alone, the over-arching Scarlet-plot means it’s much better to read these books in order.
I admit to being a bit upset when I heard that this would be the last of the Secret Bookcase books but then I little while later I found out that we haven’t seen the last of Annie Murray and her friends! They will all be back in the new Novel Detectives mysteries launching in 2026. I’m so excited we get more of these characters and can’t wait to see how things change as things move forward!
