A Murder at the Movies by Ellie Alexander - Book Review

Series: A Secret Bookcase Mystery #2

Publication Date: 19th June 2024 

Genre: Small Town Cozy Mystery 

3.5 Stars 

One Liner: Nice! 

Annie gets a call from a Hollywood director to organize a movie screening for a thriller after her Mystery Festival weekend becomes a grand success. They are all excited, of course, and agree. 

 However, Annie realizes that the Hwood (even a small fragment) entering the small town may not be a good idea. When a narcissistic film critic dies during the movie premiere, it is up to Annie to find out what happened and who the killer is. 

The story comes in Annie’s first-person POV. 

My Thoughts: 

The advantage of reading books 1 & 2 back-to-back is that I could skim through the stuff I already know. That said, new details from Annie’s past are revealed, so it is better to pay attention. 

In a way, this book isn’t different from the previous one. There’s an event, and the most rude and annoying person gets bumped off. Then, we have a list of suspects coz almost everyone hates them. 

Annie is more involved in the investigation this time. While some of it is not realistic, I’ve seen similar stuff in cozies, so I don’t mind it much. 

I forgot to mention Professor Plum, Annie’s cat in my review of book one. The cat doesn’t have any role except to be the MC’s pet. It’s the same in the book but it did feature a few more scenes. 

There’s a slow yet visible shift in the dynamic between our MC and the potential love interest. Irrespective of what happens, I like how it highlights the difference in perspectives and the communication gap between them. 

Priya’s range of coffees is great fun to read (even if ‘turmeric latte’ coming from an Indian like her makes me wince), and the way she names them is too good! 

Yet again, the sleuthing is conversation-based rather than action-based. While conversations reveal details, it gets too much here. I do appreciate the little action in the climax. Give us more and make it a little hard for the MC, please. On the plus side, I can read this even when half-asleep. It is that easy. 

There is a sort of cliffhanger (for the overarching mystery) in this one. We’ll know the details in the next one. The main mystery is complete, though. 

To summarize, A Murder at the Movies continues the series at the same tempo. It is an easy book to read and should work as a standalone (but read the first anyway). The title for the next book is mentioned at the end, so I’ll grab it when a copy is available. 

Thank you, NetGalley and Storm Publishing, for eARC. 

#NetGalley #AMurderattheMovies