The Antique Store Detective and the May Day Murder by Clare Chase - Book Review

Series: Bella Winter Mystery #2 

Publication Date: 17th Jan 2025 

Genre: Cozy Mystery 

3.5 Stars 

One Liner: Nice enough! 

Hope Eaton, the cozy little town, is all geared up for May Day to climb the hill to Sweet Agnes’ Spring and watch the first days of sunlight bless their land. Bella Winters, the owner of the new antique store, joins the group and feels the effort was worth it. She also sees one of the residents, Mary Roberts bullied by a young man. Mary seems to take the legends seriously even if Bella thinks it is all nonsense. 

However, the threat is real when Mary is found dead in her home, the cottage she was ready to sell. A statue of Sweet Agnes is missing from her home. Bella decides to investigate since the police are too busy. There is no lack of suspects after all! Soon, Bella realizes there’s a lot she needs to find out before the clues lead her to the killer. 

The story comes in Bella’s third-person POV. 

My Thoughts: 

This is the second book in the series and can be read as a standalone but it might help to read the first one as well (there are too many characters to track). 

In some ways, the book is good. The mystery is twisted and has many threads. There are quite a few red herrings, too. The reveal and conclusion are solid. They make sense and bring everything together. 

However, what I loved in the first book was missing here. The FMC does run her shop, but we get very little detail about the antique pieces or sales. Moreover, she is more worried about the case than her livelihood. She may be her father’s daughter (her dad was a sergeant) but even she needs money to live and that wouldn’t come if she had to shut the store. A bit of balance would have helped. 

The slow pacing continues but I got better at reading the writing style. Still, I wish it was a bit lighter and flows faster. I like dark cozies but this is just heavy in text and not really dark. 

The side characters are a part of the series. John seems to be a little better. Matt has a bit more space in this one, and I hope we get to see him more. He does sound like an interesting guy, never mind the FMC’s judgmental tone whenever she thinks/ talks of him. 

I did enjoy the conversations with the DI. It is frustrating for the character but fun in a twisted way, especially since… no spoilers! 

To summarize, The Antique Store Detective and the May Day Murder is a slow-paced cozy mystery with many red herrings and twists. While I liked it enough, I can’t say I love it. That said, I’ll read the next book to see how things go. 

Thank you, NetGalley and Bookouture, for eARC. 

#NetGalley #TheAntiqueStoreDetectiveAndTheMayDayMurder