Overview.

This is book 9 in the Camilla Randall series, although it can be read as a standalone. The story keeps you guessing until the final reveal.

It would make a great beach read.

Blurb

When Camilla Randall allows a neighboring business to hold a “Moth Hour” storytelling event in the courtyard of her beachy California bookstore, she finds an inconvenient corpse left in the audience after the event. The deceased, a storyteller famous for his appearances on NPR, turns out to have a shady past – and a lot of enemies. Unfortunately, Camilla’s boyfriend Ronzo is one of them. When it turns out the famous storyteller has been murdered, Ronzo becomes a “person of interest,” and goes into hiding.

It’s up to Camilla – and her cat Buckingham – to find out which of the quirky storytellers who attended the Moth event is the real killer. Each of their stories contains a clue to the mystery. It seems one of the storytellers is in possession of some stolen diamonds, and another, who first appears to be a helpful friend, is anything but.

Meanwhile Ronzo goes incommunicado, the bodies pile up, and a series of mysterious catastrophes makes Camilla fear she’s losing her mind. Then, with the help of her drag queen friend Marva, Camilla has to save her best friends from the murderer before it’s too late.

Story.

There was going to be a story-telling at the cafe close to Camilla’s bookstore, but unfortunately, they had a problem and Camilla allowed it to be held in the courtyard of her bookshop.

A celebrity, Boyd Ferrell, arrives for the story-telling, and afterwards is found dead.

It appears that the man had a shady background with some unpleasant events. Several people at the event have cause to hate him, but who actually did the deed?

Unfortunately, Camilla;’s boyfriend, Ronzo, a musician is one of them, and the police show an interest in him.

Then two more bodies appear. But Ronzo isn’t there. He went away on business with an old buddy, but goes incommunicado. Why? What is the reason for not communicating with Camilla?

Which of the suspects actually is the killer? And how did they manage to effect the murder in a crowded space?

Then there are a series of bizarre incidents that make Camilla question her own sanity.

Characters.

There are many characters in this book, and I can’t detail them all. They are an interesting bunch.

Camilla, of course, is the main one. She is interesting, and has anxieties about how this could have happened as a result of her kindness in allowing the event to happen at her place. This is compounded by the fact that she’s alone, with Ronzo gone. A killer is on the loose.

Alice is a somewhat bonkers woman who uses Camilla’s storeroom to do tarot readings. She does some unasked for ones for Camilla, that all seem to turn out to be bad. 

There is a New Age woman who wants Camilla to stock crystals, who seems nearly as bonkers as Alice. 

Dan, the Library Friend, as designated on his tee-shirt, seems a likeable person, and helpful. He knows a lot. Too much?

Felicity comes to help Camilla in the shop as, without Ronzo’s help, she’s finding it all a bit much. But Felicity isn’t a lot of help as she keeps putting books on the wrong shelves.

I enjoyed all the different characters. They were a varied lot, and any one of them could have been the murderer.

Writing

Ms Allen has written an intriguing book. It kept me guessing until the end. First I thought it was one person, then I thought it couldn’t be them, it must be another. There were several people with a motive. It kept me reading as I wanted to know as much as possible and to see if I could guess the murderer. She builds up the tension expertly.

There were no typos or grammatical errors I can remember.

I give it 4*

 My ranking of books. In order to get a particular number of stars, it is not necessary to meet all the criteria. This is a guide only.

5* Exceptional. Wonderful story. Setting well drawn, and characters believable–not perfect, but with flaws. Will keep you up all night. No typos or grammatical errors.

4* A thoroughly enjoyable read. Great and original story. Believable setting and characters. Very few grammatical errors or typos.

3* I enjoyed it. Good story. Characters need some development. Some typos or grammatical errors.

2* Not for me. Story not very strong. Unbelievable and flat characters. Setting not clearly defined. Many typos or grammatical errors.

1* I hated it. Story almost non-existent. Setting poor. Possibly couldn’t finish it.

Have you read any of Anne R. Allen’s books? Who is your favourite mystery author? Let us know in the comments.