Booked for Murder by P. J. Nelson

Booked for Murder

An Old Juniper Bookshop Mystery

P. J. Nelson

Minotaur · Print & ebook · December 2, 2025

Lilian Jackson Braun Award finalist, Indie Next pick, Library Reads pick, SIBA Read This Next! selection -Madeline Brimley returns to the small town Georgia bookstore she inherited, discovering that small towns hold deadly secrets.

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Genres
Cozy Bookshop Mysteries, Women Detectives, Amateur Sleuths
Published
Minotaur, December 2, 2025
Readers
6,239 ratings on Goodreads

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For younger readers: All These Bodies, Death at Morning House

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About this book

Lilian Jackson Braun Award finalist, Indie Next pick, Library Reads pick, SIBA Read This Next! selection -Madeline Brimley returns to the small town Georgia bookstore she inherited, discovering that small towns hold deadly secrets. Madeline Brimley left small town Georgia many years ago to go to college and pursue her dreams on the stage. Her dramatic escapades are many but success has eluded her, leaving her at loose ends.

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But then she gets word that not only has her beloved, eccentric Aunt Rose passed, but she's left Madeline her equally eccentric bookstore housed in an old Victorian mansion in the small college town of Enigma. But when she arrives in her beat-up Fiat to claim The Old Juniper Bookstop, and restart her life, Madeline is faced with unexpected challenges. The gazebo in the back yard is set ablaze and a late night caller threatens to burn the whole store down if she doesn't leave immediately. But Madeline Brimley, not one to be intimidated, ignores the threats and soldiers on. Until there's another fire and a murder in the store itself. Now with a cloud of suspicion falling over her, it's up to Madeline to untangle the skein of secrets and find the killer before she herself is the next victim.

Bookish Comfort

Come here for

  • bookshop atmosphere, book-club energy
  • cozy mystery with culinary edges

Expect

  • genre comfort, not grit
  • a sustained, easy-going read

Where it sits

Cozy Bookshop Mysteries99%
Amateur Sleuths43%
Women Detectives42%

Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.

Publisher categories

  • Amateur Sleuths
  • Cozy Bookshop Mysteries
  • Small-Town Fiction
Authors
P. J. Nelson
Publisher
Minotaur
Published
December 2, 2025
Format
Print & ebook
Reading lane
Amateur Sleuths