A Fatal Groove by Olivia Blacke Series: Record Shop Mystery #2
Published by St. Martin's Press on July 25, 2023
Genres: Mystery
Pages: 304
Format: Paperback
Goodreads
Also by this author: Killer Content, Vinyl Resting Place
Also in this series: Vinyl Resting Place
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
About A Fatal Groove
In A Fatal Groove, Juni and her sisters/co-owners of Sip & Spin are gearing up for the huge Bluebonnet Festival. Ready to put finding a body during their shop’s grand opening a month ago firmly behind them. Which is a great plan until Juni finds Mayor Bob’s body, with a cup of coffee Tansy made him. Now it’s time to find the real killer to save her sister and their business.
My thoughts about A Fatal Groove
I love Olivia Blacke’s ability to create such a vivid sense of place – Cedar River is a very small town outside of Austin, TX and she makes it come alive with descriptions of the bluebonnets and natural beauty. Cedar River is full of the expected cozy mystery quirky inhabitants – several of them related to Juni.
Sip & Spin, a coffee and record shop, sounds like perfection for coffee and music lovers. A Fatal Groove is full of musical shout-outs from the records in the store, the music they play at the Bluebonnet Festival, and Juni’s concert t-shirts. Plus the drinks all have fun, music related names like Don’t Worry, Be Frappe and Sweet Chai of Mine.
Juni and her sisters are fun and relatable – they can criticize each other but no one else, including the sexy town detective better come after one of them or the sisters will join forces in defense.
The story is fast-paced and fun, with a thread of environmental responsibility. You get two mysteries because Mayor Bob’s murder appears to be tied up in a decade’s old bank heist where the money’s never been recovered. While Bob’s murder has several suspects, I figured it out before the end of the book. I did love the resolution of the bank heist treasure – it was total perfection.
Along with the environmental responsibility, I appreciated the author’s descriptions including skin colors for everyone instead of defaulting to people being white unless otherwise stated. And she proved that the singular they can be used with no confusion to the reader.
In closing
A Fatal Groove is the perfect fun, fast-paced cozy with humor, music, coffee, a little romance, and an adorable cat.
Perfect for fans of Tara Lush, Mia P. Manansala, and Raquel Reyes.
Thank you, St. Martin’s Press for the ARC!
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