A Killer Plot

Because I love the different mystery series I usually buy the complete series. I thought 8 would be OK. The first book was not so great but I had seven more to go. You would not imagine that after 8 books the disturbing ending! This was such a shock and disappointment I couldn't sleep. I wrote reviews in my head (I'm sure that some could not be printed). Actually none of the 8 were very interesting. I think I will buy only one at a time from now on. I will certainly not try any of this authors again.

Like the lighthouse , Ellery Adams is a beacon of light, but on the cozy mystery scene. This series debut has a plot that is deeply intriguing and full of surprises. The characters are so well developed that I took my time reading the book so I could get to really know them. Watching Olivia as the book progresses is comparable to watching a bud turn into a flower. Her other characters are just as delightful, including Olivia's pet/best friend, Captain Haviland. Ms. Adams refers to two of her male characters as "preferring pastels", which delighted me as I had two friends years ago who were just like them and they were very near and dear to me. The Killer Plot is not just a cozy mystery, it is a literary work of art. Ms. Adams use of dynamic imagery makes this a book that you can literally read with all of your senses and I savored every page.

A plot synopsis is unnecessary but what is necessary is to say how enjoyable I found this new series. This is a mystery you can sink your teeth into and debate long and hard over 'whodunit'. I could not put this book down and stayed up late to finish it. Ellery Adams pulls no punches with her characters. If some are annoying at first, well you just have to get to know them just like real life. If she kills off a character you're enjoying, well, life's not fair. But this book is truly absorbing and it satisfies on many levels. I identified greatly with the main character. You may not but you will respect her and come to appreciate her. She's a smart lady with a good heart.This is not a fluffy cozy (Not that there's anything wrong with those books. I enjoy them too). You will feel things, this book will affect you. But you will be glad it did. I can't wait for the next in this series.

Welcome to Oyster Bay, North Carolina where the living is easy and murder is on the mind. Olivia Limoges has returned to the hometown she left as a young girl. She is rich, stunning, suffering from a case of writers block and still a mystery to the locals, and often keeping only the company of her loyal poodle Captain Haviland. She also owns the local five star restaurant and has invested a lot in local properties, becoming landlord to many of the businesses around her. While having breakfast at the local diner she overhears some people talking "book stuff." Dixie, her friend and waitress explains that they are a group called the Bayside Book Writers and encourages her to join. She hesitates until she speaks with Camden Ford, the apparent leader of the group. She finds him witty, charming and impossible to refuse. Olivia decides that she is going to fix up the lighthouse cottage on her property for their meetings. It looks like things are improving for Olivia, particularly in the friend department, until people start showing up dead. When one of her new friends winds up dead, with of all things a Haiku poem left next to the body, Olivia and her writer friends know they will do whatever they can to find out who is responsible for the murder. But can they figure it out before more bodies start to fall? Do the murders have to do with the gossip book one of their group members is writing about a well know family, the desire to push through a new housing development no matter what the cost, or something else no one could have possibly anticipated? A Killer Plot is a fantastic start to a new series. The characters are fun, fresh and a bit on the eccentric side. There is Dixie, the roller skating dwarf waitress, Harris the computer geek who suffers from a serious case of Rosacea, and Millay the bartender, who likes to show up with her hair a different color each time they meet. These are just a few of the fun people you will meet in this charming first book of the Books By The Bay Mystery series. The characters are believable and the author gives the reader great insight into the world of a writer. With new friendships, possible romance(s) and promises of great things to come, A Killer Plot is one book you don't want to be caught dead missing.

Olivia Limoges (with her sidekick Captain Haviland, a black standard poodle) takes this almost "cozy" mystery to intriguing depths of character. Author Ellery Adams brings to the debut of this series a skill set honed under other pen names, and like Olivia, Adams hints at the way both an author and a sleuth must dig more deeply into their hearts and minds in order to discover a strong narrative.

This shoreline mystery is definitely a great beach read--others have recapped the plot, so I'll just say it's fun, it's fresh, the characters are real people (not cardboard cutouts bound to the plot and nothing else) and the dialogue rings true. This is a terrific debut, and it promises much, much more to come! We want more Olivia!