The Secret, Book & Scone Society by Ellery Adams

The Secret, Book & Scone Society by Ellery Adams
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Miracle Springs, North Carolina is a small town that is known to be a place of healing. Not only is there a natural hot springs and renowned spa available but many of the shopkeepers in town have their own signature way of healing visitors. Nora Pennington is one of those shopkeepers being the owner of Miracle Books where she considers herself a bit of a bibliotherapist being able to talk with a customer and since which book would help them with their own problems.

When Nora meets a man that seems to be a bit troubled she senses that he could really use a bit of her brand of therapy but first she insists he go over to the Gingerbread House bakery and order one of the comfort scones made by the bakery’s owner who also bakes a personal scone after hearing someone’s story. But after getting his scone and before returning to the book store that same man ends up in front of the incoming train in what appears to be a suicide.

Nora immediately questions the death, sure she didn’t know the man well or hardly at all really but in the moments she’d talked with him she saw a bit of hope in his eyes and knew that there was more to this story than suicide. Gathering with her fellow lady shopkeepers they form the Secret, Book, and Scone Society and dive right into finding out more about the death and the secrets of their small town.

The Secret, Book, and Scone Society by Ellery Adams is the first book in the new cozy Miracle Springs, North Carolina mystery series. Picking this one up it becomes immediately apparent that Ms. Adams had to be an avid reader herself since the main character in the story is a book store owner and the book is full of literary quotes and references to many different types of titles all fitting certain situations. As a book lover myself this was a major positive that had me enjoying this one right away.

Also, the theme of a town dedicated to healing was also quite apparent as you get to know the ladies in the story. All of them have their own past that they are trying to overcome and share their secrets to each other during the book making this one quite the touching and emotional story. Each have such a different background to the story but it easily apparent why they are drawn to one another.

As for the mystery side of this cozy I found that it wasn’t quite as twisty that I was necessarily guessing all throughout. But with that being said the setting and characters certainly carry this book enough to make it quite a good one as I awaited the details to the conclusion of the story and just how everything had come about. Definitely a solid start to this series overall and would be interested in seeing how it continued now that we know the story behind these characters.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.