Review & Giveaway: Mind Over Murder by Allison Kingsley

Paperback, 272 pages

Expected publication: September 6th 2011 by Berkley

ISBN042524377X (ISBN13: 9780425243770

In the little town of Finn's Harbor, Maine, Stephanie Quinn Dowd's new bookstore, the Raven's Nest, is doing quite well; so well in fact that she needs additional store help. She begs her cousin Clara to come and work for her even though Clara has no retail experience. What she does have is a degree in literature and the "Quinn Sense":  the inherited ability to see into the future and to read minds; two skills that will come in handy very soon.

At this point in her life, Clara is not too keen on magic or spiritualism but Stephanie's book store is a little heavy on the occult; a fact that annoys Ana Jordan to no end. Ana owns the store next to Raven's Nest and feels it should not sell any books that would poison the minds of the town's youth. She thinks that type of book will turn kids into demons and  wants to see the bookstore shut down for good!

Unfortunately Molly, Stephanie's other employee, has a run-in with Ana about this very issue. Molly foolishly makes some threatening statements to Ana about minding her own business. . . or else. The first day Clara shows up for work is a doozy. She finds Ana in the store's stockroom lying on the floor in a pool of blood amid shattered pieces of Edgar Allen Poe's bust, a statue Molly had made for the store's window display.

Who would want to murder Ana in such a brutal way and how on earth did she get into the stockroom to begin with? Okay, so over the years Ana with her nasty ways has annoyed a lot of people but enough to do this? However it happened, it doesn't take a psychic to see this won't bode well for Raven's Nest, it's owner or it's employees.

What a great way to start a new series! By page 16, the reader has met the main characters, got a good feel for the little town of Finn's Harbor and seen the victim discovered murdered in a dramatic fashion.

Seriously, a cozy set in Maine in a book store? Doesn't get any better than that! I hope Kingsley has a lot more mayhem in store for us cozy fans. With a lot of new cozy series introduced this year, this one will turn out to be on my list of faves.  4****

Disclosure: A review copy of the book was provided by Berkley in exchange for my honest opinion.

To celebrate the release of Mind Over Murder, Berkley is allowing me to host a giveaway for one copy of the book. Open to US only and the deadline to enter is September 12th at 5 PM (est).   Please be sure to leave an e mail address in your comment. Bonus entries available for this contest are as follows:

+1 for posting on your facebook page with link to giveaway
+2 for being a follower, old or new. Just remind me how you follow and under what name.
+3 for blogging (sidebar is fine) or tweeting about the giveaway. Leave me a link, please. 

Good luck!