Sandra (mycatscanread) - reviewed on 8/3/2013 + 174 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 1

Denise Swanson has branched out into another cozy subgenre with the first book in a new series debut called "Little Shop of Homicide (A Devereaux's Dime Store Mystery, Book 1)." I like her Scumble River series, but this is a fresh new series that I like just as well.

Devereaux Sinclair is a near-thirty woman who has bought the five and dime store that has been in her hometown for years, and two aged sisters owned it and sold it to her to keep the tradition of the store going. Dev is in her store making up gift baskets one morning, which she has added to the store's services, when a strange man enters the store rather aggressively and he turns out to be a detective. It seems that Dev'd old boyfriend's fiancee has been killed with some things from a gift basket that Dev make up for her and Joelle picked up at Dev's store. This detective is anxious to pin the murder on Devereaux.

Dev calls her two best friends to help her investigate the murder, and in the meantime just about the hottest deputy U.S. Marshal returns home to help his uncle with his farm and to recuperate from an on-the-job injury. He and Dev seem to have some chemistry, so Jake del Vecchio helps Dev to find the killer along with some cheerleading from Dev's grandma with whom she lives.

I found this book hard to put down and didn't guess the killer until the very end. There is humor in the book as well as some tight spots that Dev gets herself into in the process of investigating. I really like Dev, her friends and Jake, his uncle and Dev's grandmother.


If you like a good cozy and remember the days of the five and ten cent stores with soda fountains and milkshakes, book racks and lots of candy in a glass case, then you should enjoy this book. The second book in the series, "Nickled and Dimed to Death" is already out.

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