Bear Witness to Murder
A Teddy Bear Mystery #2
by Meg Macy
Genre: Cozy Mystery
“Cute and cuddly on the outside, murder and mayhem on the inside . . . Totally adorable.” —Duffy Brown on Bearly Departed
As autumn air settles into the quaint small town of Silver Hollow, there’s nothing more popular than Sasha’s teddy bears—and murder in cold blood . . .
Silver Bear Shop and Factory manager Sasha Silverman is cozying up to the fall season by hosting Silver Hollow’s Cranbeary Tea Party, the opening event of the village’s Oktobear Fest—a too-cute celebration themed around teddy bears. She barely has a moment to agonize over the return of her former high school rival, Holly Parker, whose new toy and bookstore in town could spell big trouble for the Silver Bear Shop and her cousin’s small bookstore . . .
But when Sasha discovers Holly’s shop assistant dead with a knife plunged in her body, the unpleasant woman suddenly looks like a real backstabber. So does Sasha’s ex-husband, rumored to have rekindled the fiery extramarital affair he once had with the victim. Now, before a gruesome homicide case takes the fun out of both the Fest and her personal life, Sasha must identify the true culprit from a daunting suspect list—or risk becoming as lifeless as one of her stuffed bears . . .
Praise For Bearly Departed
“You’ll fall in love with this delightful debut mystery.” —Victoria Thompson, bestselling author of Murder in Morningside Heights
“The first in a new series features a complex plot awash in red herrings, a perky heroine . . . and everything you ever wanted to know about teddy bears.”—Kirkus Reviews
“The appealing, impulsive amateur sleuth, dedicated to the family business, will appeal to fans of character-driven cozies.” —Library Journal
“Entertaining . . . inhabited by quirky, fully developed characters and good dogs and cats.” —Publishers Weekly
The second book in the Shamelessly Adorable Teddy Bear Mystery series is Bear Witness to Murder. Once again, an adorable book cover and another novel-length mystery. As with the first book, there are a lot of details in this book. And, as with the first book, I made notes that Sasha seriously needs to get over her ex-husband. She says she’s over him but her thoughts do not match, at least at the beginning of the book.
We’ve learned a lot of characters in this town and there are still more to learn. And, in this small town where murder is not common, another murder takes place. Even though Sasha once again discovers a dead body, she’s going to leave the detecting up to the police, supposedly.
I liked Sasha a little more in this book than in the last one. A lot of this book is spent on family dynamics, no different than the first book but I didn’t feel that it overshadowed the mystery. Even though Sasha claims she isn’t going to be hunting a murderer in this book, she’s a very gossipy character so we learn a lot of town gossip as she finds out more information on the murdered person. And a lot more about the town history. We also see Sasha pursued, kind of, by a man she went to school with. Her sister is pushing hard to make a relationship happen between them, while Sasha’s mom is pushing hard for Sasha to get back with her ex-husband. Again, as with the first story, it makes absolutely no sense why Sasha’s mom would be pushing so hard for a reconciliation with a man who never spends an evening alone. Maybe in a future book that oddness will be explained.
I was surprised by who the killer was, for the most part, though I’d never thought this person wasn’t the killer. And really, his actions that followed were understandable based on what we knew about Holly. I mean, let’s be real, how has no one killed her before? I thought the author did much better handling the murder this time. Even though there was so much going on in this book, the murder mystery wasn’t overwhelmed by those elements which let me enjoy it more.
If you’re a fan of murder mysteries, check out this series! The author is really building a creative world, and I love the background of Sasha’s family business. In this book, I really enjoyed the added details of the factory, their tours, their clothing, etc. Though there is still a lot of details and information in this book, it didn’t feel as overwhelming as the first book.
Rating: 4.5 stars
Bearly Departed
A Teddy Bear Mystery #1
“You’ll fall in love with this delightful debut mystery.” —Victoria Thompson, bestselling author of Murder in Morningside Heights
The Silver Bear Shop and Factory might be the cutest place around, but there’s nothing warm and fuzzy about murder . . .
As manager of the family teddy bear shop and factory, thirty-one-year-old Sasha Silverman leads a charmed life. Well, except for the part about being a single divorcée with a ticking biological clock in small-town Silver Hollow. And that’s just kid’s stuff compared to Will Taylor, the sales rep who’s set on making drastic changes to the business her parents built from scratch—with or without Sasha’s approval . . .
But before Will digs his claws in, someone pulls the stuffing out of his plan . . . and leaves his dead body inside the factory. Reeling from shock, Sasha’s hit with more bad news—police suspect her hot-tempered Uncle Ross may have murdered him. Sasha knows her uncle would never do such a thing, and she’s launching her own little investigation to expose the truth. As she tracks Will’s biggest rivals and enemies for clues, Sasha can’t get too comfy—or she’ll become the next plaything for a killer . . .
“A twisty mystery tale with a likable protagonist and a colorful supporting cast. Sure to be a very enjoyable series!”—Livia J. Washburn, bestselling author of Black and Blueberry Die
“Cute and cuddly on the outside, murder and mayhem on the inside—I love this book!!! Totally adorable.”—Duffy Brown, bestselling author of Braking for Bodies
**Copy provided to Bayou Book Junkie for my reading pleasure in hopes of an unbiased opinion, a review was not a requirement.**
Bearly Departed is the first book in the Shamelessly Adorable Teddy Bear Mystery series by Meg Macy. I had never heard of this author or series, but as a fan of mysteries, I was interested in reading it, especially once I saw the cover of this first book. I did expect a cozy mystery but it’s actually a novel-length mystery. If you’ve ever read my reviews before, you’ve heard me say that the first books in series can be difficult for me. I found it especially true in this one, and it really is my issue. When setting up a new series, there can just be so much information overload. The author provides a lot of details in the town she’s built, the businesses, the characters, their histories and interactions. It was just a lot all at once and really just overwhelmed the murder mystery.
For the most part, I liked the main character Sasha. What I didn’t like was the claiming to be over her ex-husband while continuing to think and talk about him. I just wanted to tell her to move on already. The storyline with Sasha’s parents was the strangest thing and made no sense to me, at all. It didn’t add to the story and pulled my focus away from the mystery because I was wondering about these characters.
In my opinion, the murder really wasn’t the focus of this book and that was disappointing. And, I knew who the murder victim would be within minutes of his introduction and who the killer would be. It was very straightforward, without twists and turns. I kept thinking that no way would I be right about that, but I was. Maybe the purpose of all the other storylines and information was to create the mystery around the killer.
This was a good start to a new series, but instead of having an info dump in the first book, it would have been more enjoyable to just learn about all these characters, businesses and histories organically as the series develops. There were many things I did not need to know in this book, which just overwhelmed the murder mystery. And in a murder mystery series, the murder should really be the focus.
If you like murder mysteries, you should give this book a chance! I think this series has the potential to be really enjoyable once you make it through the first book. Actually, since I’ve already read the second book (read on for that review), I know it gets better!
Rating: 3.5 stars
Meg Macy is an award-winning author and artist. Her first published book, Double Crossing, won the 2012 Spur Award for Best First Novel from Western Writers of America. Meg is also one-half of the writing team of D.E. Ireland, authors of the Eliza and Henry Higgins Mystery series—of which two titles have been Agatha Award finalists. Meg lives in Southeastern Michigan, the setting for her Shamelessly Adorable Teddy Bear mysteries.
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Cute cover, it sounds like a wonderful mystery.
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