Book Review: Vinyl Resting Place
Author: Olivia Blacke
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Publish Date: December 27, 2022
Format: Paperback
★★★★☆
This book is perfect for those that like: Texas, Punny Coffee Drink Names, Shop Cats, and lots of Musical References
You might not like this book if you aren’t into: Texas References, Pranks Involving Glitter, or Cheating Storylines
The Book
First in a new series by Olivia Blacke, Vinyl Resting Place follows three sisters who discover that opening a family business can be murder.
When Juni Jessup and her sisters Tansy and Maggie put all their beans in one basket to open Sip & Spin Records, a record-slash-coffee shop in Cedar River, Texas, they knew there could be some scratches on the track, but no one was expecting to find a body deader than disco in the supply closet.
Family is everything to the Jessups, so when their uncle is arrested by Juni’s heartbreaking ex on suspicion of murder, the sisters don’t skip a beat putting Sip & Spin up for bail collateral. But their tune changes abruptly when Uncle Calvin disappears, leaving them in a grind. With their uncle’s freedom and the future of their small business on the line, it’s up to Juni and her sisters to get in the groove and figure out whodunit before the killer’s trail—and the coffee—goes cold.
Music and mocha seem like a blend that should be “Knockin' On Heaven's Door,” but caught up in a murder investigation with her family and their life savings on the line, Juni wonders if she might be on the "Highway to Hell" instead.
my thoughts
One thing about being Texan is this - we LOVE to tell people that we are from Texas. The only thing we love MORE than telling people we are Texan is finding OTHER Texans, especially when we’re outside of Texas, to talk All Thing Texas. Based on these two statements alone, you can only guess how I LUNGED at this book as it’s set IN TEXAS. And y’all, it was a BALM to this born and raised Texan (See?? We can’t help ourselves, lol) currently living in New England. So many references. So many places I recognized. So many, Texas-isms. It was like taking a little trip home. ::sigh::
But, let me stop here and actually tell you about this book, cause, believe me, I could go on and on about the Texas parts…
Vinyl Resting Place is the first in a new cozy mystery series, The Record Shop Mysteries, and centers around Juni Jessup and her two sisters, Maggie and Tansy. They’ve all thrown in their money together to open up what used to be their family’s business, a record shop, but of course, things don’t go as planned as the night of their grand opening party, they find a dead body. Now alongside selling records and brewing coffee, they now have to you know, solve a murder. NBD.
As I’ve said before about new cozies, the first book in a series has so much heavy lifting to do. We have to not only learn about our new sleuth but the town they find themselves in, any supporting characters that will inevitably pop up throughout the series, and who the confidantes/adversaries are, all while balanced against the backdrop of a mystery to solve. It’s a tough thing to balance, but I thought Vinyl Resting Place did it beautifully. I loved meeting these sisters and learning about their close-knit family, despite Juni, our lead, being gone for so long. The way they come together to support one another (and tease one another) throughout the book was everything I look for when it comes to sister storylines. There was enough mystery to keep me engaged and guessing throughout and there are also hints of a possible love triangle for our lead sleuth, Juni. EEP.
While there were a couple of Brain Snags (minor continuity errors that did not affect the outcome but still took me out of the story), they weren’t enough to make me not fall in love with this series and eager for the next one, A Fatal Groove, coming out July 2023.
about the Author
OLIVIA BLACKE (she/her), author of the Record Shop Mysteries, beginning with Vinyl Resting Place, and the Brooklyn Murder Mysteries (Killer Content and No Memes of Escape), finally found a way to put her criminology degree to good use by writing quirky, unconventional, character-driven cozy mysteries. Olivia is a little nerdy, a lot awkward, and just the right amount of weird. She is a recovering ex-Texan who resides with her husband, Potassium, and Baileycakes, their roly-poly rescue puggle. When not writing, reading, or spending way too much time on social media, Olivia enjoys amigurumi crochet, scuba diving, collecting tattoos, watching hockey, and baking dog cookies. She wants to be a unicorn when she grows up.