Quick Synopsis – The Old Juniper Bookstore is the scene for an unexpected mystery when a late night visitor confesses to a long-ago unsolved murder, then turns up dead by morning.

Madeline Brimley is still getting used to running The Old Juniper Bookstore in Enigma, Georgia. When she inherited it from her aunt, it came at an opportune time. Madeline’s acting career had slowed down to the point that it was exhibiting no signs of life so returning home to the small Georgia college town of Enigma actually sounded like a good idea. And, except for a murder, arson, and a long-dead body found in the front garden, it’s actually turned out well. But when an old man, claiming to be a distant relative named Trilby, shows up in the middle of the night, then confesses to an unremembered murder that happened in the Victorian house that is now The Old Juniper Bookstore, Madeline is…to put it mildly…poleaxed. Given the inclement weather and time of night, Madeline puts him up for the night, hoping to turn him over to the local police in the morning. A plan that goes wrong when, next morning, Trilby is found to have died overnight. And not of natural causes – he was poisoned. Now the bookstore is a crime scene and Madeline a possible suspect.

Now Madeline has both an old and a new mystery to solve if she is to clear her own name before she finds herself taking the fall for this unusual and unexpected death.

Song This Reminds Me Of – Crazy in Love by Beyonce

Publication Date – Dec. 1, 2026

Bookshop Link – Murder Unabridged by P. J Nelson

Content Notes – This is a murder mystery, so uh yeah there’s a murder. There is discussion of mental health, being forcibly put in an institution, homophobia, and stalking.

Rating – ⭐⭐⭐ out of 5

Review – Technically this is the third in the series, though you can probably read this without reading the others in the series, I would recommend reading at least the first book. Madeline inherited a bookshop in smalltown Georgia and somehow people keep dying! In this book she gets a mysterious late night guest who is murdered in her house/bookshop so of course she’s the main suspect. Though there is a weird plotline where the coroner hates Madeline.

This book had an interesting murder mystery. The mysterious guest who dies unravels more about Madeline’s family past. She starts to learn more about her family history. I kind of thought there would be more development there, but maybe the next book will focus more on that mystery. I don’t think all the books in this series need to focus on murders. A good mystery can be about Maddie’s family past. This book was fun to read, but I did find the main mystery pretty predictable. Once we’re introduced to the side characters it becomes a little easy to see where the story is going to go. Though there are some fun backstory reveals.

I also didn’t like the romance subplot. I think hot fireman Jordan should have a bigger chance. It seems like Maddie’s “boyfriend” has barely been around and he’s like a real nothing burger character. I will read the next story because I think these are fun beach reads, but they’re not my favorite mystery books.

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the advanced review copy, all opinions are my own.