Vinyl Resting Place by Olivia Blacke

Series Name: Record Shop Mystery #1
Genre: Cozy
Release: December 27, 2022

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.

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Dru’s Short Musing:
We meet three sisters who re-establishes their grandparents record shop with a bit of upgrade that now includes a coffee shop, when on the grand re-opening, one of the sisters discovers a body and they must solve this crime, or a family member will be sent up the river.

This was a fast-paced and well-written drama that I could not put down, quickly becoming a page turner as I had to know why this young woman was murdered and placed in the record shop. The author did a great job setting this up with a bevy of suspects and clues there and there, with just enough tease to keep me in the game. There were a few red herrings that would point to a few with some surprises that enhanced my reading pleasure. I liked how the sister came together to sift through the clues, making it believable in what they wanted to accomplish. The secondary characters had pivotal roles and it was their action that would lead to the revelation of the killer’s identity and the motive. Good job in keeping me in suspense throughout most of the book, especially when I had that “aha” moment and knew who the killer was and enjoyed watching it all play out to the end.

FTC Full Disclosure – I received a digital ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.