Murder at the Palace by Margaret Dumas is the first book in the NEW “Movie Palace” cozy mystery series, coming February 12, 2019.

Welcome to the Palace movie theater! Now Showing: Philandering husbands, ghostly sidekicks, and a murder or two.

When Nora Paige’s movie-star husband leaves her for his latest co-star, she flees Hollywood to take refuge in San Francisco at the Palace, a historic movie theater that shows the classic films she loves. There she finds a band of misfit film buffs who care about movies (almost) as much as she does.

She also finds some shady financial dealings and the body of a murdered stranger.

Oh, and then there’s Trixie, the lively ghost of a 1930’s usherette who appears only to Nora and has a lot to catch up on. With the help of her new ghostly friend, can Nora catch the killer before there’s another murder at the Palace?

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What a fun time I had reminiscing on the old movie classics mentioned in this book that pays homage to the silver screen. We meet Nora who arrives in San Francisco to get away from things back home. She’s the new manager of an old movie theater when she finds a dead body in an ice machine. With the death of the old manager, that’s two recent death and suddenly it feels like there is a connection and that’s when the fun begins for this reader.

This story immediately grabbed my attention as I became immersed in all that was happening, quickly becoming a page turner as I could not put this book down. The author did a good job in presenting this whodunit with a comfortable tone and a pacing that set the ambiance of how well this story was being told, bringing back an era where movies were golden. The mystery was nicely done and I liked how the author played the characters off one-another to keep me guessing. There was only a couple of choice suspects, but it was following the evidence along with a few movie hints and the surprises that were exposed that enhanced my reading pleasure.

And Trixie. . . oh my goodness, I love her and her first encounter when Nora wouldn’t believe her, was a hoot — that scene had me laughing on the subway. There was enough zaniness interspersed that kept me engaged throughout and I like how everything fell into place for Nora and her friends and that ending. . . boy, I’m excited for the next book in this delightful entertaining debut series.

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