Today is Owen Hunter’s first day in the coastal city of Costa Buena, California. He’s the new owner of Rockafellers, a vintage record store struggling to find customers. Much of that is due to Headbangers, a competitor with a better product mix and an aggressive owner.

There is also a local do-gooder group who wants Owen to fall in line with their vision for a kinder, gentler Coast Buena.

None of that worries Owen, though, because he is determined to be the number one used-music store on the boardwalk—even if that means stepping on a few toes. But when a murder occurs shortly after his arrival, he’s identified as prime suspect number one.

Owen Hunter must clear his name fast because he can’t afford to have a bunch of nosy cops poking around.

For Owen is a man with a secret that he must protect at all costs. The U.S. government has invested a lot to keep him safe, but his enemies will stop at nothing to find him.

Do prosperity and happiness await Owen in this coastal community?

‘Cozy Up To Murder’ was a smile. It followed a similar pattern to the first book, ‘Cozy Up To Death’, but this time, instead of a crime-novel focused bookshop in Maine, WitSec has placed our hero, now going by the name Owen Hunter, as the owner/manager of an oldies record store on the boardwalk of a small coastal town in California. 

Reading this was like watching a ‘Murder She Wrote’ episode where Jessica Fletcher has been replaced by a very large, heavily tattooed man who used to be the enforcer for a motorcycle gang, and the nice people Jessica meets have been replaced by larger-than-life characters doing bizarre things. Hmm. Maybe it’s not THAT much like a ‘Murder She Wrote Episode’, but it made me smile in the same relaxed, I-know-what’s-coming-and-I-like-it way. 

I loved that, although Owen is trying to put his stone-cold-killer past behind him and become his best self, or at least a self that people smile at rather than look away from in fear, he just cannot stay out of trouble. On his first day in town, he gets into a fight. By his second day, he’s a murder suspect.

The murder mystery was mostly a catalyst for chaos, comedy and confrontation, but it was well enough thought through that I didn’t guess who the murderer was. 

The humour in this book appealed to me. The story was told with confidence and wit. The plot was fast-paced. The townspeople were even stranger than the main character. For me, that all added up to a lot of fun in a relatively short time. 

I’ll be back for the third book in the series, ‘Cozy Up To Blood’, the next time I need a book that I know will make me smile.