#Papercraft and murder!! Book review: Last Pen Standing by Vivian Conroy. Stationary Shop Mystery 1

Can you imagine how delighted I was to be approached by an Author who not only really looked at my blog and reading preferences, but also had written a book containing my love of crime stories and papercraft!!! I didn’t think such a book existed. But this is the first in a series! 😁

Description

Will this paper trail run cold?

As the new co-owner of Tundish Montana’s stationery shop WANTED, Delta Douglas knows how to organize a killer crafting event. Creativity and cardstock are all she needs to move one step closer to her ultimate dream: developing her own line of crafting products. But on the night of the workshop, at the swanky hotel venue, glitter isn’t the only thing found sprawled on the floor. A hotel guest is discovered dead in the bar, and amid the confusion, Delta’s best friend is suspected of the crime.

Enlisting the help of her Paper Posse and Spud, her canine sidekick, Delta dives into the investigation. But with many high-powered suspects on the line, Delta soon realizes her sleuthing may come with deadly consequences.

Publication date: September 24th 2019 by Poisoned Pen Press

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Thoughts:

I was excited to start this book with it being a cosy mystery based around a crafter who owns her own craft shop. Delta has moved to Montana away from her beloved Gran to start a new business venture which includes papercrafting 💖

Within a few days Delta gets far more than she bargained for in her new town. A murder happens on the same night in the same hotel as her very first craft fair as owner of her new craft shop Wanted. Not only is she in the next room when the murder occurs, her business partner and her business partner’s brother are implicated in the crime! Is Delta’s dream job about to be ruined as her best friend and business partner get blamed for a murder? Delta sets upon finding out who the murderer is, and why they did it.

There are plenty of suspects and plenty of motives. With the help of ex policeman Jonas and canine friend Spud, Delta starts her sleuthing.

Delta is a likeable character. Of course I enjoyed her love of crafting and the mentioning of all types of crafting products that I also use, like washi tapes, stationary and pretty notebooks. It was also a nice touch where Delta made a suspicions board and used washi tape to link her thoughts.

Delta easily makes friends with the local people in the area and becomes a member of The Paper Posse who are a group of women who chat and look out for each other. Together they share clues about the murder and also share some amusing nick names.

Last Pen Standing has the traditional cosy mystery sleuthing, clues and red herrings. But it has the added brilliance of being set in lovely little town with a main character who loves to craft.

I very much look forward to the next book in this series.

Have you read this book? Do you know of any other stationary / crime books? Are you a crime and stationary lover yourself?

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Links:

Goodreads

Amazon.co.uk

Amazon.com

Twitter/VivWrites

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The Secret Life of a Book Blogger book tag!

Today I am going to do a book tag, one that I was nominated for by Analee from BookSnacks. Thanks for tagging me Analee. I love your blog and all your bookish posts. For those of you that haven’t visited Booksnacks yet, get over there! 

So, here goes with the Secret Life of a BookBlogger Post. I love the name of this tag, because I do feel that we are a group of people that others may wonder about, what do we bookbloggers do? do we spend all our time reading? Well the questions and answers are below, so come and see and feel free to do this tag yourself also.

How long have you been a blogger?

I have been blogging since April 2014, so just over a year. I had my year celebration in April where I hosted my first giveaway.

At what point do you think you will stop?

I don’t know about this, nobody knows what the future holds so its hard to say when or if I will stop. All I know is that I am enjoying it for now, and that is all that matters! 

What is the best thing?

There are a lot of good things, I don’t think I can narrow it down to just one. All the books I get to read, the conversations that I get to have with other bookbloggers, the great people I have ‘met’ through bookblogging. That includes other bloggers and Authors, I never imagined that I would be interacting with so many Authors when I started ChocolatePages, its so great.

What is the worst thing? What do you do to make it okay?

There isn’t anything really bad about being a bookblogger. I would like to have more time to devote to it, but that’s life isn’t it! Occasionally I hear that some bloggers are being mean to others, but I have never been involved in anything like that. I think its best that we all support each other and enjoy the books together.

How long does it take you to create/find pictures to use?

It depends on what pictures I want, the book review ones are very quick and easy. I get the image of the book from Goodreads, and sometimes if I have a hard copy I photograph my book. All very quick. If I am writing a review or other bookish post and want to add extra pictures (like the ones in this post), it takes a bit longer to google and sometimes make up my own images. I really like making my own, but it is very time consuming and I’m still learning. Hopefully you will see more home made images soon from ChocolatePages!

Who is your book crush?

Well, I didn’t have to think to hard about this one. Luke Brandon from the Shopaholic series! Yes, he is Becky’s Husband, but she is his fictional wife.I’m imagining myself in their world and I would be Becky, but without all the stresses and mix ups that she gets herself in, so Luke would love me even more……. OK, I’m off in my fictional bookish world now. ♥

What author would you like to have on your blog?

I would be so excited and honoured to have Sophie Kinsella or Jodi Picoult on my blog. They are the Authors that really got me into adult reading. I would have liked to have had Enid Blyton on too! 

I am honoured to have any Authors comment and be on my blog. There are so many amazing book blogs out there, so if an Author chooses mine it is a huge compliment. 

What do you wear when you write your blog posts?

Always casual clothes, quite often pajamas. I tend to write my blog posts early on the weekend mornings. I will do some in the afternoons or evenings after work, then it is what ever casual clothes I am wearing. 

How long does it take you to prepare?

This is not really a straight forward answer, it totally depends on the post I’m writing, the shortest time is for short story or novella reviews, maybe up to an hour start to finish. For other book reviews, tags, bookish chat or other posts, I guess anywhere between 1 hour and 3 hours? I’m not really sure, because I tend to come back to each post a few times before I am happy to publish it. I guess as long as it take for me to me happy with each post.  😉

How do you feel about the book blogger community/culture?

I love it, there is always someone around to talk bookish talk, whatever time of the day or night because I can connect with bookbloggers all over the world and the different time zones. I have found blogger friends who have been so supportive and helpful. Particularly AJ over at ajbookreviewclub who has been really helpful.

Most bloggers are super friendly and always willing to help and support with chats, comments, retweets. Its great. Plus, the highlight is we all love books, so there is an instant connection to all these people. I love it. Thank you bookbloggers, you are amazing!

What do you think one should do to get a successful blog?

I guess this depends on what you consider ‘successful’. To me, successful is having an adequate amount of followers that you can interact with, have enjoyment from your blog and ultimately the success is if you are getting what YOU want from YOUR blog! I would say the most important thing is to enjoy it and be as passionate as you can about it. To get interaction and followers, I would advise promoting your posts on Twitter and / or facebook. Use the Retweet people on Twitter, like @FemaleBloggerRT, who will help with your promoting.  I have found that commenting on other peoples blogs helps,as this is how you get to know other bloggers. We are a helpful, friendly bunch so come interact, its fun! We know book talk and if that’s what you like, join in!

Thanks to Analee from BookSnacks for tagging me in this fun post. I’m not going to tag anyone in particular, but any bookbloggers out there that want to do this fun tag, consider yourself tagged and please leave your links for me to read them. I also appreciate comments on any of your answers to these questions.

Thanks for stopping by, til next time…..HAPPY READING!