{"id":29682,"date":"2022-11-22T12:27:43","date_gmt":"2022-11-22T16:27:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/?p=29682"},"modified":"2022-12-23T00:55:58","modified_gmt":"2022-12-23T04:55:58","slug":"review-a-book-club-to-die-for-by-dorothy-st-james","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/2022\/11\/22\/review-a-book-club-to-die-for-by-dorothy-st-james\/","title":{"rendered":"Review \ud83d\udd0d A Book Club to Die For by Dorothy St. James"},"content":{"rendered":"<!--themify_builder_content-->\n<div id=\"themify_builder_content-29682\" data-postid=\"29682\" class=\"themify_builder_content themify_builder_content-29682 themify_builder tf_clear\">\n    \t\t\t<!-- module_row -->\n\t<div  data-lazy=\"1\" class=\"module_row themify_builder_row tb_bbbcac8 tb_first tf_w tf_clearfix\">\n\t    \t\t\t<div class=\"row_inner col_align_top gutter-narrow tb_col_count_2 tf_box tf_rel\">\n\t\t            <div  data-lazy=\"1\" class=\"module_column tb-column col3-1 tb_49667e8 first\">\n                                                        <div class=\"tb-column-inner tf_box tf_w\">\n                        <!-- module image -->\n<div  class=\"module module-image tb_7036296 rounded drop-shadow customBorderRad_top image-center auto_fullwidth tf_mw\" data-lazy=\"1\">\n        <div class=\"image-wrap tf_rel tf_mw\">\n\t\t    <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"331\" height=\"500\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/a-book-club-to-die-for-dorothy-st-james.jpg?resize=331%2C500&#038;ssl=1\" class=\"wp-post-image wp-image-29683\" title=\"a-book-club-to-die-for-dorothy-st-james\" alt=\"a-book-club-to-die-for-dorothy-st-james\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/a-book-club-to-die-for-dorothy-st-james.jpg?w=331&amp;ssl=1 331w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/a-book-club-to-die-for-dorothy-st-james.jpg?resize=199%2C300&amp;ssl=1 199w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/a-book-club-to-die-for-dorothy-st-james.jpg?resize=400%2C604&amp;ssl=1 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 331px) 100vw, 331px\" \/>\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<!-- \/image-wrap -->\n    \n    \t<\/div>\n<!-- \/module image --><!-- module text -->\n<div  class=\"module module-text tb_a1982ef customBorderRad_bottom repeat \" data-lazy=\"1\">\n        <div  class=\"tb_text_wrap\">\n    <p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">The Cypress Arete Society is one of the town\u2019s oldest and most exclusive clubs. When assistant librarian Trudell Becket is invited to speak to the group about the library, its modernization, and her efforts to bring printed books to the reading public, her friend Flossie invites herself along. Flossie has been on the book club\u2019s waiting list for five years, and she\u2019s determined to find out why she\u2019s never received an invitation to join.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">But not long after Tru and Flossie arrive for the meeting, they\u2019re shocked to find the club\u2019s president, Rebecca White, dead in the kitchen. Rebecca was a former TV actress and local celebrity, but was not known for being patient or pleasant. She\u2019d been particularly unkind to the book club\u2019s host for the evening, who also happens to be the mother of Detective Jace Bailey, Tru\u2019s boyfriend. And Rebecca had made it clear that she didn\u2019t think Flossie was book club material.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">With her boyfriend and one of her best friends wrapped up in a murder, Tru has to work fast to figure out who cut Rebecca\u2019s story short before the killer takes another victim out of circulation&#8230;.<\/span><\/p>    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<!-- \/module text -->                    <\/div>\n                            <\/div>\n                        <div  data-lazy=\"1\" class=\"module_column tb-column col3-2 tb_23787e9 last\">\n                                                        <div class=\"tb-column-inner tf_box tf_w\">\n                        <!-- module text -->\n<div  class=\"module module-text tb_2d1ea91  repeat \" data-lazy=\"1\">\n        <div  class=\"tb_text_wrap\">\n    <p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-16467 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/3_5-hearts-1.jpg?resize=146%2C44&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"146\" height=\"44\" \/><\/p><hr \/><p><strong>Release Date:<\/strong> Nov 1, 2022<br \/><strong>Series:<\/strong>\u00a0<em>A<\/em>\u00a0<em>Beloved Bookroom Mystery<br \/><\/em><strong>Book: <\/strong>3<br \/><strong>Publisher:<\/strong>\u00a0Penguin Group<br \/><strong>Imprint:<\/strong>\u00a0Berkley<br \/><strong>Price:<\/strong> $14.99<\/p><hr \/><p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\"><strong>Trudell \u201cTru\u201d Becket<\/strong> is an assistant librarian at the Cypress, South Carolina library. This library has been modernized into a bookless technological center in hopes of attracting high-tech industries to town. Tru created an unauthorized reading room in the basement of the library with the books that were going to be discarded, but only a select amount of people are in on the secret. Tru is invited to speak at the town\u2019s most prestigious book club meeting and is worried the secret will somehow come out. Tru ends up facing bigger problems, though. Before the meeting starts, Tru and her friend, Flossie, discover the dead body of the book club president in the hostess\u2019s kitchen. Now it\u2019s up to Tru to figure out who the killer really is before the wrong person goes to prison for the murder.<\/p><p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\">A library without books is a unique premise for a cozy mystery. This is the third book in the <em>Beloved Bookworm <\/em>series, but the author does a good job of catching new readers on the premise of the series and who the main characters are. It is the first I\u2019ve read in the series, but I quickly got to know the characters, even if I didn\u2019t like all of them. I didn\u2019t fully connect with Tru, who seems very immature for a woman nearly forty years old. She lets her mom bully her and makes strange decisions, like bringing her cat to work with her every day and then having to hide him in the secret reading room before her boss sees him.<\/p><p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\">Tru is good at finding clues in the murder, though. Her boyfriend, Jace, is a police officer but was removed from the case since his mother is one of the prime suspects. It is refreshing that he asks her to look for evidence that would clear his mother since he isn\u2019t allowed to get officially involved in the investigation. The victim, Rebecca, could be a bully, trying to run the lives and reading habits of book club members both in and outside of their meetings. Tru was able to ask questions of her acquaintance and friends to find plenty of suspects in Rebecca\u2019s murder.<\/p><p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\">I enjoyed the side plot about Tru\u2019s elderly friend Flossie and the way it played out. It\u2019s known that Flossie writes bestselling books, but nobody knows what her pen name is. However, I didn\u2019t understand why the likable, well-read, well-traveled Flossie was so interested in joining a book club that only allowed its members to read approved books at any time, not just for the club\u2019s discussions. The story includes some clever red herrings, but I was able to figure out the identity of the murderer and solve another mystery involving Tru fairly easily. The book has several good points, but not connecting with the main character limited my enjoyment of it.<\/p><p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\"><em>~ Christine<\/em><\/p>    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<!-- \/module text --><!-- module text -->\n<div  class=\"module module-text tb_eb0616c customBorderRad repeat \" data-lazy=\"1\">\n        <div  class=\"tb_text_wrap\">\n    <p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><span class=\"s1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3ABcbvg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Amazon<\/a><\/span><span class=\"s2\">\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/apple.co\/3i57qUs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"s3\">iBooks<\/span><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.barnesandnoble.com\/w\/a-book-club-to-die-for-dorothy-st-james\/1140838920?ean=9780593098653\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"s3\">B&amp;N<\/span><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.kobo.com\/us\/en\/ebook\/a-book-club-to-die-for\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"s3\">Kobo<\/span><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/play.google.com\/store\/books\/details\/Dorothy_St_James_A_Book_Club_to_Die_For?id=bjhYEAAAQBAJ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"s3\">Google Play<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<!-- \/module text -->                    <\/div>\n                            <\/div>\n            \t    <\/div>\n\t    <!-- \/row_inner -->\n\t<\/div>\n\t<!-- \/module_row -->\n\t<\/div>\n<!--\/themify_builder_content-->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Cypress Arete Society is one of the town\u2019s oldest and most exclusive clubs. When assistant librarian Trudell Becket is invited to speak to the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29683,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[83,89,128,48],"tags":[148,223,367],"class_list":["post-29682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-berkley","category-christine","category-penguin-group","category-reviews","tag-3-5-stars","tag-cozy-mystery","tag-mystery"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Review \ud83d\udd0d A Book Club to Die For by Dorothy St. James - Smitten by Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/2022\/11\/22\/review-a-book-club-to-die-for-by-dorothy-st-james\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Review \ud83d\udd0d A Book Club to Die For by Dorothy St. James - Smitten by Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Cypress Arete Society is one of the town\u2019s oldest and most exclusive clubs. 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When assistant librarian Trudell Becket is invited to speak to the group about the library, its modernization, and her efforts to bring printed books to the reading public, her friend Flossie invites herself along. Flossie has been on the book club\u2019s waiting list for five years, and she\u2019s determined to find out why she\u2019s never received an invitation to join.\u00a0<\/p><p>But not long after Tru and Flossie arrive for the meeting, they\u2019re shocked to find the club\u2019s president, Rebecca White, dead in the kitchen. Rebecca was a former TV actress and local celebrity, but was not known for being patient or pleasant. She\u2019d been particularly unkind to the book club\u2019s host for the evening, who also happens to be the mother of Detective Jace Bailey, Tru\u2019s boyfriend. And Rebecca had made it clear that she didn\u2019t think Flossie was book club material.<\/p><p>With her boyfriend and one of her best friends wrapped up in a murder, Tru has to work fast to figure out who cut Rebecca\u2019s story short before the killer takes another victim out of circulation....<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/3_5-hearts-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"146\" height=\"44\" \/><\/p><hr \/><p><strong>Release Date:<\/strong> Nov 1, 2022<br \/><strong>Series:<\/strong>\u00a0<em>A<\/em>\u00a0<em>Beloved Bookroom Mystery<br \/><\/em><strong>Book: <\/strong>3<br \/><strong>Publisher:<\/strong>\u00a0Penguin Group<br \/><strong>Imprint:<\/strong>\u00a0Berkley<br \/><strong>Price:<\/strong> $14.99<\/p><hr \/><p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\"><strong>Trudell \u201cTru\u201d Becket<\/strong> is an assistant librarian at the Cypress, South Carolina library. This library has been modernized into a bookless technological center in hopes of attracting high-tech industries to town. Tru created an unauthorized reading room in the basement of the library with the books that were going to be discarded, but only a select amount of people are in on the secret. Tru is invited to speak at the town\u2019s most prestigious book club meeting and is worried the secret will somehow come out. Tru ends up facing bigger problems, though. Before the meeting starts, Tru and her friend, Flossie, discover the dead body of the book club president in the hostess\u2019s kitchen. Now it\u2019s up to Tru to figure out who the killer really is before the wrong person goes to prison for the murder.<\/p><p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\">A library without books is a unique premise for a cozy mystery. This is the third book in the <em>Beloved Bookworm <\/em>series, but the author does a good job of catching new readers on the premise of the series and who the main characters are. It is the first I\u2019ve read in the series, but I quickly got to know the characters, even if I didn\u2019t like all of them. I didn\u2019t fully connect with Tru, who seems very immature for a woman nearly forty years old. She lets her mom bully her and makes strange decisions, like bringing her cat to work with her every day and then having to hide him in the secret reading room before her boss sees him.<\/p><p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\">Tru is good at finding clues in the murder, though. Her boyfriend, Jace, is a police officer but was removed from the case since his mother is one of the prime suspects. It is refreshing that he asks her to look for evidence that would clear his mother since he isn\u2019t allowed to get officially involved in the investigation. The victim, Rebecca, could be a bully, trying to run the lives and reading habits of book club members both in and outside of their meetings. Tru was able to ask questions of her acquaintance and friends to find plenty of suspects in Rebecca\u2019s murder.<\/p><p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\">I enjoyed the side plot about Tru\u2019s elderly friend Flossie and the way it played out. It\u2019s known that Flossie writes bestselling books, but nobody knows what her pen name is. However, I didn\u2019t understand why the likable, well-read, well-traveled Flossie was so interested in joining a book club that only allowed its members to read approved books at any time, not just for the club\u2019s discussions. The story includes some clever red herrings, but I was able to figure out the identity of the murderer and solve another mystery involving Tru fairly easily. The book has several good points, but not connecting with the main character limited my enjoyment of it.<\/p><p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\"><em>~ Christine<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3ABcbvg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Amazon<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/apple.co\/3i57qUs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">iBooks<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.barnesandnoble.com\/w\/a-book-club-to-die-for-dorothy-st-james\/1140838920?ean=9780593098653\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">B&amp;N<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.kobo.com\/us\/en\/ebook\/a-book-club-to-die-for\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Kobo<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/play.google.com\/store\/books\/details\/Dorothy_St_James_A_Book_Club_to_Die_For?id=bjhYEAAAQBAJ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Google Play<\/a><\/strong><\/p>","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29682"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29682\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29741,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29682\/revisions\/29741"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smittenbybooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}