Running From Arrows by T.C. Wescott

Title: Running From Arrows( A Running Store Mystery #2)

Author: T.C. Wescott

Published on: 7 January 2019

Genre: Cozy Mystery

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Ruby, Lacy and Stax are back again to solve yet another murder mystery. Ruby is a bundle of charms and cuteness. What about Stax and Lacy? Maybe it is Valentine’s day but a long-lasting friendship is much better than a Valentine, right?

Cupid strikes the town of Cedar Mills and so does The Black Cat. Lacy is single and she has three suitors to choose from. The very handsome Detective Luke Bentley, or the maitre`de Giuseppe Widows or the guy in her running group who stares at her, or is it someone else altogether? Lacy receives flowers and other gifts from a secret admirer and not just Lucy, even Stax is curious to know who it is.

But when someone wearing a cupid costume is found dead, Lacy is sure that the killer is in no plans to celebrate a cozy Valentine’s day!

This is the second installment of the Running Store Mystery. I was very much looking forward to reading this book, after all, the author is none other than T.C. Wescott – one of my favorites!! I read a couple of reviews from my fellow blogger friends and they all mentioned something about an escape room scene in the book. I was really curious to know more. And…. well, read on to find out what I thought about it.

The story starts on an interesting and curious note. Lacy receives roses from a secret admirer just days before the valentine’s day – woohoo! Stax has a new boyfriend – Emory…uh-huh! With the help of Lacy and Stax, Ruby decides to convert her Inspector Butterwell series into eBooks -yes, yes, yes!

There are two mysteries to solve – the identity of the secret admirer and the identity of the murderer. And then there is The Black Cat, a very ‘famous’ burglar. Did I like the story? I loved it! I enjoyed it very much! I would say that the first book in this series, Running From Scissors was a tad slow but good nevertheless. And this book was rightly paced and super entertaining. I liked this one better than the first book, pace and curiosity wise, that is.

Coming to the part where the escape room scene is mentioned… I haven’t been to one so far. Reading about it in the book piqued my curiosity. Looks like a visit to the escape room is in plan! Anyhow, not straying away from the point, I found the escape room scene to be entertaining. To those who have been to an escape room(s), do people really disappear all of a sudden? Maybe the escape room sequence was not much related to the mystery-solving but it brought about a nice change to the story.

The characters are likable. Meatball and his cat-like tactics (after all, meatball is a cat!) are so very relatable. Being a cat lover (and a butler/servant to the tuxedo cat at home), I could relate to it. Cats are happy to see their owners but they are even happier when there is a huge chunk of juicy fish in their bowl.

The writing was good and so was the storytelling. It kept me hooked on to the story till the end. What about the identity of the secret admirer? Just one word – Shocking!! And the murderer – double shocking!! Ruby is the modern-day Miss Marple and with the help of Lacy and Stax, she reveals the identity of the perp. Mind you, this revelation is a small fest of sorts, where she gathers everyone in the Run For It store and takes her own sweet time to explain stuff in detail. Yep, it happened in the first book and history repeats. However, Ruby was a tad faster this time.

Running From Arrows was an entertaining, interesting and delightful read. The book can be read as a standalone but I would recommend you to read the first book in the series – Running From Scissors – before reading Running From Arrows.

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There’s a giveaway for this tour. If you like to win an eBook of Running From Arrows then do participate in the giveaway.

Giveaway details here.

Thank you, Lori Caswell from Escape With Dollycas, for giving me an opportunity to be a part of this blog tour.