The Widows’ Guide to Backstabbing by Amanda Ashby
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
**3.5-stars rounded up**
The Widows’ Guide to Backstabbing is the 2nd-book in the Widows’ Detective Club Cozy Mystery series by Amanda Ashby.
This series follows Ginny Cole, a recent widow, who after the death of her beloved husband, moves to a new village, Little Shaw, for a fresh start.
It’s there that she secures a job at the local library, makes a great group of new friends, and ends up solving a brutal murder. That’s what I call a successful fresh start!
In this installment, which takes places, I believe a few months after the conclusion of the 1st-book, Ginny is even more settled into her life in Little Shaw.
She’s still working at the library, has become even more fond of her adopted cat companion, Edgar, and is talking to her dead husband less. One thing she is still doing though, is stumbling across dead bodies.
This time at the local haberdashery shop.
Timothy Harlow, the shop owner, has been stabbed in the back with a set of shears. The police quickly arrest a young upholsterer, Milos, for the crime, but Ginny and her friends don’t believe he’s the actual culprit.
With the police looking in the wrong direction, it’s time for the Widows to do what they do best; solve a murder.
This was another cute installment to what has quickly become one of my go-to Cozy Mystery series. I love Ginny as a protagonist, as well as the small town vibes, the incorporation of the library, and of course, the cat, Edgar.
While I wasn’t quite as swept up in this one as I was the 1st-book, I still think it was engaging and I’m glad I read it.
For me, there is a little less focus on Ginny’s character arc in this one, and that is something I really connected with in the first installment. There was also less time spent in and around the library, and I did miss that as well.
I already have a copy of the 3rd-book, The Widows’ Guide to Skulduggery ((thank you, Storm Publishing)), which is releasing at the end of the month, and I’m so excited to get to it. I’m sure I’ll be starting it very soon.
If you are looking for a new Cozy Mystery series to start, just in time for Summer, I definitely recommend checking this one out. Particularly if you are a Cozy Reader who enjoys more mature characters, and small town settings.
There’s also a lot of fun hi-jinks and banter amongst this group of widows, but also a lot of love, heart and support. They are, in short, friendship goals.
