Book Review: All Murders Final! by Sherry Harris (Sarah Winston Garage Sale Mysteries #3)

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Strong mystery filled with strong characters

Cons: Climax a bit rushed, but a minor issue overall

The Bottom Line:

A virtual sale

Turns up a real dead body

Pages fly by quickly

You’ll Enjoy This Mystery to the Final Page

There are so many cozy series out there right now that it seems there’s always a book about to come out I’m really looking forward to reading.  After how much I enjoyed the first two books in the Sarah Winston Garage Sales Mysteries, All Murders Final! was definitely a book I was looking forward to reading, and it didn’t disappoint at all.

The book finds Sarah in the middle of a mild Massachusetts February winter, but even so, winter in New England is not a time to be hosting garage sales, so Sarah has turned to running a virtual garage sale website for the town of Ellington to make some money.  In addition to being the admin, she’s also a member of the site, buying and selling things herself.

One morning, Sarah goes to pick up some things from Margaret More, a rich and powerful local woman.  Only when she arrives, Sarah finds Margaret dead in her car with a table cloth stuffed in her mouth, the same table cloth that Sarah had been fighting with another woman over on the garage sale sight the nite before.  While she is waiting for the police, someone sends Sarah a picture – of Sarah waiting for the police.  What in the world has Sarah stumbled into?

When I write my teasers for my review, I always try to tease as little of the plot as I can.  Here, I’ve teased just the opening few pages of the book.  When a story starts that strongly, I’m always hopeful that this portends a strong story to follow, and in this case it definitely does.  There is always something happening, whether it is Sarah learning something new or some new event that keeps her on her toes and us turning pages.  I did feel that the climax was a little rushed, but when thinking it over, everything did make sense in the end.

The characters in this series have always been strong, and this book is no exception.  We see plenty of the regulars as well as meet great new characters.  All of them felt real to me, and I’m already ready to go back and visit them again.  I hope a few of the characters introduced here pop up again as well because that would be awesome.

There’s been a love triangle so far in this series as Sarah struggles between CJ, her ex-husband, and Seth, the most eligible bachelor in the area.  We got some nice advancement of this story arc here, and I was very happy with how things ended, although I want to see more of both of them in future books.

I can’t review this book without mentioning the humor.  There are a couple of scenes that made me laugh near the middle of this book and several more great scenes and lines throughout.  They were wonderful at easing the tension a little before we started the climb back to the climax.

At the end of the book, we get a few tips for garage sales, real and virtual.  I really need to start taking advantage of some of these tips, and if you saw my condo you’d understand why I say that.

I was disappointed to reach the final page of All Murders Final!, and I’m already looking forward to Sarah’s next adventure.  If you want a fun mystery that will keep you reading, be sure to pick up this book today.

Don't miss any deals!  Here are the rest of the Sarah Winston Garage Sale Mysteries in order.

NOTE: I received an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.