Murder Off the Books

The best part of this book is the relationships. The romance part progresses nicely. The relationship between Tess and her mother is complicated and at times felt hopeless, but it wasn't. It was not a one note relationship and I appreciated seeing the highs and lows.
The mystery was good and Tess does some good sleuthing. The solution was not what I expected and I'm not sure if I like it. But I don't hate it either.
Tess starts her book store, but is never there. I know that is a trope that several people don't like, so I don't know if the author is poking fun at it or not. So that distracted me. This one didn't strike me as funny as the other one, but that might just be me.
So overall, I liked the character development, but I'm not sure about the overall plot/ life developments for Tess.