What’s cozy in the same way as a latte? Second-hand books. That’s what we get with Bookshops & Bonedust, and I’m down with that. This is a pretty good prequel, but it can be done as a stand-alone, and it also does a nice job of maybe setting up volume 3.
The whole story starts with young and eager Viv getting ahead of herself and getting injured in a fight. The rest of her team leaves her behind to recover in middle of nowhere Murk, and she’s got little to do for however long they are gone chasing some necromancer. Naturally, Viv will run into just the right folks, and find her place in the community for as long as she is there. The titular bookshop is run by Fern, a legacy bookworm shopkeep with a surprisingly habit of cussing more than we really hear the adventurers (including Viv) do. Fern’s shop is fading, so obvs it’s up to Viv to help revive it, starting with fixing up the place. Some of the book-based gimmicks to get people to the shop are going to be recognizable, like the mystery book (wrapped up with brief description such as “spicy/moist”- ‘moist’ is almost a running gag) or the author signing. But that’s all part of the cozy.
There has to be some tension, and Viv has it with the head of the city guard Iridia (as in they don’t quite trust or like each other) and Maylee (bakery owner, romantic interest). The relationship with Iridia works way better because there is enough basis for it in the action and character; the possible connection with Maylee has almost zero reason to exist in either plot or character, and gets virtually no attention in the story besides the occasional vague mention.
The rest of the case include some fantasy and cozy standards like the annoying yet endearing pet (that’s Potroast the gryphet, and he’s hilarious), the local tavern-keep, the doctor who tries not always successful to convince Viv to rest, the poetry fan (a preference you wouldn’t guess by looking), and a handful more. Probably the ones with the most personality are Gallina (a member of Viv’s team from book 1, so this would be how they meet) and Satchel (he’s the bonedust reference) who has a connection to the murder Viv ends up having to solve as well as the actual main threat to Viv (and her Murk-ish friends) which is revealed as related to the murder.
Being cozy, you can sort of guess what the ending is, but not entirely how exactly you get there. Solutions do present themselves, things mostly work out, but the big challenge then is how will Viv leave everything she’s started to get attached to, which we know she has to do in order for the lattes to happen.
So that connection to book 3? There’s a flashforward from the end of this story to latte time Viv, and the possibility for the bookshop and the lattes to combine is dangled. We’ll see.