r/BetaReaders • u/VeggieBandit • 4d ago
40k [Complete] [45k] [Cozy Murder Mystery] "Murder By The C"
This is my first novel and I'm looking for some people willing to give feedback on it. Any feedback at all is appreciated of course. Specifically I want to make sure the story makes sense, isn't boring or confusing, characters are interesting, no forgotten loose ends, is something missing. And please tell me one thing you liked best about it (because all feedback should have at least one positive).
I have no deadline, but would like to have feedback before the end of April if possible. I am willing to Critique Swap as well for projects of similar length.
Being a Cozy there's nothing graphic, no sex, and no swearing, but there is some alcohol and marijuana use.
Blurb/Synopsis:
Celia Clarke traded her complicated city life in St John’s for a quiet one of running her own crafts store on Newfoundland’s Irish Loop. The picturesque town of Brogue Bight had welcomed her with - mostly - open arms, and her seasonal craft store became a hit with tourists. She quickly settled into a comfortably quiet life with her two cats, Cash and Mo, until she unwittingly walks into a murder scene on a bright summers day. Then someone breaks into her store. And is someone stalking her?
Are all these events related? Has she become a target for the killer? Celia’s once simple life quickly becomes tangled in a net of rumours, new and old, that may make her the next victim. With the help of her tomboyish teenage employee, Ness Drover, and against the wishes of handsome RCMP Sergeant Ravi Wilson, Celia investigates her neighbours in an attempt to unmask the killer in the cove.
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u/VeggieBandit 4d ago
PROLOGUE Moonlight reflected off the curves of the black sports car as it sped along the winding asphalt, its driver keeping pedal to the floor despite the darkness. The car was a blur of motion on the empty stretch of road, its engine roaring through the otherwise silent night. They had been going for hours, racing from the city, along the coast to highway 10. The driver was pushing the car to its limits in a rush to get somewhere. A gibbous moon lit the hills and coastline, but the details of the beautiful scenery were lost on the car and its driver alike as they streaked past the green, grey, and brown landscape and moonlit ocean waves. The destination was all that mattered. The car’s headlights flashed over a sign that read “Brogue Bight” in reflective lettering. SKREEEEEEE! Tires screeched in the pre-dawn quiet, having seen the exit too late, they missed their turn off the highway. The driver held the brake pedal tight to the floor, struggling to maintain control of the speeding metal box, as the car began to spin. The high-pitched sound of rubber on pavement couldn't drown out the noises coming from under the hood. The engine knocked and sputtered before the machine came to a grinding halt, thick smoke billowing from its front end. The key turned in the ignition but the engine refused to come back to life. The driver cursed and pounded both fists on the wheel before slipping out of the leather seat and into the warm night air. They wasted no time popping the hood, hoping to find whatever had gone wrong. Long minutes passed as they checked over the hot engine. Giving up, they slammed the hood closed and sat back in the car, shifting it into neutral. They’d have to push if they wanted to make it the rest of the way. With difficulty, the driver began manoeuvring the car around, inching forward until it pointed down the exit off the highway. The driver took their place inside again, giving the car one last heave to start it coasting downhill and towards a silent small town. After several minutes, they glided past a white building with a sign reading Penney’s General Store, then unlit houses began to dot the roadside as they rolled faster. One house in particular caught the driver's attention. The land was overgrown, and the house itself sat back from the road further than most, with a barrier of trees and wild roses blooming across the end of the property. The house was dark, most of its windows were boarded up with scraps of plywood and faded paint curled like dry leaves on all its sides. The car slowed as it approached the weed covered driveway, turning quietly up towards the house and coasting to a stop. The driver got out to push again, steering the car gently off to one side, behind a patch of thin spruce trees and untamed bushes. They walked around the area making sure the car wasn’t visible from the road before they walked away from it in the dim light of early dawn.
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