Lena London has loved Camilla Graham's novels since she was thirteen years old. She's read and reread every suspense novel published by the author, which has inspired her to follow her own dream of becoming an author. Unfortunately, jobs for writers are not easy to find. However, Lena's best friend, Allison, calls her with the news that Camilla Graham is part of her local knitting group. Even better, Camilla is looking for an assistant- and Lena fits the bill perfectly! Now, Lena finds herself in her dream job in a new town... with a murder to solve. Can Lena help uncover who the murderer is before she becomes the next victim?

A DARK AND STORMY MURDER is the first book in A Writer's Apprentice Mystery series and wow, I'm already hooked! I love the seemingly idyllic setting of Blue Lake, Indiana and its residents as Julia Buckley's beautiful descriptions bring Blue Lake to vivid life. I want to explore Camilla's estate and then take a relaxing walk into town to have breakfast right along with Lena.

However, it's the mysteries that thoroughly engaged me. Julia Buckley does a marvelous job at incorporating two intriguing mysteries into the storyline. Can we trust Sam West? Or is Detective Doug Heller right to avoid any entanglement with Sam? Ah... but this is the heart of A DARK AND STORMY MURDER and part of the appeal.

A DARK AND STORMY MURDER is gothic suspense at its finest! If you are like me and love the classics written by Mary Stewart, Phyllis Whitney, and Victoria Holt, then A DARK AND STORMY MURDER is exactly your cup of tea. Julia Buckley teases us about the second book in A Writer's Apprentice Mystery series as she leaves just enough threads dangling to whet our appetite for the next book. I can't wait to see what's in store for Lena and Camilla in the next book!

Book Summary

An aspiring suspense novelist lands in the middle of a real crime, in the first in a captivating new series by the author of the Undercover Dish Mysteries.

Lena London's literary dreams are coming true—as long as she can avoid any real-life villains...

Camilla Graham’s bestselling suspense novels inspired Lena London to become a writer, so when she lands a job as Camilla’s new assistant, she can’t believe her luck. Not only will she help her idol craft an enchanting new mystery, she’ll get to live rent-free in Camilla’s gorgeous Victorian home in the quaint town of Blue Lake, Indiana.

But Lena’s fortune soon changes for the worse. First, she lands in the center of small town gossip for befriending the local recluse. Then, she stumbles across one thing that a Camilla Graham novel is never without—a dead body, found on her new boss’s lakefront property.

Now Lena must take a page out of one of Camilla’s books to hunt down clues in a real crime that seems to be connected to the novelist’s mysterious estate—before the killer writes them both out of the story for good...