4.5-STAR REVIEW: BY HOOK OR BY BOOK by Misty Simon

Book Reviews Cozy Mystery Paranormal/Supernatural

The Description

The Charmed Inn Mysteries: Book 1
Publication Date: June 3, 2025

Roxy Gleason, an innkeeper by trade and a bibliomancer by birth, has lived in the same small town on the Susquehanna River in Central Pennsylvania for her entire life. Tradition is strong here. Roxy understands the rules and is willing to play by them most of the time. She runs the Charmed Inn, which has been in her family for decades.

The inn is all set to host a writers’ professional business weekend that’s been planned down to the very last hand-folded napkin, and Roxy is ready for the influx of creatives. She knows she’ll have a lot of different and sometimes unusual personalities to deal with, but this is a yearly function, so she’s not expecting anything to go awry.

Her expectations are completely tanked when she finds a dead body on her daily walk by the river’s shore. Owen Schultz had checked in for the conference a few hours ago, and she’d last seen him having tea with her aunt in the dining room.

How did he get down here on the ferry, and who killed him?

Fans of Lucy Score, Melissa F. Miller, Dianne Harman, Lynn Cahoon, Deany Ray, Kathi Daley, and Merryn Allingham will enjoy Misty Simon.

The Review

By Hook or By Book is the first book in The Charmed Inn Mysteries series by Misty Simon. A cozy paranormal mystery set in Pennsylvania where a body is found at the start of the book, but is it murder?

Roxy has taken over as innkeeper of the family inn from her grandfather, serving as the backdrop for the story. A writer’s weekend, which takes place annually, has just begun when one of the participants turns up dead. Everyone’s ready to pitch in to find the murderer, much to the chagrin of the local police. Who will figure out whodunnit?

There are a slew of characters, clues, and red herrings, along with people who are not as they seem. There are magical powers, secrets galore, and numerous stories being told. There’s even a hint or two of romance. Roxy is a bibliomancer, which means books answer her questions in different ways, all with a supernatural bent. Everyone in her family seems to have various powers and abilities. There are detailed descriptions, which made it easy to visualize what was happening and where. When the whodunnit is revealed, will things return to normal or as normal as possible?

By Hook or By Book is a cozy mystery that had me turning the pages to see what would happen next. Some quirky characters and various magical abilities added layers to the story. I can’t wait to see what transpires in the next book. Buy Links

About The Author

Misty Simon always wanted to be a storyteller…preferably behind a Muppet. Animal was number one, followed closely by Sherlock Hemlock… Since that dream didn’t come true, she began writing stories to share her world with readers, one laugh at a time.

Touching people’s hearts and funny bones are two of her favorite things, and she hopes everyone at least snickers in the right places when reading her books. She lives with her husband in Central Pennsylvania where she is hard at work on her next novel or three. She loves to hear from readers so drop her a line at misty@mistysimon.com.