Cozy Mysteries Vinyl Resting Place by Olivia Blacke

VINYL RESTING PLACE blends murder, music, and macchiatos in a delightful cozy mystery.

When Juni Jessup returns to her small Texas hometown, she and her sisters put all their beans in one basket to open Sip & Spin Records, the ideal place to enjoy musically-themed coffees while listening to great music and town gossip, until–record scratch!–a body deader than disco falls out of the supply closet during the grand opening.

Family is everything to the Jessup sisters, so when their off-beat uncle is arrested, they’ll do anything to help, including putting Sip & Spin Records up for collateral. Unable to face the music, Uncle Calvin takes off, leaving the future of the shop in peril. Can Juni and her sisters catch the real killer before the trail–and the coffee–goes cold?

“A charming cozy for a new generation of mystery readers . . . VINYL RESTING PLACE is a delight!” – Elle Cosimano, USA Today bestselling author of Finlay Donovan Is Killing It

“A fun, engaging mystery is the basis of Olivia Blacke’s new cozy mystery series, and it’s only made better by a host of great characters, lively banter, and a Texas-sized helping of charm! I loved this book and I’m looking forward to more adventures with Juni and her sisters in the future!” – S.C. Perkins/Celeste Connally

“What fun! I loved tagging along with Juni Jessup as she navigated a love triangle, quirky family hijinks, and a mystery at the family record shop. A great start to a new cozy mystery series. I’m already looking forward to the next book in the series.” – Gigi Pandian, author of Under Lock & Skeleton Key

“Your head will spin at 78 rpms as you try to solve this charmingly challenging mystery. Juni Jessup is in her groove, needling people for information, but is she being played like a record album? Song references provide an entertaining mental soundtrack as she attempts to track down a killer before another record–or victim–drops. A fun mystery for music lovers and anyone nostalgic for the golden age of record stores. Olivia Blacke’s music-themed mystery, VINYL RESTING PLACE, has me singing her praises. With its perfect rhythm and tone, this story can’t be beat.” – Diane Kelly, author of The Mountain Lodge Mysteries

“Rockin’ music, taco trucks, pun-tastic coffee drinks, family bonds, and a twisty mystery to boot! What’s not to love about VINYL RESTING PLACE? A fantastic start to the Record Shop Mystery series, which is definitely an auto-buy for me from now on. Can’t wait for the next one!” – Mia P. Manansala, author of the Tita Rosie’s Kitchen Mystery series

Olivia Blacke recently spent some time with The Big Thrill discussing her latest thriller, VINYL RESTING PLACE.

Which took shape first: plot, character, or setting?
Like my main character, Juni Jessup, I grew up in Texas. My grandparents, like Juni’s, ran a small family-owned shop near Austin. So when I was creating a multi-generational record store/coffee bar for VINYL RESTING PLACE, I naturally gravitated to a (fictional) small town outside of Austin, the live music capital of the world. Everything else grew out of there.

Olivia Blacke

What was the biggest challenge this book presented? What about the biggest opportunity?
The biggest challenge of writing VINYL RESTING PLACE is that I typically listen to music while I draft. Since the book is set in Sip & Spin Records, a lot of the story revolves (no pun intended) around music. There is always something playing at the record shop, the coffee drinks have fun music-themed names, Juni is always wearing a classic concert T-shirt, and even a few of the clues are musical. On one hand, I’ve got the latest Taylor Swift song playing in my headphones while I’m trying to create the perfect flavor blend for a Vanilla Ice Iced Coffee. The result was more than a few earworms that didn’t want to go away, which is also an opportunity to connect with readers!

Was there anything new you discovered or that surprised you as you wrote this book?
When vinyl records started having their comeback, I assumed it was the nostalgia factor that was driving the revival. But it turns out that Millennials and Gen Z are the ones behind this new spike in demand. Out of all physical media formats, vinyl has always been the most enduring, but now sales are surging, which created a unique opportunity to set a modern cozy mystery in a vinyl record shop.

No spoilers, but what can you tell us about your book that we won’t find in the jacket copy or the PR material?
Juni’s long-term boyfriend dumped her right before she moved away six years ago, but now that she’s back in Texas, he’s trying to win her back. Meanwhile, she’s discovering new feelings for her childhood best friend. Now she has to choose between the man who broke her heart and the man she always took for granted–which might turn out to be harder than solving a murder and saving her family’s record shop.

OLIVIA BLACKE (she/her), author of the Record Shop Mysteries, beginning with VINYL RESTING PLACE, and the Brooklyn Murder Mysteries (Killer Content and No Memes of Escape), finally found a way to put her criminology degree to good use by writing quirky, unconventional, character-driven cozy mysteries. Olivia is a little nerdy, a lot awkward, and just the right amount of weird. She is a recovering ex-Texan who resides with her husband Potassium and Baileycakes, their roly-poly rescue puggle. When not writing, reading, or spending way too much time on social media, Olivia enjoys Amigurumi crochet, scuba diving, collecting tattoos, watching hockey, and baking dog cookies. She wants to be a unicorn when she grows up.

To learn more about the author, please visit her website.