Meet Beth - she is a bookstore owner (and nope, at least this book's action is not related to the bookstore), a divorced mother of a girl and a boy and at the beginning of the book is convinced to become the PTA (Parents Teachers Association) secretary. And all sounds just fine except that the principal of the school has her own ideas for renovations in the school... and don't want to listen to PTA. Until she turns up dead.

And of course Beth manages to find a way to get involved in the whole mess and starts investigating. As it turns out a lot of people are not what they seem to be and at the end the truth will come out and reveal a few old and new secrets.

As a mystery, it works. What really bothered me though was the old kindergarten friend that not just remember her but remembers strange moments from all these years ago. Add to this his behavior and it sounds almost as if the author decided that she need a love interest and just stuck him here in the worst possible way. It's just way too unrealistic, even in such a series. But even with that issue, it is written well, most of the characters are developed to some extent and an interesting start to a new series. And bets are open on who will be the next character that gets a surprise baby... :) ( )

Beth is a recently divorced mother of two who owns a children's bookstore in Wisconsin.. When her best friend Marina starts pushing her to "get out more" she accepts the challenge to run for PTA secretary and wins. After her very first PTA meeting the principal of a grade school is found dead in her home. Agnes wasn't very popular, in fact she was downright hated by many people.

Beth is determined to stay out of the hunt for Agnes' killer until someone starts threatening Marina.

I enjoyed this book. Beth is a likable person and Marina is a very good friend. Beth's two children, ages 10 and 6, are mentioned often and in the story a bit but the book doesn't revolve around her children, or her bookstore for that matter.

I'll be looking for more in this series. ( )

loved 'Murder at the PTA' by Laura Alden. It is a great start for a new cozy series. I got into the story immediately, maybe because I know people who are very much like the main characters. This time the relationships starred more than the mystery.

Beth Kennedy is a recently divorced, overweight mother of two young children and owner of a children's book store. She lives in a typical small town, Rynwood, Wisconsin where gossip spreads quicker than you can tap a computer key.

Beth's best friend is Marina who drops scrunchies as easily as I do. She runs a daycare center for young children and strongly believes that children should get plenty of fresh air. She snares Beth into being the local school secretary. She thought that Beth needed to get out more. On her own, she writes a blog about Rynwood, enriching the local gossip and wants to remain anonymous.

Evan Garrett is Beth's romantic interest but she may not be aware of that until later in the series.

When the principle of Tarver elementary is found dead, a multitude of secrets are gradually revealed about woman who didn't seem to have any friends. There must be many people you meet in life and tuck away into a cubby hole and you do not really know them. I loved the uncovering and revealing of the real principal of the school. It makes you wonder about people.

This book is loaded with a lot of humor and wit, a mysterious principal, a murder mystery, some romance and female friendships. I highly recommend it to cozy mystery readers for those reasons. ( )

Beth Kennedy is a divorced mother of two who owns a children bookstore in the small town of Rynwood, Wisconsin. So when her best friend Marina suggests that Beth might want to run for the position of PTA secretary, her initial response is that she doesn't have the time. But Marina finally talks her into it, and Beth is unsurprised when she finds out she's the only candidate, since it's well-known that the PTA is a hotbed of dissension.

But at her first meeting, the unpleasant (and generally unpopular) principal of the school insists on pushing through a privately funded addition to the school without taking a vote, even she is taken aback. Beth is even more shocked when Principal Agnes Mephisto is found at home a few days later with her head bashed in.

After an emergency meeting of the PTA, Beth is elected to contact Agnes' next-of-kin, her sister Gloria. Gloria asks Beth to check Agnes' house, suddenly Beth finds herself wanting to find out why Agnes was so disliked and what prompted someone to kill her so violently.

As a single mother trying to manage with two children under 12 who is also trying to keep a small business afloat, Beth is an eminently believable character, as are the descriptions of the extremely insular nature of a small suburban town.

This is an absorbing, well-written story. The cover indicates that this is the first in a series, though there is no indication of when further books might appear. Out of the plethora of new mysteries that are released each season, this one certainly deserves to continue. ( )